Tropic Sprockets / Star Wars: The Last Jedi

By Ian Brockway

Rian Johnson (Looper) directs the latest chapter of the “Star Wars” franchise with charge and respect, if not spontaneity. Here again is The First Order, the “Dark Side” if you will and they want to retain the upper hand.

Uplifting and joyous it is to once again see the curving 1970s-era font of the “Star Wars” logo. When the iconic theme sounds it will hit you in the heart without fail as it does to me every time I hear it and this alone is almost reason enough to see any episode of the space opera, so embedded it is in our Pop Art consciousness.

It is no spoiler to say that the forces of darkness and light are still at it, in what seems a perpetual war. The resistance (which includes Rey, Finn and Poe from the previous chapter) are disbanded and searching for their center, while the troubled parricide Kylo Ren is bent on achieving Darth Vader’s legacy.

The operatic story moves with a quickness reminiscent of the old cliffhangers of cinema, not to mention the original chapters in George Lucas’s prime.
Rey (Daisy Ridley) is on a remote rock occupied by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who is through with fighting the good fight. Chewie (Joonas Suotamo) the wookie arrives to help, but the Master Jedi is not budging.

Meanwhile Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is raked over the coals by his guru, the hideous Snoke (Andy Serkis) and is trying to prove his malevolence. While a good bit of the story is predictable (the hermit Luke consistently wants to be left alone) the characters have enough weight to keep you interested.

Daisy Ridley does a fine job as the iron Rey who refuses to give up. Loyal fans will be heartened too by Hamill who gives his legendary role a stern and stoic heart, regardless of some camp. The solid scenes with Carrie Fisher are also touching and have an added poignance as the spirited actor sadly died earlier this year.

Although these are all sound aspects of the film, the highlight above all is clearly Adam Driver who gives his role a real charge and a continuous sinister energy that hearkens back to the great matinee villains of the past. It is not only that Kylo Ren is evil, but one can feel his violence and discern his sad heart. Ren is not only something made warped by mystical circumstance, but a human creature, petty and vengeful.

By the end portion of the film, Driver singularly solidifies the narrative from what was a sequence of space battles into something compelling in the mode of a Western.
Though there have been many Star Wars films, “The Last Jedi” has the good sense to pepper this frequent Jedi parade with compelling drama and novel sights, even if there is no outright surprise.

The last image alone of Luke Skywalker will bring to mind Tienanmen Square in 1989.
Resistance is never futile.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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