The Inkling Volume 3

All recent releases have had a Cantina
rip off section: The Force Awakens had
Maz Kanata's bar, Rogue One had that
desert planet and now The Last Jedi has
this. It's cool to look at but I feel like more
could have been done with these two
wonderful characters and actors. But
nevertheless, Kelly Marie Tran: welcome
to the family.
Poe Dameron (my personal favourite)
had more action this time around. The
plucky definitely-not-Han-Solo-rip-off uses
his trusty X-Wing and droid partner
BB8 in some crazy space battles.
In an attempt to help the resistance, Poe
does more damage than he thinks, leading
to the destruction of the Bridge and
hospitalisation of General Leia. Quick
side note: Carrie Fisher is superb in the
film and Rian Johnson has moulded a
tasteful and proper send off for such a
wonderful actor.
Vice Admiral Holdo (played beautifully by
Laura Dern), steps up in Leia's absence,
delivering well written dialogue and heroic
actions. This array of new characters
introduced in The Last Jedi - also
including the previously mentioned master
codebreaker DJ, played by Benicio
Del Toro - are a tasteful tribute to the
past with a new twist, further continuing
Rian Johnson's revolutionary attitude.
Our final character to talk about is the
most interesting and well-played in the
whole film: Kylo Ren's emotions are now
even more conflicted due to the death of
his father in the last movie. When Kylo
gets the chance to kill his mother, he
does not go through with it. You know
who he does kill though? General Snoke.
The supposed big bad from The Force
Awakens was cut in half in this film, telling
me that Rian Johnson was serious
about his vision.
Star Wars will always be loved by its audience
but this latest film’s new ideas
and characters have made it very controversial.
The reaction to Snoke’s death is
an example of people's backlash. Many
feel cheated of a cool villain like the Emperor
from the original trilogy - some
have even gone as far as to protest
against this movie being considered cannon
to the rest of the franchise.
To those backlashes, I say this: please
continue. Any film that creates that much
discussion is obviously doing something
that tugs at the heartstrings, which is
what every film should aim to do. We
need films that create discussion about
their plots, characters and actors.
Before I end this review, I would like to
talk about one very special person in this
film. Delivering his last performance as
the Jedi Master we all know and love,
Mark Hamill saved his best Luke Skywalker
acting till last.
Skywalker turns from his normal self in
the originals to a darker yet more compassionate
person in this movie. Furthermore,
when he does pick up the lightsaber
(sort of) and fight Kylo Ren, the sequence
is not needlessly flashy, but instead
remains action-packed enough to
deliver those goosebump moments you'd
expect from a lightsaber battle.
All in all, Star Wars: The Last Jedi gave
audiences a new look at a momentous
franchise. Rian Johnson created a movie
that will be looked back on forever as
either the turning point to greatness or
the start of the downfall of the Star Wars
franchise.
Let's hope this isn't the Last Star Wars
film.