Star Wars: The Last Jedi

It’s the night after I saw it and I actually don’t know whether Disney’s shift of the saga is good or not. The first part of the new trilogy was great, there’s no denying that. The characters were interesting and the reference to the original story was obvious. Here, things are no different. The entire premise is actually centered around Luke Skywalker and it’s flawless. Also, the introduction of new worlds worked out perfect. At times, I was really enjoying the film’s cuteness when a new animal that hasn’t been seen yet made an appearance on the scene. Pretty much all those animals’ eyes were like Puss in Boots’ eyes in Shrek, so you can imagine how soft I was getting during every scene involving animals. On the other hand, I kept telling myself that it seemed a bit too childish. The reviews mentioned that this episode is much darker than the previous parts, but for me, darkness looks a bit different than this. I think I would liken it to episode 2. This episode is sort of cute, a little childish, full of action and war. All in all, it’s actually quite good, but for me to give it a five-star review, the film would need to be more epic in relation to the entire Star Wars universe. (15/12/2017)

I hesitated for a moment over how Rian Johnson's visual sensibilities don't even come close to those of J.J. Abrams, and how nostalgia is stronger than humor at first glance. But that was only the first half hour, which is just a prologue compared to everything that follows. Once the atmosphere on the island starts to thicken and some secrets finally open their arms, The Last Jedi finally becomes what it promised: an atmospheric spectacle loaded with fateful characters. The tension that flows from the screen every second of any interaction between Kylo and Rey took my breath away, and even though it attracts most of the attention and seemingly sidelines Finn, Poe, and even Leia herself, it's worth it. It is precisely the connection between these two halves of the only image, additionally spiced up by Luke in Mark Hamill's vivid portrayal, that is the gem that has already cemented the third trilogy of the famous saga as the best trilogy. (14/12/2017)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is good or even excellent in its constituent elements, very progressive in its concepts and ambitions in the context of the saga, but unbalanced, rushed and half-baked as a whole. If episode five illustrated how jumping between plans should look while building a single overarching atmosphere, it is in this respect that episode eight, which vehemently plunders the fifth instalment in terms of style and motifs, fails the most. And that’s a shame, because its storylines demystifying heroism and the canon of the series itself, with Jedi knights at the fore, have tremendous power. But the film never lets them fully develop, as it has to abruptly return to some other storyline or recall that, as Disney’s cash cow, it has to quickly lighten the atmosphere with a wisecrack. Added to that, there are paradoxically a number of needless underdeveloped elements that detract from the viewer’s immersion in the film and encourage doubt and ridicule, so rather than a coherent work, they make a great breeding ground for parodies and fanfiction (though that can be a means of working with the audience and the brand). While the preceding The Force Awakens was a well-oiled rollercoaster, The Last Jedi is a larger colossus, but it wobbles and rattles that much more and the wheels come off. Paradoxically, the new characters had much more space and more effectively got under the viewers’ skin in the preceding episode, whereas the eighth film, though in many ways fleshing out those characters and letting them go in their own, new direction, ends up putting them in an even greater shadow of the iconic characters of the series. Despite all of the positives and new things found in the eighth episode, nothing remains other than to keep an eye out for the ninth one, where, for example, the series could finally go in an utterly new direction, as the eighth film has already cleared out the motifs and iconic sets of the fifth and sixth episodes combined. (14/12/2017)

Before the barren debate on the "Disney is fucking up Star Wars" begins, hand on heart, Lucas often proved to be a born businessman during key decisions rather than a devoted and immaculate author of space films. I am therefore putting aside cute stuffed animals and galactic races. If anyone blamed Abrams for not having the courage, they could hardly use the same argument against Rian Johnson. He wrote the busiest score in three voices, each arching a slightly different arc. We have the classic space battle, the battle between light and darkness (which rages inside the heroes) and also the side "heist" storyline, which is supposed to add lightness to both dramatic arcs. In the end, most of the problems are with this storyline, because it doesn't work completely as a stimulant (it starts a little hurriedly, the Dubrovnik action evokes the difficult times of Lucas's prequels in certain things, and the whole thing gets going through Benicio Del Toro's excellent entry into the canon). It's not about codes and infiltrations. It is about the Force, the ancestral curse, loneliness and a surprising bond between the sides. The film is driven by Adam Driver, the most complex villain on the scene, whom Johnson has created with love. And, of course, Mark Hamill. Part seven was a solo for Solo, whilst part eight is a tribute to Luke and a daring discussion about the ideas of the Jedi Knights. Compared to Abrams, Rian Johnson has a better gift for iconic moments; he is able to paint canvases that are etched in the retina for SW fans. He also has an extraordinary talent for working with the original SW as a holy scripture, and he adds new and surprising accents to the individual parts. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a film woven from several average, a number of good and several exceptional scenes and takes full advantage of the previous excavation towards a new generation of heroes and stories. If someone came to me now and told me that I had just seen the best SW from the Empire... I wouldn't argue with him. And waited for the next screenings. There's a lot to discover! P. S. This is also the best biopic of Slavoj Žižek in this and the adjacent galaxies. (13/12/2017)