Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
March 26, 2018
Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the biggest box office hit of 2016, both domestically and worldwide. It also earned 91% positive reviews and a solid A from CinemaScore. It is also hated by a minority of very loud, very aggressive people. Are the majority right? Do the minority have a legitimate case to make?
Before I get to the plot, there’s a little issue about the structure of the movie. There are a lot of characters in this movie and the plot bounces between them, sometimes frequently. I’m going to ignore many of the smaller asides, because while the movie flows while you watch it, it doesn’t flow when you read it.
After the events of the The Force Awakens, the Resistance is in trouble. It is on the run and evacuating their main base in the hopes of staying one step ahead of the First Order. The First Order arrives sooner than they hoped. General Hux arrives and orders Captain Canady to fire the Dreadnaught’s main battery on the Resistance’s base. Fortunately Commander Poe Dameron flies in with is X-Wing and a plan. It’s a dumb plan. It asks to speak to General Hugs. That’s pretty much it. Sadly, General Hux is dumb enough to fall for this and while Poe delays, he’s able to get close enough to take out the surface cannons, thus allowing the Resistance enough time to complete their evacuation. This would have been a tremendous victory, but Poe gets greedy and disobeys a direct order from General Leia and orders the bombers and fighters to attack the Dreadnaught. They do manage to take it down allowing all of the Resistance ships to get away, but at the loss of over a dozen pilots and their entire bomber wing. As a result, Poe is demoted to Captain. Worse still, as we soon learn, the First Order can track the Resistance through hyperspace, something that was previously thought to be impossible.
After a brief reintroduction to Finn, we cut to the end of The Force Awakens with Rey arriving on the remote island on the uncharted planet handing Luke Skywalker his lightsaber. ... only to have Luke casually throw it over his shoulder and walk away. He refuses to even talk to her. Even Chewbacca can’t get him to leave with them. In fact, learning the news about Han makes him more resolute about remaining. He came there because he wanted the Jedi Order to die with him. He eventually relents, in part because Rey is in contact with Kylo Ren and he’s worried she will go down the same path without training.
Back with the Resistance’s fleet, they drop out of hyperspace for only minutes when the First Order catches up with them. The battle goes poorly and the bridge of their flag ship it hit with only General Leia surviving thanks to her force powers, but she’s unconscious and taken to the medical bay. There is only one bit of good news. Their ships are slightly faster than the First Order ships and they can keep away from the majority of the guns. Eventually they will run out of fuel, so they need a plan, and fast. Commander Poe... Captain Poe storms into the war room and demands the intern leader, Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, tell him what the plan is. She refuses, because of course she does. He was just demoted for insubordination, yet he’s treating her like she’s lower in rank. Meanwhile, Finn learns they are being tracked and grabs Leia’s cloaked binary beacon. It’s the only way Rey knows where the fleet is. However, given the situation, it’s basically a trap. He decides to get out of there, so that Rey won’t be jumping into a trap. He’s stopped by Rose Tico, who thinks he’s going AWOL. He explains the hyperspace tracking, which gets Rose thinking, and the two of them come up with a way to stop it. They ask Maz for help and she directs them to a codebreaker on Canto Bight, a casino world.
As with all of the movies in the Disney era Star Wars franchise, I’m not as big of a fan as the critics were. It’s a bit bloated and parts, like Canto Bight, move the plot too far away from many of the many characters. That said, Rose bringing up the inequality in the Star Wars universe is needed. Partially because it parallel’s the argument that the Jedi Order being gatekeepers to the Force will inevitably lead to Sith rising up, but also because it shows the fight as more complicated than one that can be won with a military victory. It needs to be in the movie, it just feels superfluous at the time. Furthermore, the film is too close to the original trilogy, mimicking parts like the Battle of Hoth, training on Dagobah, Rebellion on the run, downer ending, Death Star confrontation, and even a returning character. There are plenty of aspects about the movie that make it stand out compared to all of the previous installments, but there are enough similarities that confirmation bias makes them stand out so much more.
That said, while I’m not as bullish about the movie as most critics were, I still really liked it. It was clear in the Prequel Trilogy that the Jedi Order was deeply flawed and the competing views from Rey and Luke about how to go forward is a very engaging part of the movie. It was absolutely needed and before anyone brings it up, Luke’s opinion makes sense in the context of what he’s been through. It is not the movie crapping all over the rest of the franchise. For Pete’s sake, the film sides with Rey that the Jedi were overall a good force in the universe, flaws and all. Furthermore, General Leia was a powerhouse in this movie and it was an amazing final performance by Carrie Fisher. And again, before anyone complains, the Force power we see her use is mentioned in the Extended Universe. It wasn’t just invented, so anyone who complains, well, they are probably not worth your time. Finally, both Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo and Rose Tico. I already mentioned why Rose was so vital to the movie, but Holdo was key to Poe’s character arc. Both actors did an amazing job with these important roles.
On a side note, Laura Dern said “Pew!” every time she fired her blaster. I love this, because both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen made lightsaber noises while filming the Prequels.
One last note, there’s a very small, very loud minority of Star Wars followers, who hate this movie for irrational reasons, like Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo’s hair color. These people have started a petition to have The Last Jedi removed from the Star Wars canon, have review-bombed Rotten Tomatoes and other sites, and have tried to get Kathleen Kennedy fired. I saw a video in my YouTube recommendations and they think they are winning and Disney is close to firing Kathleen Kennedy. Kathleen Kennedy is one of the most successful Hollywood producers in the town’s history. She’s not getting fired. These people are delusional. I guess I should congratulate Warner Bros., because the “Release the Synder cut of Justice League” are no longer the worst elements of any Fandom around.
The only extra on the first disc is an audio commentary track with Rian Johnson.
Disc two starts with The Director and the Jedi, a 95-minute long making of documentary. Jedi of the Balance is a ten-minute long featurette on how the force was used in the movie. There are three Scene Breakdowns with a total running time of 33 minutes. Andy Serkis Live! (One Night Only) is six minutes of motion capture footage. Finally, there are 14 deleted / extended / alternate scenes, with optional audio commentary track. The total running time is 24 minutes, including introduction. The extras on the second disc are longer than the actual film is. That’s a great selection of extras.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best of the three Disney era Star Wars films. The DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack are incredible. It is Pick of the Week material for sure.
Video on Demand (Movie Only or Video on Demand (With Bonus Features)
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Justice League, Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars, Harrison Ford, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Laura Dern, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Mark Lewis Jones, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Kathleen Kennedy, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Rian Johnson, Lupita Nyong'o, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo