Adelaide
November 2-3, 2024
Adelaide Showground
Written by Sarah Minazzo
If Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi could be summed up in one word, it would be explosive. The entire film not only has full-blown battle sequences but a wealth of metaphoric explosions. As expected from its saga predecessor, The Last Jedi takes cues from the original trilogy’s dark second episode (Empire Strikes Back), however, they weren’t the only echoes. There were prequel trilogy references, which was somewhat unexpected. There were cues even from Return Of The Jedi here that in its own way is now creating a newer pathway for the saga series.
Ultimately though, that was the strong reoccurring theme throughout – renewal. This is a natural progression when you look at it from the Force perspective – life, death and renewal. Each of our heroes and our villain go through this phase within their character arcs woven into the overall story. Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) character development has gotten much deeper, as a result, a far cry from the often joked about spoilt Disney princess of Force Awakens. That doesn’t just end with Kylo.
Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) was an absolute stand out in this film and was given greater opportunity with more screen time than previous. His strength, hot-headedness and sass were all fun to watch and laugh at. The Resistance are far better focused on than previously, most likely due to the general success and acclaim of last year’s Rogue One. Newcomer Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) is introduced well and becomes a great foil for Finn (John Boyega).
Another crowd pleaser was Mark Hamill’s official return as Luke Skywalker. He has a great comedic sense of timing paired off with a strong sense of despair and remorse in Luke, and comedy was one of the film’s strong points compared to its previous entry – Rian Johnson also spiced things up with several fun little moments offsetting the seriousness of the situation. Again, this felt like a move towards the Rogue One flavour of Star Wars.
The cinematography felt completely right, fitting in well with Force Awakens as did the production design continuing the mixed combo of practical effects and CGI. The soundtrack, as always, from John Williams hits all the right notes, literally with reprises of classic themes and blaring brass accompanying key battle sequences. The red on the posters had purpose as key set pieces and aspects included this colour and was bright offset from all the greys, browns, whites and blacks in the film’s palette.
Seeing Carrie Fisher on screen with her last performance was bittersweet. Her swansong is fitting and she has a particularly amazing moment, which wouldn’t be believed even if we did spoil it for you. There are a few surprises that are quite left of field, however, help the film connect even better to its before-Disney roots than the previous entry ever could. Knowing where they’re gone for this film, pulling no stops – Episode IX will be an interesting proposition, as The Last Jedi starts to take the series to new beginnings.
The Last Jedi is out now.
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