Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

There is no point splitting the difference on this one. Critics largely loved it, a very large part of the audience did not, and the reasons on both sides are legible. What Johnson does brilliantly is refuse the fan theory. Rey's parents are nobody, Snoke dies mid sentence, Luke is a failure hiding on a rock, and the throne room fight after Kylo's betrayal is the best staged action in the sequel films, all red drapes and silhouette. Steve Yedlin gives the picture a painterly weight no other entry has, and the silent hyperspace ram is the single most beautiful shot in the franchise.

What the film also does is stall. The Canto Bight detour runs close to forty minutes, achieves nothing the plot requires, and delivers its politics with a heavy hand. The fleet chase is a slow speed pursuit that survives only if nobody thinks about fuel. Poe and Holdo are in conflict because two competent adults refuse to have one conversation. Mark Hamill is superb in it and said openly that he disagreed with the reading of his own character. It is the boldest film in the saga and also the most structurally careless.