For me, I think the journey Star Wars has taken is one of missed opportunities when it comes to the main saga. Saying I have preferred the spin-offs of Rogue One and Solo should be enough to say why.
Don't get me wrong, there has been many enjoyable moments from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. But I have also seen many 'what could have been' opportunities missed. I won't go into detail as I'm not in the mood to write an entire essay on it at the moment. But all I'll say is once I saw The Last Jedi and the articles relating to how it was made gave me enough evidence to suggest that the studio never had a plan as to where this new trilogy was going. It ended up with different directors having different ideas giving us conflicting films. But with Force Awakens director J.J Abrams back, I'm seeing this final chapter as more of a clean-up operation then an epic conclusion to the most beloved film franchise of all-time.
From the start, I could already see decisions being made that would please certain fans. For me, I was on board with it and willing to see where it went.
The action was moving along nicely with some enjoyable set pieces and I was pleased that we got to see the bulk of our younger cast actually work together rather than being spread across the galaxy. Seeing that showed off some great chemistry that we have yet to see.
I was also enjoying some of the new characters and destinations that were being introduced.
I did notice the pacing of the movie was pretty fast. So fast in fact, that you don't have time to instantly notice the incoherent parts of the film. Whether that was done on purpose, I don't know. But what I did notice the longer the film went, was that some parts of the story were noticeably becoming unnecessarily complex in its execution. There were also a fair few moments where logic went out the window. Thankfully, I went with it for the most part and there was a fun vibe throughout it, and that's what kept me engaged.
I think if you can do that, then you will get the best enjoyment possible from this particular feature. While the final scene did its best to make me disagree with it, my care levels weren't that high by the end as I knew this trilogy was already off the rails.
The performances were very good on the whole. Daisy Ridley continued to show great strength in her character and despite her story arch not quite fully fledged in my opinion. I've always appreciated her physical acting especially and in this film it remains her strongest quality in my opinion.
I have the same feeling towards Adam Driver. A terrific actor who did the best he could with the content given to him. His career elsewhere has flourished, and it's all thanks to the people of Star Wars giving him his break.
Another similar case and the biggest one, looked to be John Boyega. He's giving his absolute best to his character. But I felt him to be a forgettable side-note in this one. So despite him being billed at the start of the trilogy as a major character. I honestly don't know why we needed by the end of it. I could see his use for Force Awakens. But not for the rest.
Oscar Isaac was well utilised and his performance matched the fun vibe rather well. His chemistry with Ridley and Boyega really made him work well in this feature.
Anthony Daniels was a real star in this for me and I will we had vintage C-3PO action. For me, that means annoying but entertaining at the same time.
I liked the clever use of the late Carrie Fisher in her scenes. It reminded of how they finished Oliver Reed's scenes in Gladiator.
One nice surprise was Keri Russell. I had no idea she was in this until I read the credits. But the character she played was a nice addition, had a cool look about her and had a strong physical presence.
As for Domnhall Gleeson's character. I have nothing but high praise for him as he is a great actor and have seen him contribute well in many films. Sadly, his character in this franchise just hasn't sat well with me. His tone came across for me more as a pantomime villain and felt very non-threatening and rather useless. The way his character was used in this I hope was intentionally a mickey-take as there is one unforgivable moment that is unintentionally funny as just sums up his character.
From a technical perspective, the effects both digital and practical were tip-top. The visual effects especially felt the strongest within this trilogy. The sets as you would expect were very impressive. The style in particular location was very effective as it actually made everything look quite scary in some scenes, which is something rarely feel in a Star Wars film.
So despite the decisions made in the story and the messy execution, purely on the spectacle that it gave itself, I had a lot surprising fun with this. Yes the film further cemented for me that they had no plan how to conclude this story from the beginning. But I think what we got was a fun experience with a story that was messily told.
With Marvel showing how to properly make a modern franchise work, the end result of this trilogy will hopefully make it the beginning of a brighter future for Star Wars.
I'm glad there are plenty of people out there that have really enjoyed this era. For me, I will always have Rogue One to fall back on with the rest being good at best with enough noticeable flaws.
Rating: 7/10
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