Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

I just don’t know how I feel. 

I am certain that needing to see a film twice just to get a firm opinion means it wasn’t great, especially when you don’t feel much different after the second time of watching it.

SO, the story – in case you aren’t aware. Rey has discovered she has abilities, and now that she has found Luke Skywalker, she is able to begin training to develop her skills. She is also battling the relationship she has with Kylo Ren, who appears to be getting stronger under the rule of Supreme Leader Snoke. Meanwhile, the Resistance are preparing for battle with the First order, and Finn, Rose and Poe are doing everything they can to make sure everyone in the Resistance survives, alongside Princess Leia.

Do you want the actual plot now? The plot that does not use any words from the Star Wars universe, that make The Last Jedi sound like it’s going to be a SICK film… One ship follows the other at close proximity, but never quite catches up. Two people try and find a man who can help them but they dick around doing it, while one other person uses the force to talk to another person, and has wet hair a lot.

I really don’t want to be the one that won’t let it go that Disney have ruined Star Wars, and it because of this - doesn’t make sense that this film especially, has been getting such high ratings. But I am going to have to be that one person still, because Disney have ruined Star Wars, and the internet does not make sense in relation to this film

I’m going to put aside all the issues I have with this film, because I am a fan of the extended universe. I have wasted hours of my life reading the books, comics, all the pieces of the internet I never thought existed, and it is painful to watch anything to doesn’t run alongside this perfectly. There are issues with this as a Star Wars film yes, like technicalities. For example – Snoke should be a true Sith, so therefore a) his eyes should be a different colour, and b) he 100% would not die how he did. Next up, why on earth did Maz show up? ALSO, someone explain the lack of consistency with Luke’s lightsabers? Lastly, when are Rey and Ben going to realise that their names are wrong, and they are brother and sister so that this shitshow can start to make some logical sense…?

Ignoring all of that though, it was a bad film. Forget that it is Star Wars, just for a minute and think about how disjointed this film was! There was no consistency in the plot. We skipped from different perspectives CONSTANTLY, which was at times frustrating, because a moving ship is not a good transition when you’ve already used it 3 times in a row. For what could be considered an action film, the action was honestly, appalling. Tell me a time that we had one good battle, this didn’t make you feel dizzy. Similarly, the effects in The Last Jedi this weren’t fantastic, the action and the effects together were on occasion extremely messy, and these things made the film seem so much longer the second-time round. The pacing was just so off, we spend ages doing one thing that was really not interesting, which meant there were certain points that lacked attention – such as, the fight scenes.

On a positive note. The score was great. It really redeemed this slightly catastrophic film. It is not only something needed to set the mood, but where there are 2 different ‘settings’ its necessary, just so that you know where you are in the universe. Especially in a plot hole filled film.

I do, however, have some problems with the cast. I am going no further with members of the original cast that – Mark Hamill sucks. But I have extremely warmed to Adam Driver. I really think he is doing a great job as Kylo Ren now, and we are really getting both sides of him. There are occasions when he is a whiney baby, but that’s more just a character fault, than something that is Adam Driver’s problem. He’s doing it well is what I’m trying to say, and he’s made me crave more Kylo Ren on screen. I’ve never been a fan of Rey, or Daisy Ridley, (sorry internet) so for now, I still nothing our new Jedi. Do I need to say much about John Boyega? He’s John Boyega, he’s great at what he does, and he again, plays a character with flaws very well. I don’t care all that much for Finn, but he’s doing his thing and it’s not horrible to watch.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t as bad as The Force Awakens, and I am not just being bitter because this was another Star Wars Film, that was not a great Star Wars film. I genuinely believe there were a lot of faults in this as an actual film. If I wasn’t a Star Wars fan, I believe I would still find this problematic. I was positive I would rate this film lowly before I even saw it, but I just don’t understand how the average person, Star Wars fan or not, can watch this film and not leave with questions.

I sincerely hope this gets cleared up in the spin-offs, because watching it twice in the cinema has not done anything to change my opinion. As it stands… I still just don’t know how I feel.

Good luck with the Carrie Fisher CGI Disney. I hope you do it well.

4/10

CINEMATES - S

Detroit (2017)

I didn't know a great deal about the story going into this, I was aware it was one of the many recent stains in American history where African Americans are brutally treated by authority and justice has failed them. It's odd that as I write that I could be talking about basically any big unjust shooting in the last couple years but this was 50 years ago in 1967 amongst the Detroit Rebellion. The film focuses on police pushing boundaries and interrogating a group of people in Algiers Motel for a confession that ultimately leads to murder. It's based on real people and actual court cases but due to some missing information and of course the fact none of us were actually there, they fabricated some of the story. 

The reason I was so interested in this was to see John Boyega tackle such a heavy story, to see how he took responsibility to play a real person with important themes. I think he was the best thing about the film. He's mainly level headed and calm but doesn't under react. He appears to be exactly as he is, a random honest man caught in a bad situation trying his best to keep people safe, even when he knows things are against him. Saying that I thought there would be more of him, there's an odd character progression with him where his performance peaks in the last moments we see him on screen.

The rest of the cast was okay. It was more of an ensemble piece than I expected. Antagonist 'punchable face' / Will Poulter was okay, he had some genuine moments regards to the character flat out lying to people and he appeared to be a bad liar. What that tells you about the skill of the actor I don't know. But his accent is great and as I've 100% mentioned before I love a British actor smashing American films. He wasn't likable but he wasn't meant to be. Anthony Mackie was great to watch too, it's nice to him in this type of role no matter how small. 

Understandably very little character development as the story takes place over such a short time. And the story in question relies on the lack of information, the whole point is that we don't exactly know. The antagonists rely on assumptions of other characters and creating the characters to be what they needed to fit their own story, their alibi. 

Katherine Bigelow uses similar techniques as she did with Oscar winning The Hurt Locker (2008) filming one scene with multiple cameras in different places. Capturing the same piece from multiple angles, giving the actors the flexibility to move around and not be confined. Which I believe helps let the characters breath a little. She seems to know strengths of war or humanising it, alongside the handheld shots it helped make people appear quite raw. But this was not quite Academy Award winning. The sound did the same, was very real. Some of the characters were in a Motown band and sung at different points of the film. Hearing a sole voice singing with no backing track and no other sound in the scene is quite powerful. The sound makes sure you notice. 

Though it may appear as Oscar bait it's not quite worthy. It was a 15 minutes intro, followed by a 2 hour scene, a 10 minute 'finale' and some classic real life photos with facts written over them. I understand the choice of narrative structure but I think it's difficult. I understand that it's in place not to break things up, it's to make sure you endure the awful interrogation with the characters. But 2 and a half hours is a long time, let alone for such a topic. But even that, I don't think it had the weight to match the duration.

Good yes, but not as timeless as it could have been 6/10

CINEMATES - A