'A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster': Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A)
Neither the Walt Disney Company nor the Royal Family, a pair of institutions that in some ways have much in common, are willing to confirm rumours that two of the armour-shrouded stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Last Jedi are in fact Prince William and Prince Harry.
But, if they are, the princes have chosen their silver-screen debuts wisely. This film, the ninth with Star Wars in the title since George Lucas’s original 1977 movie, is one of the most accomplished blockbusters I have seen for years; bold in conception, spectacular in realisation, but also chock-full of genuine wit, philosophical depth, and stirring poignancy.
It was a masterstroke to hand the directorial reins to Rian Johnson, a self-confessed Star Wars nut raised in California who has also written the script and filled it with clever references to all those previous films he knows so well.
Scroll down for video
Crowd-pleaser: 'A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster': Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner
But just as the cast profile straddles the Atlantic, with Britain’s John Boyega and Daisy Ridley playing opposite the likes of American actors Mark Hamill and Adam Driver, so too was there plenty of British wizardry behind the scenes. The technical effects team at Pinewood Studios has wrought absolute wonders.
Not everything can be controlled, however, and not all of the film’s poignancy was intentional. A concluding caption pays tribute to ‘our princess’ Carrie Fisher, who over 40 years has metamorphosed into the venerable General Leia Organa, and who died after filming had been completed. How sad she is not around to take part in the publicity tour; she was always such fun on chat-show sofas.
In truth, it takes a very long time to get from the film’s exhilarating start to that moving sign-off. Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two-and-a-half hours, and there were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour: just as you’re planning your route to the exit, it lurches into yet another new lease of life. But, my goodness, how it rewards the audience’s staying power.
The second in the so-called Star Wars sequel trilogy, it follows directly on from 2015’s The Force Awakens.
Excellent viewing: It is the product of some remarkable technical wizardry at Pinewood Studios – as well as great vision from its American writer-director Rian Johnson
Tense: Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two and a half hours. There were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour
Han Solo is dead, killed by his and Leia’s son Kylo Ren (Driver), and the villainous First Order’s ineffably evil, incomparably ugly Supreme Leader Snoke (a mercifully unrecognisable Andy Serkis) is determined to finish off the noble Resistance, led by a resolute, but ageing and vulnerable Leia.
The Last Jedi skilfully continues the handover of the Star Wars baton to a younger generation. Snoke has the dastardly but comically hapless General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) to do his dirty work for him, facilitating some cheap but welcome laughs.
Yet there is little comedy from Snoke’s other instrument of evil, the emotionally conflicted Ren. Driver again makes a fantastic baddie, a worthy successor to Darth Vader, investing his character with proper depth. He’s the kind of tortured soul, tugged one way by conscience and another by impulse, who would grace any psychological thriller.
If I had to find a spoonful of negativity to splash on such a cinematic feast, it would be that Ridley, as the space scavenger Rey, is outclassed in her scenes with Driver and the equally terrific Hamill. She’s jolly pretty, and wields a light sabre wonderfully, but her dramatic range still stretches only from A to just beyond B.
Happily, Hamill gets a gratifying amount of screen time as Leia’s elusive twin, the disillusioned Luke Skywalker, looking in his oilskin coat like a lonely old Norwegian fisherman.
Dream like: Further enlivening the basic good v bad narrative are some truly spectacular battles, oodles of wit and a glorious episode in a casino that looks like the realisation of a feverish dream
He is swaddled in self-imposed exile and existential gloom on a remote, jagged island, supposedly the most ‘unfindable place in the galaxy’. In reality, it’s a rocky outcrop just off the coast of Ireland.
Nevertheless, Luke is still a Jedi knight, quite possibly the last one in existence, and Rey needs him to teach her the secrets of the Force. Will he be tempted out of retirement?
Even without him, the beleaguered Resistance, rapidly running out of both fuel and ideas, can muster some impressive assets, among them the apostate stormtrooper Finn (Boyega) and his unlikely new sidekick, a doughty janitor called Rose (Kelly Marie Tran).
In fine Star Wars tradition, there is also some splendid droid action, and a collection of weird and wonderful new animals that might have escaped from last year’s Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
Outclassed: In fact, if I had to find a spoonful of negativity to splash on such a cinematic feast, it would be that Daisy Ridley, as the space scavenger Rey, is outclassed in her scenes with Driver and the equally terrific Mark Hamill, writes Viner
Cinematic value: In our seats at Monday’s IMAX screening (do see this film on the biggest screen available) we were certainly being served
Cliff hanger no-more: The second in the so-called Star Wars sequel trilogy, it follows directly on from 2015’s The Force Awakens
Meanwhile, maverick pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is a further thorn in the First Order’s side, though he’s almost as much of a handful for his own side, especially Leia’s second-in-command, Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo, played by a stern Laura Dern, sporting a fetching mauve hairdo that makes her look for all the world like an inter-galactic Mrs Slocombe, from Are You Being Served?. In our seats at an IMAX screening earlier this week (do see this film on the biggest screen available) we were certainly being served.
A glorious episode in a casino looks like the realisation of a feverish dream surreally fusing James Bond with Dr Dolittle, and there’s also a scene-stealing turn from a rascally Benicio del Toro, who has surely booked himself a place in the next instalment.
It was great fun, too, spotting a few fleeting cameos, from Adrian Edmondson and Lily Cole among others. But all this is underpinned by some genuinely profound philosophising about life and death, including a line about the way to win being more about saving those you love than killing those you hate, that felt almost too deep for Star Wars.
The Last Jedi is that very rare thing, an intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns.
One to watch: The Last Jedi is that very rare thing, a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns
Most watched News videos
- Prince Harry jokes around with Barack Obama before interview
- Thousands turn out to see criminals sentenced and executed
- F***ing joke? Paula Radcliffe's husband on Mo Farah's SPOTY win
- Donald Trump uses two hands to drink water from glass
- Fire rages from car after it exploded with driver stuck inside
- Startling video of Navy pilots encountering unknown flying object
- Restaurant boss stunned after customers send letter with bill
- Police statement after 'horrific' multi-vehicle crash in Birmingham
- Scene of fatal car crash in Birmingham where at least 6 died
- Darius Campbell reveals charity water filter that can 'save lives'
- Awkward moment Tess Daly is caught in off-camera exchange
- Shocking footage shows fire breaking out at Cameron House, Scotland
- PIERS MORGAN: She might look better doing it but...
- Trump sparks fresh dementia concerns after he drinks...
- Transgender model who was sacked by L’Oreal over race row...
- Ex-nurse, 27, who pretended to be a man to pursue online...
- Playboy bunny croupier, 25, claims she was sacked from...
- Queen appoints Prince Harry to take over from his...
- Britain's FILTHIEST house: Revolting scene including...
- Harvey Weinstein asked Netflix for $25m 'emergency cash'...
- Concert pickpocket who turned himself into 'human deposit...
- Former Glee actor Mark Salling faces up to seven years in...
- The picture that has shamed Argentina: Tiny girl goes on...
- Ferne McCann's acid attacker ex-lover WINKS as he is...
- Toys R Us on the brink of collapse: Retailer could...
- 'Christmas terror plot foiled': Police kick door off its...
- Is this Britain's first private house SWAP? Downsizing...
- Fancy a dip after work? Luxury skyscrapers next to new US...
- Wife is covered in bruises so husband could degrade her...
- Hollywood's first major sex scandal: 'Prince of silent...