Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A)
As the Star Wars behemoth lumbers on, cynics might be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the number of sequels, prequels and spin-offs that continue to make their way here from a galaxy far, far away.
Or not so far, actually. This film, the ninth (and in my view the best by a distance) since George Lucas’s original movie in 1977, was shot mostly in the British Isles.
It is the product of some remarkable technical wizardry at Pinewood Studios – as well as great vision from its American writer-director Rian Johnson.
Crowd-pleaser: ‘A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster’: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner
Admittedly, it takes a very long time to get from its exhilarating start to its poignant sign-off, a dedication to “our princess”, the late Carrie Fisher, who died after filming had been completed.
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 … 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. Han Solo is dead, killed by his son Kylo Ren (Adam 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 the venerable General Leia Organa (Fisher).
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
Snoke has the dastardly but comically hapless General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) to do his dirty work for him, as well as the still-conflicted Ren.
Driver again makes a fantastic baddie, a worthy successor to Darth Vader, investing his character with proper depth.
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.
She’s jolly pretty, and wields a light sabre wonderfully, but her dramatic range still stretches only from A to just beyond B.
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
Happily, Hamill gets a gratifying amount of screen time as a disillusioned Luke Skywalker, looking like a lonely old fisherman and living in self-imposed exile on a remote, jagged island, supposedly the most “unfindable place in the galaxy” and in reality just off the coast of County Donegal. But he’s still a Jedi knight and Rey wants 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 (John Boyega) and his unlikely new sidekick, a doughty janitor called Rose (Kelly Marie Tran).
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 Laura Dern with a fetching mauve hairdo that makes her look for all the world like an inter-galactic Mrs Slocombe, from Are You Being Served?.
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
In our seats at Monday’s IMAX screening (do see this film on the biggest screen available) we were certainly being served. 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 surreally fusing James Bond with Dr Dolittle.
There’s also a scene-stealing turn from a rascally, stammering Benicio del Toro, and a few fleeting cameos, from Adrian Edmondson and Lily Cole among others, that are fun to spot.
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, a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens across the UK tomorrow
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