Movie Review: Star Wars Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Great action, laughs, characters, acting

Cons: Too long, dark

The Bottom Line:

Saga continues

More original, yet dark

Not best in series

“Amazingly, Every Word in that Sentence is Wrong.”

After watching The Force Awakens two years ago and noticing the blatant similarities to A New Hope, I figured I knew what to expect with this year’s Star Wars movie – The Last Jedi.  While there were a few more surprises along the way, I was mostly right.

And don’t worry, I will be avoiding spoilers as I review the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you will still be surprised.

The movie opens with the First Order having found the Rebel’s newest base.  While the Rebel’s do their best to evacuate, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leads a daring counter attack of his own despite General Leia Solo’s (Carrie Fisher) hesitations.  Meanwhile, Finn (John Boyega) wants to do what he can to help Rey.

And where is Rey (Daisy Ridley)?  She’s exactly where we left her – having just tracked down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).  However, Luke is not happy to be found.  Can Rey convenience him to train her?  Or to rejoin the Rebels?

If The Force Awakens was A New Hope, this movie is the new movies’ The Empire Strikes Back.  While there are certainly similarities, this movie isn’t as obvious a rip off.  Still, it is much darker in tone.  In fact, I would say that of the 8 official “episodes,” this is the darkest.

Then there’s the pacing.  At two hours twenty minutes, the movie is too long.  They could have easily cut out some parts of it and made for a much tighter story.

These flaws aside, there is much to enjoy here.  There are several good action sequences that perfectly entertain.  They’ve included some jokes that lighten the mood.  The entire audience at the theater where I saw it laughed and cheered multiple times.  This is a special effects heavy film, and the special effects are spot on.

And the acting is great as well.  Everybody has their moment to shine, and they do so perfectly.  Laura Dern joins the cast here as a new character, and Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher’s real-life daughter, is back as well.  Her character has much more screen time in this movie, too.

I’ve heard a lot of people who absolutely love this movie, and I can see it.  However, I found The Last Jedi to be just average.  I am certainly looking forward to seeing where the franchise goes next, but this isn’t going to be my favorite film in the series.