“The Last Jedi” is the best-made film in the entire Star Wars saga by a significant margin, and as of right now it's also my favorite. Whether it will be your favorite entry is a different question, but I believe wholeheartedly that the direction, acting, and risky storytelling decisions (that mostly pay off) are the best they have ever been. “The Force Awakens” was exactly the type of story episode VII needed to be - returning us to a world we love, introducing compelling new characters, and starting a new chapter, while also treading in familiar territory. JJ Abrams was the perfect guy to come in and do that, as he was able to echo what had come before, while updating it with a modern vision. Rian Johnson was the perfect guy to come in for Episode VIII to prove this world can still subvert expectations and evolve in surprising ways. He takes a lot of chances with the script, nailing about 92% of it (a very calculated number, I promise). While there are a few things I did not love, I appreciated the fact that this film does not rest on its laurels and play it safe as “The Force Awakens” did. It is also the most interestingly directed of the bunch, which isn’t that surprising considering Johnson’s existing work compared to that of previous franchise directors. From the second the opening crawl ends, we are thrown into a thrill ride that avoids being exhausting, picking up very shortly after the last film ended (just not where you expect). It also starts with a comedic scene that prepares audiences for the funniest Star Wars yet. While some humor could feel out of place in this universe, most of the jokes are integrated in a way that is true to character, so I really enjoyed the moments of levity provided. On the other end of the spectrum, the film brings us some great emotional beats, but with one key exception it doesn’t have as many gut-punches as the other films. It’s an interesting dichotomy that fits perfectly within Star Wars canon, because while the stakes are extreme, and by no means is it all good news for our heroes, it's mostly hopeful. This does not include the underlying knowledge that Carrie Fisher tragically passed, which obviously brings an added layer to every second she is on screen.
The entire returning ensemble is great, with the new(er) cast digging deeper into their characters, and both Mark Hamill & Fisher’s best performances yet as Luke & Leia. The handful of new characters, most notably Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Holdo & Kellie Marie-Tran as Rose Tico, seamlessly integrate into the cast and provide POVs we haven’t seen before. Tran is given a (maybe even the) soon-to-be iconic line that will rightfully be leveraged as a rallying cry for our own world. As I mentioned before, there are some risks Johnson takes that I didn’t love, most notably an early scene involving a wholly new ‘force power,’ but your mileage may vary. One of the B plots slows things down, but ultimately provides some interesting thematic discussions about the underlying politics of this galaxy that you may recognize. It’s only a few brief scenes, but this whole sequence could have been shortened even more or excised all together - satisfyingly exploring these ideas at this point would require taking too much screen time away from other things (which is great news for the new trilogy Johnson is developing). Based on his confidence creating new characters, creatures (porgs! fish nuns!), and mythology, I could not be more excited to see what Johnson does with free reign and 8 hours to tell a wholly new story in this galaxy. In fact, this film does so much right that I’m actually worried about where the Skywalker saga will go from here. "The Last Jedi" doesn’t rely on a gimmicky ending, and throws a lot of wrenches into what was introduced in Episode VII. I don’t want to gang up on the guy, but I wish that Abrams wasn’t doing Episode IX, since I think Johnson eliminated some of the more traditional (read: predictable) elements that Abrams introduced, and he’s much better at setting up stories than solving them in surprising ways. But if I'm worried about the next one because this one was so good, then I think I can live with that.
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