Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Review

I went to see the last Jedi Last night, so obviously, I have a few thoughts. Actually, I have many thoughts. (Spoiler free!)

Before I saw this movie, I only saw two things online about it. 1. That it was getting rave reviews. And 2. When you see it DO NOT SPOIL IT. I knew no basic plot, nothing about who the new characters were. I was just going in blind with "This movie is awesome but we can't tell you why!"

I will say, at first, while I was watching it I was like "Why is this getting such great reviews? It's not bad. It's is good, but it's just another Star Wars movie with Star Wars movie tropes. Beginning action sequence. A laugh. Slide scenne transitions. A "cantina-style" scene..." But I will say that this was Rian Johnson's (writer/directer) first time doing a Star Wars film, so he probably felt like he had to stick with a certain structure. Which worked for the first half of the movie.

The second half of the movie is really what started to get me interested. And the last 30 minutes are why this movie is getting rave reviews. I understand why ads are telling you not to spoil the movie because after you see it, that's all you want to do. You just want to talk about the movie with anyone and everyone. I want to tell everyone everything. Like when [redacted] and [redacted] go and [redacted] and then [redacted]. And then when [redacted] almost [redacted]! I wasn't ready for that! But I think one of the biggest shock was when [redacted] went and [redacted] [redacted] and was [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. And when [redacted] [redacted][redacted], I was like "OH MY GOD. Yes. BUT OH MY GOD."

There, I hope I edited myself enough.

What I can tell you is that this is the longest Star Wars movie to date, at 2 hours and 33 minutes. Which made me nervous when I was watching. Because at a certain point in a movie, when it gets to be so long, you start to notice.

When I saw Spectre in theaters, I kept checking my watch because I was like "This movie has had 3 climaxes so far and it doesn't seem to be ending and also I've been sitting here for 3 hours. Can I go home?"

But with The Last Jedi, I got nervous the longer it got because I was afraid they were going to end the movie on a cliffhanger. And they had a lot of opportunities near the end to do so. So, I did check my watch a few times, but only because I wanted to know if they had enough time to have an action scene and give me some answers, or if I should brace myself for a cliffhanger.

New characters:

Rose Tico: Adorable. Trying her best. Succeeding.

Vice Admiral Holdo: Your hair looks like cotton candy...Also, you need to share some stuff with the class more.

DJ: This was a character I had heard nothing about before the movie and ended up being my favorite of all the new characters. I really hope he comes back for Episode 9, because I liked him. Not in a "Ohhh! Benicio Del Toro! He's so handsome!" way. But in a "Your character has potential and it'd be interesting to see how that plays out in future films." way.

BB-9E: Not enough screen time.

Porgs: Adorable. Still don't know what the hell they are or what their purpose is, other than to just be adorable little cash cows.

Cameos I missed, but found out about as I was reading the credits:

Warwick Davis: Wodibin
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Slowen Lo (voice)
Tom Hardy: Stormtrooper

There was also a rumor that Prince Harry and Prince William were Stormtroopers, but I cannot confirm nor deny that. Not because of spoilers, but because I honestly don't know. I went to go see an 11:15p showing of this movie and it wasn't done until 3am. You think I'm going to sit there and read through ALL the credits looking for their names? No. I went home and passed out.

What I like about these new Star Wars movies is that even though there are "good guys" and "bad guys", you get to see that both sides are flawed. The good guys make poor choices sometimes. The bad guys have moments of weakness. It shows that not all your heroes (or villains) are perfect. And this movie really digs deep into that.

And that's the closest thing to a spoiler I can give in this review.

Many people are saying this is the "BEST STAR WARS MOVIE OF ALL TIME". I disagree. "Empire" will always be my #1. But I can see why this might be #1 to someone else. To a new generation of fans, this is their "Empire". It has those "I am your father" moments.

In fact, it was a lot in common with "Empire" now that I think about it...Jedi training, reluctant Jedi trainer, C-3PO giving someone odds and another person not liking it, "I love you/I know", force choking, a "great disturbance in the force", guy in a helmet and black outfit following the orders of a creepy wrinkly old dude on a throne, a pilot doing something dangerous/"they'd be crazy to follow me" moment, a "join me, together we can rule the galaxy" moment, "they're getting closer"/"Oh, yeah? Watch this!" moment, "we can't go into lightspeed!" moment, "but [insert main character here/group of people here] will die if you don't!" moment, the First Order hating the Millenium Falcon with a passion, a 'character you wanted to trust double crosses you' moment, finding a mysterious place in the same area you're doing your Jedi training that is strong with the Dark Side of the force and having to go in alone and face yourself...

Holy crap, it IS "Empire"...

Anyway, for me, Empire will always be my #1. But The Last Jedi is a strong #2.