We as Star Wars fans were elated when the announcement of a Sequel Trilogy was in development; Star Wars: The Force Awakens was perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2015, and quite possibly the biggest Star Wars event across America at the time. While the film did have its noticeable flaws and striking resemblance to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, it was still surprisingly a hit.
Well, two years later we have the next installment to the series; from what we watched it’s very understandable why Disney is letting Rian Johnson have full reign on creating a new trilogy in the upcoming future. Star Wars: The Last Jedi did not disappoint. However take the aforementioned phrase with a grain of salt; the film still had its flaws with some being too large to go unnoticed.
(WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND OUR ARTICLE AND RATING)
The Last Jedi picks up where The Force Awakens left us: Rey finally finding Luke on the ancient Jedi Temple island with her arm outstretched to give Luke his old lightsaber back to him. From there we are given extraordinary space battles, some surprising plot twists (with others being not so surprising, only more angering) and all of our wishes finally granted: Jedi Master Luke Skywalker battling it out (sort of).
Perhaps the better one of the two sequel films so far, The Last Jedi does have its moments in terms of giving the fans what they want in an epic space opera: continuing/building on a major existing story line while creating a new parallel story at the same time. It was a treat seeing Mark Hamill in his old Jedi hermit robes, training Rey in the ways of the Force while also helping her catch up on what he did as a Jedi Master before exiling himself.
There are some story elements that were foreshadowed in The Force Awakens that had terrible results/buildup in The Last
Jedi; I say terrible results because, and if Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren was telling the truth (SPOILER ALERT), then we finally know who Rey’s parents are and why she ended up on Jakku. If this wasn’t a misdirection in the film then we as fans were sorely cheated at learning of Rey’s past; however Star Wars has always been clever at misdirection and we may yet see more added to Rey’s history in Episode IX.
Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis); perhaps the most disappointing and unimpressive character (besides Benicio del 
Toro’s character) of the Sequel Trilogy. We will just put it out there (SPOILER ALERT): we don’t see much action from this supposedly power dark side character because Kylo Ren finally decides he’s had enough of Snoke’s emotional berating and cuts him in half. However I will say it was an impressive fight scene to watch Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren fight alongside one another when Snoke’s guards attack them. There was so much build up and mysteriousness behind Snoke; we were all hoping to see more story development of the character in The Last Jedi and what his connection to Luke was (if there was any at all).
We will say that it was a bitter sweet feeling seeing Carrie Fisher portraying Leia for a final time (also being her final film appearance too). While she was a major player in The Force Awakens, she was an even more pivotal role in The Last Jedi with an added flair and boss-like attitude; not to mention we get to see her dig into her Skywalker roots and use the Force to save her life during a major conflict in the film. For Fisher’s final performance, The Last Jedi was a fitting farewell to both her as a person and to her character, Leia.
With a somewhat fitting ending for the film and finally seeing Luke in action, as a whole, The Last Jedi was a major achievement and performed well visually and (for the most part) continuing the story of these new characters that were introduced to us two years ago. And the porgs, while not very vital to the story, are so freaking cute. Some of the story seemed rough and poorly told, The Last Jedi is by far the best Star Wars film of the Sequel Trilogy; but Empire Strikes Back is still the best so far.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters now.
[penci_review]
