Film Review: Star Wars – The Last Jedi

Release date: 14^th December 2017

Director: Rian Johnson

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson

Runtime: 152 minutes

Genre: Science-Fiction

Watched in: 2D

Rating: 4/5 stars

Fans have been divided over this film, but I have to say I loved it. No, it wasn’t what I was expecting. It was a little different from other Star Wars films. Yes, that is a good thing from my point of view! I’ve liked (to varying degrees) all of the films. I thoroughly enjoyed The Force Awakens, but it did recycle major plot elements from the original trilogy too much. It didn’t stand on its own two feet. This film did.

It was rather long. It did feel a little episodic, almost like a TV series squished into a film. However, that didn’t really bother me. I just enjoyed the story. There were a lot of twists and turns and although some parts were a little predictable, there were parts that I didn’t see coming and broke from the mould, which I really liked about this film.

Visually and musically it’s stunning yet again. The soundtrack of John Williams is part of what really makes these movies great for me. Some interesting new worlds were explored in this film which made for some new captivating visuals and designs.

In terms of characters, I really liked all of them. Snoke has been very underdeveloped, so I’m hoping we’ll hear more about him in the next film. Rey and Finn are once again great characters. I’m not such a fan of Poe, but I don’t dislike his character. Some new faces joined as well, such as Rose and Holdo, and they fitted in well with the story. A lot of people complained that Kylo Ren was too whiny and teenager-like in The Force Awakens, but I think that actually means that we can clearly see a character arc in him. He has changed since the last film which is so good to see, and this film explored the conflict inside him more.

I thought the main returning characters – Leia, Luke etc – were handled well. I’ve seen a lot of people expressing views that they wished they’d just left them alone. I’m glad they’ve been included in this trilogy because I like how it continues the story. It was interesting to see an older Luke, how he has changed over the years and his own internal conflict.

Many questions are still left unanswered. Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? Really we know little more about him after this film. Rey’s past is also still shrouded in mystery. The Knights of Ren have been mentioned in both films but we still don’t know much about them. I hope they won’t forget to wrap up all the subplots and unanswered questions in the last film.

Now we just have to wait another two years for the concluding chapter in the trilogy…