Film: Star Wars - The Last Jedi

GENRE: Action, Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 32 minutes

STARRING: Daisy Ridley (Star Wars VII, Murder on the Orient Express)

Adam Driver (Lucky Logan, Girls), Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Kingsman)

DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, Breaking Bad episodes)

WRITER: Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Brothers Bloom)

PLOT: Luke trains Rey but she is drawn to Kylo Ren. Meanwhile, the Resistance tries to escape total annihilation.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Looking forward to this for a long, long time

STORY STUFF: Well that was entertaining. This middle episode has all the action, twists, humour and character development I would expect in a trilogy. I do think the film is a tad too long as they wear out their welcome in a couple of locations. I really enjoyed the connections to both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; it’s not a carbon copy (ahem, Death Star) but some great moments of history repeating itself. The story is beautifully told.

ACTING STUFF: Great acting by all. I especially liked Driver’s Kylo Ren this time around; great arch. Hamill and Carrie Fisher keep the franchise grounded with their seriousness (with moments of levity) while most characters get some funny lines here and there. I noticed that there were a lot more females in the cast for this movie. I don’t recall seeing many female Imperial (First Order) lackeys in previous installments. And it looks like the Resistance is totally run by women. Nothing wrong with it, just noticeable. Also, the Porgs are simply adorable (and funny) and used well in the script.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Fantastic action sequences. Great starship fights and hand to hand combat. Awesome to see the Crimson Guards in full attack mode with their sweet weapons. The animal riding does look like its sole purpose is to add it to a ride in Disneyland, but, whatever. Oh, and whoever thought of the final planet having a white ground with red underneath is a genius. It looked fantastic and was used so well. I did think that two scenes were incredibly cheesy. To try avoid spoilers I’ll just say one was floating and the other was sweeping. Overall though, Johnson knocked it out of the park.

VERDICT: Four and half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You have eyes

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Darkest Hour, Downsizing