I’ve seen “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” twice now. I grew up on “Star Wars.” It’s the first film that truly had an impact on me as a child. I was there in 1977 when it hit theaters and completely captured my imagination. So this review of the eighth episode of the Skywalker saga is coming from a longtime fan.
I found “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” to be a refreshing change of direction for George Lucas’s space opera. Honestly, it feels like a direction the Maker himself would have taken. It’s unconventional and, at times, unpredictable.
Writer / Director Rian Johnson did exactly what he had to do to push the “Star Wars” saga in a unique new direction. He either ignored what fans predicted would happen or specifically did the exact opposite of what he read and heard. Either way, the entire film is like a big slap in the face to fanboys who don’t like any sort of massive changes in a galaxy far, far away.
Everything that every crybaby fanboy or fangirl is complaining about I loved. Everything. Flying Leia; Luke throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder; Force Vision Luke; Snoke’s demise; Rey’s lack of important parentage; Rey’s “unfounded” power in the Force; the Canto Bight sequence. The humor was all fine with me as well.
The only thing I was disappointed by was the way Captain Phasma was killed off. Here’s a female character that really was built up to be so much more. I really thought that we would get something redeeming her uselessness in “The Force Awakens,” but we didn’t. She went out like the punk she was.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is about destroying the things we’ve come to hold dear and starting over from scratch. It’s like when a farmer burns down his fields to make way for better growth. Sometimes you have to tear down the old to build up the new. That’s exactly what Rian Johnson did with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” He gave us the movie we NEEDED, not the one we wanted or expecged as fanboys and fangirls.
To read my spoiler-free review of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” just go here.