Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Review

• This is a late and SPOILER HEAVY review for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I am going to spoil the entire movie. DO NOT READ if you have not seen the movie.

• Obviously, Star Wars is my favorite movie franchise of all time. There are times when I think Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie of all time. Star Wars is huge to me. I've seen the original trilogy probably 30 times. So I am one of the super Star Wars nerds. I've been very happy with what Disney has been doing with Star Wars with the exception of Rogue One. And the reason this review took me so long to write is because I had a million thoughts on this movie. I wrote 4800 words in my notes. 4800 undeveloped thoughts. So I am going to trim out A LOT of those thoughts. If you read my review for Logan, I'm gonna try to keep it at about that length. I could probably talk about this movie for 3-hours. So get your eyes prepared for a lot of reading ahead. SPOILERS AHEAD.

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• The Last Jedi did not hit the mark that I wanted it to. I was a little let down on my first viewing. Because I do think this movie has problems. But on my second and third viewing, I was able to enjoy it a lot more. I was able to prepare myself for all the flaws and disappointments and just enjoy what I was given. Rian Johnson is the director on this movie. So to prepare for this movie, I watched his other two films, Brick, and Looper. I wasn't a fan of Brick at all. But I LOVED Looper. If you haven't seen Looper, you should definitely check it out. I think that Rian Johnson creatively will do much better with the trilogy that he's been given. I think that he's a director that does much better writing and directing in a story that he created in the first place. I think that J.J. Abrams is a much better team player and I'm very glad that he's directing Episode 9.

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• My least favorite part of the entire movie was the entire plot with Finn and Rose and the stupid Canto Bight Casino. That stupid casino is the worst thing to ever happen to Star Wars since Gungans. Nerd rage comes out of me thinking about that dumb casino and those annoying stable kids. It felt like that whole plot was to give Finn something to do. And I am not a fan of Rose. And the freaking scene of the movie is that annoying broom kid. My favorite scene in the entire movie, was Yoda and Luke reunited. I almost shed a tear watching Yoda teaching Luke once again. "Young Skywalker still looking to the horizon." - I literally just got chills typing that line. I love that Yoda was the one that finally made Luke snap out of it. And I LOVE that Yoda isn't teaching Luke as his padawan, Yoda was teaching Luke as a fellow master. I just love seeing that relationship grow into this. And Yoda is the one who comes back to snap Luke out of it. It's one of my all-time favorite Star Wars scenes.

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• Let's talk about Luke. I actually really liked for the most part what Rian Johnson did with Luke Skywalker. This is a Luke that is completely bitter about the ways of the Jedi. He committed the same mistake that the previous Jedi did. He created Kylo Ren by attempting to kill him. And he blames the Jedi for it. And that's why he's gone to that island to die. Which brings me to another flaw. I think that this movie has emotional weight in the wrong places. In some moments in the movie, I think that you should feel more emotional weight. And some moments where you shouldn't feel as much weight as you should. I was not a fan of the way Rian Johnson started Luke and Rey's story off. I hated the joke with Luke throwing the lightsaber, which I'll get more into the comedy later. But it felt like we were just dropped in the middle of what was happening with Luke and Rey. Rian Johnson made us play a bit of catch up. And the GIANT trailer moment of Luke saying "It's time for the Jedi to end" Is one moment where I think you should have felt more weight.

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• A moment where I felt it too much weight is when Holdo (Laura Dern) went into hyperspace into Snoke's ship. There was a gasp in my theater. That moment was completely jaw-dropping. I thought that they had just killed off Kylo, Rey, Finn, Rose, BB-8, and Captain Phasma. And then you cut back onto the ship and everybody is fine. It's an amazing scene that I felt was misleading. So things like that are what I mean by too much or not enough emotional weight. So let's talk about the comedy. I do think that it went too far in some areas. I'm really sick of too much comedy in movies today. And the moment that we had been waiting 2 years to see with Rey handing Luke the lightsaber, and what does Rian Johnson use it for? A laugh. So I think that balancing emotional weight and comedy were some of the main problems.

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• But let me talk about some of my favorite moments. Luke and Yoda was my favorite scene. I loved Luke's final scene. We spent the entire movie with this bitter loner, and we end with Luke looking up at the twin suns again. In a way, Rey redeemed Luke. In Luke's last moments, he was that kid looking at the sky dreaming of adventure. Another scene where I nearly cried. Another moment that people are divided on is what people are calling "Super Leia." I totally get why some people hated this moment and I don't blame you and I admit it could have been handled better. But I loved it. We finally got to see Leia using the force. And the scene along with the score was absolutely beautiful to me. Speaking of the score, I love that the episodic movies are basically greatest hits albums for John Willaims. He's my favorite composer of all time and I didn't think that we needed more themes for this movie. We already have loads of amazing themes being crammed into one movie and I love it. And who doesn't get chills watching Luke and Leia reunite? Or Luke and R2 reuniting?

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• Let's talk about Snoke. Andy Serkis is one of my favorite actors. He's amazing. Andy Serkis and Adam Driver are the standouts for me in this movie. Snoke was completely disturbing and menacing. When his creepy face gets up close to screen and right up to Rey's face, I found myself wanting to lean away from the screen. I honestly think you could nominate Andy Serkis for this movie (it would take a miracle). But I am furious that they killed him off. J.J. Abrams hired Andy Serkis to do more than just float people around like puppets and then dying really easily. I thought that Snoke had to potential to be one of the greatest villains of all time and I was really loving what I was getting in this movie. And then they just had to kill him off and making me even less excited about Episode 9.

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• But on the bright side about Snoke's death, It does give Kylo an interesting future. I LOVE Kylo Ren (even though I want to see him be brutally tortured for killing off my all time favorite character). I think he is a fascinating villain. In the second act of every story, you need to beat the crap out of your characters. And I thought this was one thing Rian Johnson did perfectly. Snoke insulting everything about Kylo was perfect to me. Kylo wants to be like the Sith. He wants to be Vader. So he wears this mask essentially trying to imitate them. And Snoke insults Kylo down into his core. "You're nothing but a child in a mask." And then the next scene of him smashing the mask in anger, I thought was just a perfect scene. I think Adam Driver is one of the best actors in this amazing cast. I think he portrays the conflict and vulnerability perfectly. And especially the anger, Adam Driver's angry screaming puts chills down my spine. I love Adam Driver and I love Kylo Ren and that's one thing to look forward to in Episode 9.

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• How about a little respect for freaking Han Solo or Admiral Ackbar, Rian Johnson?! I was expecting a funeral for Han Solo. And all I get is a line from Luke that's not even picked up again?! I really miss that nerf herder. Anyway, I can't go into all my thoughts. So here was some of them. I think that Rian Johnson kinda just stripped away any mystery these movies had. Which is why I think he would have been better for a spin-off which he's now doing. I really loved what he did with Luke, Kylo, and Poe. I wanted more from Rey. And I wished his writing would have been better tonally. I think this movie has some of the greatest Star Wars moments, but it also doesn't quite hit the mark. Here's my ranking of all the Star Wars movies starting from worst to best - Episode 2, Episode 1, Episode 3, Rogue One, Episode 8, Episode 4, Episode, 6, Episode 7, Episode 5. And my grade for Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an A-. I'd love to discuss this movie more. So if you'd like, let's respectfully talk about it in the comment section.