“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Review

Okay, folks, the moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived: the next Star Wars movie is out, and boy, is it incredible.

Before I go on, this is the part where I tell you that there will be spoilers in this article. If you don’t want the movie to be spoiled, stop reading right here, right now, and go watch the movie before coming back here.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because I did.

In the movie, ominously titled The Last Jedi, the Resistance is on the run from the First Order after the destruction of Starkiller Base in the last movie, The Force Awakens. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley), meets with the legendary Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to try to convince him to return from his self-imposed exile to help save the Resistance from being completely wiped out.

So yeah, for starters, let’s talk about the plot. Throughout the entire movie, there were several tributes to previous films in the franchise, such as the final battle scene, which takes place on a planet with a white surface and involved turrets, trenches, speeders, and a heavily fortified base on the Resistance’s side, and a massive army, including AT-ATs, on the First Order’s side. Sound familiar? As in, a little bit of a repeat of Episode V’s Hoth Battle? To sweeten this tribute, the Resistance Fighters are even using computer equipment in the base that looks exactly like the tech used in Echo Base.

Overall though, the plot was very well thought out. The entire movie, it seems, takes place over the span of a few days, but with the multiple storylines within, it feels as though it’s much longer. The storylines even merge at the very end, when all the characters reunite once more.

The characters were also well developed and performed perfectly by the cast. Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, and Gwendoline Christie all reprise their roles from previous films as Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Snoke, Maz Kanata, General Hux, C-3PO, and Captain Phasma respectively. Carrie Fisher also reprises her role as Leia Organa in her final film appearance before her death in December of 2016. Joonas Suotamo takes over the role of Chewbacca from Peter Mayhew, who was 73 years old and suffering from chronic knee and back pain. New characters are introduced into the film as well, including Kelly Marie Tran as Resistance mechanic Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, and Benicio del Toro as an underworld codebreaker known only as DJ. And of course, in a surprise appearance, Frank Oz returns to portray the role of everyone’s favorite little green Jedi, Yoda.

Probably the most important thing to talk about in regards to this film is the special effects. The effects used in the movie were incredible. The salt trails kicked up by the speeders in the final battle scene were beautiful. There’s also another scene in the movie that looked amazing. I won’t go into much detail about it, but this particular scene—how it was set up, executed and presented—made my heart jump out of my chest. It was spectacular and beautiful.

Overall, this movie gets a 9.8/10, or 98%. Truly, in my opinion, it may not be the best film of the franchise, but it’s been the best one since Episode V. Star Wars fans, if you haven’t seen it yet, GO WATCH IT! You will not be disappointed.