Article Preface...
For those of you who have not seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi yet, do not worry, I will keep all spoilers far away from this article.
This last Thursday night the moment that Star Wars fans have been waiting for arrived and the first showings of Star Wars Episode VIII came into theaters all across the United States. After the release of Star Wars Episode VII came out two years ago to the applause of both Critics and long-time fans people have been anxiously awaiting this new chapter in the franchise. The critics seem to mostly agree that the new film is a great film and is a good step forward for the series, however the fans seem to be divided, either saying it is one of the best films in the series or that it is a great disappointment.
Currently on the website Rotten Tomatoes the new Star Wars film has been certified Fresh with 93 percent of the critics giving it high praise (based off of 291 reviews) while only 57 percent of the fan reviews have been positive (based of of 84,274 reviews). After seeing the film myself I find myself going along with the critics in giving the movie high praise, yet I can see why there are people out there who are disappointed with it.
The Last Jedi, written and directed by Rian Johnson, is not at all what everyone expected it to be. From the very beginning the movie seems to take plot points that were set into motion by the previous film and just completely run off with them in completely unpredictable ways. For the most part, I feel that this really helped the story stay fresh and appealing. That being said I will say that there are some story elements from Episode VII that Rian Johnson seems to just throw away without much thought, leaving a great deal of possible character exploration and questions from the previous movie ignored, which I personally found disappointing.
Where Rian Johnson's strengths really shine, in my opinion, is in the further development of the main characters. Poe Dameron shows a great deal of character development as he is forced to make decisions that have both negative and positive effects on the future of the Resistance movement. There is also a part of the story that I personally found interesting where Rae and Ben Solo (A.K.A. Kylo Ren) come together in a way that I found unexpected, which led to an even more unexpected result. For me though, the most satisfying character to watch on the screen was Luke Skywalker. We get a lot of revelation on why Luke disappeared when he did. Without giving anything away, I will say that Luke's side of the story is the my personal favorite part of the movie, but I think it is also one of the main disappointments that some fans have with the film.
Even though I thought The Last Jedi is a great film, I can understand why the fan base seems to be so greatly divided in their appreciation of it. Rian Johnson takes the series in an almost abrupt u-turn from what most viewers expected, which I am sure is a dissapointment to some people. There were even some moments where it felt to me that Johnson was almost making fun of some of the theories that the fans had made concerning the franchise's direction.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I think Rian Johnson did a great job moving the franchise forward in a new direction while paying respect to the previous films. It will be interesting to see where the films go from here and particularly what will be the fan's reactions to them will be.
For those of you who have seen the movie, what did you think of it? Did you enjoy the new take on an old story or were you overall dissapointed with Rian Johnson's plot decisions? Please feel free to comment.
