The Last Jedi surprises franchise fans

The newest movie of the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi, is now in movie theaters. In this offering, the series returns to the main story after a one-year hiatus with the spin-off movie Rogue One.

Star Wars The Last Jedi takes place shortly after where The Force Awakens left off. In the opening sequence, the Resistance is attempting to evacuate their base on to their main cruisers when the First Order arrives with a massive dreadnaught. The dreadnaught then obliterates the former Resistance base and targets the main resistance battleship.

They are about to fire when a lone X-wing fighter, piloted by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), attacks the ship and takes out the surface turrets clearing the way for bombers, which destroy the dreadnaught. The Resistance fleet then jumps to hyperspace escaping the fleet. However shortly after they come through hyperspace they find that the First Order has tracked them. This means that they can not lose the pursuing fleet.

Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) attempts to learn the ways of the Jedi from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on his uncharted planet. Luke is unwilling to train Rey because of his disillusionment with the Jedi religion. Luke finally relents and agrees to teach Rey three lessons.

Overall I would say that this is an excellent movie. It is not the best Star Wars movie ever but still great in its own right. This is a movie that I would definitely see again in theaters. I recommend it to fans of the original Star Wars series and those who enjoy a good action movie. — Matthew Sue

This movie had many strong points but also suffered from many weaknesses. One highlight would be the action, especially the space battles. I especially liked the opening battle sequence when the bombers flew in to destroy the dreadnaught.

Another strong point would be the acting, I especially enjoyed Hamill’s Luke Skywalker. I felt that he did an excellent job of balancing serious self-confliction and comedic sarcasm. It was also interesting to watch the internal struggle Luke went through as he trained Rey and watched her powers grow.

Additionally, I also felt that this movie did an exceptional job of being original, something that The Force Awakens suffered from. It did have several parallels with episode V, A New Hope but these were not overpowering.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this movie was that it did away with many of the tropes that are so common in the Star Wars franchise. This movie also did an excellent job of not being predictable and had plenty of curveballs.

Besides these points, there are also several things that I disliked about this movie. The first and most significant would be the plot. I felt that it was strong at the start and the end, but was weak in the middle. Specifically in the tangent of the storyline when Finn embarks on a mission to find a codebreaker so that he can break onto a First Order ship. I felt that was out of place in the movie and it felt like a side quest.

Additionally, while this movie did well in answering many of questions that arose from The Force Awakens, it also left several questions unanswered which left me wanting more.

Overall I would say that this is an excellent movie. It is not the best Star Wars movie ever but still great in its own right. This is a movie that I would definitely see again in theaters. I recommend it to fans of the original Star Wars series and those who enjoy a good action movie.

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For more reviews, read Thor Raganrok exceeds expectations due to audiences reactions or Production of ‘Annie’ fails to fulfill expectations.

This author can be reached via twitter @matthewsue1 and via email: Matthew Sue.