Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Movie Review

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 15 Dec 2017

Writer/director Rian Johnson brings us the second installment in the trilogy that began with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. Rey, Finn, BB-8 and all the characters from TFA are back along with the returning characters from the original trilogy such as Luke and Leia.

The Last Jedi is a more thoughtful movie than The Force Awakens which helps and hurts it. It helps that it doesn’t feel quite so much like a theme park ride nor does it feel riddled with fan service and echoes of what came before. It may hurt that younger children than the PG-13 guideline may become bored during it’s 152 minutes.

The fates and turning points of many characters are brought forward in this movie – almost to the extent that I found myself feeling once or twice like the story had come to a natural conclusion a movie ahead of time. But within a few minutes, a twist would present itself and lead to the intended finale of the as yet untitled Episode IX.

I really enjoyed where TLJ took the story from TFA. There’s no spoilers in the text version of this review, but feel free to check out the video discussion below if you’re wondering what we thought of the particulars. I recommend the movie in general, it just might be too long and boring for younger viewers.

Aaron, Matthew, Cal and I saw it in the theater and had a discussion in the car: