Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star wars, a household franchise over 3 decades in the making. It's the kind of franchise you'd love to expand with all the interesting worlds, characters and concepts that encompass it. It helps too that having a following as big as Star Wars does led to so many spin-offs, games, tv shows and even comics (Marvel's Darth Vader comic is amazing btw).  Did the 8th (9th including Rogue One) film in the series hold up to its legacy or did it slowly die out the same way other fleshed out franchises died out (looking at you Fast and the Furious and Transformers).

Before dissecting the film though, just a few things need to be mentioned. I recall watching both trilogies in my youth but truth be told, most of what I would be remembering would come from various forms of media like the tv shows and the comics (also gratuitous amounts of reddit browsing as well HAHA). Also that this would be a spoiler free review. I honestly enjoyed the film but at the end of the day, we have to remember that films are made for the purpose of entertaining us the viewers and with Star Wars being the film in mind, it will always be entertaining regardless of your generation, but then again it's Disney so when would the films be anywhere below a 7?

Star Wars starts out strong directly following where The Force Awakens leaves off with Mark Hamill pulling off a Thanos only finally bringing closure to the 2 year hiatus from the main series setting into motion what I would consider as the main buildup to this trilogy's saga. Without going into detail about it, this film would answer some questions left by the previous and leave even more questions giving the viewer so much more to look forward to. There isn't really much to say about the visuals except wow considering how far the series had progressed in terms of its visuals. The soundtrack was of a caliber akin to the Star Wars franchise leading with its well known theme alongside the iconic scrolling text. The plot although lackluster at first for me was well thought out using legends from the star wars universe not just to add more nostalgia to the film but to enhance it further. Maybe it's just me getting slow in my time but all those little moments add up contributing much of the films success. Characters from the previous film didn't get an ex machina of sorts but developed with their on screen personas. There were no shortcuts when it came to this regard but the humanization of these characters, even with them being minor characters in TFA such as Captain Phasma was commendable. Rose Tico played by Kelly Marie Tran is the fan in all of us and that's all I can say about her without spoiling the plot. In regards to Luke though, age finally got the better of him and his motivations in the film really make his character more compelling adding to the films depth.

Sure Star Wars is great and all though but not every film is a flawless masterpiece. One issue that I had with the film is Kylo Ren's character. Yes yes, he's Han Solo's son Ben Solo and he has issues but his character felt whinier to me for some reason. Another thing is a scene with Leia that you'd have to see to believe. I already saw it and I still can't fathom the reasoning for that scene but at this point it's better to watch it yourself. Lastly there's Porgs. These things right here:

Do they help the film or do they hinder it? They're definitely cute but at the end of the day, they're what I consider to be the modern day Ewok but unlike the Ewoks of past, they were more of a cute background character come to life. Think baby Groot but without the relevance in a battle or in most serious situations. Expect to see them everywhere though because there's no denying how cute they actually are.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a great film in its own right with only some issues that would actually hinder it. Although slow paced at times, it would still deliver and together with The Force Awakens, serves as a good introduction to new fans of the franchise.

8/10 mostly for it feeling similar to the original trilogy and for Kylo Ren's whiny persona.There are enough things going on to set it apart from the original trilogy but when it comes to franchises like Star Wars, a little nostalgia never hurt anyone and it could even hep the film more that way.