Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Spoiler Free Review/Quick-Thoughts

NOTE:  This is a Spoiler-Free Review/Collection of Thoughts on Star Wars The Last Jedi.  A More Spoilery Review will be coming this weekend.  

The Last Jedi is very much unlike any Star Wars movie that has come before.  This is not to say it is a better or worse movie than any of the prior Star Wars films, but it is different in that the movie tries arguably to have more of a symbolic than straightforward message, unlike the past 7 movies in the main series (Star Wars movies are many things, but subtle isn't one of them).  It's still recognizably a Star Wars movie - and even in being more symbolic, it can't help but be sometimes laughably unsubtle about it - but it's definitely different in this way (and I'm not going to go more in depth on that since I want to avoid spoilers).  Overall, I think this shift in the character of the movie DOES work, though it leaves the series in an interesting place to conclude with Episode IX. 




The Last Jedi is also the longest film in the series, running 8 minutes longer than Episode 2 and 15 minutes longer than The Force Awakens.  It very much feels it - the movie packs far far more in than any previous Star Wars film and in the final 45 minutes, there are numerous points where it surprised me that the movie wasn't simply about to end.  I'm usually not one to complain about the length of movies, but I do feel this one was too long. 

Why was it too long?  Well, one of the problems with The Force Awakens was that it at some points felt like it was shuffling from set piece to set piece without ever stopping for breath and character development (Rogue One was far far worse in this department by the way).  The characters were good enough that TFA could get away with this, but it really could've used some more time to breathe and maybe one less set piece (there's one in particular I'm thinking of).  The Last Jedi actually finds time for space to breathe....but does so by adding runtime, rather than reducing the number of action-packed set pieces.  I appreciate the effort, and without those extra moments of breath, the newly symbolic focus would not work at all. 

This is not to be too negative on this movie - I don't think it's the best Star Wars movie (Empire Strikes Back is still easily #1), but it's still very solid with some great characters.  Finn, Rey, Poe, and Kylo Ren (although I'm a little more ambivalent on Kylo Ren - more in the spoilery review on that) are still excellent characters who develop further in this movie and new main character Rose is an excellent addition to the cast. 

The set pieces are also excellent, and if you were worried about the movie aping Empire Strikes Back, while it starts very much in the same mold, it goes way off in another direction by about a third of the way through.  The movie is very much unpredictable, sometimes too much so (one of the main plotlines winds up going basically nowhere, and works only because the ending builds upon the symbolism invoked as part of that plotline). 

In short, it's Star Wars, but more symbolic than before, with great characters that are further developed, but it probably could've used a bit more editing to make it not feel too overwhelming.  Recommended for sure, even if it's not the best movie in the series so far.