Star Wars The Last Jedi Spoiler Free Review

I just got home from the movie theatre from Star Wars The Last Jedi and it was a blast; I will be doing two seperate reviews of the film, one a general review of the film, and the other filled with spoilers and observations that will make fanboys go insane and what not.

Just to clear things out of the way I will say that no The Last Jedi does not follow in the same footsteps that The Force Awakens did and do a general repeat of The Empire Strikes back, no  Mark Hamill isn’t a bad actor contrary to what his lack of lines in The Force Awakens lead you to believe, and no there isn’t anything post credits (go use the restroom!)

I promised a spoiler free review and dammit you’re getting one!

The film is very properly paced, but rather than having three acts, four (possibly five) are in the film. There is a strong presence of leadership and decision making present in the film with two of our protagonists learning a good lesson of “knowing when to fold ‘em” rather than a continue on fighting against your enemy because ‘that’s what you do in war.’ Poe’s character arc revolves around this conflict due to reckless behavior on his part that would have spared The Resistance a lot of loss had he just listened to Leia.

Finn’s character arc is essentially a continuation of “stop being a damn coward,” that was present in The Force Awakens. Along with the continuation of Finn’s character we also see the continuation of Rey and Kylo Ren’s character growth as they both begin to question what they are doing on their chosen sides of the Force with Kylo Ren wondering if he has chosen the wrong side of the force and Rey realizing that not everything about the Jedi and Luke Skywalker is as good just as she was lead to believe.

We also see what has become of Luke Skyywalker in his old age and semi isolation from the rest of the known universe, and he’s as grumpy as you’d expect him to be in old age. I will speak more of him and Leia in the spoiler review.

While the film is good, there are flaws present in the film in terms of jumping between the three protagonists of the film with Poe wanting to gain leadership in the Resistance, Finn on a secret mission, and Rey learning more about the force and training with Luke to better use the force. There are some issues with the characterization of Amilyn Holdo and Captain Phasma where the former doesn’t have much characterization at all and the most anyone knows of her is her introduction in Leia Princess of Alderaan (I’m guessing she will receive character development in future expanded universe media), as i am writing this Phasma’s presence in the film is forgettable. SHe doesn’t really do much (again) so fans who read the Phasma novel and read her midquel comic will be disappointed.

Despite the film being advertised as a darker film compared to The Force Awakens, there is a significant amount of laughs in the film where all the characters get in on comedic scenes and even some slapstick among the younger cast.

The film looks great, I will admit I was at a disadvantage due to my seating while watching the film due to lack of seating. Hopefully seeing it a second time with a better angle (or lack of angle since I had to look up from the second row) will allow me to better appreciate the film.

I give Star Wars The Last Jedi four adorable porgs out of five.