Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Kylo Ren: “Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?"
Luke Skywalker: (pulls out his lightsaber) “No.”
release year: 2017
genre: sci-fi/action/adventure
viewing setting: home Bluray 4/2/18 and theater 12/15/17
synopsis: Amid the second rising of the Empire, things are looking pretty damn unhappy for the good guys.
impressions: I'm going to assume that anyone reading this has already seen the movie, and so instead of giving it a high-level critique or trying to discuss it without spoilers, I'm instead going to just give my own thoughts and impressions about it. All in all, this one had a lot in common with "The Empire Strikes Back" but did go off in its own direction at times. It also had some glaring logic issues (a person surviving in space, a couple of people breaking free of a long space chase and then later rejoining it.) Luke Skywalker gets a lot of screen time here, and also his failed student Kylo Ren gets major character development.
acting: Of the newer cast, Daisy Ridley has the most to do here, as she tries to learn about her origins and also fights to avoid being pulled to the evil side. John Boyega has more of a side mission, in which he teams up with a likeable new character played by Kelly Tran. Adam Driver's Kylo Ren also becomes a more serious character here; for a while, you think he might change sides, but then he becomes really evil. Oscar Isaacs is a hotshot rebel pilot who has to learn the hard way why people need to follow orders. Mark Hamill has a ton more to do this time, as Luke Skywalker. Ditto Carrie Fisher, in her final film role. Benicio del Toro is a shifty thief who mumbles a lot and ends up helping the rebels. Laura Dern is a rebel admiral with seemingly questionable motives.
final word: Like the last one, it didn't suck but wasn't quite awesome; it did entertain, and was probably about s good as could be expected from a real sequel to episodes 4-5-6.
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