Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

I just want to clear something up right now, I’m not a Star Wars fangirl. Sure, I grew up watching Star Wars, and Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica, and I’m pretty sure Buck Rogers was in there somewhere. My dad is a nerd for old school sci fi, and that is how I was raised. Eventually I found things I loved myself, I know an obnoxious amount about Harry Potter and various Disney properties (I will talk your ear off about Zootopia), and I even fell in love with some of the old school sci fi. However I am more likely to watch a random episode of Star Trek the Next Generation (which I did grow up with) than I am to put on a Star Wars movie. I have them, all of them, including the prequels and Rogue One. The thing is, I didn’t fall in love with Star Wars until The Force Awakens came out. I’m still not likely to go back and watch the old ones, but I have been known to put on The Force Awakes just for fun. I even cosplay Rey, she is adorable and fun, I get to carry a lightsaber, and I don’t have to wear a wig. It’s a triple win. Also, BB-8 is the cutest thing ever, I’m sorry R2-D2, I will always love you.

All of that being said, I was so super excited to see Star Wars The Last Jedi. I bought tickets way in advance and even got the free movie poster. I desperately avoided spoilers. I follow a lot of movie reviewers on YouTube, and several of them got to go to early screenings, so I haven’t seen any videos about it, and it is pure torture. I don’t even think I watched the last trailer that came out, and I went to the first possible showing I could get into. So know, this review is purely my own brain, and maybe a little bit of my friend’s brain, who went with me.

I’m a pretty cheerful reviewer, and I know very little about the movie making process, so I’m not likely to be super nitpicky about anything. I honestly went into Jurassic World happy as can be, because all I wanted was Chris Pratt being chased by dinosaurs. And guess what, I got Chris Pratt being chased by dinosaurs, I don’t care about any of the flaws, or repeats, or anything, I got what I went in for and came out happy. So I went into The Last Jedi wanting Rey being a bad ass with some issues, Kylo Ren being Kylo Ren, and BB-8 being adorable. So what did I think?

*Spoilers!!!!!!*

Hey, hey, guess what, everything after this a spoiler filled review of Star Wars the Last Jedi.

I’ve seen the movie now. Look proof, ticket and all.

I’m not kidding, I’m going to talk about stuff that happened.

I’m warning you! If you haven’t seen it and don’t want spoilers you should stop reading now.

I won’t be held accountable for your poor life choices.

Go see the movie, then come back, or continue reading at your own risk.

But if you have seen it, then by all means, keep reading, and then leave a comment and let’s talk about it 🙂

 

 

Okay, I think that did it, moving on.

 

I loved it!!!!!! When the moral of your story is, everyone fails and makes mistakes, but strength and power come from learning from those failures and mistakes, then it’s kind of hard to go wrong.

This movie was such a fun mix of dark elements and some lighter funny moments. Luke kept saying funny things, at one point I almost fell out of my chair, BB-8 was adorable and fun, and most everyone else got a chuckle out of me every once in a while. Considering that the movie takes place in the middle of a war, and probably 100+ people die through the course of it, it could have gone very dark, like Rogue One, but it didn’t, the balance was very welcome.

Things I liked:

• Rey was awesome and a bad ass, but she also screwed up a lot
• Kylo Ren was still kind of angsty, but I feel like he was actually working through some things, and not just acting like a bratty teenager.
• Kylo Ren working through things, he isn’t all bad, but he isn’t very good either.
  • That look between him and Rey at the end, I don’t think she is as angry with him as she was, now that she knows more, but she isn’t happy with him either. I’m excited to see where this goes in episode 9.
• The Kylo Ren / Rey conversations.
  • I really liked that they were kept separated through these talks, otherwise I think they would have just kept trying to kill each other and not discussed anything. I think we got a lot of cool character moments between the two of them, and the chemistry between the two actors is amazing, I want to see more scenes of them talking and fighting.
• Poe and Rey officially meeting at the end, like oops we have 3 main leads and 2 of them have gone 2 whole movies and only know each other’s names.
• Rose, she was quirky and useful, and I think a good addition to the team.
• Luke being an hilarious grumpy old guy.
• Poe not getting away with being an impulsive flyboy.
  • Was Leia just everyone’s mom in this movie? RIP Carrie Fisher 😦
• All of the cool new animals, those crystal foxes that make since that they look like that because they are on a planet covered in salt!; the big dog horses, those adorable ears make them look like my pup; and even the porgs, they are cute, not overly used, and lead to a few laughs.
• How Kylo Ren took out Snook, holy crap that was clever.
  • I liked how they had Snook talking through what Kylo Ren was thinking, and being all pleased about it, and then boom, he was turning on Rey’s lightsaber not his own.

 

Things I didn’t like:

• Admiral Holdo, she just didn’t seem to fit. She kind of redeemed herself at the end, but I don’t know if it was her look, or if I was just really annoyed with how she was treating Poe, or what, but something just felt off. I didn’t hate her, she just didn’t seem to fit in the universe somehow, and I kind of forgot about her when she wasn’t on screen.
• The whole trip and adventure on the casino planet. There were some good character moments from Rose, and I loved the dog horse things, but again it kind of felt a little off, I guess I am more used to the gritty bars in the other movies.
• That code breaker dude they found on the casino planet. He was the exception to the ‘make a mistake and learn from it’ rule. I feel like he was just a point A to point B character, I don’t even remember his name. He didn’t ruin anything for me, he was just kind of forgettable.
• Rey’s ‘family reveal,’ unless the ‘drunks who sold her’ story was just something Kylo Ren made up to tick her off or try to get her on his side. If it was the actual story, it seemed a little disappointing. Maybe it was supposed to, realizing the truth would be really disappointing to Rey, if that is all it was, but it felt more like a ‘hey fans shut up about trying to figure out who her family is’ kind of thing. Like they tried to build it up to something bigger and then they explained it all away with one line of dialogue. Even a flash back, or the vision that Kylo Ren said he had about them would have been better than that one line. Maybe we will get more in episode 9, but I doubt it.

 

Well, that is my 2 cents worth. It isn’t a very detailed and thought out blog, as much as a stream of consciousness about what I thought. As I mentioned before, I’m a pretty happy movie goer. I go for the entertainment and then listen to everyone else rip something up, before going back and enjoying it again. I’m excited to see this movie again this weekend with my dad. Sometimes I dread seeing a movie several times if it has really bad previews, but the ones at my theater are pretty good, I mean, there is a Jurassic World trailer, I can watch dinosaurs and Chris Pratt all day.

Ooooh I also got this super cute popcorn can with BB-8 on it. I have a problem, I love that little droid so much.

Let me know what you think in the comments! Have you seen The Last Jedi? What did you think? What was your favorite part? Does Poe flirt with everyone he meets? (seriously I think Rey was blushing a little).