Star Wars The Last Jedi
Synopsis: Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order.
Movie Review: "Star Wars the Last Jedi" is the ninth Star Wars film in the series and is the sequel to 2015's "Force Awakens". This film is different, original and took many risks that mostly worked but also has some flaws that sometimes affected the movie. My hat is off to Rian Johnson for making one of the best Star Wars films I have seen in a long time. This movie takes right up where "Force Awakens" ends and Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order. What this movie does well is that it continues with the characters like Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren that we fell in love with in the previous movie. Johnson found ways to entertain us by telling new, intriguing and powerful stories. One of my favorite storylines in the movie has to be Reys (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Rens. The reason why this is my favorite storyline is Kylo Ren has a tough past and is struggling with the light side inside of him. And Rey is trying to find her place and become a Jedi. They both have great chemistry with each other and their scenes together have to be the best well written dialogue in any Star Wars movie to date. Luke Skywalker is amazing in this film and fans have been waiting 30 years for this character to come full circle. And Mark Hamill didn't disappoint portraying Luke Skywalker who has changed since he played the damaged, ill tempered, cold character years ago in "Return of the Jedi". I believe Mark Hamill played him brilliantly. Speaking of legendary performances in a Star Wars movie, Carrie Fisher has never been better has General Leia and I got emotional watching her for the final time as Leia. I really liked how they concluded her storyline. Daisy Ridley who plays Rey in the film is once again great and she proves that she is one of the best young actresses in the 21st century; she was born to play Rey -- she is a strong, independent female character who I can't wait to see her story moving forward in Episode X. Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren who, in my opinion, is one of the greatest villains we have had in a Star Wars movie since Darth Vader 40 years ago. This villain is a conflicted and intimidating character who proves that he should lead the First Order not his master Snoke. The action in the film is just exhilarating to watch and has to be the top action set pieces than I have ever seen in a Star Wars film. These scenes were heart pounding and exciting; they made me feel like a kid again watching Star Wars for the first time. I especially enjoyed the lightsaber action scenes. They were exciting and well-choreographed. My only nitpick in this movie has to be the story line between Finn and Rose when they go to the planet called Canto Bright. I loved the character of Finn (he was one of the highlights for me in the last film), but I felt his storyline was unnecessary and just didn't fit into the plot. "Star Wars the Last Jedi' is an entertaining jaw dropping movie, full of twists and turns that I didn't expect. A big thank you to Rian Johnson for taking the risks and making a great movie -- it paid off for me and I can't wait to see what comes next in the Star Wars Universe. I am giving "Star Wars the Last Jedi" a 4 out of 5 Stars.
Director: : Rian Johnson
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Oscar Issac, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Gwendoline Christie, and Benicio Del Toro
Runtime: 152 minutes