Star Wars isn't for everybody. It's one of those things that some of us engulf our free-time into - an alternative world with better technology and less tweets using all the best words.
This weekend the newest installment of the anthology came out - "Episode 8: The Last Jedi".
I bought tickets in October for a 10:55 p.m. showing for Friday night at the IMAX 3D in Fitchburg. It's a tradition my daughter and I have developed - go and see the new Star Wars in IMAX 3D the day it comes out. The IMAX 3D is an experience worth having if you're into SciFi action movies.
Our editor was kind enough to grant me the day off on Friday, which I made sure I used productively. And by productive, I mean I watched the four chronological movies leading up to "The Last Jedi" - "Rogue One" (Episode 3.95), "A New Hope" (4), "Empire Strikes Back" (5), "Return of the Jedi" (6), and finally "The Force Awakens" (7).
Going into "The Last Jedi" I had read a number of spoiler-free reviews and almost all of them were glowing and saying it was the best Star Wars movie since "Empire" (widely considered to be the best of them all). "Empire" (1980) is the one where Vader informs Luke that (spoiler alert!) he is Luke's father.
With anticipation high and my eyes beaming with Force-induced delight, the opening credits rolled. "The Last Jedi" takes place immediately after The Force Awakens ends. Like, not only same day, but the same minute.
I won't try to spoil anything about "The Last Jedi", but I felt it was a bit underwhelming. Many others I have talked to said they either sided with me or with the gloating critics. I usually don't fully place a Star Wars flick into context until I have seen it about three times, so my views might change on it.
But I still think it was a bit overrated.
There were moments I loved, moments I hated, moments I thought didn't need to be there and other moments and characters that should have been dug into deeper. There is one scene - and you'll know it when you see it - that Luke Skywalker delivers the second-best Star Wars moment in my opinion (right behind Vader slaughtering an entire crew of Rebels to close out "Rogue One").
There is another sub-plot that takes young Resistance heroes Finn and Rose to a casino city. I didn't care much for the sidetracked story, but it did make me change my mind about some things in my own life. When I win the Mega Millions on Tuesday, I'm not moving away on the first flight to Hawaii - instead I'll be relocating to Monte Carlo.
R2D2 gets a bigger role in this film than the one before it - and I am ever so thankful. I really want an R2/BB-8 TV sitcom where they complete missions and make the audience laugh with their cheeky hijinks. C-3PO is as perfectly C-3PO as can be, but Chewbacca needed a bigger role. The Porgs were annoying creatures despite their cuddly appearance - a step forward from the Jar Jar Binks monstrosity of the prequels (Episodes 1-3).
Leia has a much bigger role than in "Force Awakens", but with actress Carrie Fisher's death we won't get to see the final outcome from our favorite Alderaan princess. Poe continues on his Maverick in "Top Gun"-like performance, being a hot-head fighter pilot with a fantastic sense of wit and an awesome aerial battle performance better than his moment on Takodana in Episode 7. And Rey, well, I'm not a big fan of Rey's development. Or Laura Dern's Holdo.
From the Dark Side we see Adam Driver's portrayal as the temper-tantrum-filled Kylo Ren continue down a path of even more confusion between the light and the dark. Supreme Leader Snoke has less of a showing than I anticipated, but I really enjoyed seeing General Hux getting Force-face-planted (spoiler!). Other than that, I thought Benicio Del Toro's performance was underwhelming as well.
I will definitely be seeing this movie another 3, 5, 25 times before the climactic currently title-less Episode 9 comes out in 2019. Luckily, the Han Solo solo-movie arrives in the spring. I'm less enthusiastic about it than any Star Wars flick thus far, but that's mostly because Han is one of my favorite movie characters of all-time and I don't want the people in the Big Mouse House to mess it up.
Overall, I'd give "The Last Jedi" a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, and upon future viewings it could very well crest the 4-star mark. In order of best-to-worst of the Star Wars flicks, this how I rank them:
1: Empire Strikes Back (Episode 5)
2: Return of the Jedi (6)
3: A New Hope (4)
4: Rogue One
5: Revenge of the Sith (3)
6: The Force Awakens (7)
7: The Last Jedi (8)
9-T: The Phantom Menace (1)/Attack of the Clones (2)
- Adam Krebs is a
reporter for the Monroe Times and a Jedi like his father before him. He can be reached at
akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
This weekend the newest installment of the anthology came out - "Episode 8: The Last Jedi".
I bought tickets in October for a 10:55 p.m. showing for Friday night at the IMAX 3D in Fitchburg. It's a tradition my daughter and I have developed - go and see the new Star Wars in IMAX 3D the day it comes out. The IMAX 3D is an experience worth having if you're into SciFi action movies.
Our editor was kind enough to grant me the day off on Friday, which I made sure I used productively. And by productive, I mean I watched the four chronological movies leading up to "The Last Jedi" - "Rogue One" (Episode 3.95), "A New Hope" (4), "Empire Strikes Back" (5), "Return of the Jedi" (6), and finally "The Force Awakens" (7).
Going into "The Last Jedi" I had read a number of spoiler-free reviews and almost all of them were glowing and saying it was the best Star Wars movie since "Empire" (widely considered to be the best of them all). "Empire" (1980) is the one where Vader informs Luke that (spoiler alert!) he is Luke's father.
With anticipation high and my eyes beaming with Force-induced delight, the opening credits rolled. "The Last Jedi" takes place immediately after The Force Awakens ends. Like, not only same day, but the same minute.
I won't try to spoil anything about "The Last Jedi", but I felt it was a bit underwhelming. Many others I have talked to said they either sided with me or with the gloating critics. I usually don't fully place a Star Wars flick into context until I have seen it about three times, so my views might change on it.
But I still think it was a bit overrated.
There were moments I loved, moments I hated, moments I thought didn't need to be there and other moments and characters that should have been dug into deeper. There is one scene - and you'll know it when you see it - that Luke Skywalker delivers the second-best Star Wars moment in my opinion (right behind Vader slaughtering an entire crew of Rebels to close out "Rogue One").
There is another sub-plot that takes young Resistance heroes Finn and Rose to a casino city. I didn't care much for the sidetracked story, but it did make me change my mind about some things in my own life. When I win the Mega Millions on Tuesday, I'm not moving away on the first flight to Hawaii - instead I'll be relocating to Monte Carlo.
R2D2 gets a bigger role in this film than the one before it - and I am ever so thankful. I really want an R2/BB-8 TV sitcom where they complete missions and make the audience laugh with their cheeky hijinks. C-3PO is as perfectly C-3PO as can be, but Chewbacca needed a bigger role. The Porgs were annoying creatures despite their cuddly appearance - a step forward from the Jar Jar Binks monstrosity of the prequels (Episodes 1-3).
Leia has a much bigger role than in "Force Awakens", but with actress Carrie Fisher's death we won't get to see the final outcome from our favorite Alderaan princess. Poe continues on his Maverick in "Top Gun"-like performance, being a hot-head fighter pilot with a fantastic sense of wit and an awesome aerial battle performance better than his moment on Takodana in Episode 7. And Rey, well, I'm not a big fan of Rey's development. Or Laura Dern's Holdo.
From the Dark Side we see Adam Driver's portrayal as the temper-tantrum-filled Kylo Ren continue down a path of even more confusion between the light and the dark. Supreme Leader Snoke has less of a showing than I anticipated, but I really enjoyed seeing General Hux getting Force-face-planted (spoiler!). Other than that, I thought Benicio Del Toro's performance was underwhelming as well.
I will definitely be seeing this movie another 3, 5, 25 times before the climactic currently title-less Episode 9 comes out in 2019. Luckily, the Han Solo solo-movie arrives in the spring. I'm less enthusiastic about it than any Star Wars flick thus far, but that's mostly because Han is one of my favorite movie characters of all-time and I don't want the people in the Big Mouse House to mess it up.
Overall, I'd give "The Last Jedi" a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, and upon future viewings it could very well crest the 4-star mark. In order of best-to-worst of the Star Wars flicks, this how I rank them:
1: Empire Strikes Back (Episode 5)
2: Return of the Jedi (6)
3: A New Hope (4)
4: Rogue One
5: Revenge of the Sith (3)
6: The Force Awakens (7)
7: The Last Jedi (8)
9-T: The Phantom Menace (1)/Attack of the Clones (2)
- Adam Krebs is a
reporter for the Monroe Times and a Jedi like his father before him. He can be reached at
akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
