As a big Star Wars fan I must admit I was cautiously excited about the release of the next installment in the series. With me feeling "satisfied" about The Force Awakens, I had my concerns about this film. I was very careful not to run into any spoilers online as I wanted to truly experience this movie as I have always believed it should be experienced, in the theater with all the mystery and excitement the trailers provide. By the way, to the individuals who enjoy trying to ruin the movie by posting random clips of the movie in the comments sections on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter, get a life.....please?
My excitement increased exponentially by the urging of my good buddy Jeremy (who can be found on Twitter @jeremyohio & a writer for bleedingcool.com), who insisted that I needed to see this movie.....now. I somehow was still able to keep my mind open and not to have too high of expectations. I felt more confident about what I was about to see however, a little reassurance goes a long way.
Within 2 days, I was in the theater awaiting to be transported into the glorious world of Star Wars with my friend Jeremy who couldn't wait to see it again, and my reaction.
So it begins.....
As my ear drums are gloriously filled with the Star Wars theme song, I eagerly read the crawl and we're on our way.
From the beginning, I could feel this was going to be a Star Wars movie that has balls. I was to see things transpire that would push this series forward and I was not disappointed. What struck me early on was how beautiful this movie is. Sure Star Wars is known for the visuals and effects but this, like the "feel" of the movie, took it to another level. All while still maintaining the classic ambiance of Star Wars. Trust me, there are scenes in this movie that are jaw-dropping.
To accompany the great look and feel, the cast for the most part, delivered in spades. I was most impressed with Daisy Ridley's (Rey) & Oscar Issac's (Poe) performances. There needed to be an escalation and evolution of their characters and I felt it was well performed by these actors. John Boyega's (Finn) performance was great as well, although I felt that his story was certainly not the priority at this point.
With my tendencies to veer my attention to dark characters, I enjoyed the introduction to Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) in the last Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. What struck me most about this character and Driver's great portrayal of him, is how conflicted he was. The struggle certainly is real within him between the light/dark side. I was hoping for a real character progression with Kylo Ren and I feel that this has been delivered without question. Kudos to you Mr. Driver, great performance Sir. His chemistry with Daisy Ridley is undeniable.
Mark Hamil (Luke Skywalker) & the late Carrie Fisher (Leia) are great as expected. Particularly Hamil's performance is superb. With arguably the biggest draw to this film being Luke's return, there was a lot riding on Mark Hamil to pull this off. He most certainly did. I felt that the depths of Luke's experiences and his mind knew no bounds all because of how well Hamil played his role. He walked the tight rope of not being overly dramatic or brooding while avoiding becoming boring or one dimensional. His performance cannot be overstated.
One of the new characters The Last Jedi introduces is a maintenance worker who services in the Resistance named Rose Tico (played by Kelly Marie Tran). I felt that Tran's performance as Rose is great and she certainly adds something special to Finn's story, as minimal as it is in the movie. I must say that I'm not exactly "sold" on the character but I am interested as to what she could add in the future.
With everything this movie has going for it, the bold decisions it makes & the direction it takes, it's certainly not without its flaws. At times the pacing of the film tends to slow and I found myself wanting to get back to another part of the story. However, these scenes are not without their own merit & will show further significance in the future I'm sure. With that being said, the run time of this movie is 2 hours 35 minutes & I felt it just flew by.
In Summary:
As strong as opinions are for this or any Star Wars film, I feel this movie does what was absolutely needed for the future of the franchise. It's bold, beautiful and shows that things must change to progress. Not only is The Force always with us it's strong as it ever has been.
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