Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi (Review/Spoilers)

So I know I have been gone the whole month. I wanted to review over Battlefront 2 and The Punisher, but sadly enough, I just got swamped with work at both the job, and at home. So I have a couple of last minute things to talk about before the end of 2017, so let's get to it! So I might get some heat for this, because this has been hugely controversial of a movie. Honestly, to this point in time, I haven't seen a movie MORE controversial than this one. No joke. So I'll just get this out of the way, I loved it. Some people might shake their heads reading that line, but let me finish. As you could guess, I'm going to talk about spoilers, and I'm going to talk in general, about what I liked, what I thought could have been touched up, and what I'd like to see with 9. So if you haven't seen this movie, go away, come back when you have dammit. So, there is a lot I want to talk about, but first, I want to talk about the themes in the movie. There were certainly a lot of them, and because of it, I think it turned more people off than they realized it. Mostly I want to talk about the main one for now. I'll admit, the movie is a bit convoluted because of how much is actually crammed in there, throwing the pacing off a bit, that it makes everything seem like nonsense if you don't connect the dots just right. The biggest theme I noticed in this movie, was failure. Now yes, our heroes have failed in many ways before, this isn't a new theme. However, this is the first time it's truly explored like it is. Many people hate the Canto Bight scene, period. There are a lot of people that do like it, but I've seen even positive reviews point out they didn't care for it. However, Canto Bight is actually important for more than one reason. Other than the kid at the end of the movie who is scene using the force and being the inspiration for future rebels, there is also a heavy dose of failure here. Not only did Finn and Rose fail to get the actual Code Breaker, but they failed even with the person they did get. But it didn't doom the heroes. Why? Because Finn became the hero everyone else saw in him. He stared the First Order down at the end of the movie, and he became the hero he was suppose to be. Yes, it would have been nice to see him sacrifice himself, not because of don't love Finn, I really do, but because it would have added even more impact to that change he goes through throughout the story told. He learned through his mistakes and failures. Trying to use the escape pod, getting caught by the police, and even putting trust in the wrong people, lessons were learned. His fake out death is one of the few things I didn't care for. Luke in the other hand, had to even learn this painful lesson 30 years later as Yoda was still schooling his ass. Telling him flat out that failure is the greatest teacher. Rey had to learn this lesson by losing Kylo to the darkness for good. To see our characters get into similar situations by the end of the movie, that they experienced at the beginning of the movie, and take the opposite road, is where the character growth really was. Speaking of Luke fucking Skywalker though. One of the most controversial parts of this whole movie, was how Luke was written. Look, I loved it. I grew up with Luke Skywalker, he was one of my biggest heroes, Hell, my first hero as a kid. Seeing him the way I did, broken, beaten, and having given up, I got it. It made sense. Luke thought he could do Kylo good, could turn him and save him like he did his own father, and instead, he failed. It broke him, and he stopped believing in himself and the Jedi way. It broke me, but I loved it, because it made him human. Luke hasn't been a Jedi his whole life, he wasn't old Ben Kenobi. To see him in this movie, and to still have his Luke moments made me happy. I loved seeing this version of him, fight me. Than I say, the next biggest thing to talk about, would be the death of Snoke. I've heard the complaints, we didn't know about about him, he didn't get enough screen time, his death is meaningless. Well yeah, duh. Snoke's death isn't about Snoke. It's about Kylo, and what it represents. But more so, Snoke lied. Let's start with the first part, about it being about Kylo. Now most realize it's about "character growth" but it's a bit deeper than that. Remember that Luke confronted Darth Vader about the Emperor, and about coming back to the light side as he felt "conflict" in him too. The result is the same as Rey confronted Kylo, but the ending is vastly different. Kylo gave into his dark side in a way that even Vader did not. Killing his mentor without really hesitating. Now you could say, Snoke had it coming, as he taunted Kylo, telling him he was basically a Vader wannabe. But, there is something else interesting that happens here. Snoke took credit for the link between Kylo and Rey. Something that seemed...slightly believable until I got to the end of the film. Remember when Rey and Kylo have one last link right before Rey closes the doors to the Falcon? What does that mean? Well it would mean one of two things. Either Snoke was lying about making the link, and if he was, than what is it really? Or Snoke was lying about his death and than it begs the question "How, and why?" There is something interesting about Snoke and his "I connected you two" link, but even more so, the "reveal" about Rey's parents. Both were vague, and both felt like Red Herrings. But I guess we won't find out til we get 9 huh? Speaking of Rey's parents real quick, there is something interesting my father said after we watched the movie, that made me start crafting my own theory that I'm not sure I want to make. My dad noticed that Rey and Kylo, have the same link that Luke and Leia had, why? Who knows, but I doubt Rian put that in there for shits and giggles right?

I'll admit that Phasma, for all her amazingly Chrome armor was used like the Nemisis all over again. The fight scene was great, but it was short, and Phasma loses yet again. Who really is under that mask? Steve Harrington? I hope she is back for the last movie, but come in, we couldn't get one more badass scene with her?

The fight scenes? Oh, I loved the fight scenes in this movie. There weren't many sword fights, but the ones we got were framed from head to toe, and I loved them. They reminded me of something straight out of an anime. Hell, I'd even go so far as to say even like Samurai in a way too. The chamber fight scene left me an awe, and I think it's now my favorite fight in Star Wars. Also, how about that hyperdrive kamikaze move? I'll admit, I don't know what took her so long to think of doing that, but when it happened, and the whole theater went silent I was blown away by it, and surprised no one hasn't thought of that sooner really. Really I just loved a lot about this movie, from the themes it did have, to the characters it continued to evolve. My biggest gripe with the movie is the fact that two of the three new heroes we got were instantly killed in this movie. Both were hyped up to be badasses, but we hear about it in the ways of titles and tales, not actual feats in the movie. Other than that, I loved the fight scenes as well, I loved that I had a hard time predicting the movie, it didn't take the usual Star Wars beats, and whether that's a good thing or not I guess is what's going to ultimately determine if you like this movie or not. I guess too if there is ONE last thing I'd love to see explored in actual depth in the next movie is the Knights of Ren. Where the Hell have they been? We heard about them in VII, we heard more about them in VIII (Or at least, we heard that Kylo took a handful of students of Luke's, so I'm assuming that's a chunk of them), so are we finally going to see them in IX?

I still want to see this movie again, just to see if there was anything else I missed, but I think I'll cut it off here, and try to open up the discussion with you guys. What did you think of it, what did you like, hate, feel indifferent about? Do you think this dooms the series like so many claim it to? Do you think it was bold new direction? I feel like it did some bold things, deepened the core heroes, but didn't add any new ones. Or at least if it did, they ultimately got killed off. I felt like the changes made, were good. I loved seeing the growth in Rey, Finn, and Poe. I loved seeing the damaged side of Luke, and I loved seeing Leia one last time. Verdict - 9/10 Final thoughts - I was actually leaning on a 8, because I'll admit, the one other small thing I was let down on was Leia's arc. It's not that it was bad, or that I didn't love seeing her, it's just that I guess I was expecting more of her in this movie. They made it seem like the movie revolved more around her, than it did even Rey, but that wasn't the case at all. I loved watching her help Poe grow into the leader he could be, but what are they going to do now with her? Time will only tell whether it'll be the beginning of IX, the opening scrawl, or in a book. Overall though, I think it was a bit better than VII though, because of the freshness in direction, and to me, the handling of Luke. The fight scenes were top notch, the interactions between Luke and Rey, and the music were all really good here too. I was peeved a bit with the lack of Phasma, the killing off of brand new characters, and a bit of the pacing. But what did you guys think? Where does it really stand with you? Let me know.