First Take: Star Wars: The Last Jedi- the real winner this Christmas

Spoiler free as
usual. Because Star Wars, obviously.

SYNOPSIS: Having taken her first steps into the Jedi world,
Rey joins Luke Skywalker on an adventure with Leia, Finn and Poe that unlocks
mysteries of the Force and secrets of the past.

Having taken the first steps towards a new trilogy with
2015’s incredible nostalgia-fest that was The Force Awakens, LucasFilm are
moving ahead quite rapidly with the traditional Episodes (as well as standalone
films, don’t get me started on Solo), and with Rian Johnson at the helm, I had
incredibly high expectations for Episode VIII- and boy did he deliver on the nearly
2 year build of hype.

Johnson has crafted a film that takes the future of the
franchise in a direction that I frankly wasn’t expecting- it may be the longest
film in the traditional episodic saga (clocking in at just shy of 2 hours 31
minutes), but it did not feel that long at all, as he is able to bring his
experience from films like Looper to a more mainstream audience. As a result,
this isn’t your archetypical Star Wars film, something which is prevalent in Johnson’s
script and the cinematography from frequent collaborator Steve Yedlin, as this
is a lot more brutal than The Force Awakens. Continuing a deep root to the
past, John Williams provides another incredible score to give the emotional
punch that certain huge scenes require- and speaking of, there is a lot of fan
service. Unfortunately to say what that entails would spoil the film, but there
are some huge surprises.

Obviously, this cast are incredible from the word go. As an
ensemble, the cast are brilliant, but the work of certain key members like
Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, the late and great Carrie Fisher, and Adam Driver
amongst others made the film just fly by, and as a result, it felt like a
natural way to continue the story of 2015’s biggest film. Sure, there has been
a lot of debate about the character development in the film, but based on
tonight’s audience reaction, LucasFilm can be happy with the reception of their
latest entry to the Skywalker saga. Now we just have to wait another 2 years
for JJ Abrams to return and close off what’s shaping up to be a trilogy this
generation can be proud of.

THE VERDICT

And with that, the Force is strong once again- with some
outstanding work by the entire technical team and a solid cast, The Last Jedi is
another supremely enjoyable big screen experience. See it big, see it loud, see
it in a proper cinema- because this is easily one of the best Star Wars films
we’ve had for a very long time.

RATING: 5/5