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The Last Jedi — Non-Spoiler Review
Excellent. THE LAST JEDI is possibly the best “movie” of the entire franchise. It has some of the best scenes in Star Wars history, and at least one of them is in contention for best scene in the space battle movie subgenre.
There’s a lot of negative reactions to this movie in the immediate wake of its release, including a current 63% Rotten Tomatoes fan score. This tells me two things: a large segment of the audience *wants* to dislike it, and a large segment of the audience misunderstands Star Wars.
Star Wars has taken on this weird aura of having an intricate plot and depth — neither of which are true. Star Wars is about as basic storytelling can get: good vs. evil, laser swords, spaceships. Rinse, repeat. This movie adds depth and nuance and is overall a more intelligent movie than all of the previous installments. Given the outpouring of love ROGUE ONE has received — which is about as unsophisticated a story can get — it’s not surprising many fans are reacting negatively to THE LAST JEDI. To wit: the movie is smarter than the average audience. And that’s a good thing.
There are three legitimate criticisms, in my opinion, but I’ll save those for a spoiler review. Overall, though, this movie is fantastic. Star Wars could very easily become stale and boring. Pro or con, Rian Johnson has ensured it will be neither.
