I always I knew I was going to go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi because I have offspring/husband insisting on such things. The good news is that it sounds like I will be thoroughly entertained by it. The Last Jedi opens tomorrow officially but of course you can see it tonight in most cities (sorry all other films playing in empty theaters this weekend). The embargo was finally lifted on the reviews, revealing that (almost) everyone loves it:
Movie critics who have seen “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” began publishing their reviews on Tuesday, and fans of the long-running series will be happy to hear that the initial impressions were mostly positive.
The critics largely described a movie that pushed the series forward without straying far from its central themes. Several writers said it brought new depth to old characters while introducing compelling new ones, embraced the gray area between good and bad more than previous installments had, and featured strong performances from the lead actors. It introduced new wrinkles to the Force, while cramming in more jokes than any “Star Wars” before it.
The article gives snippets of many reviews. Although they promise no significant spoilers, I will let you read them here because from what I have seen on Twitter, even a mild spoiler can get you run out of town on a rail. But the reviews comment on the movie’s “wit” and how the film fits in well with the new trilogy. That last bit is because many fans were worried it would just be a remake of Empire Strikes Back. Although the reviews say it pays homage to past films, it does not mimic them. Apparently, the new characters are really flushed out and as predicted, the Porgs steal the show. In addition to the 94% (as of this writing) on Rotten Tomatoes, social media is blowing up with positive comments. That’s good to hear. I was so disappointed in The Force Awakens that I cannot for the life of me get excited for The Last Jedi. And I am a huge fan of Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill so that alone should give me some kind of spark. (Carrie’s dog Gary has a cameo.) Were it up to me, I’d wait for video but it’s not so I’ll see it in the theaters. And I’m sure I will be blown away by it and come back here, hat in hand. Besides, George Lucas said he loved it and although I know I am alone in this, George’s opinion matters to me.
However, with a run time at a whopping two and a half hours, I’ll insist on seeing this at a theater with fully reclining seats. And will possibly smuggle in my blanket and pillow.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Getty Images
Not over here it’s not, ( Ireland) most of the reviewers found it too long and quite dull, which is a shame.
Interesting…this does make me wonder…I really had suspicions when the Force Awakens received great reviews in 2015. It made me wonder if I had seen the same movie? I thought it was awful awful awful. So bad that I didn’t even care about this new installment. But after reading great reviews, here I am again lining up for tonight? I have a theory that Disney is so big and so influential in the movie and MEDIA industry, that no one will give there movies bad reviews, certainly not on a property that they recently paid $4 billion for. I also think Disney is spending serious cash on posting positive comments on movie review sites. Check out the user reviews for the Force Awakens on IMDB. It’s staggering how many 1/10 user reviews they are, but yet it sits at 237 out of the top 250 movies of all time which is calculated by votes. I dunno, I could be wrong, but it seems weird…
One of the top user reviews for TFA nails it in this great sentence….”A billion dollar in sales JJ Abrams and Disney are laughing it up in disbelief that the computer-generated copy script sold so many tickets.”
I think most people very much want to have their socks knocked right off, but the sense of disappointment was palpable.
Jared, ITA. TFA sucked big time. I too was shocked by the love it received.
I’ve seen it yesterday and I’m so disappointed. Poor script, careless dialogues, characters are so cartoonish… for me this saga ends here.
Nooooooooooo!!! 🙁
Totally agree Arlene. I’m not sure who can make Star Wars ‘Great Again’ 😉
“There in another…”
I haven’t seen it yet, but of course I have already been unintentionally spoiled by the internet. Based on the reviews, it sounds like it’s a film that’s put together well, but as a longtime fan, the storyline is not where I would have liked it to go.
Hecky-peck 2.5 hours! It’s been our new years eve tradition to go to the cinema to see these the last 2 years (cinemas are empty on Nye! feet up) so i’m sure we’ll see it. sore bum though
Great article. I was also disappointed by the Force Awakens. I really didn’t like it much at all and thought the prequels were better, at least there was some story telling involved and you could feel the passion behind those movies, even though they weren’t as good as the original trilogy. The Force Awakens was blah and didn’t do anything new or unique.
Not only that, I just thought most of what it did, it did badly. I really hated how they didn’t explain what happened to our characters over the past 30 years. Ugghhh. So I have not been looking forward to seeing the Last Jedi at all, but I really like Rian Johnson and it sounds like he has made a great movie here. So here I am lining up for tonight, again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
We’ll see how it goes…I’m tired of spending my money on mediocrity; there is so many great forms of quality entertainment out there that I don’t want to give disney another dime if they greenlight entertainment products that are ‘meh’.
If the Force Awakens disappointed you I can’t imagine what you will think about this one. Absolute garbage, I assure you. I’m so tired of these reviews that are obviously aimed at packing theatres and not at giving honest professional feedbacks. What a joke they are!
Again, Noooooooo!!!
Well, maybe it’s for the best. In all honesty, if they plan on putting out a Star Wars movie every year, the quality will suffer and it will cease to be something special. TFA made it clear it was all about the cash, not a passion project. However, I did like Rogue One, so I dunno…
Jared, I did like The Rogue One, too. This means they had money and people to do a decent job. Maybe they felt they didn’t need quality because this product sells anyway.
I am le depressed that I may not get to see it until next week, so I grudgingly logged out of my favorite time waster (Tumblr) on Monday until I can because god knows it’ll be spoiled on there already given how many other countries got it before us. I’m not fanatical about spoilers, but given that this is Carrie Fisher’s last role, I want to go in fresh.
I’m glad to hear it’s reviewed better than TFA. I enjoyed TFA (John Boyega is so charming in it), but I was hoping that the heavy homage was intended to draw people in with a familiar story and then set them for a story shift in the second film to make it more original. It sounds like that’s exactly what they wound up doing.
I could not handle the force wakes up either, and as a lifelong fan of the stories I approach the last jedi with caution, i was trying to ignore all of these ‘new’ star wars’! Alas, my offspring have already purchased our tix and I am headed to the cinema tomorrow at 6pm. Hope the reviews are on point!
I’m not getting to see it till the 28th, but then I’ll be seeing it in Hong Kong so you win some, you lose some lol. (I like to catch a movie wherever I am when I go on holiday).
Also I’m not terribly surprised the reviews are good – even Rogue One killed it after months of bad press, and this one is by Rian Johnson after all, he’s a legit directorial talent.
The reviews I’ve heard are very sour about how the people of color are treated as far as character arc and plot are concerned. I’m concerned because Finn is such a majot character and I hate the idea that he’ll be sidelined by some mediocre whiny white villain who’s essentially the face of every frail ego having frat boy. Which again, I’ve also heard a rumor that Space Nazi Keylo gets a redemption through Rey?
Disney must be paying all these guys good, because they literally destroyed Luke Skywalker’s character for the sake of a white boy with zero emotions, and the sideline of POC in this movie was so gross.
Have not seen it yet but people i know who have are saying that its good, better than FA but not quite on par with Rogue One. People are generally happy that its going down new plot routes and not rehashing Empire Strikes Back (in the same way Force Awakens was a complete rehash of A New Hope).
It didn’t seem like 2.5 hours which is a sign of a good movie. Highlights were the Porgs, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, Adam Driver. He is a angry, angry sexy thing. What.
I agree on Driver. He’s one of the few things I liked. He could have been the perfect Anakin Skywalker in the second trilogy. instead in this mess of a script he’s a huge waste of talent.