After watching “The Last Jedi,” I can safely say that the latest installment in the series has all the makings of an enjoyable Star Wars movie. It has a fairly decent story, the main characters are rather likeable and the soundtrack, as always, was fantastic. But parts of how the movie is written could leave some filmgoers scratching their heads. Having said all that, I am going to do my best to review the film without spoiling it for those who have yet to watch it.
The main story is something that we have come to expect from Star Wars, especially in the new trilogy. For those of you who thought that “The Force Awakens” was a bit of a rip-off of “A New Hope,” then be prepared for “The Last Jedi” to rip off a small bit of “The Empire Strikes Back.” There are some scenes in the movie that do make that reference, but it’s rather subtle. To me, that makes the references rather interesting. They aren’t insanely superficial, but they are there.
On the downside, there is a side story in the film that’s kind of confusing, and the main story completely overshadows it. You get sucked into the main story until you just don’t care what happens to the characters in the side story. Whenever they are on the screen, you find yourself wondering why, and then you forget about them until they pop up again.
The main characters, for the most part, are very likeable. All the main characters from “The Force Awakens” are back, but the one I was surprised to see take on a fairly substantial role in the movie was Poe. He went from essentially a one-off character in “The Force Awakens” to being a major catalyst in this new film. However, for me, they wrote him as having a major role, but they also made him the least likeable character.