'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' REVIEW: Powerful, Poignant and Spectacular, this Star Wars film r

It's here at last. 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is the eighth episode in the Star Wars saga and the second film in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. The previous film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was directed by J.J Abrams and this latest installment is being directed this time by Rian Johnson, the man behind films like The Brothers Bloom (2008) and Looper (2012). If you can't tell already, I love Star Wars. These films have been a great influence to cinema and how films are produced in general. So, with the announcement of a new trilogy was coming you'd probably guess I was super hyped for it. When 'The Force Awakens' came out it ended up being my favorite film of 2015. It had new great characters like Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren while still showing respect for the old ones, even though it did borrow heavily in terms of plot structure from 'A New Hope'. It was a new adventure that I was 100% invested in and now I'm excited to see what the penultimate chapter of the trilogy brings. After just having seeing it, I'm stoked.

The film starts out almost immediately after 'The Force Awakens' and the First Order is after The Resistance while they are still evacuating from the Illenium System after blowing up Starkiller Base. While all that is happening, Rey goes to meet Luke Skywalker, a Jedi master that put himself into exile. From then on, we discover secrets and revelations that will change the course of the saga. That's you need to know and should know walking into this film. And by the way, this review is indeed spoiler free.

One of the things that made me fall in love with Star Wars and its universe in the characters that inhabit them. Rey is once again played by Daisy Ridley and back in 2015 I fell in love with her as an actress for her performance and thought that she was Oscar-worthy, she's even more so here. She truly is great and I could never see any other actress embody her role as Rey. The biggest factor that made 'The Force Awakens' my favorite film was the villain Kylo Ren or Ben Solo who's once again played by Adam Driver. His character was conflicted and he was so interesting and involving in 'The Force Awakens' and here it's amplified even more. He's even more conflicted and angry. He makes the kind of choices that are so surprising, but makes sense in the larger scheme of things. We now have the return of Mark Hamill playing Luke Skywalker and he's the best I've seen him since 'Return of the Jedi'. His character has clearly grown older and a curmudgeon since he exiled himself as expected from growing 30 years older. The one actress that I found most heartbreaking to watch on screen is Carrie Fisher as General Leia in her last ever role, but I think it's the best last role she could ever be in. She does things in this film that we've never seen before and it's a bold move from a script point of view. John Boyega returns as Finn and is really great, but here he's unfortunately given the least to do in my opinion, we'll get to why soon enough. All around the characters are even more rich as ever. All given great performances and hope to see them go to further places in the future.

This film is most certainly directed the most differently compared to other films. The film surely borrows its more murky look from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), but still delights you with the amount of energy and fun put into those scenes. The Lightsaber action sequences are some of the best that these films have had. They're so beautiful, swift and clear as Rian Johnson has wisely composed shots of the full bodies engaging in the Lightsaber battles. There is some slow-motion that did put me off-guard, but luckily they are used to present motion that cannot be seen by the human eye. There is scene in the film involving Rey, Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke that is implanted into my brain for the rest of my life. The space battles are excellent as well as really do feel the wideness of space and how trapped the Resistance really is. The film also as usual has great CGI, really spectacular overall. I just want to say that the second half will overwhelm you into tears. It did so on me. It's the most powerful second half of a film I've ever seen. Don't believe me, then see it for yourself. If your major problem with 'The Force Awaken' was that it basically ripped-off 'A New Hope', then you have nothing to worry about here. The story goes into directions on its own that will surprise you.

Issues that I have with the film involve some of the new characters that are introduced in this film. There's 3 of them and they just didn't really stick with me. They are portrayed by great actors like Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro and Kelly Marie Tran, but their characters seemed unnecessary in the end. Like I said before, Finn is given the least amount to do in terms of his emotional arc. He does have a mission to do, but he's left in the background most of the time. The film also has more CGI and noticeable green screen that I would've liked to see which is unfortunate. The film does have the distinction of being the longest Star Wars film and it does feel that way. I can understand for some that the content doesn't entirely justify the length, but after taking some time to think I feel that it did seem necessary by the end.

This is a Star Wars film like no other. It has a unique vision from Rian Johnson and I'm sad that he isn't directing the next one. What he did here is more than what I thought I was getting. This film has flooded my emotions like no other film has this year. It does have some flaws, but the strong themes, characters and emotional weight just overcomes it all. You'll cheer and cry, but you'll be walking out of the theater with a huge smile on your face. I guarantee it.

'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is to me is an A+