There's an incredible film within this overlong, yet occasionally thrilling, space opera

Rating: 4/10 (16 December 2017)

I watched The Last Jedi a second time today and it does improve as you it again because there is so much going on, you lose elements of it.
My original complaint stays: there are far too many characters, too many different focuses. Rian Johnson stays true to the ensemble nature of the series when it became less about Luke and more about Luke, Han and Leia but The Last Jedi features 7 main leads and the constant shifting prevents the film from being as linear as The Force Awakens.
When the film is focused on Rey (the magnetic Daisy Ridley, a worthy new lead to the trilogy) and her journey, it is absolutely riveting. Her relationship with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver gives a chilling performance of utter electricity as the self-.loathing villain) is a mix of tension, bonding, sexual tension and fear. And Rey's bonding session with Luke (Mark Hamill, who gives the best performance he's ever given as Luke Skywalker) is truly engaging to watch. Sadly her story is stuck to two less interesting subplots: Finn and Rose's slapstick adventures are unfunny, dull and unexciting. John Boyega's Finn is barely given anything to do with his character development while Kelly Marie Tran's Rose feels contrived, a way to give Finn a female lead to contend with while Rey is gone. Whereas Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron, such a adventurous character in the previous film, and here he's given more to do and yet lacks the charisma he had. The more I saw of Poe, the less I found him interesting. Carrie Fisher is thankfully given a bigger part as Princess Leia and in every scene, you can't help but feel emotional by her warm and tender presence though Leia still possesses the fiery spirit she had in the original trilogy.
With this said, Rian Johnson does deliver some breathtaking sequences: the light-saber duet in Snoke's red chamber might be the highlight of The Last Jedi. Imagine if Dario Argento had been asked to direct a sci-fi Samurai film and you can already picture how the scene is. The battle of Crait is also a wonder to watch from the Resistance defense to the chase sequence in the mines. As well as the silent Kamizake attack which was a surprisingly daring moment.
Don't expect The Last Jedi to be the roller-coaster ride The Force Awakens was. Rian Johnson's take is jam-packed with action scenes but he also went for character development. When Luke is teaching Rey or Rey questions who her parents are, these are moments which enriches the saga and allows us to care for these heroes. To see Luke and Rey together is like seeing the past and the future find a connection within their stories.