"Leia sent me here with hope", but will Skywalker return the favor?

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2017)

"Star Wars - The Last Jedi" (2017 release; 152 min.) brings the continuing saga of the "next generation" of Star Wars heroes. The movie opens with a bang, literally. The First Order reigns supreme, and the Resistance is scrambling to escape their base. That results in a dazzling 15 min. sequence where there are ever more detailed and complex battle scenes. And did I mention it is loud? Meanwhile, while all this is happening (and picking up directly where "The Force Awakens" left off), Rey is trying to convince Luke Skywalker to rejoin the ranks of the Resistance. "Leia sent me here with hope", she tells Skywalker. Will he? At this point we're 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from rapidly rising writer-director Rian Johnson, who a few years ago brought us the excellent sci-fi thriller "Looper". While he alone is credited as being the writer, I imagine that Executive Producer JJ Abrams (who returns as director for Star Wars IX) had a lot of input as well in the overall story arch. As the years go by, and technology becomes yet more sophisticated, it is bewildering at time (in a good way) to take in all that we see on the big screen. Apparently this Star Wars movie is quite divisive among the Star Wars aficionados, and I really don't understand why. I was 17 when "A New Hope" came out, and 20 when "The Empire Strikes Back" was released. Now 4 decades later, much needed new life has been brought in this franchise, washing away the bad taste that Episodes I, II and III left us with now 20 years ago. The renewed Star Wars brings a nice mix of the new stuff along with some elements of the old stuff (Episodes IV, V and VI). In fact, I was struck by the parallels between this mpvoe and "The Empire Strikes Back" on a number of occasions. The original score by John Williams once again plays an important role in the overall enjoyment. My main criticism of "The Last Jedi" is that the movie is unnecessarily long at 2 hr. 32 min. Tighter editing could've cut a good 15-20 min. without missing any core aspects of the story. Last but certainly not least, it was with sadness that I watched Carrie Fischer in her last role ever. She was due to return for Episode IX. She will be missed by everyone in the Star Wars universe and fandom.
I was not able to score tickets for the opening weekend, but did manage (just barely) to get tickets for last night (Tuesday evening). That screening here in Cincinnati was completely sold out. Even more remarkable for me was that a sizable portion of the audience were young kids, I'm talking 6-7-8 years old, and I didn't see any of them getting restless, despite the movie's long running time. Amazing. While of course you can watch this on Amazon Instant Video and eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, a movie like this just BEGS to be experienced on the big screen, along with other fans. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is a WINNER.