By no means a perfect movie, but a great movie nonetheless

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2019)

This is my first review on IMDB and let me start by saying I am a child of the 80s who grew up loving Star Wars. As a result, I loathe the toxic fanboy culture that has consumed this franchise. All they want to do is dump on Disney, the actors, the directors, the producers, the writers, and everyone associated with carrying this story forward into the future. They are like pathetic junkies looking for the "perfect high" that jacks their addiction to the next level while reminding them of their first rush. Then afterwards, in order to maintain their "cred" they compete to be the harshest critic to establish dominance in their very pathetic cabal of losers. As a professional creative, let me just say that the work that has gone into these new movies has been astonishing. Where most successful franchises only explore prequels or reboots (for the fan service and financial safety), very few attempt to write new chapters. I applaud Disney, JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson and this marvelous cast (newbies and vets alike) for trying to create something truly new and special. The injection of life and extension of the saga into uncharted territory has been joy and privilege to watch.
With all that out of the way, The Last Jedi was a daring, exciting and unexpected movie. Rian Johnson did a little wrong, but got a lot right. The broad strokes were all there. The details were 90% perfect. The other 10% are really minor quibbles. The issues that most fans and critics take with the movie is not believing in Luke's character arc. Well, believe it. Everything we saw in the original trilogy and what The Force Awakens hinted at suggested a flawed hero, alone, searching and desperately afraid to make a mistake that would let his loved ones down and bring ruin upon the galaxy. FEAR was always Luke's greatest motivators... and we all know too well that fear leads to the dark side. Luke was also motivated by AMBITION and LOVE. When we learn that he failed in his monumental responsibilities as a Jedi attempting to rebuild the order, he was once again left wracked with FEAR. His fear and guilt led him into exile.
As we know, he was brought out of hiding by our spirited new heroine, Rey (who we all still assume has blood ties to the Skywalker family). It took him the run time of the film to rediscover his confidence that he truly is the hero everyone remembers by accepting his flaws and rising to the occasion to stand up to and defeat evil. He sacrificed himself to save his friends and the side of good. His brilliant story arc was completed.
Beyond that, the new storylines for the rest of the characters continued to deepen and unfold in compelling new ways--love, hate, ambition, sacrifice, perseverance, etc. From Rey and Kylo to Finn, Poe, Rose, Hux and others... it is truly a pleasure to watch this new chapter of the saga unfold for a new generation of Star Wars fans. But certainly NOT for the old generation.
You can quibble about a few cheesy lines (this is Star Wars, that's part of the joy, BTW), or scenes that maybe didn't unfold the way you were expecting, but overall this was a magnificent film in a magnificent new trilogy and I cannot wait for the final film, The Rise of Skywalker.
Disney, Rian, JJ and everyone else: Good luck... and may the Force be with you.