A Franchise Forever Changed

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2017)

There's truly nothing quite like the release of a new Star Wars film. And with The Last Jedi, the franchise is forever changed.
Anyone who is even a casual fan of the Star Wars saga is well-aware of the incorrect notion that 2015's The Force Awakens is somehow a remake of 1977's A New Hope. However, for those who find that notion to be correct, they can rest assured that The Last Jedi is NOTHING like The Empire Strikes Back, nor is it like any other Star Wars film. In fact, The Last Jedi is so different from any other film in history.
But change is a good thing.
Never has there been a film that has kept me guessing the entire way through. After watching The Force Awakens, I had a pretty vivid idea of what I expected episodes eight and nine to be like.
Those expectations were destroyed.
Everything you thought you knew about Star Wars changes. Everything you expected to happen to Daisy Ridley's Rey, Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, John Boyega's Finn, and Oscar Isaac's Poe does not happen, and everything that you would never even imagine to happen to them does. In terms of the original cast, Mark Hamill gives a truly Oscar-worthy performance as Luke Skywalker. After getting literally seconds of screen time in The Force Awakens, Hamill truly gets his time to shine in The Last Jedi, and it's powerful. The late Carrie Fisher's penultimate performance as Leia Organa truly ends on a high note. Fisher gets far more screen time, and relevance in the plot of the film, than in The Force Awakens, and she truly is spectacular.
Newcomers, such as Kelly Marie Tran's Rose, Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Holdo, and Benicio del Toro's DJ are worthy additions to the Star Wars saga, the most memorable being Marie Tran's Rose.
Some very, very, interesting new concepts, concerning the Force, to name one, are introduced to the Star Wars universe in this film, all of which I loved. Director Rian Johnson does not play by the established rules of the franchise. He takes risks. Huge ones. And they pay off. Big time.
The visual effects in The Last Jedi are better than ever. What really struck me was how incredible the lightsabers were in this film. I was not a big fan of the prequel trilogy's over-choreographed lightsaber duels, so I was very pleased when I saw the more realistic feeling battles in The Force Awakens. The Last Jedi continues this tradition.
John Williams' score for the film is glorious, as always. One particular standout to me was the theme for Rose.
What really irks me about some Star Wars fans is their inability to decide what kind of film they want. When The Force Awakens came out, many called it a remake - unoriginal, boring, and predictable. They went as far as calling JJ Abrams "Jar Jar Abrams". They wanted something different, something never seen before in Star Wars. Then The Last Jedi releases, helmed by a new director, and many others are saying it's too different, too experimental, and too unpredictable! This tells me that some people will never be happy, regardless of what kind of Star Wars film releases.
Overall, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a rollercoaster on every level imaginable. It takes the saga to new levels that virtually no one could predict. I am ever curious to see what happens next, especially given the fact that JJ Abrams, director of The Force Awakens, is directing episode nine. I feel that over time, The Last Jedi will go down as one of the greatest filmmaking achievements of our time.
A franchise forever changed.