The Last Jedi puts a nail in the coffin that is the 'Old Star Wars', but it also comes with the new generation of cast that is the 'new Star Wars'

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2017)

The Last Jedi has opened with overwhelmingly positive reviews, which was an instant sign that I may be in for disappointment due to the film being overhyped and admittedly I didn't come out of the film being very satisfied. Personally, my instant response was negative towards the choice that took with several of the films characters, for instance the choice to very lacklusterly offing supreme leader Snoke when he has been built up in episode VII as the next big bad or the way that Luke was in fact using his 'Jedi hologram' to battle Kylo Ren in the final climactic battle which ended anticlimactically when Luke disappears into the winds in the first Jedi Temple.
The thing is, this all goes against our expectations as fans, we have come to expect the force running through a major blood-line (Skywalkers), to expect this big menacing force of evil and impactful deaths. But, we did get all of these things, we got them in The Force Awakens, so after really thinking about the Last Jedi I think it really was a worthy entry.
Many in fact complained that the Force Awakens was essentially the exact same as A new Hope, complete with its own death star, an evil sith with its own version of Vader: Kylo Ren and the comparisons do not end there. It was a nostalgic film, harkening back to the nostalgia of Star Wars and was definitely effective for an initial return to such a franchise.
However, Rian Johnson certainly realizes the danger of this and chooses to go on a very different and offbeat tone for The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi was an ensemble of storylines that were meaningful (perhaps with the exception of Finn and Rose's arc) and character building arcs that ended with every character being more that what we came in with, and this is a truly difficult balancing act that I think The Last Jedi executes very well. Albeit there are moments that at first viewing may seem odd and completely undermines the build up of A Force Awakens and a few unnecessary comedic scenes.
You see as fans we have expected Snoke to be this big menacing force, but instead he is just this old guy who has been pulling the strings, Kylo is the real villain of the story, and this in many ways is different. Rey's parents were revealed to be nobodies once again hearkening to the 'anti cliched' tone that Rian Johnson is heading to. While these choices are surely going to put off certain fans, they weren't unreasonable and in fact do propell the characters forward. Kylo Ren's character has become so much more interesting because while he does have this inner conflict also is now overtaking the big-bad Snoke and coming to his own. Poe Dameron's character also has a very interesting arc as he comes to understand the importance of good leadership and the choices a leader must make fully coming to his own. Rey's character stands to represent the beacon of hope in the galaxy, and throwing away of the common trope of the 'Skywalker bloodline'. Because, if anything the overarching message of the Last Jedi is that the force isn't a tool that a few can utilize but rather something that flows through all, something that everyone can use and that is what Luke comes to realize, why he ultimately does think that the Jedi order must end. It is time for the galaxy to step up and it would take the whole galaxy to come together in order to bring down the First Order. Kylo Ren in fact puts this in perspective very well when he said "It is time for old things to past" truly symbolizing the end of a Star Wars that we as fans are familiar with and really putting away the nostalgia goggles and having a new generation come to their own.