Best Star Wars since ESB

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2017)

Let me start off by saying that I am one of the countless people for whom Star Wars was their childhood. ESB wins by a landslide as my favorite movie ever. After the most recent reboot, this movie was truly going to be make or break for me. If it took a page from TFA and just gave us a slightly more modern telling of ESB I would have lost faith in the franchise. I would have lost faith that they actually care about the fan base and want to make movies for us and not just to line their pockets. However, this movie truly struck a chord. Was it a perfect movie? Of course not. Did it do something incredibly brave and original that not only hasn't been done in Star Wars, but in cinema in general? Absolutely. This movie has everything, the epic space battles, incredibly choreographed fighting, quotable lines, and scenes that make you want to stand and cheer. Even if you aren't a Star Wars fan this movie will have something that appeals to you. And if you are a Star Wars fan then I think you're in for quite a treat. Now, to address the people giving this 1/10 for some inane reason. I keep hearing things like "This was out of character for Luke" and "It didn't feel like a Star Wars movie." To address the first complaint, all I have to say is, it's called character development, look it up. To address the latter, I say be more open-minded. No this isn't a movie that fits perfectly into the confines of what the previous films have created. But that's a good thing. What Star Wars is at its core, is a risky movie that challenges the norms. 30 years ago when ANH came out, nothing like that had been done. It rewrote what it means to be a good film. Some years later, ESB challenged what we thought a sequel could be. And now, TLJ yet again takes Star Wars to a bold and interesting place. Because of that, it is the truest Star Wars we have gotten in almost thirty years and holds up to the originals. If you don't go see this movie, as a fan or non-fan alike, you are greatly missing out.