Great piece of escapism

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2018)

I'm 37. That means that back in the early 90s I'd seen the Star Wars films on video or TV just once or twice - it was a real special occasion with days/weeks of excited build-up. Coupled with the fact that there was very little mention of the films in the media and there were no internet forums, YouTube etc. Every picture or article about Star Wars in a magazine or newspaper was important because it was so scarce. That meant that I had to use my imagination (and Lego) to recreate the film stories or my own stories. The problem now is that there's no time for imagination (or, sadly, Lego) because we have other peoples' opinions readily available and YouTube clips to remind us of the cool things we just watched in the cinema. All the magic of those special moments in The Last Jedi can be replayed again and again and analysed to death within hours of seeing it at the cinema. Its power of Science Fiction and mystery is stripped instantaneously, consumed and spat out never to be thought of again, ready for Episode 9 which will inevitably be another disappointment in the opinion of most fans.
The story-line for The Last Jedi is appalling but to me that doesn't matter. The set pieces of Snoke, Leia Poppins, Luke v Kylo, Admiral Holdo and the Raddus are good enough to hold this film up within my imagination and adds so much to my own Star Wars experience. To see Luke on a big screen was worth the ticket price alone and not knowing what might happen to him was a good experience (as opposed to the Prequels where we know where the story gets to - prequels are painting by numbers - but that's for another day).
The problem we all have is that people have so much time and web content to analyse these films and we're greatly disappointed by our (rightful) conclusions. Of course! It's science fiction! Why bother trying to work out if Leia would have survived in space - it was really just such a special moment to see her use the force really for the first time. Why bother saying that Luke should actually have gone to Crait? The scene was cool regardless. Analysing this film leads to disappointment just like analysing Return of the Jedi or A New Hope.
Watch it at the cinema just once, enjoy it (you will definitely enjoy it) and then leave it to your imagination to fill in the gaps or plot holes and The Last Jedi will have done its job.