The Star Wars Vision I've Always Wanted to See

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2017)

The latest installment and 8th episode to one of the most celebrated and glorified movie sagas of all time, delivers a cinematic experience and momentous climactic orchestra of sci-fi exuberance it had me in applause.
Starting literally heartbeats after The Force Awakens, it's the only Star Wars movie with pretty much no gap of time between it's predecessor, leaving the almost useless opening crawl to reiterate the obvious in 3 mandatory paragraphs.
But right away, this 8th installment doesn't waste any time and jumps immediately into the wars in the stars. Now to acknowledge the visionary, writer / director Rian Johnson is one of the more unique independent filmmakers, responsible for the sci-fi masterpiece Looper and two of the greatest episodes in Breaking Bad. And what he brings to Star Wars is a level of craftsmanship and quality in suspense and emotion like we've never seen before.
Now good movies aren't made up of strictly great moments, but only great movies have them and there's nearly 8 or 9 that suck you in and plummet you out in awe. Truly cinematic, and breathtaking.
But this film definitely takes risks incautiously, especially in a universe beloved by so many people around the world, there are bound to be many who can't shake the controversial and at times polarizing ambition Rian Johnson brings to The Last Jedi. As understandable as it is, what isn't so much understandable is the cult-like hatred directed towards this film's vision. All I have to say about this is it surprised me greatly, as I had screened it in the premiere with the impression of just experiencing a true sci-fi epic.
But if if you are to look at both sides of the equation, to me it seems pretty clear which side of the spectrum is the more credible one. But people are entitled to their own opinions, but these complaints could very well be directed towards pretty much any film, given how the true moviegoers who aren't as caught up in the emotional webs are giving it critical acclaim.
I mean, simple question is was it entertaining? How was the cinematic experience? I guess it shows what is and is not appreciated in the movies by people nowadays, and it somewhat frustrates me because the vision of this movie was something truly remarkable and how I wish most movies were made.
Besides the point, personally what I saw was a brilliant Star Wars experience, one that I've always wanted to see. In terms of comparison, I feel it reaches the same emotional and intense level as Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Frank Miller's Mad Max Fury Road. It's not perfect, but there's more heart and vision than any film of it's year, and that's how I feel about Last Jedi.
But just to dwell on those imperfections, I would have to say the first half of the picture does need some finer tuning in the cutting between scenes and establishing the tones between them. You have 3 or 4 different sequences going on at high-pace, in which we can't determine the ones which are secondary and primary to the story.
To me, the moments on the island with Rey and Luke Skywalker need to be primary and even though what was explored there was monumental and truly powerful, I wish they had spent a little more time to establish more atmosphere in an already rushing movie early on. And I do believe the concept of Finn and Rose's storyline, coalescing with the Resistance's storyline could've been more significant and clear, since there didn't feel like an understanding or purpose for what was going on, when there very much could've been.
But outside of that, once the characters sort of come together at the half way mark, the movie from their on sustains some of the most emotionally and cinematically beautiful and powerful stretches of space action and character moments in the entire saga. Punching you right in the soul.
This isn't a perfect film, I mean it's Star Wars for goodness sakes, none of them are. However, it surely surpasses the establishing complacency of The Force Awakens, which refused to get it's hands dirty. To me it easily rises above the cheesy prequels and matches the best of the trilogy in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Whatever people believed The Last Jedi was going to be and whatever people feel that it is, remember it 's only credible to judge the movie for what it is, never for what it's not.
In terms of an adventure film, a sci-fi epic, and a Star Wars movie, Rian Johnson may have nicked some foul balls here and there, but in the end he hit it a home run with the most unique and exciting episode to date.