To this day i will never understand the hate for this film.

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2020)

The Last Jedi Jedi did exactly what the second film in a trilogy should do. It took risks, subverted expectations, expanded on the lore/mythos, took characters to their natural most logical step in their journey, took the story in a new direction and tried to move on from the past that this franchise seems to be shackled to. In the Force Awakens it is established the Luke went into hiding because of what happened with the new school of Jedi and Ben turning to the dark side. It makes complete logical sense that this is where Luke's character would be. Why wouldn't Luke be questioning the principles of the Jedi. Why wouldn't he be bitter and shut himself off from the Force. His perceived failure with Ben (his sisters son/best friends son/ nephew) drove him to this point. It's the story of the fallen hero. Luke like any great hero has flaws and makes mistakes but that is what makes him so relatable and in the end Luke becomes the Legend everyone thought he was by saving what was left of the rebels and he did it without even physically being there. That is how powerful Luke was with the Force. Expanding on the Force is a progression within Star Wars lore that needed to happen. The Force is a living breathing thing and just because we haven't seen these aspects of the Force until now doesn't mean they weren't always there and our characters are tapping deeper into unseen/ unexplored aspects of the Force. That doesn't make the Leia floating in space scene perfect, but I do find it interesting. Yoda Returning was amazing, it literally felt like I was watching the Yoda from the original trilogy. The fact that Rey is a nobody in The Last Jedi is such a breath of fresh air. Star Wars needed to get away from the idea that you have to be a blood descendant of a Skywalker, Palpatine, Kenobi or any other hot shot Force user (which is clearly undone in The Rise of Skywalker). I love that Kylo destroys his mask and forges his own path instead of being stuck in Vader's shadow. Kylo Killing Snoke and and fighting with Rey took the story to places we haven't seen yet. It was unexpected that who we thought was the main villain is killed in the second film and the apprentice is now the main villain and that our hero would be fighting along side him. The idea that he wants Rey to join him so they can destroy the Jedi/Sith and create something new together is both disturbing and fascinating and I would have loved to see what they would have done going into this new direction. Star Wars needed to delve into more of the grey territory instead of just good vs evil Jedi Vs Sith over and over and over. It needed to move on from the Skywalker story and try something new. The Cantobite sequence wasn't perfect and it did drag at times but I liked that it showed the political side of selling weapons to both the resistance and the First Order. Finn and Rose attempting and failing to help the resistance is a very humanizing plight. Poe having to learn trust and maturity was also a necessary character growth. This film is not perfect, the only perfect Star Wars film is Empire Strikes Back and nothing will ever touch that. But at least The Last Jedi tried to take Star Wars into a new direction and I will always respect this film for what it tried to do.