Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2017)

Disney paid billions to acquire Lucasfilm, the gamble paid off and The Force Awakens was a brilliant comeback for the space saga, I was all the more excited for the follow-up, directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper). Basically General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and many Resistance fighters are forced to evacuate their base when the First Order fleet arrives, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leads an effective but costly counterattack. The Resistance fighter vessels jump into hyperspace to escape, but the First Order uses a tracking device to pursue them, Resistance support fighters are destroyed, but Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Leia's son, senses his mother's presence and hesitates to fire at the lead Resistance ship. The bridge of the ship is destroyed by TIE fighters, several Resistance leaders are killed, and Leia is incapacitated, leaving Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) in command, but her passive strategy leads to Poe, Finn (John Boyega), BB-8, and mechanic Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) to embark on a secret plan to disable the First Order's tracking device. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley), with Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and R2-D2 (Jimmy Vee) aboard the Millennium Falcon, has found Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on the remote planet of Ahch-To. Luke has become disillusioned by the failures of the Jedi, despite learning of Han Solo's death, he refuses to join Rey and become part of the Resistance, unbeknownst to Luke, Rey and Kylo begin communicating telepathically. Prompted by R2-D2, Luke eventually agrees to teach Rey the ways of the Force, she receives differing accounts of the incident between Luke and Kylo of what turned Kylo to the Dark Side, Luke confesses he momentarily contemplated killing Kylo, sensing Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) had corrupted him, causing Kylo to retaliate and destroy Luke's emergent Jedi Order. Rey is convinced that Kylo can still be redeemed, like Luke's father Darth Vader, Rey plans to confront Kylo without Luke and leaves Ahch-To. Luke prepares to burn down the island's temple and library, but the Force ghost of Yoda (Frank Oz) appears, he destroys the temple him and encourages Luke to learn from his failure. Poe learns of Holdo's cowardly and risky plan to discreetly evacuate the remaining Resistance members using small transports, he instigates a mutiny, while Finn, Rose and BB-8 travel to Canto Bight to find a hacker to help them disable the tracking device. They encounter hacker DJ (Benicio Del Toro), who says he can help, then they infiltrate Snoke's ship, but are captured by Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), though BB-8 manages to escape. Meanwhile, Rey lands on the ship, and Kylo brings her to Snoke, who reveals that he controlled the mental connection between her and Kylo as part of a plan to destroy Luke. Snoke orders Kylo to kill Rey, instead Kylo kills Snoke, and works together with Rey to kill the guards, Kylo invites her to rule the galaxy with him, but Rey refuses, they struggle using the Force together for possession of Luke's lightsabre, it is split in two. Poe is stunned when Leia recovers, allowing the evacuation to begin, the Resistance flee to the nearby old Rebel Alliance base on Crait, but Holdo remains onboard to mislead Snoke's fleet. DJ, who double crossed the Resistance, reveals the plan to the First Order, the evacuating transports suffer heavy losses, until Holdo sacrifices herself, ramming Snoke's fleet at lightspeed to stop the barrage. Rey escapes in the chaos, while Kylo declares himself the new Supreme Leader, Captain Phasma is defeated and falls to her apparent death, Finn and Rose are freed by BB-8, and join the survivors on Crait. The First Order arrive at the Rebel Alliance base; Poe, Finn, and Rose lead a charge with old speeders, while Rey draws TIE fighters away in the Falcon, Rose saves Finn from a suicide run to destroy the main enemy cannon, is blasts a hole in the Resistance fortress. Then Luke appears and confronts Kylo alone, allowing the surviving Resistance fighters to escape, the First Order weapons have no effect on Luke, so he and Kylo battle, Kylo realises, when he strikes Luke with his lightsabre, that he is fighting Luke's Force projection, Luke defiantly tells Kylo that he will not be the last Jedi. Rey uses the Force to help the remaining Resistance fighters escape the cave and board the Falcon, while back on Ahch-To, an exhausted Luke peacefully dies and becomes one with the Force. Leia reassures everyone that the rebellion has all that is needed to rise again, and on Canto Bight, one of the children that helped Finn and Rose escape uses the Force to grab a broom, he has a Resistance emblem, and gazes hopefully into space. Also starring 12 Years a Slave's Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Billie Lourd as Lieutenant Connix, Amanda Lawrence as Commander D'Acy, Adrian Edmondson as Captain Peavey, Andy Nyman as Jail Guard, Lily Cole as Party Girl Lovey, Warwick Davis as Wodibin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Slowen Lo (voice), Gareth Edwards as Resistance Trench Soldier and Edgar Wright as Resistance Trooper. Hamill is back in fine form, Fisher (who gets a touching tribute in the end credits) is good in what is her final film, and Ridley, Boyega and Driver remain great, as before you really feel the nostalgia of the original trilogy, it is long, at 2 and a half hours, but with a well crafted story, amazing special effects, and exciting, explosive chase and fight sequences, you can't complain, another brilliant science-fiction fantasy action adventure. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score for John Williams, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Sound and Best Special Visual Effects. Star Wars was number 24 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Outstanding!