Is it still Star Wars?

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2017)

The Last Jedi is a great action-adventure movie. A real thrill ride of a movie. But is it Star Wars? My answer is emphatically no. TLJ pays homage to Star Wars and even parodies the saga. But is not the Star Wars I grew up with. It is meta-Star Wars. It is the cast of Star Wars appearing on the Muppet Show and playing themselves and also versions of their movie characters. But none of this took me out of the moment. Not even Luke actually referring to his lightsaber as a "laser sword" or Leia's first words to her brother. "I changed my hair". And the two big reveal scenes actually had me laughing. What does Luke do with the lightsaber after Rey hands it to him? He chucks it over his shoulder like it's a piece of garbage. And Rey is nobody. Her parents were nobody. And the director himself has confirmed that Kylo wasn't lying. So get over it, fan boys. There won't be a "I am your father (brother, uncle)" moment in Episode 9 and you no longer need training or a Jedi master to become a full Jedi. Decades of SW mythology flushed down the crapper and a million fan boys (and girls) crying in their parents basements and hugging their Chewbacca plushies. And none of this bothered me because the cast is completely solid and the story is so well paced and mostly exciting. Some people disliked the jokes and the casual 2000'ish banter that carried over from TFA but I would rather hear that than a bunch of "space talk" delivered with as much nuance and subtlety as you would find in a high school play. No, TLJ isn't your daddy's Star Wars but it's a very good movie that is worth seeing with your entire family. Do it.