Well, that just happened...

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2017)

I am a Star Wars nerd. Die-hard. I have watched the original trilogy countless times and to a lesser extent, the prequels. I saw the Last Jedi last night and boy oh boy.. it was quite the ride. The last Jedi took Star Wars to places it had never been which, as a fan, was really interesting. I won't say this is a perfect movie (like some people) or that this was an awful movie (like other people) but I will say, this movie is better than all the prequels and despite it's many flaws, I sit it next to The Force Awakens.
Now if you don't want to read any spoilers, TURN BACK NOW.
Let's jump on in to this.
The whole thing with Canto Bight just felt like it didn't need to happen. It was everywhere and there were too many weird looking drunk aliens- in all honesty, it reminded me of the slapstick in the prequels. I get that it's a casino but it didn't really feel "Star Wars". I get that it was necessary for them to have found a code breaker guy but there were probably better ways to cycle him into the story.
They did accomplish a good way to help understand the force better than the Phantom Menace, but Luke felt changed. I guess I understand why they did that, putting emphasis on how he failed Ben Solo, but they barely touched that, and when they did, it was brief- I wasn't sure which side to believe.
The porgs, despite the internet's constant hate-ranting on them, didn't play as big of a part in the movie as the marketing would lead you to believe, and I think that's for the better. I enjoyed the scenes with porgs to the extent that they didn't steal scenes so much as enhancing them.
The space battle in the beginning was phenomenal. Probably one of the best in all of Star Wars. The action was intriguing and it had a cause with reactions that lasted the whole movie. It felt pretty realistic.
Yet, the main question to many fans is: Was this worth the wait?
As much as a lot of people would disagree with me, I do believe this was worth the wait. While, yes, there are a lot of open wounds in the Star Wars universe now, I believe that J.J. has a plan to sew them back up with Episode IX. This movie allowed for a new mold in the Star Wars Universe. It was unique, it was smart(ish), and it allowed fans and moviegoers to think about the movie. The whole idea of Rey's parents being "nobodies" was actually kind of pleasing for me- especially since it came from Kylo. All these elaborate fan theories that have been flooding the internet and my YouTube account since before TFA were debunked- franking relieving me from all that being stuffed down my throat, forcing me to swallow that Rey is somehow a Solo, or somehow a Skywalker. No, this just goes to show that Rey has so much sheer strength in the force to come from nobodies. And still, while that won't please a lot of fans, it's almost impossible to know if Kylo was seriously telling the truth. He was trying to make Rey join him at that time so, really, whatever he said could be a lie and her parents legitimately revealed in IX.
I enjoyed the movie, it left me shocked and mind blown with all the stunts they dared to take on a Star Wars movie. I was shocked but at the same time, I felt like I was seven again when I saw Star Wars for the first time. It was an all around enjoyable movie and as much as I liked it, it has my hyped for episode IX more than anything and I am very excited to see how Abrams will tie this trilogy up and finish what he started. I will not say this movie was perfect, but I will not say it was awful. As a die-hard Star Wars fan, I think this movie deserves an 8.1-8.3.