Birthday Special: Movie Review - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

So seeing as its now traditional for a Star Wars film to come out at Christmas (though this may change over time), here's the latest one. So The Force Awakens kind of left us on a cliffhanger in that we saw Rey (reprised by Daisy Ridley) hand over the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker (reprised by the great Mark Hamill) and the question everyone has on their minds is "What does The Last Jedi mean?". Well it be a spoiler if I told you what it means so let's look at this very decisive film (according to the critics and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes):

Following a Two Towers like scenario, the Resistance leave their base and attempt to jump to hyperspace to escape the First Order. But the First Order are a step ahead and manage to track them via a hyperspace tracking device. With limited options made available, a revived Finn (reprised by John Boyega) travels with BB-8 and Resistance maintenance worker Rose Tico (played by Kelly Marie Tran) to find a track to prevent the First Order from tracking them to their next base of operations. Meanwhile, the Resistance led by General Leia Organa (reprised by Carrie Fisher for the final time) with help from Poe Dameron (reprised by Oscar Isaac) and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (played by Jurassic Park's Laura Dern) maintain a steady pace in escaping the First Order who led by General Hux (reprised by Domhnall Gleeson) alongside a conflicted Kylo Ren (reprised by Adam Driver) and his master Supreme Leader Snoke (reprised by Andy Serkis) are already hot on their trail. All that while Rey learns the ways of the Jedi from a reluctant Luke Skywalker on the watery planet of Ahch-To in which some sad but surprising truths are revealed.

As one of the most decisive films in the franchise, The Last Jedi is actually pretty great. The majority of the action takes place in space though doesn't stay there for the entire film. A lot of it is edge of your seat action, but its very fun and well acted all around. Plus it allows for some much needed character development that The Force Awakens failed to achieve (especially on Rey and Kylo Ren) and everyone has a part to play even if its minimal and does it ever so well. And yes there is a small but satisfactory tribute to the late Carrie Fisher who was able to finish her scenes prior to her passing which is nice. And despite The Force Awakens being very similar to A New Hope, this time the story feels very original with a minimal amount of Empire Strikes Back references such as The First Order style AT-ATs and some escaping action in space. So yeah it is another great entry in the saga and with this now being the third film by LucasFilm that's under Disney's leadership, it looks as though our worries about it being too Disney like are gone completely (at least for me anyway). 9/10