Review: The Last Jedi

Rounding it off, here's my thoughts on The Last Jedi;

It's bloated, it tries something new but I ultimately find it has too many rough edges for me to really enjoy it.

The Last Jedi has some genuinely stellar setpieces going for it, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Luke this go around. Mark Hamill is older and much more matured as an actor so you can really tell how much better he's become at his deliveries since Return Of The Jedi. Carrie is great and I really found myself wishing for more of Leia and Holdo on screen, it just seems like The Last Jedi needed a little more time in the oven.

It's one of those scripts where all the conflict comes from people who don't talk to each other. I'm one of maybe three people who think the Kantobite scenes are the most necessary to the film but the third act is where The Last Jedi really grinds its own gears, where you can feel the script going through the motions.

It's a divisive film to be sure and while I wish I had more to say on it, the fact is, I think I enjoyed it less than any of the prequels. Rather than having some huge flaw, the problems with The Last Jedi are mundane, and as a result its just a less memorable film. Flawed in execution but in not a lot of big and obvious ways.

That said, I still respect the film for what it tried to do and there are still large parts of it that I did enjoy. I do think there's a way to cut it to get the tight pacing of the last film in there as well while also keeping the more subversive elements.

Guess sometimes, less really is just more.