Movie Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I have never been a big fan of Star Wars - shoot me! - but I genuinely found Star Wars: The Last Jedi quite stellar. Quite frankly, I was expecting the film to hit that awkward second movie slump of sequels where it's just a disappointingly overdone build up for the next film and luckily, it wasn't.

The narrative was a lot tighter than The Force Awakens and while the first half felt a tad sluggish and overstuffed, the third and final act made it all come together and it was quite masterful. I wasn't particularly a fan of the Finn/Rose subplot though as I didn't think it was necessary and it somehow broke the momentum of the major plot. The cinematography was ridiculously gorgeous, the imagery was magnificent, and the visual effects were one of the best I've seen this year. That lightsaber scene with the red background was EVERYTHING! I was seriously in awe at how stunning the film looked. Across the board, the performances were pretty good too. Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher were all outstanding in this film, but it was Adam Driver's impeccably restrained performance that stole the show for me.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi wasn't perfect, but as a non-Star Wars fan, this was easily one of the best films I've seen this year. The visuals alone had me applauding and then there's the equally compelling narrative. So..