[SPOILERS] Have Fun - And Now For Some Spoilers

SPOILERS FOLLOW - LAST WARNING!

Some of my thoughts and opinions about The Last Jedi:

The film was emotional, surprising, funny, bleak, action-packed, and very unpredictable. There was a lot to digest in the first viewing. It was very different from any Star Wars film out there. While there are hints of the familiar, this was anything but a ripoff or reboot of The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi.

The first act was great and was the most familiar feeling. A gripping evacuation and ensuing space battle as the Resistance attempted to flee the First Order. Conceptually, there are similarities with the evacuation of Hoth, but the main action flipped into space rather than on the ground. It didn't feel anything like Empire to me. It actually reminded me a bit of the first episode of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, "33", where the fleet was being chased by the Cylons, and had to jump every 33 minutes in order to avoid annihilation. The action was interspersed with Rey's "training" with Luke. I didn't get any sense of disruption to the flow of the film here, and I was equally intrigued by both storylines.

The middle act had some troubles. There was a lot to handle in an act jam-packed with plot lines and plot twists. I actually did not like the Canto Bight scene. It was forced, and didn't make much sense to the overall story. It created a couple of small payoffs later, but it wasn't worth the time. This was the equivalent of a disconnected throwaway episode in a TV show, like one of Tony's dream sequences in The Sopranos, or when Eleven spent a whole episode with a Chicago gang in Stranger Things. The characters had no real sense of urgency during this mission, under which they should have behaved as if they were under enormous pressure in the time crunch of what amounted to the 18 hours of fuel that the Resistance fleet had remaining. It wasn't a compelling scene, and felt a bit like a contemporary political jab at class inequality. The second act was redeemed at the end by the epic Throne Room scene, including the stunning death of Snoke (who the heck was this guy, anyway? Is it important?) and also to some degree by the hangar scene featuring Finn/Phasma and BB-8. Of course, there was Yoda's appearance,which I very much enjoyed.

The final act was thrilling and emotional. I'm glad Luke and Leia had a scene together, it was really nice. The whole climactic battle and showdown was very surprising, and the crowd in my theater went crazy when the scene cut to Luke sitting on the stone at Ahch-To, revealing he was battling via The Force. As awesome as that was, when Luke saw the twin suns of Tatooine, it was like a stomach punch, because you knew it was over for him. After I digest this, I think I'll be okay that he died and became one with The Force in a sacrifice like Obi-Wan made for him.

I liked Admiral Holdo's character. Her sacrifice was one of the more awesome special effects moments in the entire saga - another crowd pleaser in my theater. I felt like this was actually how Leia could have gone down, and that Holdo should have taken control of the Resistance going forward for IX.

I wasn't that interested in DJ, probably because of my dislike for the Canto Bight scene. I thought Rose was pretty good, but again, the main part of her character arc was fleshed out at Canto Bight, and she just seemed more interested in the fathiers and the rich people than she was in accomplishing the mission. (Tick tock, Rose!). In the end, the purpose served was to teach Poe a lesson about failure, and to show that the Resistance message resonated with a new generation across the galaxy.

Besides the Canto Bight storyline in general, I was most bothered by Leia's survival in open space. When the explosion happened, I thought "okay, this is it, I can handle this as Leia's end." I had no problem with Leia's Force abilities coming out in a life and death situation, but I had a hard time getting over her surviving the vacuum of space, and then floating back into the ship. I guess we'll have to leave it up to JJ to figure out how to write off Leia.

Kylo said to Rey after their awesome duet "The past must end," or "leave the past behind" or something like that, when she said there was still time to save the Resistance fleet. I think that line was directed to audiences just as much as it was to Rey. With Han already gone, Luke sacrificing himself at the end, and Carrie Fisher's passing leaving essentially no role for Leia in IX, we are looking at the next episode to almost be an epilogue to the Skywalker arc, as this one pretty much finished it. The old heroes are gone, and the Resistance is reduced to something like 20 people. The last scene, showing the children having been inspired by the Resistance, almost would be a fitting end to the trilogy, but there's a whole 'nother movie to go, which I can only guess will be about Rey and Kylo's search for the true meaning of The Force.

And there was a big reveal of sorts. Unless it was a lie, we know that Rey's parents were nobodies. This gives a clean break to establish a new direction for the franchise away from the Skywalkers (although Ben is a Skywalker, of course). But it also leaves us still wondering how Rey is so powerful, and how she knows how to wield The Force with no training (that we know of).

Overall, I liked it very much. It wasn't exactly exhilarating - I have a little bit of a sad feeling, a minor bit of depression - probably because of Luke. It wasn't nearly as dark as the trailers had us believe. The humor was generally fun, not too corny, and often came at unexpected moments. The film had some flaws, but it was amazingly unpredictable, and unlike any Star Wars before it. We are certainly left with a galaxy in a different state than expected, with the Republic gone, The First Order with a leadership problem, the Resistance as we know it all but wiped out, and the Light and Dark sides of The Force facing off in a surprising way. It sets up intriguing possibilities for the trilogy's finale.

Thumbs up!

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