ReviewFilm review – Star Wars: The Last Jedi a true epic that casts off shadow of The Empire Strikes Back to leave us with new hope
Despite a marathon running time, this is an emotional and incident-packed spectacle, its classic characters, headspinning space battles and thrilling light-sabre duels proving the force is still with the famous franchise
4/5 stars
Whatever box office records Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi is going to break, one thing is certain. At 152 minutes, Episode VIII is the longest instalment since the sci-fi phenomenon began in 1977 under George Lucas in what now feels like a galaxy far, far away.
This is an emotional ride all right, an incident-packed epic that introduces new characters, reacquaints us with old friends, answers some questions and raises some more.
In only his fourth movie, after Brick (2005), The Brothers Bloom (2008) and the slick time-travelling Looper (2012), Johnson takes the reins from J.J. Abrams, who got the franchise back on track with 2015’s The Force Awakens, which hit the mark with cinema-goers, grossing US$2 billion .
If there was a criticism of Abrams’ film, it was that it rather borrowed plot-lines and themes from the first Star Wars film, now known as A New Hope.
Johnson, who also wrote the script for The Last Jedi, has done his very best not to follow suit and rip from the second Star Wars filmt, The Empire Strikes Back, although there are still echoes – characters, vehicles, landscapes – that remain. And, like that 1980 film, the villains have the upper hand. “The First Order reigns,” says the traditional opening text that crawls up onto the screen.