Spoiler Free "Review" of The Last Jedi

Before I begin to tell you my non-spoiler review (less critique, more feelings about) of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I feel it appropriate to tell you about my Star Wars tastes overall. Given so many "fans" (and yes, that's meant as snarky as you want to take it) are up in arms over how much they liked or hated this new installment I find myself wondering what their relationship is with Star Wars prior to. (Feel free to skip down to Why You're Here if you could care less about my childhood)

BACKGROUND:

I grew up watching the original trilogy on VHS as I was born in 1981. Empire Strikes Back was my favorite of those movies and remains so today. As a youngin' I found myself infatuated with the design aspects of everything. Empire offered up Snow Troopers and then Jedi (Return of the, I think we need to figure out the shorthand lingo on how this is gonna work) gave us the Scout Trooper! These were very important elements of my youth! I loved Star Wars, read Star Wars books but I kept it to myself. I had like minded friends and we would geek out, but it wasn't knowledge I was going to put out there for fear of ridicule and bullying. And then the prequels came along. The excitement for this new age was too much to contain as people I never would've guessed were as nerdy as I was started coming out of the woodwork. The "jocks" of my high school were bragging about how they were going to catch the midnight showing before anyone else. Suddenly, guys who had never shown anything but disdain for my presence were impressed by the knowledge I possessed about this common ground. It was truly surreal.

The excitement was palpable. My closer circle of friends knew that I was such a fan of the galaxy far, far away that they each made me promise I'd see it with them. That day after school I went to the theatre and watched it. I watched the new Star Wars. My excitement overwhelmed my logical sense of reason. I knew it was dry and flat performance wise, but I didn't care. I'd watched the movie 4 times in back to back screenings before I left the theater that day (those friends with the promises I mentioned? There was always someone waiting in line for the next showing as I was exiting).

Moving on, the other episodes came and went. They left me wanting, but hey, it was Star Wars and though there were things that didn't make sense with the original trilogy that so many of us hold so dear, it gave us a look at a different time within this universe. I like them well enough and will occasionally watch them. The Clone Wars has some pretty good story arcs (though I wish they didn't crap all over my favorite book series Republic Commando by Karen Traviss).

When Episode VII came out, it awakened (see what I did there?) my excitement again, though I'm able to control it now and listen to my feelings. I left the theater thinking something was amiss. There were character moments I felt should've been taken advantage of. For one, Chewie watches his hetero-life mate get killed, growls, shoots a couple of guys and depresses a button. I feel given the way that scene ended anyway, that he should have lost his mind and run straight at Kylo Ren and thrown him off the cat walk. Let Kylo take the blaster bolt and catch himself, but show us this Wookie rage that we heard about in A New Hope! Or maybe the build up of what that moment would be was too great because I'm too invested in these characters. And then there was Kylo Ren. A villain who for the first time could rival Darth Vader as the greatest villain ever... for the first 20 or so minutes of Awakens. I LOVED that he was filled with the dark side and a loose cannon. His rage and temper was fantastic. The Sith always seemed in extraordinary control of themselves. Even when Anakin lost it, it was motivated and directed at one target at a time. Kylo, from his unstable lightsaber to just wildly swinging his laser sword everywhere, was the best Sith I'd ever seen. He's raw emotion and yet was devoid of feeling. I thought that was such a nuanced and organic choice. And then the helmet came off. I was destroyed. I didn't want to see Kylo's humanity that soon. In my opinion, that helmet should've stayed put until his encounter with Han, and only to look him in the eyes as the deed was done. Think about how much more impactful it would've been if we didn't get so much so soon? Eh, but it happened and I wasn't a fan of Kylo anymore (I have nothing against Adam Driver, mind you). In the end, I didn't care for The Force Awakens all that much, but I appreciated it.

Rogue One, yeah, I loved it. Overall it fit the tone of the Star Wars universe quite well. Heavy material and yet still riddled with humor to offset the tones. That's needed, by the way. Think of it as a "balance" if you will... Anyway, I enjoyed Rogue One quite a bit. Sure, it had it's flaws here and there, but it was what I wanted from an action-adventure sic-fi movie. It is funny that the only character lost that I cried for was the droid. Maybe the Star Wars universe could use two directors, one for the acting and arcing and one for everything else? I dunno...

WHY YOU'RE HERE:

Now we have Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi. I effing loved it. I watched an early trailer and stayed away from all of the conspiracy type of posts about what was expected. I knew little going in aside from close friends telling me that they loved it but wouldn't say any more than that. The critics reviews were high and yet the "fans" (again, full of snark) reviews were polarized. This I don't understand. Yes, at one point it felt long, but in situations like that as I'm a Star Wars fan, I'm happy for it. It means that there's more of something I love for me to enjoy in that moment. I start looking for nuance and character. Maybe I'm weird in that sense. Even in that moment of thinking "this feels long" well it was due to the classic three act structure happening three separate times throughout the story. If I leave that statement as is I feel I avoid any spoiler, but yeah, a lot happens. But who is complaining about a lot happening?! Do you really go into a STAR WARS EXPERIENCE and hope that nothing too drastic happens within this SPACE OPERA? So confused by what I've read since seeing the film.

A LOT happens. Tons of crap happens. Every emotion possible is felt at some point or another and not once did the story lose me. Not once did I disengage from the characters. I was WOWed by many performances and even more stories. Mark Hamill is brilliant, Adam Driver, though some of his choices I was surprised by, was fantastic and Carrie Fisher... she'll always be my Princess and General. Emotions ran high within me any time she graced the screen.

This installment allowed me to connect with some characters that I hadn't yet connected with from the last episode. I began caring about the cast and enjoyed seeing their individual dynamics playing off of the rest. One actor in particular I leave out because I don't know if it's common knowledge that he's in it, but as usual, he stole every scene he was in. I think he's arguably one of the best actors alive or who ever has been (and you're perfectly welcome to disagree).

I realize I've written a lot and yet have said nothing. This is more my personal FEELINGS toward something that I loved and yet so many seem intent on crapping on it because it didn't live up to their own expectation. Probably a lot of fanboy theories were destroyed and that broke some hearts, I don't know. Maybe they're mad at EA and just take it out on Star Wars all together. Personally, The Last Jedi not only surpassed my rather mediocre expectations, but it blew them out of the water. Empire will always be my favorite, but Last Jedi looks to make a home at number two. It was emotional, it was packed to the brim with tension and suspense and the conflict was never-ceasing. I literally felt my jaw hanging open as it had watching the original trilogy, three feet from the tv in my living room, rocking the tighty-whities at age 3 or 4. By the time my wife and I left the theater, my mouth was incredibly dry as I never closed it. We had a ginormous beverage between us that largely went to waste as we forgot it was there.

Speaking of my wife, her relationship with Star Wars is the dead opposite of mine. She doesn't give a flying you know what for The Wars. I'm the biggest nerd she knows, she's tried watching the movies but inevitably falls asleep every time they've come on. She doesn't understand any of the relationships or who anyone is. She never saw The Force Awakens or Rogue One. More often than not she refers to anything Star Wars as "stupid" BUT she does enjoy a lot of design elements such as the "tweedle-necks" (Twi'lek) and she does hair so the hair is usually a talking point. When I tell you that this woman was MORE into the movie than I was, it's not an understatement. She had plenty of moments where I'd here her say "what a gorgeous set" or "would you look at that costume" but for the most part, she was hooked and reeled in (also, she loved the alien animals and was constantly planning how she was going to dress our dog up to resemble these various critters). This is the first time I've ever seen her legitimately ENJOY something that's as dear as Star Wars is to me. It took us 45 minutes to leave the parking lot as she was too excited to get into the car and as you can expect from never paying attention to the previous movies, she had a LOT of questions. Our Star Wars movie marathon begins on Tuesday...

In the end I'd recommend seeing The Last Jedi with an open mind. Use the Jedi mantras to reach out with your feelings and just let the force of Star Wars wash over you. Don't attempt to control anything from your chair, art doesn't work that way. Don't look for what's wrong or try to remain in control, give yourself over to these stories and characters and you'll most likely enjoy it. I stayed away from the hype because I myself was not very hyped and I feel that worked to my benefit. Or MAYBE, and hear me out on this, MAYBE it was just a really good movie.

At one point towards the end of the movie the sound went quiet for a moment with a dramatic swell. My wife, who at this point was talking directly to the characters onscreen said "Brush it off, baby!" The theater laughed, applauded and cheered as it summed up everyone's feeling in this particular moment. That's my advice to everyone whether you've seen it and loved it or haven't seen it at all. In regards to all these negative comments about The Last Jedi; "Brush it off, baby!"