The First Reviews For STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Are Here - Is It Really The Best STAR WARS Movie Yet?
The embargo has lifted and the first wave of reviews for Star Wars: The Last Jedi are finally here! The question is, does the Rian Johnson helmed release live up to the hype? Hit the jump to find out...
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is just days away from being released (it feels good finally being able to type that) and now the reviews for the movie are online. You've no doubt already read our first verdict but what are the trades, newspapers, and websites saying about the Rian Johnson helmed release? Is the movie really as good as those first wave of Tweets indicated or a disappointment like the prequels?
Well, we've rounded up a selection of reviews and they make for very interesting reading indeed. There are no spoilers below but be cautious about following the links to the full versions of any of these reviews as some do drop a lot of big hints about what's to come in The Force Awakens follow-up.
Disney and Lucasfilm are clearly happy with what Johnson has delivered as they've handed the filmmaker the keys to an entire trilogy which will be unrelated to the Skywalker Saga. Do these reviews make you more or less excited for Star Wars: The Last Jedi? As always, share your thoughts below.
To view this list of reviews in its entirety, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Maybe the film is a tad too long. Most of the new characters could use more heft, purpose and edge to their personalities, and they have a tendency to turn up hither and yon without much of a clue how they got there; drawing a geographical map of their movements would create an impenetrable network of lines. But there's a pervasive freshness and enthusiasm to Johnson's approach that keeps the film, and with it the franchise, alive, and that is no doubt what matters most.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
“The Last Jedi” possesses the same reverence for the galaxy Lucas created, paying homage in all the right places (from the chills we get from John Williams’ iconic fanfare to the new-and-improved walkers that appear during the climactic siege) while barely advancing the narrative. Ultimately, there’s only so much wiggle room Johnson has to play with a property that seems destined to generate a new installment/spinoff every year until we die — which means that however many Death Stars or Sith Lords the Resistance manages to defeat, there will always be more, and no matter how few Jedi remain, there can never be none.
SOURCE: Variety
“Experience” is a good word for it, too, because that’s what The Last Jedi feels like. It’s a movie, sure, but it’s somehow more than that. Maybe that’s just because it’s Star Wars. Maybe that’s because it’s so densely packed with mythology and entertainment. But either way, The Last Jedi is a top-of-the-line, A-plus Star Wars and scifi movie—one that we’ll be watching and discussing for as long as there’s a galaxy far, far away.
SOURCE: io9
“Star Wars” has always been about destiny, fate, and legacy. However, perhaps like no film in the franchise yet, ‘The Last Jedi’ seriously considers the hubris that comes with certainty, and how knots from the past that can keep you bound from moving forward. The Force has been awakened, but with that discovery comes restlessness, fear and awe; it’s the frailties of being human that even that universal power can’t solve. [B+]
SOURCE: The Playlist
Packed with fresh ideas, bold decisions and iconic moments, Rian Johnson has taken The Force Awakens reset button and expanded it in every way – delivering the greatest Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back. [4/5]
SOURCE: Metro
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best kind of entry into a franchise that takes unexpected risks, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and is emotionally moving in a way that will be leave fans stunned. [9/10]
SOURCE: Bleeding Cool
Despite all its flaws and curious story decisions, which will likely be debated for years to come, The Last Jedi retains the saga's childlike sense of adventure and romance. [3/5]
SOURCE: Den of Geek
I will not rank THE LAST JEDI among the other STAR WARS films - or at the very least, the new ones - just yet, it's too early for that. I'll be seeing this film several more times in the theater, and after that will I be able to suss out where it lands. But it is a very good STAR WARS movie, I'm positive of that much, and I must say you can't ask for more than that. [9/10]
SOURCE: JoBlo
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is striking, stunning, visually hypnotizing, thrilling - everything "epic" about the famed franchise rolled into a tremendously overcharged start to Rian Johnson's Star Wars career. [4.5/5]
SOURCE: We Got This Covered
In a world where divisiveness is often the immediate pathway, Rian Johnson has given us something that we can all proudly and collectively get behind in the Star Wars community, an absolutely masterful chapter in the Skywalker saga that ensures us the future of Star Wars is not full of hope, but assurance. The Last Jedi is the BEST Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. Thank you Rian Johnson. [98/100]
SOURCE: Star Wars News Net
The Last Jedi both hits every mark a Star Wars fan could ask, and surprises them in ways they wouldn’t know to ask. Move over The Empire Strikes Back, a new middle-trilogy standard may have been set.
SOURCE: Newsarama
Last night once I walked out of the screening, someone dared me to find a fault in The Last Jedi. I’m sure they exist. No movie is truly perfect. But this morning, as I reflect on what I witnessed, I am only in awe.
SOURCE: Comic Book Resources
I suppose I should end this review with allusions to Trump and the energizing, inspiring sight of watching people go to battle against cold and consuming fascism, because that’s where so many movies lead us these days. And all that rousing spirit is in The Last Jedi, in ways accidental and, probably, deliberate. But rather than let those real-life ghouls once again suck up all the air in the room, I’ll instead close on a more positive note: after all the tumult and horror of this year, here at the bitter end of it, we get to see Laura Dern do something really cool in a huge space movie, creating perhaps one of the most indelible Star Wars images of all time in the process. For whatever issues I may have with this ever-so-slightly lopsided movie, that alone is enough to make The Last Jedi a classic.
SOURCE: Vanity Fair
I won’t be surprised if fans start openly wondering if The Last Jedi is better than A New Hope or Empire, although I think it’s clear that the film surpasses The Force Awakens even if the sequel’s success is partly due to the unglamorous groundwork The Force Awakens had to accomplish. There are so many moments and details I want to dig into with The Last Jedi, but I don’t want to spoil the many reveals, twists, and turns that make the movie such a wonderful experience. I lost count of the jaw-dropping moments The Last Jedi presents, and it’s a movie I can’t wait to revisit. [B+]
SOURCE: Collider
An excellent middle chapter bursting with wit, wisdom, emotion, shocks, old-fashioned derring-do, state-of-the-art tech, and stonking set-pieces. [5/5]
SOURCE: Total Film
It’s not just a rollicking and entertaining follow-up to The Force Awakens; The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back, and is awful close to being its equal. [9/10]
SOURCE: Slash Film
Lucas was able to use and develop much of what McQuarrie envisioned, but there was little space for those minor-key qualities amid the bustle of the first three films. The Last Jedi leans into them. It’s less Star Wars as you’ve never seen it than Star Wars as you’ve never felt it. [5/5]
SOURCE: The Daily Telegraph
The character-driven face-offs are wonderful and the messianic succession crisis about the last Jedi of the title is gripping. But there is a convoluted and slightly unsatisfying parallel plot strand about the Resistance’s strategic military moves as the evil First Order closes in. [4/5]
SOURCE: The Guardian
The Last Jedi will incense some but absolutely enthral others, and the end result will be passionate feeling on both sides that’s in stark contrast to the wider but shallower mass appeal of The Force Awakens.
SOURCE: Radio Times
If The Force Awakens raised a lot of questions, The Last Jedi tackles them head-on, delivering answers that will shock and awe in equal measure. Fun, funny but with emotional heft, this is a mouth-watering set-up for Episode IX and a fitting tribute to Carrie Fisher. [4/5]
SOURCE: Empire Online
Despite being 150 minutes, there's never a dull moment in The Last Jedi, which embraces some of the best aspects of the past while pushing the narrative to intriguing new places.
SOURCE: ComicBook.com
The difference between the two directors, though, is that while Abrams was content to pay homage to the ideas introduced by George Lucas in 1977’s Star Wars, Johnson has some ideas of his own. His film works both as a continuation of Abrams’ and a detailed critique of it. To cut a long story short (and I wish Johnson had cut his own long story short): if you’re getting bored halfway through The Last Jedi, hang on in there. Just when you think it’s about to end, it really gets going. And just when I thought the entire Star Wars series was running on fumes, it seems to be getting going, too. [4/5]
SOURCE: BBC News
The Last Jedi feels like a deliberate, thought-through corrective. It sums up its theme in its title: it’s trying, as respectfully and carefully as possible, to let go of some of the old traditions, and look for the next steps for a world that’s rapidly expanding, and needs to escape its old, familiar conflicts if it’s going to grow. Johnson acknowledges, through the characters and the dialogue, that letting go of familiar things is hard, and he holds his audience’s hands through the process. But he’s also admirably merciless about it. Audiences will likely come away from The Last Jedi with a lot of complaints and questions. But they’re at least likely to feel they’re in the hands of someone who cares about the series as much as they do, someone who loves its history, but sees the wide-open future ahead of it as well.
SOURCE: The Verge
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the quintessential Star Wars movie. It embraces everything in the franchise that came before while taking big risks to push the story into new and unexpected places. While there are a few subplots that weigh it down in the middle, everything ultimately works toward delivering an absolutely stunning sequence of events that make its emotionally rich ending a possibility. It’s dramatic, it’s exciting, it’s heartfelt, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s funnier than any Star Wars movie has any right to be. It doesn’t answer every lingering fan question but it darn well delivers on the ones it chooses to address, ending things on a satisfying note even though there’s one more chapter in this trilogy. And on top of all that, the final scene bucks all Star Wars trends, yet it works because it’s reflective of what makes the saga as a whole so special. [9.7/10]
SOURCE: IGN
The Last Jedi feels epic in a way these movies ought to and not just like a commercial for the next one. This is a staggering achievement of a sci-fi blockbuster and something I think most fans will be lining up to see again and again. [4.5/5]
SOURCE: Nerdist
“The Last Jedi,” written and directed by the gifted indie auteur Rian Johnson, nails the balance of novelty and nostalgia in much more satisfying fashion.
SOURCE: The Los Angeles Times
There are a handful of truly spectacular moments in The Last Jedi — some as visually sumptuous and others as emotionally poignant and raw as anything in the intergalactic ring cycle so far: The sight of Rebel X-wing fighters emerging from light speed and skidding to a halt; a kamikaze crash rendered in giddy, gasp-inducing super slo-motion; a vertiginous, ground-scraping dogfight on a salt-mining planet that kicks up plumes of velvet-cake red dust. These, along with a few touching reunions and farewells from beloved characters that some of us have known like family for 40 years, will go down as instant classics that will be catnip for fans young and old. That said, I’d stop short of calling director Rian Johnson’s undeniably impressive initiation into the Star Wars fold the masterpiece that some desperately want it to be. The film simply drags too much in the middle. Somewhere in the film’s 152-minute running time is an amazing 90-minute movie. [B+]
SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly
If having pure fun at a Star Wars movie is wrong, I don’t want to be right. So for me, The Last Jedi falls right behind The Empire Strikes Back and maybe the original film in providing the thrills and the heartbreak, the heroism and villainy, and the romance and betrayal that makes these films such a treat even for those of us who can’t name all the planets or the alien species or even the Empire’s flunkies. (Sorry, the First Order’s flunkies.) And make no mistake: This is an entertaining chapter, but it also features loss and sacrifice and devastating consequences.
SOURCE: The Wrap
In a lot of ways, The Last Jedi is a weird movie. And I’m sure the word ‘dark’ will be thrown around, but it’s not ‘dark.’ Just like The Empire Strikes Back isn’t ‘dark.’ Now, A Serbian Film, that’s a dark movie. The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi are both well-made Star Wars movies with a lot of humor, where also some bad things happen to characters we like. In fact, The Last Jedi is so funny at times, I could also see that element being divisive. But people forget how funny the original trilogy actually is. In Empire, Han Solo and C-3PO are basically doing a vaudeville routine.
SOURCE: Uproxx
Not since George Lucas’ original trilogy has a Star Wars film felt like a dime store paperback, loaded with pulp and space operatics. Perhaps it’s because A New Hope had no idea it was meant to set off a trilogy, let alone decades of story and enduring fandom, but the first three films still feel scrappy and at times messy in their quest to simply entertain audiences with characters they fell in love with in 1977. The Force Awakens sought to replicate that, to diminishing returns, but The Last Jedi harkens back to what made Star Wars so important in the first place — it’s fun, it’s kind of all over the place, but it’s dripping with emotion and pathos and, most importantly, it tells a hell of a story.
SOURCE: The Daily Beast
Optimistically, "The Last Jedi" leaves plenty of intriguing possibilities for the climactic installment. But there's also the kind of room for improvement that remind us when it comes to "Star Wars," such hopes -- new or otherwise -- spring eternal.
SOURCE: CNN
The chief complaint against Star Wars: The Force Awakens was that it reveled too much in its own past, repeating the themes and dynamics of the Star Wars franchise too closely. Taking it as an expertly constructed remix, I enjoyed it through and through, but even I will admit that it’s still just a remix. Star Wars: The Last Jedi won’t ignite the same criticisms. Expectations have been high that, as the second in a trilogy, it will mirror Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. And it certainly does begin with a student looking for a legendary Jedi master, an attack on an evacuating rebel base and a villain on the hunt for Luke Skywalker.
The Last Jedi is long—nearly 30 minutes longer than any other Star Wars movie to date—and there were several times when I was convinced that the credits were about to roll. When they finally did, it was on a scene I never would have expected—but a perfect capper, in both story and theme, to both The Last Jedi and the Star Wars franchise as a whole to this moment. You have to imagine Disney’s hot streak with Star Wars will come to an end eventually. Even the best franchises have their clunkers. But for now, the future of the Star Wars galaxy has never seemed so big or so bright.
SOURCE: GQ
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