Following the events of Episode 7, The Resistance is being hunted down by The First Order after the destruction of The First Order’s base. In order to save the galaxy Rey has traveled far and wide to find the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker. After a disagreement with Luke, Rey finds herself fighting beside Kylo Ren. The two form an unlikely bond. Will Rey join Kylo Ren and lead the First Order or will she save the Jedi Order? Luke has been found by Rey and Chewbacca while the rest of the cast are onboard a spaceship while they just gained a victory from their enemies, The First Order. 

Compared to The Force Awakens, this movie felt as if it was just going backwards. A lot of the time was wasted so the main focus would be Luke and Rey. Rian Johnson directed this movie while JJ Abrams directed TFA.  Rian Johnson made Luke a grumpy old man who contradicted himself from the part. He made Luke’s character hate the jedi even though it was his life goal was to revive the Jedi Order. JJ was upbeat and attempted to build on characters introduced in the latest stories while Rian created new characters and ignored most of JJ’s work. The movie starts off with 1 single X Wing taking out a Super Star Destroyer, which could be compared to a speedboat taking out an aircraft carrier. Additionally, bland characters were introduced seemingly for the sake of adding new characters. They were uninteresting and there was no emotional connection between the characters and viewers.

The fact that there was no lightsaber fights was very disappointing yet the battle where Rey and Kylo teamed up was great. A big tradition of Star Wars are the lightsaber fights. In the original 6 movies there were legendary battles in every fight. To not have a clashing of lightsabers felt unnatural for a Star Wars movie, even though there were many opportunities.  Rey and Kylo joined forces into defeating the Praetorian guards, an elite group of villains. They were expected to do nothing throughout the film but suddenly leaped into action. These soldiers were swift and cunning proving they were worthy opponents. Nearing the end of the story, the final battle took place on a beautiful planet called Crait. The start of the battle had me anticipating for something revolutionary to happen but it was only average. It was almost a copy of The battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. The battle seemed as if you were not truly in the action.  The fact that Luke passed and how he passed was very rushed. It felt like its sole purpose was to get rid of Luke. The ending of the movie did not keep me on the edge of my seat about what will happen next. Other than Luke dying, the story went nowhere. The side plots were unengaging due to Finn and Rose screwing around in a casino for most of the time while the rest of the characters are stuck on a ship for a good hour with no plan. 

Overall it could have been way better. JJ Abrams should have directed it since he directed TFA. The switch up of directors was a poor choice due to the directors having different directions for the saga. They made Rey a less interesting character and added in a bunch of pointless and annoying characters. These new characters Rose Tico, Vice Admiral Holdo, and DJ seemed to have no strong purpose to the film and were only being added for the sake of including new characters. If the movie excluded them, I could guarantee the movie would have barely changed or would have gotten better. Kylo is being fleshed out into a unique and interesting character. He is conflicted between the light and dark side. He went from being hated for killing his father to being a likeable and relatable character. Other than being a warlord he shows a compassionate side filled with sadness and regret.