STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Review - A Worthy Spectacle But Temper Your Expectations Before Going

***THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW***

Two years ago, I remember being so giddy to see STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS that I had to temper my expectations when I went to see it. Growing up in the 80s, I am an Original Trilogy fan way more than a Prequel Trilogy fan. In fact, I am not a fan of the Prequels with the exception of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi (please cast him in that Kenobi standalone movie). So two years ago I went in to The Force Awakens expecting a Star Wars movie that needed to be just better than the Prequels; and boy did it deliver. I had the right mindset going into it and now I can say that I really do love The Force Awakens. I even love it more now after seeing STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

After seeing The Last Jedi, I wish I would have done the same by tempering expectations again, but I did not. Maybe it was the massive feelings and excitement The Force Awakens left me for the next episode, or maybe it was the fact that Disney and Lucasfilm had already handed the keys to writer and director Rian Johnson to create a brand new Trilogy of films. Maybe a little bit of both, honestly. Yet here I am writing this out wondering if Disney and Lucasfilm were right to hand the keys to a new trilogy over to Johnson before seeing the response to The Last Jedi.  And I do think there will be many Star Wars fans from my era who feel the same after seeing The Last Jedi.

This isn't to say that I hated The Last Jedi, I did enjoy it because it is new Star Wars, but I did not instantly fall in love with it as much as The Force Awakens, as well as ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY last year. We got two absolutely amazing Star Wars movies the past two years and they were so good that The Last Jedi is partially a product of its own massive hype and I am sad to admit that it was not able to fully live up to that hype.

Let me start with some quick character hits by starting with Rey. Actress Daisy Ridley is so wonderful in this role and her character development is very entertaining. I don't want to give too much away so let me segue into Luke Skywalker, who every Star Wars fan (myself included) is very excited to see on the big screen once again. Sure, it's great to see an older Luke but this is a broken man and one you are not expecting. He is not the powerful Jedi you want to see until the end of the movie, and even then he is a bit of a disappointment.

Leia has a really bad moment, I'll get to this in a second, but overall Carrie Fisher continues to be the wise one who mentors Poe. She's the glue holding the Resistance together. There is a creative choice made I am questioning involving Leia; I was embarrassed for her in this moment so much so I was taken out of the movie completely to comment to myself how uncomfortably cheesy it was. I want to know how and why Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy okay'ed it. The moment is so awkward it is still painful to think about a day later. It was a very poor choice that could have ruined the movie had writer and director Rian Johnson not nailed the character development for Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren. I will not disclose anything more about this moment and I'm certain you will know it when it happens early in the movie.

Poe is one of the highlights of the movie since his character gets more developed than any of the others in the sequel. Leia is trying to movie him into a bigger leadership role and seeing this growth is exactly what he needed moving toward Episode IX (which I think will have a time jump and not pick up right after the events of The Last Jedi).

Finn is just as good as in the last movie. He is still trying to get away from the First Order but he is sucked back into the fight and he finally realizes his role in this galactic war.

General Hux is still monologuing... a lot. But that's who he is and he continues to do more of the same.

Kylo Ren continues to get pulled by both the light and the dark and seeing this really makes you begin to feel bad for the guy; although he's doing it all to himself with the assistance of Snoke.

Oh Snoke... he "connects" Kylo and Rey in a very weird way that is like nothing anyone has seen done with the Force, however not a good one in my opinion. And everyone's Snoke theory sucks. You'll see.

The droids are fun as usual. I do have to note that it really does feel like R2-D2 and C-3PO are being phased out because all eyes are on BB-8. The round little buddy continues to dominate scenes whenever on the big screen. And take note of a moment between Poe and BB-8 and the way Poe greets his little friend... it's quick, but so damn cute.

Finally, Porgs. They are very cute and there is a moment with Chewbacca, not revealed in the trailers and TV spots, that is so adorable and sad. Mostly though, they are just in the background or foreground and you will not think of them in the negative way you may think of the Ewoks or Jar Jar. So yeah... you'll fall in love with the Porgs.

All of the action was great and enjoyable but the story lacked any punch I was expecting it to have. A very basic plot which revolves around the Resistance trying to escape the First Order, picking up right after the events of The Force Awakens. There is some humor throughout but some of it did not come off as well as intended. One example is an early moment between Poe and Hux that fell so flat it was borderline cringeworthy and not that funny at all.

Overall, this is a Star Wars movie and I did enjoy it. Still though, after one viewing it is my least favorite non-Prequel movie, but I would watch this a thousand times over watching any of the Prequels again. Yet, my hardcore inner Star Wars dork had issues throughout with creative choices for some of the characters and I left the theater hoping it would have been different... and much better.

The film will still make more than $1 billion in the worldwide box office, but I doubt it will be able to hit the $2 billion level that STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS achieved two years ago.

Written by Daniel Wolf, DailySuperHero.com Founder & Publisher