'The Last Jedi': Critics give mostly thumbs up for latest 'Star Wars' installment
Faster than a speeding V-wing fighter, the reviews are coming in for the eagerly awaited "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."
It's pulling an impressive 93 percent "Certified Fresh" on the Rotten Tomatoes website , with the critics' consensus saying the film "honors the saga's rich legacy while adding some surprising twists -- and delivering all the emotion-rich action fans could hope for."
To recap, "The Last Jedi" begins immediately after the events of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," set 30 years after the conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy. It continues the story of Rey and her discovery of the exiled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, along with the story of the war between General Leia Organa's Resistance and the First Order.
Here's what some other outlets have to say so far:
Epic space opera
"Writer-director Rian Johnson goes for broke in the latest installment of the 'Star Wars' franchise, and he delivers an epic space opera ... that is as indebted to the previous installments and 'Star Wars' canon as it is to classic Westerns, sword-and-sandal epics and martial arts films. ... 'The Last Jedi' is a sweeping and grandiose film, and it's also far funnier than any other 'Star Wars' film has attempted to be. Johnson pitches the tone just right, with actual jokes and visual gags peppered amongst the stunning action set pieces, as well as earnest and emotionally moving moments of heroism and self-sacrifice." — Detroit Free Press
Not quite a masterpiece
"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. ... 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." — Entertainment Weekly
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" review: the longest movie in the franchise's history doesn't meet expectations https://t.co/2oiW5YiZOq pic.twitter.com/HevlWWaTet
" CNN (@CNN) December 13, 2017
Sugar rush
"The Last Jedi gives you an explosive sugar rush of spectacle. It's a film that buzzes with belief in itself and its own mythic universe – a euphoric certainty that I think no other movie franchise has. And there is no provisional hesitation or energy dip of the sort that might have been expected between episodes seven and nine. What there is, admittedly, is an anticlimactic narrative muddle in the military story, but this is not much of a flaw considering the tidal wave of energy and emotion that crashes out of the screen in the final five minutes.." — The Guardian
Stunning palette
"Writer/director Rian Johnson has brought his considerable skill and obvious deep affection for the Star Wars universe to this latest chapter. ... He has produced a film that longtime fans will find very satisfying, with a stunning black, white, and red color palette, thrilling adventure, appealing new characters and worthy developments for old friends, including characters from the first movie (fourth chapter), and a cause to root for. ... Refreshingly, female and non-white characters play dominant roles on both sides. And, there is a possibility of another New Hope." — Huffington Post
A human touch
"The latest 'Star Wars' installment is here, and, lo, it is a satisfying, at times transporting entertainment. Remarkably, it has visual wit and a human touch, no small achievement for a seemingly indestructible machine that revved up 40 years ago and shows no signs of sputtering out (ever). ... (Rian) Johnson has picked up the baton. ... He has to convince you that these searching, burgeoning heroes and villains fit together emotionally, not simply on a Lucasfilm whiteboard, and that they have the requisite lightness and heaviness, the ineffable spirit and grandeur to reinvigorate a pop-cultural juggernaut. That he's made a good movie in doing so isn't icing; it's the whole cake." — The New York Times
'The Last Jedi' zero-spoiler review: See it. Just see it.https://t.co/556ms5ndVK
" Mashable (@mashable) December 13, 2017
All a fan could want
"It's everything a fan could want from a 'Star Wars' film and then some. Even the sorts of viewers who spend the entire running time of movies anticipating every plot twist and crowing 'called it!' when they get one right are likely to come up short here. But the surprises usually don't violate the (admittedly loose) internal logic of the universe George Lucas invented, and when they seem to, it's because the movie has expanded the mythology in a small but significant way, or imported a sliver of something from another variant of Lucas' creation." — Rogerebert.com
Genuine beauty
"Johnson brings to 'The Last Jedi' a cinephile's erudition as well as a geek's devotion, and he's made a film that connects to Star Wars at the root — not just the first movie, but the ones that inspired it. ... Like many before it, 'The Last Jedi' has already been hailed as the best Star Wars movie since 'The Empire Strikes Back,' and while that's true, it's too faint a compliment. It's a film of genuine beauty, one where you come away as eager to talk about the set design and the choreography as you do the fate of the galaxy or what might happen next." — Slate
Homage paid
"The Last Jedi" possesses the same reverence for the galaxy Lucas created, paying homage in all the right places ... 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." — Variety
i'm not crying, you are pic.twitter.com/1mkunsZoNm
" ً (@starwcomics) December 13, 2017
Luke Cavesulker
"However much I love 'The Last Jedi' there's a lot of sleight-of-hand involved in making you think that the plot is moving forward instead of in circles. The first demolished space cannon is very exciting, the twelfth a bit of been-there-exploded-that. And how can it be that, however traumatic the intervening decades, the open-faced, shining-eyed Luke Skywalker has evolved into a raspy, hirsute, get-off-my-lawn old fart? Luke Cavesulker is more like it. Not even Yoda can get a smile out of him. You know he'll have to pull himself together — his Jedi directive is to pass his accumulated wisdom on — but he sure takes his sweet time doing it." — Vulture.com
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shirley_trib.
