The Force runs strong with latest Star Wars
Last Jedi keeps you guessing until its more than satisfying end
In a year of many big budget scifi disappointments, Star Wars: The Last Jedi returns balance to the force. It’s epic, exhilarating, endlessly entertaining and easily the best of this new wave of Star Wars movies. Writer/director Rian Johnson has made such a freaking good film that the return of hotshot director JJ Abrams to helm the next one that finishes off this new trilogy feels like a bad move and a step backwards.
Unlike the soft reboot of Abrams’ 2015’s The Force Awakens, which leaned a little too heavily on its source material, or last year’s spin-off Rogue One, which failed to have a sense of danger until the last 15 minutes when the crew finally started dropping like flies and Darth Vader
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill Director: Rian Johnson Running time: 152 mins Rating: M (Violence) Verdict: The Force is strong with this one.
Look closely at how all the characters are positioned on the poster for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and you will see the mask of Darth Vader materialise. showed up, The Last Jedi doesn’t repackage old threats or shoehorn in Star Wars fan service at every opportunity.
Instead, it tells a rollicking good, high-stakes yarn that plays with expectations, throws surprises at you and keeps you guessing until its more than satisfying conclusion. It runs long, yes, but there’s so much going on and it’s so much fun that you really don’t feel that time pass.
After a high-octane opening the film quickly branches into three storylines, sending our heroes off on their various life-or-death adventures.
General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is leading the last scraps of the Rebel
Seeking Mission Bay Good Samaritan
“Last week I stupidly left a ‘conference’ satchel on the roof of my car,” writes Ian Simpson. “It contained months’ worth of notes on an Auckland history topic. I then drove off . . . I drove the route again twice the next day but there was no sign of the satchel. I left a description with the police but had little hope that I would ever see the notes again. A couple of days later there was a knock at my door and a kind woman handed me the satchel which she had found in Patterson Ave in Mission Bay. The satchel had stayed on the roof for about 4km and had then fallen off on the moderately steep hill. She had found an email address in the satchel and used that to find me and my address on the electoral role. I was so surprised and delighted at the return of the notes that I did not remember to get her contact details so that I could thank her properly. Perhaps if she sees this note in Sideswipe she could contact you?”