As what’s become tra­di­tion with films we’re real­ly look­ing for­ward to, Kel­ly and I with some friends and my cousin went to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi on open­ing night. Here are some thoughts on the movie, care­ful for spoil­ers.

• I can’t remem­ber the last time that I was so gen­uine­ly sur­prised by a film, much less this many times. The Last Jedi is filled with—what were to me—jaw-dropping moments.
• I’m real­ly pleased with the char­ac­ter arch­es for most of the char­ac­ters. I’d say that Finn’s arch was­n’t all that enter­tain­ing and Phas­ma still did­n’t get enough in this movie. And it does­n’t look like Phas­ma will be back.
• All the mys­tery around Rey’s par­ents had me think­ing it was going to be a huge reveal. But it was­n’t. And the greater point that they were try­ing to make with that is a smart one. As Char­lie Schnei­der of Emer­gency Awe­some put it in his video, the state­ment made is that any­one can be spe­cial, any­one can be force sen­si­tive. You don’t have to be a Sky­walk­er. This feels like a smart direc­tion to take Star Wars in.
• I’m unhap­py with what was done with Supreme Leader Snoke. I still don’t know who he is, how he was in the posi­tion that he was in, how he learned to yield the Force, etc. The char­ac­ter feels use­less on its own, and only serves as ves­sel for Kylo Ren’s arch.
• I thought Kylo Ren was going to turn back to the light after killing Snoke. His ascen­sion to being the true villain—not only some­one who’s strings are being pulled—felt right. Adam Dri­ver again does an amaz­ing job with this character.
• Kylo Ren not killing his moth­er gives room for redemp­tion. I don’t blame him for Han’s death, I blame Har­ri­son Ford for want­i­ng out.
• As I write this, I’m lis­ten­ing to John Williams’ excel­lent score for this film. His mas­ter­ful blend­ing of themes he wrote decades ago with new ones is awe-inspiring.
• I love Luke expos­ing the Jedi for their mis­takes. For years, I’ve felt that the Jedi George Lucas cre­at­ed were deeply flawed as a group, yet it was nev­er acknowl­edged. Luke talk­ing about Jedi not own­ing the force or the fact that their hubris allowed for Sid­i­ous to take over, will take the Jedi in a new excit­ing direc­tion in future movies.
• I near­ly lost it when Yoda showed up.

There’s much more to say, but I promised to keep this brief 😜. We’ll be talk­ing about The Last Jedi on Retake this upcom­ing week. Sub­scribe so you don’t miss it!