Star Wars: The Last Jedi - A Second Look (MAJOR SPOILERS)

I first reviewed The Last Jedi on opening night last December.  Now that it has come out on DVD and Blu-Ray I've had the opportunity to look at this a second time.  This time there will be MAJOR SPOILERS so if you still haven't seen the movie now is the time to stop reading.  First and foremost I still enjoyed watching this movie.  With time and and the ability to digest everything I can now give a better take on the movie.

Rey's character is who we thought she would be.  She is still new to knowing she has this power and just wants to help the galaxy by finding Luke, learning the ways of the force and bringing back the Jedi Order.  I also like the connection she and Kylo Ren have allowing them to see and speak to each other atrandom times.  Ren, the emo Sith of the galaxy, is a great character as well.  Still coming to grips with his power and what he has done he wants Ren to rule with him and there is a subtle romantic undertone to his reaching out to her.  In the first six Star Wars movies, things were much more black and white.  Now the two leading characters are still coming to grips with their abilities and how they fit in the galaxy.

Many complained Snoke was not allowed to be fleshed out as a character.  To me I didn't need his back story.  We never new the Emperor's before he became Darth Sidious.  Sure we knew he was a senator from Naboo but that was it.  Nothing more.  Within this context I thought he served his purpose in getting Kylo Ren to where he is now.  

The movie's handling of Luke Skywalker is tough.  You'd love to see him come back and make it all right again but that might be too cliche.  As he says in the movie The Jedi Order has been flawed.   We've seen how Yoda, for all his wisdom, didn't stop Obi-Wan from training Anakin, even after he told him not to because of how bad an idea it was.  That turned out badly.  Also the Jedi "worked next door" to the Emperor who turned out to be maybe the greatest Sith of all-time and didn't know it until it was too late.  In the Last Jedi Luke acknowledges how his moment of weakness tipped Kylo Ren to the dark side.  Not a great track record for the Jedi.  So while it was tough seeing Luke as someone running away from this sordid past it may have been greater that way. Iit was nice to see him redeem himself by allowing the rebellion enough time to escape in the end before passing to the Jedi version of heaven.

Finn's character still needed some fleshing out and originally I didn't care for how they sent him and Rose off on what seemed like a contrived scheme to get them screen time.  While their caper still seems a stretch I was more comfortable with it this go around.  I do wish they'd stop his "running" from trouble story line.  He needs to grow a pair.  Not sure where his relationship with Rose is going.  Not an odd pairing but it seems like he and Rey have something going as well.  I'm sure it'll get figured out next film.  Finn is also involved with the death of Phasma.  I'm ok with that as her character is pretty shallow.  She gave up the shield codes in Episode VII while vgiving up no fight.  There was probably never going to be enough screen time to do her character justice so seeing her go didn't hurt my feelings any.  In a different movie/setting though I think they could have done more with her.

  I didn't like how Poe Dameron's character went from cool starfighter pilot to know-it-all jack@ss.  First he loses the rebellion's bomber fleet when he disobeyed orders though he did take out a dreadnought.  He was then complicit in the Finn/Rose mission that ended up killing a big percentage of  what was left of the rebellion personnel.  He helped scheme the mission due to his lack of trust in the new boss, Vice Admiral Holdo's plan.  Though I am still at a loss why she just tell Poe when questioned, or the the entire crew, what the plan was.  It may have been they were worried word would somehow get out to Ren and Crux but that was never voiced or made clear if that was it.  I did like Holdo overall.  Poe even went as far as to try a mutiny which in the end delayed the leaving of the shuttles. So while this guy may be the greatest pilot the rebellion has he may also be the biggest jerk and downright malcontent.  They definitely didn't do his character any justice.  

This movie caught some flack for it's choices but I'd say it just didn't take the easy way out.  Hard choices were made in how characters were handled and how major plot points advanced.  There were plenty of scenes I still am not 100% on board with but there are few movies I am.  Just because this wasn't a cookie cutter Star Wars film, or that it wasn't even Episode VII, it was still a good movie and set up plenty for the final film in the trilogy.  To be honest I'd almost rather see this be more open ended.  It seems as though the upcoming war and different plot points have tons to flesh out.  With only one movie to do it, it's hard to believe we won't be left wanting.  But as a Star Wars fan I think it is safe to say we are very hard to satisfy no matter how these are handled.  That's it.  My long winded take on The Last Jedi.