Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

There will be spoilers ...

I've held off on writing about The Last Jedi, largely because I've been waiting for all the fuss to die down: it's the worst Star Wars film ever; it's the best Star Wars film ever; it's doing terribly at the box office; it's doing wonderfully at the box office.

Whatever.

Even the supporters of the film claim that it's not perfect - although they can't seem to agree on what's wrong with it. Was it Leia's spacewalk? Was it the humour? Was it the characterisation of Luke? Was it the Canto Bight sequence? Was it the fact that the majority of the lead characters are either female, or ethnic minorities (or, shock horror, both)?

Setting my cards on the table, I enjoyed the film a lot. I've seen it four times and it didn't get stale with the repeat viewings (I'm not sure I want to risk a fifth right now though).

I also think that it's a better film than many are willing to credit - although surprisingly (or perhaps not) the critics seem to be in agreement with me.

I have a theory. Actually, I have a couple.

The first is that critics view movies differently than the regular viewer. Not because they're smarter, not because they're watching a film with the intent of writing about it, but because they see more films and they see a wider selection than anyone else.

I visited the cinema 144 times last year (for 116 films) - and I don't even come close to seeing what those guys do, but what I've discovered is that my appreciation of narrative rhythm has shifted.

Mainstream Hollywood films usually follow a relatively straightforward rhythm. Move away from the big budget releases, and you get different rhythms - and if you're not used to that then it can feel wrong because you're being wrong-footed all the time by your expectations not being met.

I think Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was a film that fell into the category of playing a different rhythm. The first time I saw it, I thought the plot was all over the place - it took a second viewing for me to properly appreciate what James Gunn was doing with it.

I think The Last Jedi falls into that field. The oft-criticised Canto Bight sequence feels out-of-place (at least on first viewing) because it is thematically-driven rather than being event driven. Watch the film a few more times though, and it doesn't feel as jarring.

My second theory is that if you've only seen the film once, you miss some of the nuances, which leads to the drawing of any number of incorrect conclusions.

Luke's eventual fate seems to come out of the blue for many, but it's actually telegraphed early on by a line of dialogue.

Yoda's destruction of the Jedi texts was seen as the director condemning the Jedi, of a criticism of the previous films - the Jedi are all failures - but it's the very opposite - it's the redemption. The (blink and you miss it) revelation that Rey has taken the texts with her; Yoda's point that failure is an important lesson are statements that the failure of the Jedi (particularly in the prequels) is not a reason to regard them as useless, but a point from which to build are redemptive moments, not destructive ones.

On the whole, I think it's a more thoughtful film than it might first appear - but it also requires a bit of thought on behalf of the audience to appreciate it for what it is, not what they think it should be.

Now reach out. What do you see?