The Last Jedi

Well... it's a film.

I don't think there are any spoilers in what follows. But if you really want to be sure, look away now!

LC and I went to see the new Star Wars film last night. Surprisingly, the cinema was largely empty. I have no idea why this was the case - did they just put on too many showings, or massively over-estimate the draw of the film? Or is it just that the Vue are so absurdly expensive that they've killed their own business? (I suppose it might also be that 3D is now a dead fad, but I didn't see a huge number of people lining up for any of the other showings either...)

My impression of the film itself was... strange. There are several things that I liked - I liked that they did something new with the film, rather than just rehash "The Empire Strikes Back", and I liked some of the new characters and new locations, I liked seeing the 1% of the galaxy, and I liked the various takes on Luke and Kylo's memory...

In addition, there's nothing I didn't like about the film. Okay, maybe one particular bit of silliness, but can live with that (it is only a few moments, after all). And, I suppose one moment left me thinking "why didn't you do that in the first place?" But those are quibbles, rather than movie-shattering flaws.

But having said that, my overall impression is, as I said above: "it's a film." I didn't hate it, I didn't love it... it was just there. Okay then, thanks for that, see you next year.

Which is weird.

I should note: I do think it's better than "The Force Awakens", but probably not as good as "Rogue One" (on any count). And it's not going to dislodge any of the original trilogy from my affections. It's also better than "Justice League" or "Wonder Woman", but I certainly enjoyed "Thor: Ragnarok" considerably more.