After two long years of the Star Wars fan base waiting for the sequel to The Force Awakens, the second movie in the trilogy finally dropped on December 14, 2017. The movie instantly hit records in the box office including becoming the fifth biggest worldwide film since 2002 making over 450 million dollars in its first weekend alone. So how well did the movie live up to expectations? What did critics have to say about the movie? Or perhaps more importantly, what did the fans have to say about the movie?

One of the biggest talking points to note was the difference in opinions between critics and fans who could not be more polarized. After it’s first showings, Rotten Tomatoes’ critic score was at ninety-one percent while the audience score was only fifty-one percent. So why were the fans and critics so split on this movie? A good half of the Star Wars franchise on the internet are insisting that The Last Jedi abandoned the Star Wars name. While the story did refrain from being too similar to the Empire Strikes Back, some argued that Rian Johnson went too far when it came to giving the franchise a new direction.

Now of course, from a visual standpoint, this movie is amazing. CGI was very impressive and Disney’s infinite budget payed off. There were many chilling moments throughout the movie such as Kylo Ren betraying Snoke, the last rebel fleet ship hyper driving through the First Order’s cruiser, and Luke Skywalker’s final scene. Lots of scenes in the movie really worked. Rey’s dynamic psychological connection with Kylo worked well. The interactions between Luke and Rey did as well. One scene in the movie that both fans and critics agreed were a drag to the movie was the sub-plot between Finn and Rose on Canto Bite. Rose and Finn just never had the same chemistry that existed between Poe and Finn in the Force Awakens. Perhaps it was a mistake Rian Johnson chose not to have even one scene with these two working together. The whole mission to Canto Bite on its own felt pretty pointless. Finn and Rose went to this planet to find a code breaker who they could not find, settled with another guy, (Del Toro), who ends up betraying them and turns them over to the First Order. And that kiss between Finn and Rose? A bit awkward and out of context. It probably would have made for a better ending if Poe had just kamikaze’d his crate speeder into the First Order cannon that was about to destroy the rebel base.

Speaking of Poe, he was a new character most people agreed did not get enough time for during the Force Awakens. Unfortunately, the second time around he did not really ever get a scene to shine in. You could argue his scene at the beginning of the movie showed him off, but later on the movie frames Poe as a rogue pilot who refuses to listen to orders; ultimately having his actions pay the price for rebel lives.

Luke Skywalker, played by Marc Hamil, had arguably his best performance yet. Luke had more of a personality than all of the original trilogy episodes combined. At the same time however, fans were split on Rian Johnson’s decision to devise him as someone undergoing a deep internal conflict, so deep he wanted to exile himself from the rest of the galaxy so nobody would find him ever again. The hopeful and optimistic Luke from the original trilogy is no more. Now Luke is so scarred by what happened with his nephew, Kylo Ren, that he believes the entire jedi order must die. In the very beginning, when Luke takes the lightsaber from Rey’s hands, it was pretty funny to see him throw it over his shoulder and I’ll admit I was laughing. However, once looking back at it, I began to see how it was a bit of a wasted opportunity that Disney had just to get a quick chuckle from the audience. This lightsaber Rey brought him was the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s own dad. It was the lightsasber he had for training with both Obi-Wan and Yoda; and you are telling me that Luke is not at all interested in it all these years later? He does not even ask where Rey found it? Looking back it just does not feel right.

In arguably the best scene of the movie toward the very end, Luke Skywalker appears on Craite and presents himself in front of the First Order who then fires every weapon they had at him, only for Luke to harmlessly emerge from the dust cloud. But, I personally found Luke’s duel with Kylo somewhat underwhelming. Not once did a lightsaber even clash. If Ryan Johnson had plans for Luke to die at the end of that movie, perhaps Luke should have just literally been there to save the Resistance on Crate, as opposed to just appearing as just some “force hologram”.

“I think he should have died fighting or in battle against Kylo Ren. The way they killed him was kind of lame,” said senior Brent Spiteri.

The concept was cool, but to me it made the movie’s ending a tad bit dull and ever so disappointing when Luke faded away on the rocky cliffs.

“Personally, losing Luke Skywalker is difficult as a lifelong Star Wars fan. But in order to further the story of the new characters it opens opportunities for the new characters to be more important in the final installment,” said teacher Vincent Lopiccolo.

My biggest flaw with this movie, however, as a fan was not any of the content that was in the movie, but rather the content the movie did not include. I came into the theater thinking I was going to have a lot of my questions answered that were thrown in the air in The Force Awakens. Who is Snoke? Why and how is he so powerful? Who are Rey’s parents? Why did they leave her on Jakku as a little kid? Why is the rebellion appear as such a tiny fighting force when the entire galaxy was primarily ruled by the republic just decades ago? Unfortunately, The Last Jedi failed to answer any of these questions. One might even argue The Last Jedi spent more time presenting more questions than it did answering old questions that I think many of us really wanted to hear answers to.

Although it is not mandatory, I would highly recommend watching Episode VII (The Force Awakens) before going to the movies considering The Last Jedi takes place directly after the ending of The Force Awakens.

Overall; however, while not the best Star Wars movie, the movie is extremely entertaining to watch. There are few plot holes and it does keep you on the edge of your seat. It cannot go unsaid though that for many fans this movie did heat up an unforgivable divide between Disney and the Star Wars fanbase. I just hope Disney learns from their mistakes and creates an unforgettable final episode in the trilogy that will tie everything together and answer our questions that we still have. That being said, Star Wars fan or not, buying a ticket will definitely keep you entertained in the theater as long as you’re a fan of sci-fi or fantasy fiction.