u/Defiant-Income-6766

I used to be like the average toxic star wars fan, i hated on the sequels so much and genuinly believed they were all horrible, but recently i have given them a second chance and watched them with an open mind, i absolutely love the first two out of three, but specificly the last jedi. The last jedi is absolutely spectacular, and absolutely on par with movies like A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

I do not love aspects of this movie, such as the whole Canto Bight sequence, Rose saving Finn from making a noble sacrifice, and Leia using the force to fly back into the ship, these specific parts didnt personally work for me, but just about everything else in the movie does.

I absolutely adore the visuals in The Last Jedi, it is the definition of eye candy. Ach-To, Crait, Supreme Leader Snoke's throne room, they are all stunning. The visual effects for this movie are some of the best ive ever seen out of not just all the star wars movies, but every movie that i have ever seen (1000+).

A lot of sequel haters biggest critique for this film is Lukes "irrideemable Mischaracterization", but i dont agree with it anymore at all; The Last Jedis Luke is amazing, especially when you compare it to the filoni verse, with shows like The Book of Boba Fett, and The Mandalorian; i dislike the way they handled Luke in these, it undos Lukes arc of becoming a Jedi, destroying the empire, and creating a new jedi order, without its corruption. After Return of the Jedi, Luke's character drive was to make a new Jedi Order, that would ensure the best for everyone, and undo the harm done by both the empire, and the old jedi order, in The Mandalorian, he goes against his previous beliefs and starts rebuilding the jedi order exactly the way it was before; attempting to take Grogu away from his father figure, Din Djarin, and have Grogu devote his entire life to the jedi code, in my opinion, that is misuse of a character, unlike in The Last Jedi. In The Last Jedi, Lukes character is broken, scarred, he felt like a real person. he felt real raw emotions of immense guilt and shame, for failing his old padawan, Ben Solo, now named Kylo Ren. Luke Skywalker, after failing his mission to rebuild the galaxy for the better, went back to the only other life he knew; Luke went to an unknown planet to live out the rest of his life in routine, a simple life, with a neat parallel to his life on Tatooine before getting wrapped up in the jedi, and the galactic wars. I think it was an incredibly unique and bold choice what they did with Lukes character, and for some people it misses, but it definetly hit for me.

I also feel an incredibly amount of love for other characters in this movie, Rey was awesome in this movie, i loved her training with Luke, i loved her branching out and starting to understand the force on a deeper level, i loved her going down into the dark cave and seeing herself as a sith, very similar to Luke seeing himself as VAder on Dagobah, back in the Empire Strikes Back, i think its a beautiful way to show how similar Rey and Luke are. Kylo ren was phenomenal in this movie, Adam driver as Ren is one of my favorite Star Wars casting choices in the entire franchise. Kylo is just a kid, i scarred kid with trauma; he wants to prove to himself and everyone around him that he is good enough, but he finds it very difficult to live up to the reputation of his feared grandfather, Darth Vader. something about Kylo Rens character just speaks to me like poetry.

Some other characters i appriciate and enjoy are Poe Dameran, i love his whole conflict with Holdo, and his desperate want to help out and protect everyone. I enjoy Finn (albeit not as much as the force awakens), Snoke, Hux, and dont even get me started on Yoda. When Yoda shows up, thats when the movie goes from good, to amazing. Seeing Yoda again in the form of puppetry, after the gross CGI version from the prequels, made me shed a tear. hes so wise, powerful, and leading, while still being super quirky and fun, him setting an old jedi temple on fire with the force and then giggling and stomping his feet is one of my favorire yoda scenes. Yodas conversation with Luke SKywalker, while they watched the flames fully engulf the building, is my favorite piece of star wars dialog. "Pass on what you have learned. Strength. Mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters." one of my favorite quotes in cinema history. genuinly inspiring.

At the end of the day, i am insanely greatful for the star wars universe, for the talented individuals who wrote this movie, directed it, acted in it. i am greatful for every single one of the people involved in the making of this movie, who all contributed to making one of my most beloved movies of all time. But most of all, i am greatful that i finally opened my eyes, i finally learned to appriciate things for how they are, ignore the miner flaws, put aside the tiny nitpicks you may have, and look back at a distance and fully take in and appriciate everything for how it is, without focusing on the bad stuff. thats really the point of life isnt it? make the most out of it, enjoy it, dont focus on the bad stuff, appriciate it exactly for how it is.