Here's What The Critics Are Saying About 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' | THR News - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Official reactions to Rian Johnson's film are finally out.

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00:00We are the spark that'll light the fire that'll burn the First Order down.

00:07Reviews for Star Wars The Last Jedi are coming in at light speed.

00:11Anticipation for the film from writer-director Rian Johnson couldn't be higher.

00:16So before it hits theaters on Friday, here's what critics are saying about The Last Jedi.

00:20The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy writes,

00:30He notes that at 162 minutes, maybe the film is a tad too long.

00:41Most of the new characters could use more heft, purpose, and edge to their personalities.

00:45But he added,

00:55New York Times critic Manola Dargis praises Johnson for tackling,

00:59the difficult business of putting his fingerprints on a franchise that deliberately resists individual authorship.

01:04And Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson is a fan of how Johnson handles the Force, writing,

01:09The Force is, to me, still silly Star Wars mumbo-jumbo,

01:12but Johnson finds a way to underscore it with humanity.

01:15On that front, The Last Jedi is a pure success.

01:18Just show me my place in all this.

01:23Meanwhile, The Washington Post's Anne Hornaday has praise for Carrie Fisher's final performance as Leia,

01:28calling her work a magnificent and wryly funny final turn.

01:31She highlights a moment between Leia and Vice Admiral Holdo, played by Laura Dern,

01:35promising it will bring a lump to Star Wars skeptics and superfans alike,

01:39as will frequent callbacks to the original films, including a particular whopper,

01:44that feel like Johnson offering a reassuring I got you to a core audience that's been burned too often in the past.

01:49Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times notes that, like Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams,

01:54Johnson is a lifelong Star Wars fan, but one who doesn't let that get in the way of doing smart work.

01:59Chang writes,

02:00This time, the nods feel less like obligatory acts of fan service than mythological reverberations,

02:05signaling a deeper, more intricate narrative intelligence at work.

02:09He also notes that Mark Hamill's grizzled take on Luke Skywalker allows the actor to shine.

02:13NPR's Glenn Weldon gives Johnson credit for tapping into what makes Star Wars great,

02:17without the film feeling formulaic.

02:19He writes that The Last Jedi reveals that this fictional universe, in which we've already clocked so many hours,

02:25can still surprise us.

02:26Let the past die.

02:30You can kill it.

02:33And the New York Daily News' Ethan Sachs praises the daring narrative territory the film visits,

02:38but slightly dings its runtime, noting that audiences will have to sit through a solid but not spectacular

02:44first half of the two-and-a-half-hour movie to see for themselves where the film goes.

02:48USA Today's Brian Truitt also noted the runtime, writing that the film tries to do a little too much

02:53in its overlong two-and-a-half hours.

02:55Yet, writer-director Rian Johnson still turns in a stellar entry that owes much to George Lucas' original films,

03:02while finding a signature vibe of its own and unleashing a few welcome twists.

03:06And Richard Roper of the Chicago Sun-Times had largely positive things to say about the film,

03:10though doesn't think it quite tops Force Awakens. He wrote,

03:13For more of what the critics are saying about The Last Jedi, head to THR.com.

03:33And let me know in the comments if you plan on seeing the movie when it hits theaters this Friday.

03:37For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.

Here's What The Critics Are Saying About 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' | THR News

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