Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), directed by Rian Johnson

The latest episode of the Star Wars juggernaut is watchable good fun with a hokey plot. It picks up straight from the final scene of the previous film, on the spectacular jagged island. It’s all about Luke Skywalker and Mark Hamill is wonderful in the role. There are parallel stories of Rey’s interaction with Skywalker and the rebels under extreme pressure from Snoke and the First Order. It is both sad and lovely to see Carrie Fisher as the leader of the rebellion in what was presumably her last film. Adam Driver is more compelling in this outing, less like a spoilt brat as Ben Solo/ Ren Kylo, and his relationship with Rey is interesting. There are some nice smaller roles for some classy actors, especially Laura Dern, although Benicio Del Toro’s codebreaker was a caricature too reminiscent of something else. A plethora of strange creatures enliven proceedings, including some that are grotesque and some cute and funny, which will undoubtedly make for good merch sales. Some of the film was beautiful, some of it was funny, most of it was action-packed – none of it was transformative – and for that many millions in budget it should have been.