Johnson plays with all the toys Star Wars has to offer, and he’s not afraid to change – or break – a few along the way.
There are fan-pleasing moments, for sure, but nothing is included without a purpose. It’s evident that Johnson understands the criticisms about every preceding film and predicted the assumptions about this one (to the point where some dialogue sounds as if it was lifted right from fans’ mouths), and that he used that knowledge to absolutely shatter expectations. Abrams’ The Force Awakens got dinged for borrowing too much from A New Hope, but recycling old material isn’t an issue in The Last Jedi.
