This is not going to go the way you think.

Let it never be understated just how far up shit creek Star Wars was by the time Revenge of the Sith had left cinemas. As the dust settled on George Lucas’s now infamous prequels, the entire franchise had dug itself such a deep hole, it was hard to see a way out.

Ten years and a $4 billion Disney deal later and it looked like the impossible had been achieved, as we were looking at a full-blown Star Wars resurrection. To resuscitate a franchise many had considered dead was nothing short of phenomenal and, for all its faults, The Force Awakens did a stand-up job at getting Star Wars back on track and back into our cold, jaded hearts.

The film had one hell of a hill to climb in winning people back, however; but with more than a little help from our old friend, nostalgia, it did it. Though it wasn’t particularly spectacular, The Force Awakens did precisely what it came to do; yet, if there’s to be any longevity in this reborn franchise, it must show a little more ambition. Traditionalist feathers will be ruffled, but if there’s one thing The Last Jedi is, it’s ambitious.

Immediately following the events of The Force Awakens; The Resistance find themselves outgunned and on the run from the First Order. Backed into a corner and with numbers severely depleted, all hope appears lost. But, with Rey (Daisey Ridley) learning to control her enormous powers under the tutelage of the galaxy’s last remaining Jedi, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), hope springs that the Force may rise once again and save the universe from the all-consuming dark side.

“This is not going to go the way you think”.

Oh Luke, you cheeky little scamp. Little did we know that, when he dropped this seemingly innocuous line on us towards the end of the film’s latest trailer, it would be so prophetic; both for The Last Jedi, and the entire Star Wars franchise itself.

After The Force Awakens’s soft, nostalgic reintroduction to the galaxy far, far away; be prepared to have the Star Wars playbook ripped up, burnt, and left smouldering in the aether. After months of feverish fan speculation, few will have seen this severe a left-turn coming; as, for better or worse, The Last Jedi opens the door wide for the franchise’s future, while slamming it shut square in the past’s face.

For all intents and purposes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a bridge between the past and future; as the film effectively, if not controversially, ties up the many loose ends The Force Awakens left dangling, while leaving things tantalisingly poised for the trilogy’s finale and beyond. No matter how The Last Jedi is ultimately received, that’s a monumental achievement in itself and, as the film’s driving force, credit must go to director, Rian Johnson, for deftly striking the balance between safe bet and ballsy risk without the entire galaxy imploding in on him.

Considering his limited experience with anything vaguely resembling Star Wars, the choice to draft in Johnson to follow up on the runaway success of The Force Awakens, was undoubtedly a risky one. Bearing in mind the overt indie sensibilities of his filmography, it was certainly hard to imagine just how the man behind decidedly leftfield fare like Brick could handle life within the single biggest film franchise on the planet. Yet here we are, folks. Here we are.

Even Looper - the director’s biggest and broadest film to date - feels a million miles away from the Star Wars universe; yet, dig a little deeper, and its abundantly clear just why Johnson is the perfect steward to drag Star Wars kicking and screaming into the future.

The call to bring Rian Johnson onboard is one hell of a boat-rocker; yet, while it’s refreshing to see such an outside choice being handed the keys to the Millennium Falcon, there’s something in the director’s filmmaking DNA that chimes perfectly with the franchise’s inherent classic sensibilities. Like The Last Jedi itself, Johnson is a director with one foot in the indie world, while rooting the other firmly in the kind of old-school Hollywood style that Star Wars lives and breathes.

After the safe play of The Force Awakens, Johnson’s visual and narrative style feel like a slap in the face for the franchise, while his classic approach ensures that The Last Jedi remains a recognisable part of the Star Wars oeuvre. While a relative directing greenhorn, Johnson has swiftly built himself an exciting and distinctive style; and, while few would class The Last Jedi as an auteur effort like Brick, Lucasfilm have thankfully allowed him just enough creative freedom to make the film pop.

For any film in a franchise this precious and lucrative, there’s always certain parameters a director will have to fall within in order to survive but, despite The Last Jedi looking, sounding, and feeling every inch the Star Wars film it is; Johnson adds just enough of his own spin to stave off the monotony that’d begun to creep into the series. As perhaps the biggest indication of the admirable level of leeway afforded to the director, The Last Jedi offers up some of the most distinctive visuals of any Star Wars entry to date.

From the film’s gloriously evocative crimson motif, to the wonderfully creative character designs; The Last Jedi comes replete with the kind of aesthetic freedom that just hasn’t been seen since the franchise’s very beginnings. The Last Jedi is a beautiful film, and the level of visual freedom Johnson has been allowed in order to achieve this beauty is not only a surprisingly liberating viewing experience, but an enticing glimpse into what Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy have in store for Star Wars going forward.

Nestled among The Last Jedi’s customary lightsabre throwdowns and frenetic space battles, are some of the most striking and visually arresting action sequences in Star Wars history. Not only has Johnson been able to freshen up action we’ve seen many times before in the saga, but he’s supplemented them with one of two truly beautiful and wholly original set pieces. The end battle, on the striking white and red salt flats of the planet Crait, is worth the price of admission on its own and, as the film’s final moment, represents a beautifully memorable note to end the film on.

However, for all its visual flair, there’s just no papering over the film’s glaring problems; most notably the haphazard narrative, which falls just short of creating a fully-formed, satisfying viewing experience. Despite the simple nature of the film’s core story, things become a little too scattergun, as the plot and the characters bounce around its three distinct threads with no real cohesion.

It all starts off well enough, with a good, old-fashioned standoff between the Rebellion and the First Order. It’s this showdown that provides The Last Jedi’s central narrative drive and while Rey, Luke, and Kylo Ren’s plot operates superbly as the film’s heart and emotional core; yet, where things get a little sticky, is with Finn and Rose’s rather aimless sub-mission, which consumes a large portion of the running time to absolutely no end. It’s not that their trip to the decadent casino planet of Canto Bright isn’t a bunch of fun, harking back to the oddball shenanigans of A New Hope’s Cantina scene; it’s just far too divergent to pull any weight in the overarching narrative and the lack of ultimate payoff makes it difficult to care about.

The way the film ricochets around these three separate threads leaves things pretty disjointed and these tonal incoherencies are further compounded by the inclusion of some rather hit and miss attempts at levity. While humour has forever been a Star Wars staple, often working well to counterbalance the franchise’s more bombastic moments; this is where The Last Jedi starts to falter. An ill-judged moment of levity can deflate any dramatic impact a film has built, and there are certainly one or two moments that do nothing but puncture the film’s emotional weight, throwing scenes and the film itself, way off balance in the process.

For all the slapstick and one-liners, however, The Last Jedi retains much of the grandiose nature we’ve come to know and love. This is Star Wars after all; pomp and circumstance are precisely what you pay for and, barring one or two missteps, Rian Johnson deftly balances the lighter moments with the film’s intrinsic splendour.

Again, if this franchise is to have any future, something has to give tonally and, although there are clearly some teething problems, it’s a promising sign that both Disney and Lucasfilm are looking to honour the space opera dynamic of the original trilogy, while allowing wiggle room for a more malleable tone that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Considering the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher, it seems inevitable that The Last Jedi would be bringing with it an emotional kick that few of its predecessors can match but, boy does the film deliver when it needs to. As the bridge between The Force Awakens and whatever the future holds, The Last Jedi was always going to be a changing of the guard moment but, despite the inevitability of eventually bidding farewell to General Leia Organa; it’s no less of a gut-punch to feel that original Force gradually begin to fade away.

Like everywhere else, eyebrow-raising curveballs are thrown left, right, and centre from the old characters we thought we knew so well; and nowhere is this more applicable than with Leia and, quite frankly, I doubt Carrie Fisher would have had it any other way. As the heart, soul, and spirit of Star Wars since day dot; Fisher has embodied everything great and righteous about the franchise and, while the Leia’s end is inevitable, there was zero chance of Fisher going down so easily here.

Naturally, emotions run high in every one of Fisher’s scenes, especially her all-too-brief moments with Mark Hamill (who, himself, has more than his fair share of surprises in store); yet, The Last Jedi is far from a mere farewell and more akin to a full-blown celebration of Fisher’s spirit, exuberant personality, and undoubted talents.

In an industry consumed with nostalgia, and after the overindulgences of The Force Awakens, it feels incredibly refreshing to see Lucasfilm so willing to look to the future, especially with their characters. It’s certainly noticeable that the old guard get far less screen time here than they did in The Force Awakens, and it goes a long way towards demonstrating their clear commitment to the future of the franchise.

Rey, Finn, Rose, Po Damaran, Kylo Renn, and a Millennium Falcon full of Porgs are the new generation that, together with Rian Johnson himself, will guide us into this brave new world and the boundless potential of a Star Wars future that, while certain not to be to everyone’s tastes, will at the least be interesting. It’s an infinitely exciting prospect, as all the fresh faces certainly possess the requisite enthusiasm and talent (ok, I might have to reconsider that Porg comment) to take us to a galaxy even further away and far beyond the wildest dreams of those who had to sit through the horrendousness of the prequels.

As that awkward middle instalment of a trilogy, The Last Jedi may occasionally feel like a franchise treading water, yet that doesn’t stop it from being one hell of a ride as it goes. In a bid to distance himself from the nostalgia overreliance that dogged The Force Awakens, Rian Johnson has boldly lobbed several curveballs our way and, while not all of them land, it’s certainly refreshing to be kept on our toes for once. In a franchise that was in real danger of becoming too comfortable for its own good; this turnaround is nothing short of miraculous and, while many traditionalists will bemoan the more radical changes, this progressive thinking is precisely what was needed. The Last Jedi is the transition badly needed between Star Wars old and new, and it’s an incredibly exciting place to be; as we look forward to the saga’s final chapter and the promise of bold new corners of the galaxy to explore beyond that.