gearing up for "La guerre des étoiles: les derniers Jedi"

I'll be seeing the new Star Wars movie, "The Last Jedi," tomorrow afternoon with my Korean buddy JW and his Star Wars-loving boy. I used to be quite the Star Wars fan, but these days, it's more about watching my friend's son's delight as he enjoys the adventure playing out on screen. JW once confided in me that he was worried that his son was a little too obsessed with the franchise; I told him not to worry: the obsession would end once the boy discovered girls.

Preliminary, non-spoiler reviews for the movie have been generally positive; some reviews have noted that one storyline does seem to drag, but that the movie otherwise presents a fairly original vision of a venerable tale. Director Rian Johnson has placed his unique stamp on this trilogy, and rumor has it that the studio loved Johnson's work so much that they've handed him an entire Star Wars trilogy of his own to work on, Peter Jackson-style, with a whole new set of plots and characters, situated in a wholly different part of the mysterious galaxy that existed long ago and far away. Several of the reviewers I watched on YouTube noted that this new movie adds to the theology of the Force in a new way (of interest to us religious-studies nerds), and even better, the lightsaber-fight choreography is supposed to be quite something. People use the Force in ways we haven't seen before, the reviewers say, so that's got me drooling. Other aspects of the film that have been praised include the acting by all the principals, especially Mark Hamill and, sadly, the late Carrie Fisher, both of whom are said to give some of their best-ever performances. The newbies (i.e., John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Laura Dern, and Benicio Del Toro) fare well, too, and the movie sets the stage for a smash-bang conclusion, which I think will be directed by JJ Abrams again.

Rian Johnson directed "Looper" (reviewed here), among other films, and film geeks are saying that his love for the Star Wars franchise shines through, so I'm fairly confident that we're in for a good ride. I've got my fingers and tentacles crossed.

UPDATE: while you wait for my review, entertain yourselves by watching this hilarious YouTube video that subtracts John Williams's music from the medal ceremony in "Star Wars." I never knew Chewbacca could be so damn funny.