“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is upon us, and according to critics, the new entry in the franchise is “the real deal” and “a triumph.”

“It is one of the best ‘Star Wars’ movies we’ve seen thus far, standing alongside ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ as a visually dazzling and character-driven spectacle which sets itself apart from the blockbuster pack,” Forbes’ Scott Mendelsohn wrote. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said, “‘The Last Jedi’ gives you an explosive sugar rush of spectacle.”

TheWrap’s film critic Alonso Duralde wrote in his review, “If having pure fun at a ‘Star Wars’ movie is wrong, I don’t want to be right. So for me, ‘The Last Jedi’ falls right behind ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and maybe the original film in providing the thrills and the heartbreak, the heroism and villainy, and the romance and betrayal that makes these films such a treat even for those of us who can’t name all the planets or the alien species or even the Empire’s flunkies.”

Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Movie Review: The Thrills Are Strong with This One

Currently holding a score of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” is the best-reviewed “Star Wars” film, followed by “The Empire Strikes Back.” “The Force Awakens” and “A New Hope” are tied for third.

However, many are criticizing the film for it’s middle act. Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Nashawaty wrote, “The film simply drags too much in the middle. Somewhere in the film’s 152-minute running time is an amazing 90-minute movie.” However, he agrees that the would-be blockbuster redeems itself in the final act.

The Tomatometer score is subject to change in the coming hours and weeks. “The Last Jedi” will hit theaters on Dec. 15.

Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Premiere Security Airtight

Read the 9 best reviews below.

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times:

“‘The Last Jedi,’ written and directed by the gifted indie auteur Rian Johnson, nails the balance of novelty and nostalgia in much more satisfying fashion.”

Molly Freeman, ScreenRant:

“Johnson has helped usher this latest ‘Star War’s trilogy into new territory that not only brings plenty of fresh ideas to the table, but honors the original movies as well. And the writer-director has done so with such breathtaking visuals and a deft hand that it’s not hard to see why Lucasfilm would give him his own Star Wars trilogy. Johnson has not only met what were undeniably high expectations with his installment in one of the biggest movie franchises in history, he’s exceeded them. As ‘The Force Awakens’ proved with its success in 2015, ‘Star Wars’ is a massively beloved franchise, and ‘The Last Jedi’ elevates what was already a storied sci-fi/fantasy saga – and sets expectations even impossibly higher for Abrams’ return to the trilogy with ‘Episode IX.'”

Scott Meslow, GQ:

“I loved ‘The Force Awakens,’ but ‘The Last Jedi’ is even better. The greatest strength of the new Star Wars trilogy is how effortlessly it has integrated a series of instantly lovable new characters into the Star Wars universe. ‘The Force Awakens’ brought Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Maz Kanata, and BB-8, as well as promising new baddies like Kylo Ren and General Phasma. ‘The Last Jedi; doubles down on everything that worked about those characters in ‘The Force Awakens.'”

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:

“Evil is ascendant. The Resistance — an intrepid, multi-everything group whose leaders include a battle-tested woman warrior — has been fighting the good fight for years but is outnumbered and occasionally outmaneuvered. Yes, the latest ‘Star Wars’ installment is here, and, lo, it is a satisfying, at times transporting entertainment. Remarkably, it has visual wit and a human touch, no small achievement for a seemingly indestructible machine that revved up 40 years ago and shows no signs of sputtering out (ever).”

Tasha Robinson, The Verge:

“‘The Last Jedi’ feels like a deliberate, thought-through corrective. It sums up its theme in its title: it’s trying, as respectfully and carefully as possible, to let go of some of the old traditions, and look for the next steps for a world that’s rapidly expanding, and needs to escape its old, familiar conflicts if it’s going to grow. Johnson acknowledges, through the characters and the dialogue, that letting go of familiar things is hard, and he holds his audience’s hands through the process. But he’s also admirably merciless about it. Audiences will likely come away from ‘The Last Jedi’ with a lot of complaints and questions. But they’re at least likely to feel they’re in the hands of someone who cares about the series as much as they do, someone who loves its history, but sees the wide-open future ahead of it as well.”

Scott Mendelson, Forbes:

“Now that’s more like it, Ms. Kennedy. After a crowd-pleasing but derivative franchise restarter that introduced interesting new characters but tied them down to previously established templates and an ambitious prequel/spin-off that sold its soul for a crowdpleasing third act, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is the real deal. It is one of the best Star Wars movies we’ve seen thus far, standing alongside ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’ as a visually dazzling and character-driven spectacle which sets itself apart from the blockbuster pack. It is a long, sprawling and sometimes messy movie about messy conflicts and moral ambiguity in a time of relative immorality. It doesn’t always work as intended, and there will be plenty of ‘Hey, wait a minute?!’ fodder for the Honest Trailers folks, but it is terrific and intelligent entertainment.”

Also Read: John Boyega Made It to 'Star Wars: the Last Jedi' Premiere Despite Wicked Weather (Update)

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian:

“‘The Last Jedi’ gives you an explosive sugar rush of spectacle. It’s a film that buzzes with belief in itself and its own mythic universe – a euphoric certainty that I think no other movie franchise has. And there is no provisional hesitation or energy dip of the sort that might have been expected between episodes seven and nine. What there is, admittedly, is an anticlimactic narrative muddle in the military story, but this is not much of a flaw considering the tidal wave of energy and emotion that crashes out of the screen in the final five minutes. It’s impossible not to be swept away.”

Brian Truitt, USA Today:

“‘The Last Jedi’ tries to do a little too much in its overlong 2½ hours, yet writer/director Rian Johnson still turns in a stellar entry that owes much to George Lucas’ original films while finding a signature vibe of its own and unleashing a few welcome twists.”

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly:

“‘The Last Jedi’ is a triumph with flaws. But through those flaws, it leaves us with a message as old as time. Our heroes don’t live forever. Death is inevitable. But their battle, if passed down to the right hands, will continue along with their memories. Both in front of and behind the camera, Star Wars has been passed to the right hands. The Force will live on. In these troubled, angry, and divisive times, that message of resistance isn’t just the stuff of innocuous tentpole diversions, it’s the closest thing we have to A New Hope.”

30 Actors You Probably Didn't Know Were in 'Star Wars' Movies (Photos)

The "Star Wars" franchise -- now 40 years young -- is full of secret cameos, soon-to-be-famous actors in small bit parts, and well-known faces behind alien masks and makeup. Here are 30 big names hidden throughout the franchise you might not have known about.

For more features and deep dives into the world of "Star Wars" and the culture surrounding it, be sure to check out IMDb's "Star Wars" hub.
Lucasfilm
John Ratzenberger ("The Empire Strikes Back")

Ratzenberger is best remembered as know-it-all postman Cliff Clavin from "Cheers," or maybe his numerous voice roles in Pixar movies. In "The Empire Strikes Back," Ratzenberger is one of the Rebel officers hanging around Echo Base on Hoth with Princess Leia and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels).
Lucasfilm
Treat Williams ("The Empire Strikes Back")

When you're Treat Williams, you can wander onto the set of "The Empire Strikes Back" and find yourself in the movie. Williams reportedly dropped by England's Elstree Studios set, where the movie was being filmed, to visit Carrie Fisher. Apparently one thing led to another, and now Williams plays one of the Rebel troops running around Echo Base on Hoth.
Lucasfilm
Julian Glover ("The Empire Strikes Back")

Julian Glover's General Veers is probably the most competent officer available to Darth Vader as wanders the galaxy looking for the Rebels and Luke Skywalker. He'd be decidedly less competent as Grand Maester Pycelle on "Game of Thrones," but decidedly more evil as Nazi collaborator Walter Donovan in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (you know -- the guy who ages super fast after drinking from the wrong grail).
Lucasfilm
Tony Cox ("Return of the Jedi")

In an Ewok suit, you'd never know Tony Cox appeared in "Return of the Jedi." He wouldn't really show off his acting chops until later when he was stealing scenes all over comedies like "Bad Santa," where he was Billy Bob Thornton's much-smarter mall-robbing accomplice/Christmas elf, and "Me, Myself and Irene."
Lucasfilm
Deep Roy ("Return of the Jedi")

It's easiest to remember Deep Roy in the Johnny Depp-starring "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," since Roy played every orange oompa-loompa in that movie. In "Return of the Jedi," he was both an Ewok and the puffy alien band member Droopy McCool in Jabba's Palace. Deep Roy also worked on "The Empire Strikes Back," acting as a stand-in for the muppet Yoda.
Lucasfilm
Keira Knightley (“The Phantom Menace”)

Knightley wasn’t just any handmaiden in “The Phantom Menace” — she was the handmaiden. Serving as the decoy for the real queen, Knightley was the actress people thought was Amidala for half the movie, before Natalie Portman’s Padmé revealed her true identity.
Lucasfilm
Peter Serafinowicz ("The Phantom Menace")

Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will recognize Peter Seafinowicz for his turn as untrusting Nova Corps officer Garthan Saal in "Guardians of the Galaxy." He didn't appear in "The Phantom Menace," but provided the gravely, frightening voice of Darth Maul (the rest of whom was played by Ray Park), as well as for a gungan warrior and a battle droid.
Lucasfilm
Dominic West ("The Phantom Menace")

The prequel trilogy was filled with actors who would go on to do great things, but who were mostly filling small or background roles in the "Star Wars" universe. Dominic West's character in "The Phantom Menace" was an otherwise nondescript member of Queen Amidala's palace guard -- nothing so interesting as his later turn as Jimmy McNulty on HBO's "The Wire."
Lucasfilm
Sofia Coppola (“The Phantom Menace”)

There really were a mess of these handmaidens. Before she was a full-time director, Sofia Coppola picked up a few small acting gigs, including the handmaiden Saché in “The Phantom Menace.” Just a few years after the 1999 movie, in 2003, Coppola would pick up a Best Director Academy Award nomination for “Lost in Translation.”
Lucasfilm
Sally Hawkins ("The Phantom Menace")

Before she was an Academy Award-nominated actress for her role in "Blue Jasmine," Sally Hawkins was an extra in the giant celebration scene in "The Phantom Menace." She admitted in an interview with Conan O'Brien that she'd never actually seen the movie, despite being in it.
Team Coco/Lucasfilm
Richard Armitage ("The Phantom Menace")

Blink and you'd miss Richard Armitage's small background role (second from the right in the background) among the guards on Naboo. Although, it's tough to recognize him without the lustrous locks Armitage sported in "The Hobbit" as Thorin Oakenshield, or the creepy teeth from his turn as killer Francis Dolarhyde in "Hannibal" Season 3 on NBC.
Lucasfilm
Rose Byrne (“Attack of the Clones”)

Before she was a mainstay of the “Insidious” movies alongside Patrick Wilson or had joined the “X-Men” franchise as CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert, Rose Byrne was one of the handmaidens serving Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) in the “Star Wars” prequels. Specifically, she was Dormé, who accompanied Padmé to Coruscant to do government things.
Lucasfilm
Martin Csokas ("Attack of the Clones")

The "Star Wars" movies have slipped a few notable actors into the voice roles of aliens. Martin Csokas is one -- he provided the voice of the Geonosian alien Poggle the Lesser in "Attack of the Clones." Fantasy fans probably know him better as the elf Celeborn, husband to Cate Blanchett's Galadriel in "The Lord of the Rings."

For more features and deep dives into the world of "Star Wars" and the culture surrounding it, be sure to check out IMDb's "Star Wars" hub.
Lucasfilm
Joel Edgerton (“Attack of the Clones,” “Revenge of the Sith”)

Luke’s moisture-farming, humorless uncle Owen Lars was young once, but he was never not a guy who stood around a crappy homestead on Tatooine. In the prequel movies, the role was picked up by Joel Edgerton of “Loving” and “The Great Gatsby.”
Lucasfilm
Bai Ling ("Revenge of the Sith")

Bai Ling actually doesn't appear in "Revenge of the Sith," but she was supposed to. Her scene as Senator Bana Breemu was cut from the film. But there are things you definitely have seen her in, including "Crank: High Voltage," "The Crow" and "Entourage."
Lucasfilm
Keisha Castle-Hughes ("Revenge of the Sith")

Sometime after Padmé's term as queen had ended by "Revenge of the Sith," the wise people of Naboo apparently elected another teenager queen: Queen Apailana, played by Keisha Castle-Hughes. Apailana is seen at Padmé's funeral, and Castle-Hughes is known for "The Whale Rider" and appearing on "The Walking Dead."
Lucasfilm
Simon Pegg (“The Force Awakens”)

Another secret cameo, Pegg is covered in alien costume work as the junk dealer Unkar Plutt on Jakku. He’s the guy who gives Rei less than what her salvage is probably worth.
Lucasfilm
Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz (“The Force Awakens”)

You’d think the last thing a droid like BB-8 would require is a voice, given that he’s a robot and speaks in bleeps and bloops. But to get the sound and personality just right, director J.J. Abrams enlisted comedians Bill Hader (formerly of “SNL”) and Ben Schwartz (well-known for playing Jean-Ralphio on “Parks and Rec”).
Lucasfilm
Thomas Brodie-Sangster (“The Force Awakens”)

“Game of Thrones” might have noticed a familiar First Order officer during shots of the bridge of the Starkiller Base. It was Jojen Reed, Bran Stark’s loyal friend, who also plays Newt in the “Maze Runner” franchise.
Lucasfilm
Daniel Craig (“The Force Awakens”)

It was something of a news item at the time, but James Bond slipped in a secret cameo in the first “Star Wars” film in a decade — as a stormtrooper. He’s the guard that Rei manages to Jedi mind trick into releasing her.
Lucasfilm
Billie Lourd (“The Force Awakens”)

Billie Lourd sneaked into Lucasfilm’s revival of “Star Wars” as Lt. Connix, one of the Resistance fighters running tactical machinery in the base of General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Known for her hilarious turn as Chanel No. 3 on the horror-comedy series “Scream Queens,” she’s also Fisher’s daughter.
Lucasfilm
Harriet Walter ("The Force Awakens")

Playing a Resistance medic who helps out Chewbacca, "Downton Abbey" alumna Harriet Walter gets a short but sweet cameo in "The Force Awakens." She actually has one of the movie's funnier moments as she talks to Chewie about how scary his ordeal must have been.
Lucasfilm
Rian Johnson ("Rogue One")

The director of 2017's "The Last Jedi" actually made a cameo in 2016's "Rogue One" along with producer Ram Bergman as members of the gunner crew of the Death Star.
Lucasfilm
Justin Theroux ("The Last Jedi")

Casting "The Leftovers" star Justin Theroux as the unnamed super-great slicer Finn and Rose are looking for is a fun cameo that winds up being a misdirection and a fun joke. Instead, the pair find Benicio del Toro's DJ to take over the job.
Lucasfilm
Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("The Last Jedi")

Director Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt collaborated on the 2005 movie "Brick," the director's first feature-length movie. JGL makes the most of their friendship by voicing an alien in the "Star Wars" universe called Slowen Lo, a riff on the Beastie Boys song "Slow & Low." He's the guy who's really upset about Finn and Rose's bad parking job.
Tom Hardy ("The Last Jedi")

Taking a page from Daniel Craig's cameo in "The Force Awakens," Tom Hardy grabbed a stormtrooper uniform to appear in "The Last Jedi." His scene (which also featured Princes William and Harry) was deleted, unfortunately, but it finds him in an elevator with an incognito Finn, Rose and DJ as they sneak around the First Order ship midway through the movie. Hardy's trooper recognizes Finn and congratulates him on the promotion his uniform suggests, even giving him a supportive smack on the butt.
Ralph Ineson ("The Last Jedi")

Another famous face appearing in the deleted sequence aboard the First Order ship is Ralph Ineson, star of "The Witch." He plays an officer who immediately recognizes that Finn and Rose don't belong. He pops up later with a detachment of stormtroopers to catch the impostors for real.
Lucasfilm
Gareth Edwards ("The Last Jedi")

Edwards gave Rian Johnson a cameo in "Rogue One," so the director repaid the favor by making Edwards one of the Resistance troopers standing their ground on Crait. He's the guy who looks incredulously at the trooper who decided to taste the ground.
Lucasfilm
Clint Howard ("Solo")

Director Ron Howard's brother Clint is a well-known actor whose career goes all the back to the original "Star Trek" series. He pops up in a cameo role, as seen in this photo from his Twitter account, as a particularly mean guy in "Solo" who runs a droid fighting pit -- and gets a rough talking to by Lando's droid companion, L3.
Twitter
Jon Favreau ("Solo")

The "Iron Man" director (who also plays Happy Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and star of "Swingers" doesn't fully appear in "Solo," but his voice does -- he plays Rio Durant, the multi-armed member of Tobias Beckett's crew. Favreau gets to be the jokey member of the heist crew in the movie and acts as pilot, despite Han complaining that he wants the job.
Lucasfilm

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The “Star Wars” franchise is full of famous people you had no idea were there

The "Star Wars" franchise -- now 40 years young -- is full of secret cameos, soon-to-be-famous actors in small bit parts, and well-known faces behind alien masks and makeup. Here are 30 big names hidden throughout the franchise you might not have known about.

For more features and deep dives into the world of "Star Wars" and the culture surrounding it, be sure to check out IMDb's "Star Wars" hub.

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