The latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi, has been on the minds of many fans ever since the closing scene of The Force Awakens. Who were Rey’s parents? Would they kill off Princess Leia? Who would be “The Last Jedi”?

I have seen it twice now, once on opening night and another time on Saturday. I was actually the very first person to get tickets back in October for the first SDX showing at the theater in town, so I got really good seats. I love going to the first showing because you are surrounded by people who are just as passionate about Star Wars as you are. While we were waiting in line for concessions, there were a few people dressed up as various characters from the films. When we got to the theater, they gave us limited edition trading cards, it was pretty cool. Then, right before the movie started, they played a five-minute clip of the director, Rian Johnson, telling us a bit about what it was like behind the scenes. It also went into detail about John Williams’ experience working on the score for all eight films. Then, the screen went black, a collective intake of breath when “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” flashed across the screen.

Flash forward two and a half hours, the entire theatre erupted with applause as the ending credits rolled. Like many others, I had so many emotions running through me, I couldn’t quite sum up my opinions on the movie yet. But when I got home, I was able to sort through my thoughts.

The best way I can describe The Last Jedi is this: it did not meet some of my expectations, but it blew other expectations I had out of the water. And the more I think about everything that happened in the movie, the better it gets (except for one not-death that happened in the movie, ugh).

Going into it, I hadn’t read any detailed reviews, I had just seen that many people saying it rivaled Empire Strikes Back for the best movie in the franchise. I don’t think I quite agree with that. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great movie! The people in the theater I was in laughed, cried, held their breath, and applauded on multiple occasions. That, I think, is the best part of seeing it on opening night, everyone is seeing it for the first time, not knowing what is coming next, and they don’t keep their excitement to themselves. And, no one can spoil it for you at school the next day.

One of my favorite things about this movie, well, all the movies in the franchise, was the score. I LOVE John Williams. I could definitely feel his absence during Rogue One, it just wasn’t the same. But he’s back for this movie and is still making beautiful music.

So, if you haven’t seen The Last Jedi, or any Star Wars movie for that matter, GO SEE IT! You will not regret it!