As much as I enjoyed The Force Awakens, it was just one big love letter to Star Wars. For a new trilogy to bloom, the second act would have to spread it's wings, be it's own thing and not play it safe. The Last Jedi manages to do all that. Amongst all the space battles and light sabre action, there seems a real desire to challenge the audience by either undercutting our expectations about how we think the story will play out or wrong footing us about the characters and their motives. The theme of the movie seems to be that of dealing with the past and moving on. It's a theme aimed at the Star Wars fan base as much as the movie's characters. This is not the best Star Wars movie but it may over time prove to be the most important.