Ranking The First 30 Minutes Of EVERY Star Wars Movie From Worst To Best

Rian Johnson's Episode VIII - The Last Jedi quickly lets you know you're about to experience the boldest Star Wars film of the Disney era.

As the Resistance look to flee from a p*ssed off First Order in the wake of Starkiller Base's destruction, viewers witness the likes of Poe Dameron and co. buy their colleagues some time to escape from the planet in the opening scene. It's a beautifully shot, scored, and hugely impactful chapter, with TIE fighters shredding Resistance bombers as our heroes launch a desperate assault in the hopes of bringing down a fleet-killing dreadnought.

And it's that pulsating opening stretch, which sees Dameron disobey direct orders from Leia Organa and cost the Resistance a great many numbers in the process, that sets the stage for the ensuing gripping internal drama to come.

Elsewhere, Luke Skywalker's real return brought with it an entirely unexpected - and undoubtedly divisive - swerve as we were reintroduced to a far less hopeful Jedi Master than we remembered from the original trilogy, controversially launching the sacred Skywalker lightsaber within his first few seconds of screen-time.

And Rey's attempts to figure out what's up with the bitter legend are broken up by another compelling debut of sorts as Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader Snoke initially established himself as an imposing new big bad to be feared - perched in his marvellously designed bleeding red throne room. 

Instead of trying to stay in any sort of Star Wars comfort zone, Johnson took a number of daring swings before the run-time had even passed 30-minutes. Some hit, some missed. But none of them are unmemorable.