Star Wars: The Force Awakens Vs The Last Jedi - Which Is Better?

The Force Awakens is more narratively conventional, with characters moving from one wacky set-piece to the next in true Star Wars fashion. A space battle here, a chase sequence here, and - whoosh! - a lightsaber battle... none of it especially mind-blowing, true, but it's deeply satisfying to watch. The big monster chase on Han's ship, Finn and Rey stealing the Falcon, Rey vs. Kylo Ren in the winter forest...

The lines are a little blurrier in The Last Jedi, because the majority of set-pieces we do get are either subverted to mess with our expectations or come over a bit like wasted opportunities. Take the moment where Finn and Rose escape Canto Bight on hijacked creatures, for example... it just feels random and oddly not Star Wars. Same goes for Finn facing off against Captain Phasma, a real anti-climax.

We are treated to one genuinely great set-piece, though, when Rey and Kylo do battle side-by-side against Snoke's guards.. now that's a set piece. The space battle at the start of the movie is pretty darn cool, too, and Holdo's lightspeed kamikaze play is cathartic as hell. Shame there's no Luke/Ren fight, though.

Winner: This is a tough one, but The Force Awakens just about takes the cake on account of having a couple more memorable set pieces. Overall they're just more defined and complete and frankly more entertaining to watch.