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| Lucasfilm |
Before I begin, I want to go ahead and just explain my feelings on this film. I liked the film and found it very enjoyable, even with all of its flaws. This is a rare opinion from what I’ve found, as most people either love it or hate it, and I’m happy to share my balanced (like the Force! Get it?) opinion for those trying to sort through the myriad of comments and think pieces. I will not be discussing the fan responses (at least not while discussing the film itself) and there will be no spoilers, so don’t worry about that. Let’s start with the good.
Luke Skywalker
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| GeekTyrant
The "My Chemical Romance" edition
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One of the most iconic images of The Force Awakens is the return of Luke Skywalker, the Grand Master of the Jedi who had been missing for years, and seeing Rey hand him his old lightsaber. Well, it was iconic because Luke said nothing and the film ended, leaving us all going “Is that it?” Anyways, the way that Johnson handles Luke is inarguably the greatest thing about this film, bolstered by an interesting arc and an excellent performance from Mark Hamill, who despite his reservations delivers a very nuanced take on this old fan favorite hero.
We find our former hero in self-exile, haunted by his past mistakes with Kylo Ren and burdened by the expectations that come with being a living legend. This is a Luke Skywalker on the edges of sanity and despair, with the appearance of Rey and the reality of the Resistance’s plight only bringing his failures into sharp focus. He only agrees to train Rey in an effort to teach her why the Jedi need to be extinguished, and when you hear him lay it all out it makes a lot of sense. For Luke himself being a Jedi has never done anything for him that was positive, and when he outlines the failures of the Jedi throughout the series, it’s hard not to say, “Well yeah maybe the Jedi need to go.”
The beauty of Luke in this film is that it is the natural progression of his development, from his first appearance as the young idealist in Star Wars off to save the universe to this old, bitter man who is but a shell of his old self. Mark Hamill sells this change and makes us feel Luke’s pain, making the sight of the former hero a gut punch to anyone who’s a fan of the saga. However, despite the pain and sorrow Luke experiences, it’s the redemptive arc this film takes with him that proves the most satisfying. Seeing where the film takes his character was great, and the final resolution to this decades-long plotline was an emotional experience for me, and one that made me ultimately fall on the positive side with this film overall.
The Expansion of the Mythos
Despite what the volumes of Star Wars books, comics, video games and the like would suggest, the mythos of the saga is actually very limited, by the edict of Disney. With just the films and TV series to play with, there is really only a limited view of what the Force is, the history of the Jedi and just what this “balance” everyone keeps talking about should be. Rian Johnson uses the training of not just Rey but Kylo Ren to push the boundaries of our understanding of these vague concepts, and all for the better.
On Rey’s end, Luke tries to drill into her head that the Jedi as an order were a failure, stricken by arrogance and corruption that ultimately led to the rise of Darths Sidious and Vader and the fall of the Republic. Whether you agree with him or not is one thing, but this is an examination of the so-called “good guys” that we haven’t seen before in this series. He also takes a more humanist approach to the Force that hearkens back to the original trilogy, back before everything was about Skywalkers and Kenobis and Solos, when it was just about a group of people fighting for a cause that we could all relate to. Anyone can be a hero, the film argues throughout, and I wish it had stuck with that message… We’ll get to that in a little bit.
The biggest point taken from the prequels is the focus on the balance of the Force, which was supposed to be what Anakin’s prophesied role was. Anyone who uses logic can realize that this makes no sense, as when Vader cast down the Emperor he didn’t bring balance to the Force, he simply neutralized the Dark Side and left the Jedi alive. In this film, a big point of contention with Supreme Leader Snoke is that Rey is the natural response to the powerful darkness within Kylo Ren, as if the universe was attempting to correct an imbalance. And when you enter this film, things are mostly balanced, with Snoke and Kylo on the Dark Side and Luke and Rey on the Light. It’s a fascinating point that I was very happy to see the film tackle, and I hope that the focus on these dichotomies carries over into Episode IX.
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| IMDb
*cough, cough*
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Rian Johnson, The Director
Perhaps the biggest thing I was excited about coming into The Last Jedi was the prospect of Rian Johnson directing it. I loved Looper and Brick and I think Johnson has an amazing eye for direction as well as a knack for writing, so I thought it'd be a slam dunk. On the directing side, Johnson nailed it, with several eye-popping action sequences, some cool new worlds and the type of beauty you can only get from shooting on location and NOT GREEN SCREEN, GEORGE! Sorry, it's just so hard to go back to the prequels and all that when you see just how much better movies shot on location look!
It was clear watching this that Johnson was heavily influenced by samurai films, particularly the great Akira Kurosawa (ironically the man who inspired Lucas with his Hidden Fortress). There are lots of shots that reflect these films, and sometimes it just comes down to the way characters stand while they hold their weapons that does it. The final duel in the film is a big example of this, as it has a lot of shots focused on the characters' positioning, the way they hold their lightsabers and the angling of the camera. It feels more like a battle of wits than a display of swordsmanship, which is a rather welcome change in my opinion. Don't fret though, because there is a scene set against the backdrop of a gorgeous red room that reflects both the brutality of samurai films and the fight choreography we come to expect from Star Wars, and it's one of my favorite action scenes of the year. As a director, Rian gets an A+.
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| GIPHY
Strike a pose, Kylo!
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I Don't Hate Kylo Ren Anymore
Coming out of The Force Awakens, I really had one glaring thought in my mind: "They seriously did the Death Star thing again?" No, wait, not that one. Anyways, I was not a fan of Kylo Ren. I found him to be an annoying, whiny little punk who had no character and was not even close to being as intimidating or interesting as even the least of the prequel villains. He was also a considerable waste of Adam Driver's talent, and I dreaded seeing him on the screen again in this film. Turns out that Rian had a plan for him, putting more of a focus on his perspective and revealing exactly what happened when he left Luke to die. It puts him in a new light and that, along with other things I don't want to spoil, make him a much more interesting character, even with the tantrums and ravings that make him sound like a total nutjob. His interactions with Rey and Snoke really deepen his character and reveal a man hungry for change in the universe, if only he wasn't such a lunatic, and I connected with that. Now, time for the bad... Oh boy, here we go.
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| Know Your Meme |
The Finn/Rose Plotline and Resistance Communication Issues
Look, guys, this shouldn't take much explanation, but I will just to make a larger point about this film. The fact of the matter is that the subplot featuring Finn and Rose is completely and utterly unnecessary to the film, and the fact that it takes up a whopping FORTY MINUTES of the two and a half hour runtime is downright inexcusable. The entire plotline, from the beginning to the end, is filler. The two of them could have stayed where they were with the Resistance throughout that time and not a thing would have changed in the film until, of course, it is forced to connect with everything else in order to make it seem important. It's a drag to get through and every time it cut from another scene to this story my excitement immediately died down and I started getting bored. I've spared details because of spoilers, and because the introduction of an Asian-American hero is actually important, but honestly it's pretty bad. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the world they visit, which is basically one gigantic and unfunny sight gag! It's a mess!
Speaking of the Resistance, I think that what Johnson chooses to do with them at the beginning and ending of the film are great. This group is savaged at every turn, losing possibly hundreds of soldiers for every victory they get, and always barely avoiding the grasps of defeat. We're led to believe that it's only the toughness of the soldiers and the genius of the people in charge that will ultimately win the day. Unfortunately, Rian Johnson chooses to plague the Resistance leaders with an unfortunate trope you see primarily in romantic comedies, the lack of communication leading to confusion leading to conflict/wackiness, except the consequences are much larger this time.
The entire Finn and Rose plot only happens because everyone's favorite hotshot pilot Poe Dameron is led to believe that they have no plan to escape the giant First Order armada that is bearing down on them. So naturally he enacts a plan of his own, but WAIT, THERE'S A TWIST: the Resistance leaders did have a plan (a brilliant one, actually), they just... didn't tell... the rebels... Wait, what? Why? Are the rebels that untrustworthy or something? This is a huge problem, since once you step back and see the lives lost due to this issue and the useless subplot Poe sets in motion, you have to wonder why no one looked at this script and pointed it out. And does Poe get punished for the catastrophe that ensues directly because of him? Nah, because it's Poe! Look how handsome he is!
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| Pinterest
How can you just not love that beautiful face?
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Rey Still Isn't an Interesting Character (To Me)
One of the most controversial criticisms of The Force Awakens was that Rey, our new lead, just wasn't that interesting of a character. Some people of course went a rather sexist way with their criticisms, but people like myself just saw a real lack of character development or personality in the way she was written. However, at the end of the film I thought there was some potential there, and I hoped that Rian Johnson would be able to expand upon that and turn her into a fully fleshed out, interesting addition to this universe. I was wrong about that.
Rey has two modes in this film: a copy of Luke in Return of the Jedi around Kylo Ren and what I will now term an Exposition Generator around Luke. To be fair there are moments of dialogue-free character development where Rian Johnson just lets Rey do something, such as getting too excited and reckless with a lightsaber during training, but those are few and far between. She either falls into "but I can save him!" mode or "I have said an important thing, now give the audience exposition to explain this thing I just said!" mode. As if that wasn't bad enough, the entire last act of the movie is completely devoid of her, our ostensibly main character! How is that good development?
I won't comment on how regressive this development is by having her be a catalyst of Luke and Kylo's story arcs rather than a growing character of her own, though this is a good article to read about that. I can say that I was impressed at how Rian Johnson took a character I already thought was a bit flat and removed any and all dimension from her. Honestly, you could have replaced her with the janitor and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to the story, which is not ideal. The revelation of her parentage should have been huge, but given how little I care about her (or the janitor who could have replaced her) all it did was make me go, "Well okay, then." Not a good sign when we're talking about the lead character of this trilogy, at least the lead if you ask JJ Abrams.
Rian Johnson, the Conflicted Screenwriter
While thinking about how I was going to go about dissecting this film, I had one issue that kept popping up in my mind: How do I criticize this film and the choices Johnson made without sounding like some intolerant and dumb fanboy? I always welcome someone taking chances with an established franchise, and I do applaud Johnson for the risks he took... However, the times where he didn't take risks, hewed too close to formula and did some things simply out of either obligation or to fill time just simply couldn't escape my mind.
The biggest issue for me with Johnson's script, outside of the positive elements I mentioned, is that he just doesn't seem very interested in the rest of the story he was telling. There are great action beats that kick off the film and a thrilling final act battle, but outside of that and the stuff with Luke and Kylo, I wondered if Johnson really even cared about what was happening in his own movie. It was easy to disregard the Resistance stuff because he employed a ticking clock to create a sense of urgency, but I really feel like he didn't care about those characters or Finn and Rose and felt like he had to include them because, well, he just had to.
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| Her Campus
Live footage of Rian Johnson trying to write the script.
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I'm curious if Johnson felt that particular pull while he was making this movie, as the conflict between his riskier aspects and the more traditional, safe Star Wars aspects pops up at very strange moments. One of Luke's biggest lessons to Rey is that anyone can be a hero and that things like royalty, bloodline and title don't matter. It's a powerful message, one that's immediately undercut by the constant urging that Rey is special and important because the script and Kathleen Kennedy demand that it be so. Johnson also upends fan expectations by hitting us with unexpected turns, but then goes back to the well with scenes not only directly lifted right out of Empire but even some out of Jedi, scenes that for the most part have no bearing on anything in the film. At the end of the day it just creates a film that feels disjointed, both in the mechanics of the plot and in the thematics of it. It's both a safe Star Wars film and a daring one, one that expands the universe but frustratingly pulls back on those advancements. And honestly, that's my biggest issue with the film. Not the script issues or Rey or any of that, but that it just doesn't feel like anyone had any idea of what they wanted to make, and what could have been a tight, emotionally powerful two hour movie was turned into a bloated, barely hanging on package that was just entertaining and bold enough to push it into the black. And for the ugly...
The Fan Response
Seriously guys. Those of you who love it, and those who don't, y'all need to chill out a bit. Don't drag all of us fans down with your obnoxious antics! We'll have to have a talk about fan theories and expectations, but this isn't the post to do that.
Ignoring The Force Awakens, and Trying to Make a Star Wars Film Today
This is an interesting dilemma for any director following up on the hit 2015 film to have: how exactly do you make your own vision of Star Wars while also continuing the plot threads JJ Abrams set up and setting up the queue for then-director of Episode IX Colin Trevorrow (of Jurassic World and the extremely awful The Book of Henry)? The answer seemed to be, at least for Rian Johnson, "Hey, let's not do that and do my own thing." Is that good? Well, anyone who knows me knows that I rail against franchises that suppress their directors and force them into a mold rather than letting them do their own thing. So in this instance, I'm glad that Rian Johnson was freed and able to put his own spin on Star Wars. Criticizing it, though, is where I fear I'm being just a fanboy or a nitpicker rather than just letting it be its own thing.
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| The Hollywood Reporter
Lucasfilm: The finest universe builders since DC Comics
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As I mentioned in the bad section, it's not that I have a problem with Johnson's risk-taking or changes to the story, it's that he was undercut every step of the way by the need to make something that is recognizably Star Wars that could appeal to everyone imaginable. It's hard to think about now given that this series is so corporatized and has been turned into such a product, but once upon a time Star Wars was the passion project of one man who just wanted to tell the simple yet impactful science fiction tale he'd had in his mind for ages (and had to make his own because he couldn't make Flash Gordon). Things fell apart in Return of the Jedi and all through the prequels as Lucas became more focused on profit and appealing to every market and demographic they could, stifling the possibility for true and imaginative storytelling in these films. When you're trying to make a film to appeal to every single person on the planet Earth, you're not going to want to take any chances and offend anyone because that's $$$ down the drain, and we can't have that!
That's the problem Rian Johnson clearly faced making this movie, and I think the film is lesser because either he felt like he had to adhere to the blockbuster formula or because Disney made him do it. It's a shame because there is so much creativity and interesting ideas, even ones that made hardcores mad because it isn't what they wanted, that are floating around this film, and its risks like those that need to be taken to keep Star Wars fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, Disney isn't exactly the House of Fresh and New Ideas, and I fear they will bend every director with a dream and vision under their will or just expel them like they have the others before letting Star Wars be interesting or really exciting again. But, like the kids featured at the end of this film, I as a Star Wars fan can't help but hope that the next one will be better and that one day they'll finally get it together. Maybe Rian Johnson's trilogy will be better... Maybe.
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