Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A new post? Am I seeing things? Am I going mad? To answer the first question, yes I am back, because this is what I enjoy and have gone way too long with its absence. To answer the other questions, it may already be too late for you. But enough comedy for now, I really wanted to come back with an entry of a subject close to my heart and lucky me, it’s coming out on DVD in a couple of days alongside the controversy still circling around it. I am of course talking about Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Never before has there been such a modern split in a movie. Some people love it annnnnd some people just despise it. If you can’t tell by the long “and,” I am on the side of people who loved it. I really did enjoy it. I think that not only is this movie the best one since The Empire Strikes Back, but it revives the series while at the same time giving me assurance for the future of Star Wars. I do know some fans who were hurt by this movie and say that it even dishonors the original trilogy, and I have to politely disagree with that argument. This review is for you, the fans who feel betrayed. I want to share why I really do think that this movie is embedded in the legacy of Star Wars, especially for Luke. And for the people already fans of the movie, you can keep reading to remember why you liked it or maybe I can put to words reasons that you hadn’t shared aloud.

What The Last Jedi has done for the series

What I really respect about Rian Johnson, director of The Last Jedi, and why I think he’s such a pioneer is because he did not follow in J.J. Abram’s, director of The Force Awakens, footsteps. J.J. gave the series a breath of life it so desperately needed and that is definitely commendable, but he reused plotlines and reused designs and ideas, which is fine and I have no problem with, but it makes it so that The Force Awakens can never be a standalone movie. It has to build on the shoulders of others before it so that it can build the ones after it. Think of the movie as a piece added to an unfinished bridge so that it may support the next piece of the bridge. This is what The Force Awakens has done for the series. It is a vital connector to a brighter future. It would’ve been so easy for Rian to simply start where J.J. left off but that’s not what happens. The Last Jedi is not the next piece of the bridge, It takes the bridge to a completely new destination. It is the captain who changes course of the ship, it is not a ship builder. This is why I think The Last Jedi has been the most important movie since Empire and could continue to be for the next 20 years whether you like the movie or not. The rest of the movies that are coming will continue to build the ship and to build the bridge and will skip The Last Jedi. I am so happy that J.J. is doing IX because I am confident that he will make a solid addition to where he left off.

Does The Last Jedi stray from the original trilogy?

I know mostly all of us agree that The Last Jedi is radical, surprising, and is not what we expected following The Force Awakens, but I know a lot of people think that the movie is too radical and strays Star Wars from the original trilogy and I must simply disagree. While this movie doesn't reuse anything such as plotlines, unlike The Force Awakens, and while this movie seems unrecognizable to anything that’s come before it, what it does do is pay homage. It pays so much homage that it is clearly evident that Rian is a huge Star Wars nerd. In my opinion you’re not more or less of a Star Wars fan whether you liked this movie or not. Your level of fandom is measured by the amount of homage you caught in this movie because there was a scary amount of it. This homage could range from Leia firing her gun almost exactly the way she did in A New Hope or Snoke showing Rey the destruction of the rebel fleet just how Palpatine showed Luke the destruction of the rebel fleet in The Return of the Jedi. Quick Thought: It’s ironic how The Force Awakens is similar to A New Hope but the movie following The Force Awakens is actually more similar to The Return of the Jedi, not the Empire Strikes Back. It shows that it is likely that Rian is probably a bigger fan of The Return of the Jedi than I am. It also might be likely that we get an approaching movie that is finally similar to The Empire Strikes Back. End of Quick Thought.

Luke

Now it’s time for the meat of our time together. Why I think the Luke in this movie is the same in all of his previous movies. Since Luke struggled a lot during this movie, let's think back on the times he struggled during the original trilogy. There should be three instances, one from every movie. Have you come up with your answers? The first struggle from the first movie is Luke’s reluctance to travel with Ben to Alderaan. Here’s what he says after Ben asks him for his help. “I can't get involved! I've got work to do! It's not that I like the Empire. I hate it! But there's nothing I can do about it right now. It's such a long way from here.” It’s not that he didn’t want to go or that he didn’t trust Ben. It was because he didn’t have faith. He didn’t believe that he could trust in a higher power that could make everything okay. Luke eventually becomes a hero at the end of the movie when he rectifies his flaw and believes that he can make a shot ‘the size of a womp rat’ in order to save the galaxy. The second time Luke struggles is in the swamps of Dagobah during most of the Empire Strikes Back. He constantly says things like “What am I doing here?”, “I can’t do it”, “You want the impossible” and “I don’t believe it”. Luke struggled with faith. He didn’t have faith in his abilities and he didn’t believe that everything would turn out alright. At the end of the movie, he never deals with his flaw so he loses his weapon, his hand, his dignity, and almost loses his life. In the final entry, Luke struggles with what to do with his father. All he had seen in his father his darkness and misery. He struggled with having faith in his father. He finally gave his father a chance and became a hero once again.

Luke in The Last Jedi

We can now determine that Luke struggled with faith the entire trilogy. And what did Luke struggle with during The Last Jedi? Who would’ve guessed, Faith! I’m sorry, but I think it's crazy to think that Luke is a different character in this movie. He didn’t have faith in Rey, nor in Kylo, nor with himself. He made a huge mistake but he didn’t believe he had the ability to rectify his mistake. One of the issues I have with The Return of the Jedi is that it doesn't showcase Luke’s struggle with faith well enough, and definitely not as well as Empire did. This movie went above and beyond. I absolutely love the scene where Luke is holding the lightsaber above Kylo because it combines Luke’s struggle with belief with Luke’s struggle with seeing the good in his father/his nephew the way the Return of the Jedi should’ve done. In my opinion, Rian cleaned up one of Star Wars’ greatest unfinished businesses. Leia even had unyielding and full faith in Luke and it still wasn’t enough to give Luke the courage enough to believe again. That is why Luke is so grumpy and seclusive in the beginning. He doesn't believe in anything and he doesn't anyone to convince him otherwise because he feels bad that he still failed with Leia’s undying faith in him so he feels that since her faith didn’t work on him, no one else’s faith will work on him. The situation looks even worse for him than it did in Empire when he lost everything so Rian is almost trying to get the audience to stop believing in him. Also, Luke has severely relied on his masters in the past so when he’s without them for so long, he starts becoming less disciplined and more chaotic. Then he goes through a huge redemption, one that even rivals his father’s, where Luke starts to believe that he might be able to pave the way for a brighter future. Quick Thought: It’s ironic that the greatest hero of the Jedi struggles with what makes up the Jedi’s entire identity. The Jedi are all about trusting in the force, and believing in something they do not see, and putting themselves aside for a greater purpose and you can’t be a Jedi unless you do these things. I just think it’s funny that Luke has issues with the very constitution of a Jedi when he is one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived. There might be a lesson in there. End of Quick Thought.

Rey and Kylo

Rey and Kylo’s clash of ideals in this movie is mesmerizing. They both are struggling for a place to belong and this movie made it evident of their connection to each other and I don’t mean their connection through the force. I love the themes explored. With Rey, it seems like her parents have cursed her to continuous abandonment and rejection throughout her entire life, but she continuous to fight that destiny. It’s awe-inspiring that she keeps having faith in people when she’s had such a bad track record of having the people who have the most potential to make her feel secure and loved, either refusing to do so or not being able to. Now with Kylo, he has felt like he has never been good enough for anyone with neither light nor dark side, with not being able to live up to his family’s expectations and legacy on the light side and not being able to command the respect and power his grandfather had on the dark, which means he has to live in somebody’s shadow no matter what side he chooses. I think these are some powerful messages to all be in one Star Wars film. Quick Thought: Have you been wondering why Kylo became the Supreme Leader, because the wrong answer is that he cares about the First Order and wants them to do their best. I think the real reason is because he’s sick of not being good enough and not having what it takes, and hopes that this position will never make him feel that way again. My prediction is that he doesn't get his wish in movie number nine and another character makes him feel inadequate again (could be Hux) and Kylo as a result unleashes all of his rage bottled up inside on that character. On that subject, notice how Kylo was given more priority than Snoke as a character in this movie, and a decision was made that it is more important to develop Kylo as a character than it is to keep Snoke even around as a character. I agree with the decision. It just shows how likely it is that Kylo is the most important character in the trilogy (maybe even the series) seeing how the makers of this movie went out of their way, even rolling out a red carpet for him, just so that he can have extra development. End of Quick Thought

Rose and Finn

I was fine with Rose and Finn’s storyline. I admit it’s not the most exciting part of the movie, but if you think that it should be cut completely then you didn’t understand what this movie is trying to say and which direction Star Wars is going in. You gotta understand that all Star Wars films have overlapping storylines and most of them have been straightforward so we’ve never had a storyline that has a hidden agenda and with such a strong message like Finn and Rose’s. I am fine with Rose as well. She is probably the first character who is a normal person and isn’t an epic hero or villain who’s flaws and strengths are exaggerated by a 1000%. I do think however that punches were pulled with Canto Bight and it didn’t have the Mos Eisley charm.

Overall Consensus

If you wanted this movie to be a blockbuster or be action-packed, then be my guest and rewatch the prequels. As for me, I am sick of movies that are so surface-level. I would happily not have a single lightsaber activated for an entire Star Wars movie in order to have outstanding character development, messages, and creativity. I think that’s the direction this series should head in and I think The Last Jedi has the right idea. I said it before and I'll say it again, this is the best Star Wars I’ve seen in a long time.

How to judge a Star Wars film

I decided to add one last paragraph to explain a little how I think Star Wars movies should be judged. First of all, Star Wars is not sci fi. In my opinion, sci fi movies are films that comment on the future. They shine light on what the future could be, should be, or shouldn’t be. You could even make a sci fi movie that takes place in the present if it’s done well. Just because there’s a spaceship doesn't mean it’s sci fi but it so happens that most of the movies that do have spaceships in them want to comment on the future, but not Star Wars. It actually falls under the fantasy genre which includes princesses, wizards, castles, and farmers becoming knights. But, a genre does not dictate how a story should function. When calling the story type, I go a step further and say that Star Wars is an epic saga. Not like the word epic, but epic as in the same category of Homer’s poems, most of Shakespeare’s dramas, and the Bible. They are all stories where flaws are put on a pedestal and are often fatal, the events that happen almost feel like destiny and feel like they were always meant to happen, and the main characters have to take extraneous journeys filled with loss and turmoil in order to find themselves. That’s what Star Wars is. It doesn't matter how many light saber fights there are or how futuristic it feels as long as it meets its epic story requirements. One other way a Star Wars movie should be judged is in how well the Star Wars universe is expanded. I don’t mean more aliens, planets, or lightsaber colors. I mean that our perceptions about what we know, like the Jedi and the Force, is changed. The information and concepts mentioned in the previous movie should be building blocks for this movie and should evolve. Everything the audience knows about the universe should be fair game in order to tweak and change. All sequels should meet this requirement.