In Defense of The Last Jedi
A few months ago I made my feelings on Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker pretty clear.
I stand by those opinions: it’s a mess. What surprises me, though, every time I’m on a corner of the internet where the Star Wars movies are discussed, is that people feel the way I feel about Episode IX, but even more strongly about Episode VIII, The Last Jedi.
Insert confused R2-D2 beeps.
The Last Jedi isn’t perfect, but despite being a critical hit, certain parts of the internet (like Reddit) treat the film like it’s toxic. So here’s a brief defense of what I thought was the strongest of the new trilogy. BIG OLD SPOILERS AHOY.
As soon as I started writing this I realized I could go on and on, so I’m going to try to make this fast:
Rey and Kylo’s lonely friendship was the most interesting part of the sequels. In Episode VII they barely interact, and that interaction was mostly growling. Taking a character from the most important family in the universe struggling under those expectations and an outsider whose parents are NO ONE (which was thematically a great choice) and desperately wants to belong and having them connect over their disappointment in the people who are supposed to be teaching them? THAT’S JUST GOOD DRAMA. Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver sell it so well. Each character sees a potential friend in the other, but can’t accept their decisions. It’s a great dichotomy.
People were bummed the heroes were separated for most of the movie, but Rey had to be separated from her friends for that part to work. Feeling lonely and let down is when growth and significant choices are likely to happen.
The theme that accepting failure is the only way to grow, delivered by a teacher to a teacher, really appealed to this teacher. I still think that the movie could have gone further and had Rey give up on the idea of “Jedi” and focus on just being her best self as a force-user, but it’s an important lesson for young people, and it’s delicious to see Kylo Ren be so desperate to bury his failures that he ends up embarrassing himself in front of a galactic-scale army.
As for the casino planet, Canto Bight, I know some people really hated it, but having just re-watched it, it takes up surprisingly little of the 150ish minute runtime of the film and introduces a layer of complexity to the Star Wars universe that no other movie did well: Wars in the stars happen not just because of Evil Sith baddies, but because it’s profitable to hurt other people. Darth Capitalism is more dangerous than any force user, and glamorizing wealth is part of the problem. That’s a new, neat idea. I was cool with the rabbit-horseback sequence if it got us there.
Luke’s backstory/loss of the Jedi temple will disappoint some, but it fits very well with the overall theme of failure and his redemption on Crait is some of the coolest Force magic in the whole series. “The Force knows no distance” indeed.
I liked Rose (played by Kelly Marie Tran,) except that line about love, which was over the top. She deserved a bigger part in TROS.
I also really liked Finn’s plotline of going from a Han Solo-esque “I’m helping, but only because of my friends” guy to a hero who was willing to sacrifice himself for a cause he believed in on his own terms. Props to John Boyega on just being a blast to watch. It’s just a bummer that after he kills Phasma, he kind of runs out of steam for the rest of the movie. A hint of force powers at the end would have been pretty neat.
Throne room fight was super exciting and fun to watch.
Poe evolving from cocky pilot to perceptive leader was entertaining to me, and Oscar Isaac is terrific.
Also, did I mention it’s stunning to look at? The whole film is a painting. There’s wonderful use of light, darkness, color, and contrast.
Porgs. Porgs are fun.
I think I failed to keep it brief, but there it is. This is in my top three Star Wars: it’s beautifully made, it has some great ideas, and it cashes in on being a high stakes adventure that doesn’t sag under goofiness. 4.5 Porgs out of 5.