Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Well it seems that for the last week or two, Doctor Who has completely taken over I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You.  Now, this Is not a bad thing but there are other things going on in the world. Granted, less important than Doctor Who but other things nonetheless.  

For example, the latest Star Wars movie, The Phantom Force Awakens A New Hope For a Return of The Last Jedi Strikes Back at the Sith Clones. 

Or something. 

Anyway, I saw The Last Jedi on opening weekend 2 weeks ago.  I like Star Wars, more or less but I’m not as immersed in the Star wars mythos as I am Doctor Who or Star Trek. Still, I didn’t want to risk spoilers on key plot points.

• Will Luke Skywalker have dialogue or will he just glower at the camera for the entire movie? Well, he does both.
• Also, can Kylo Ren be an even more emo dick? Yes, he can.
• Will we learn who Rey’s parents are?  Yes, we do and no, we don’t.
  
  

The true hardcore Star Wars fans out there have been less sanguine about The Last Jedi. There is an actual petition out there to have this movie officially designated as not being part of canon.

You know the trope where two people have sex but one of them is very embarrassed by it and insists, ”It never happened.” Sorry, whiny hardcore Star Wars fans, but it DID happen. And you’re pregnant.

 

Look, J J Abrams will be back along in two years with a sequel and if you don’t like what you see then, maybe he’ll obscure it with lens flare.  

That being said, I overall enjoyed The Last Jedi but there were some story points I had issues with.

Finn and Rose go on a mission for some reason. 

• Let me say that I love Rose, a low level grunt in the resistance effort who finds herself on the front lines. Her passion to do what’s right, particularly on behalf of those without power is a very appealing quality, perfect for Doctor Who. (Yes, even in the middle of a Star Wars post, I will find a way to name check “Doctor Who”.)  Rose and Finn have a great rapport that is fun to watch as their interactions develop.
• But their mission is there to fill time between the first and third acts. The mission is on shaky ground from the start, a quest for a codebreaker that MIGHT be on Canto Bight who MIGHT help them and MIGHT be able to break through the security of the First Order flagship pursuing the rebels where Finn and rose MIGHT be able to stop the First Order from tracking the Resistance through hyper space.  And it doesn’t work. In fact, the codebreaker exposes the Resistance to the First Order, adding to the jeopardy the Resistance is already in.

Good job breaking it, “hero” Poe Dameron.

• Poe Dameron has been set up as the cocky adventure hero of the new generation of Star Wars but didn’t get a lot of chances to show that off in The Force Awakens. In The Last Jedi, Poe has more to do. And it’s all a mess.
• Poe leads an attack on a First Order dreadnought ship that destroys the ship but decimates the Resistance’s forces and fleet.
• Poe sends Finn and Rose off on a foolhardy mission that has little chance of succeeding.
• Poe actually stages a mutiny against Resistance leadership in a misguided belief that the Resistance leadership does not have a plan. 
• So Poe is a flawed person and not a perfect hero. But he spends so much of the movie being a bad hero, getting more wrong than he gets right, it undermines his character’s potential.  

Hold up! What’s up with Holdo?

• Laura Dern’s character is introduced as the new commander for the resistance while General Leia Organa is in a coma. Holdo is immediately uninspiring and seems more of a beaurocrat than a true leader.
• Holdo counters that image in her final moments when she sacrifices herself to save what’s left of the Resistance. It is a powerful moment has Holdo alone pilots the Resistance ship at light speed into the First Order flagship. The first impact is a bright explosion of light but devoid of sound.*  It is a powerful moment.
• But it isn’t earned. We have nothing invested in Holdo’s life to be moved by her death.

*Some theaters have posted notices that the movie is meant to go completely silent at the 1 hour 52 minute mark. It is not a defect in the sound system.
Apparently, there had been complaints. 

Requiem for Carrie Fisher

• It has been a year since Carrie Fisher’s death and the hurt is still there. The Last Jedi gives her more to do than The Force Awakens. Leia even gets to use the Force! But still, she spends a big chunk of the movie in a coma. Apparently the long range plan was for Leia to have a more dominant role in the next film. But those plans for Leia will not come to fruition due to Fisher’s death. 
• Fisher had completed all her scenes for The Last Jedi prior to her death so there was no reason her death should impact the movie. But I wonder if given the circumstances of Fisher’s passing, perhaps some changes should’ve been made to Leia’s story, to perhaps have her pilot the Resistance ship into the First Order vessel. It would've taken some significant editing and some CGI. Leia’s sacrifice on behalf of her troops would have made for a stronger impact on the story and made a fitting tribute to the memory and legacy of Carrie Fisher. Instead, leaving the movie as shot leaves Leia without an ending even as we know that Carrie Fisher is no longer with us.

Kylo Ren and the emo side of the Force.

• Yes, Kylo is still an emo prick, a wannabe Vader. But there does seem to be a bit more depth to the former Ben Solo. Perhaps it owes to the "heart to hearts' chats he has with Rey through the Force. or his decision to take out Snoke mid-way through the movie.
• Still, Kylo Ren is not the feared and respected avatar of the dark side of the Force he imagines himself to be. He is still prone to petulant rage, no more so than in his confrontation with Luke Skywalker.

 

And speaking of Luke....

 

Luke Skywalker and the grumpy side of the Force.

 

• Luke gets in some good bits. He channels Yoda's impish nature when he teases Rey that she's tapping in the Force when he's just tickling her with a palm leaf.
• "Everything you just said is wrong." It's a great retort Luke says to Rey and again later to Kylo. 
• Luke's encounter with ghost Yoda; Luke may be a lot older now and Yoda is long dead but Yoda can still make a monkey out of Luke.
• The tender reunion of Luke and Leia.
• The epic showdown between Luke and Kylo. Luke totally owns Kylo without actually being there. The revelation that Luke kicked Kylo's ass while sitting on a rock light years away and the reason why he did that are strong marks in favor of Luke.
• But Luke spends so much time in The Last Jedi pissing on the legacy of the Jedi and his own personal legacy, it's hard to feel much empathy for the erstwhile Jedi. Think back to A New Hope. Obi-Wan Kenobi is in exile after the loss of his protégé Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the force to become Darth Vader, the Jedi Knights have fallen and Kenobi is a much older man past his time as a warrior. But when R2D2 deliver's Princess Leia's message requesting help, Kenobi does respond to help. When Rey arrives with a similar entreaty to Luke Skywalker, Luke sullenly replies nothing will make him leave the island of his exile.
• It is a daring conceit to show Luke with feet of clay when it comes time to rejoin the universe and take up the fight once more. But is this in keeping with the lessons and sacrifices of Yoda and Kenobi? Perhaps as Luke looks into the setting suns one last time, much as he did as a young man on Tatoonie, maybe in those finale moments before his body fades to nothingness, he finally gets it. 

Rey is the Jedi you've been looking for. 

 

• Rey steps up in this installment. She challenges Luke Skywalker in his despair and resolute exile. She thinks that maybe she can help turn Kylo Ren from his path towards darkness.
• Rey's main struggle is with her identity. Who is she? Who were her parents? Where did they go? Why did they not come back for her? Kylo tells Rey that her parents were junk merchants who sold her for drug money and were likely moldering in a grave somewhere. Her parents were not important to any grand scheme of legacy or destiny. How much we can trust this information depends on how much you trust Kylo Ren.
• But it is information that actually frees Rey from a burden of her childhood. Cut off from her childhood's nightmare and despair, Rey's connection to the Force becomes even stronger. It doesn't matter where you come from as much as who you are.

 

Anyone can be a Jedi? Perhaps. 

 

And speaking of which...

 

A child shall lead them.

 

• After hearing a story about the legend of Luke Skywalker, a child on Canto Bight, one of the children that helped Finn and Rose escape grabs a broom with the Force and gazes into space.

 

Whew! 


So Star Wars: The Last Jedi is reasonably entertaining, just don't think about it too much.