Bantha sized spoilers ahead!
Back in December of 2015, I wrote an article entitled ‘Why Star Wars matters’ which was essentially a love letter to the franchise, in anticipation of The Force Awakens making its big screen debut. One of my main considerations was that the new trilogy of films hasn’t been made for us, and by ‘us’ I mean anyone who isn’t a child – of course the appeal of Star Wars is universal, but different generations have had their own trilogies and will defend them all accordingly, even The Phantom Menace.
My three year old adores all the characters within the Star Wars universe, free of the cynicism and bitterness that seems to consume so many people now, who look for every negative within a popular film, as if it was made as a personal affront to their own existence. The two extremes don’t make one right and the other wrong, but merely that if you’re old enough to log a comment on a website, then you’re most likely not the demographic for a new Star Wars movie, unless it’s Rogue One of course, but there’s an exception to every rule.
Going into The Last Jedi, I’d been completely clear of trailers and images (as much as possible) and had been so busy that there hadn’t been time to build anticipation, so at the crack of dawn on Thursday December 14th, I sat and watched what I considered to be an exciting, emotional and bold Star Wars movie, that cleverly subverted expectation and left me in tears on multiple occasions in the way it portrayed certain scenes – there was a real poignancy in the little moments especially, like R2 showing Luke the original video message, that couldn’t help but move me.
On leaving the cinema, I immediately set about looking for reactions and reviews, assuming that because the film had taken on board criticisms aimed at The Force Awakens for re-treading A New Hope territory, that it would be met with a rapturous reaction. I was wrong. Though it did seem there was a grace period of twenty four hours, where the news was full of positive reactions from fans and critics, until the usual and sadly predictable backlash began.
It’s nigh on impossible now to make a film that pleases everyone, with blockbusters proving more divisive than ever; slate Justice League and you’re a Marvel lover, or a stuffy critic, but love a film like The Last Jedi and you’re on the Disney payroll (I wish) – it’s a shame that anger has become quite so cut and paste, when so many of us just want to love every film we watch, realising that nothing is perfect and it’s healthy to have a difference of opinion.
The main reason that I felt the need to write a defence article though, which wasn’t something I thought would even be necessary, is that so many of the accusations levelled against The Last Jedi seem to completely contradict themselves, smearing Vaseline over the rose tinted specs used to look back on the prequels, as if they were superior in every way to The Last Jedi, which is completely unfair. So in a bid to bring balance to the force, here’s a personal take on the main criticisms, from someone whose first cinematic encounter was watching The Empire Strikes Back and who continues to love all things Star Wars (and yes, I even have a soft spot for TPM)…
The prosecution: It isn’t the Luke Skywalker we all know and love.
The defence: Mark Hamill said he disagreed with every character decision that director Rian Johnson had made for Luke and, even as someone who loved The Last Jedi, it’s easy to see why. Everyone was expecting a kind but withdrawn Jedi master, who could be quickly redeemed by the appearance of Rey’s powerful innocence and commence training her, as he had been trained before, only that would have been utterly predictable.
There had to be a damn good reason why Luke hadn’t come out of exile of his own accord though, having been oblivious to Han’s death and the turmoil of the galaxy and a total excommunication from the force was the only real way around that and he couldn’t have done it without harbouring a real resentment, the kind that would consume him with bitterness – if you’ve ever lived by yourself, it becomes far too easy to allow negative thoughts to fester and without anyone to counter them, it’s easy to convince yourself that you are perfectly righteous in your decisions.
Luke now has an edge and stays true to his own belief that he’ll do more harm than good if he gets involved, and the fact that he doesn’t fly off with them all for the final fight, playing happy families on the Falcon breaks my heart, but it gives emotional weight to his redemption and it’s one that lingers. His death also has meaning and purpose and was written in for that very reason, unlike Han who was clearly killed off by Harrison Ford’s desire to only do one film, and who wanted that fate for him at the end of Empire (which Lucas wouldn’t allow).
Certainly the murder led to more conflict in Ben Solo, but not enough to change his path and Rey seemed to be more of an influence over him than his own father, leaving a big Han shaped void in the movies, as well as me in a big tear filled wreck. Has anyone checked to see if Dennis Quaid is free by the way?
While I’m on the subject – Benicio Del Toro is far too threatening to take on that role and if DJ had swooped in at the last minute to save the day, wouldn’t that have been yet more repetition?
The prosecution: The Finn and Rose casino adventure drags and is unnecessary.
The defence: Now I have to admit that the pacing does suddenly drop a little, while the pair of them search for an infamous code breaker and the whole rich vs. poor message is a little heavy handed, but the encounter with the children on that planet, which seems so incidental at the time, is the crux of where the Star Wars franchise is heading next.
Not only do we see a force capable child at the end, but the story of the rebellion is spreading yet again to all corners of the galaxy, inspiring the chance to rise up against oppression, from the First Order, to slave owners, tying in to Poe’s “we are the spark” speech beautifully. It’s also always difficult to judge the pacing of a scene on first viewing when it does seem an unwanted distraction, especially when another strand involves Luke. On the plus side, it’s always nice to see a Temple Of Doom style table trashing.
It’ll be interesting to see what Finn can bring to the next chapter, as his character has been struggling for purpose since getting butterflied by Kylo Ren, possessing no force powers and without Dameron’s swagger, suffering from being apart from Rey. Finn’s still an affable foil and here’s hoping he gets more time with Rey and Chewie next time around, but there’s a strong argument that he should have been allowed to self-sacrifice during the final battle.
The prosecution: We don’t find anything out about Snoke before he’s ended.
The defence: Well we didn’t know anything about the Emperor in the original trilogy either, until it was retrofitted, including that strange ‘fighting Mace Windu has made my face go all wonky, but I’m fairly certain when Anakin sees my true visage, he’ll see I’m really a great guy’ scene. It seems as if the anger surrounding the lack of an origin story for Snoke is a strange combination of destroying all the fan speculation and conspiracies, mixed with Hollywood’s formulaic insistence that everyone must have a prequel/beginning tale told.
Yes, it was a bit of a shame that more wasn’t divulged, but at the end of the day it was Snoke’s abusive relationship with Kylo that was more pivotal to core of the story, as he was only interested in using Ren as an insider, rather than fitting him to the usual master/apprentice template and the mis-reading of the situation that led to his death was a great moment.
The prosecution: Rey’s parentage and the other threads from The Force Awakens were all thrown out.
The defence: Now I really do love a lot of things about The Force Awakens, but last time I checked there weren’t many champions defending it with the same fervent passion that seems to fuel the Last Jedi backlash – as I remember people moaned about everything from Kylo Ren’s villainy fading into a teenage tantrum, to the ‘duck-faced’ Stormtrooper redesign.
If TLJ had followed the path that people are outraged about, there would have been an equal, if not worse outburst, that has accompanied such obvious character reveals in the Bond and Star Trek franchises of late. Should Rey be revealed to be a Skywalker for example, it would have been trite and again just started the circle all over again. No one predicted that Rey was a no-one, that came from nothing and there’s a lot more to be mined from that, her raw power and the fact she’s spent most of her life alone.
The prosecution: We wanted more Phasma.
The defence: Well, you got about the same amount of Phasma, as you did Boba Fett and since she’d be flushed down a garbage shoot in The Force Awakens, was hardly going to come back full of credibility.
The prosecution: The humour was jarring and ill-fitting.
The defence: You mean as opposed to The Phantom Menace, which saw Jar Jar pratfalling endlessly, or little Anni spouting inane lines that still me cry a little inside? Or did you mean Attack Of The Clones, where Threepio gets his head knocked off and stuck on a battle droid, while the biggest Jedi battle to date happened? Or any of R2’s comedy moments at the start of Revenge Of The Sith, just before Dooku is brutally beheaded? Or the essential addition of swinging Jawas into Star Wars? Or… wait I’m going to skip Empire, because I can’t bring myself to say a bad word about it. Or most of Return Of The Jedi, from the replacement of Lapti Nek, to the Ewoks, to Chewie’s Tarzan call?
Either way, comedy is so subjective that the content will always divide an audience – I actually laughed a lot at Poe’s ‘Holding for Hux’ skit, which many seemed to have hated – but to say it’s not very Star Wars just isn’t factually correct.
The prosecution: Leia’s force float in space.
The defence: As I’m typing this, new interviews with Rian Johnson have appeared and he made the very good point in one of them that with each new Star Wars film, there’s an expansion of how people use the force. A lot of people seem to have struggled with Leia’s use of the force, or at least how it’s depicted, but since she’s a Skywalker and we have approximately zero idea of how much she’s gleaned from Luke since the end of Return Of The Jedi, why doubt her ability?
It’s certainly a surreal sight, but one that brought me to tears and was in no small part due to the tragic loss of Carrie Fisher who, like so many, I’ve loved and adored since I was boy. Though we might never see Leia’s fate play out as intended, with her due to take centre stage in Episode IX, it makes sense for us to see her using her powers as she seemed like a potentially great mentor for Rey in the next film. It could just be me, but didn’t it also seem like Leia bust open the door to get to Poe too? I guess we’ll have to wait and see how they fulfil her destiny, but hopefully it won’t have to be cut short.
The prosecution: Why is Rey so badass with the force when she’s had so little training?
The defence: Well, mostly because Rey is pretty badass anyway. When Finn first sees Rey on Jakku, he runs to save her, only to witness her staff skills take out much bigger assailants – when we see her practice her lightsaber skills alone in The Last Jedi, it looks like a similar discipline and if she can self-teach fighting and flying skills and is a naturally strong with the force, why shouldn’t she possess a mastery with that particular weapon? Luke didn’t even have lightsaber training with Yoda, not that we saw anyway, but it didn’t stop him from taking on Vader alone (though I will always love that Vader is only toying with him, using only one hand to fight his son).
It also tracks that she can beat Kylo Ren, because he’s pretty much impotent with rage, possessing no discipline and the kind of self-entitlement issues that fandom seems to be displaying at the moment. It’s what makes the scene when Rey-Lo team up against Snoke’s guards such an awesome sight, he should have had the upper hand, but it’s his inner turmoil that results in such a messy fighting style – my word I loved that fight.
The prosecution: Poe Dameron keeps acting like an idiot and characters don’t seem to develop.
The defence: It’s interesting that Poe’s opening gambit is to disobey a direct order, choosing to take out a Dreadnought at the expense of many rebel lives, as it’s one that not only gets him criticism instead of praise from Leia, but also from the audience. Strangely I was on side with his plan, as though the rebel losses were high, it seemed like the vast, hulk of a ship would have led to much greater loss of life further down the road.
His mutiny though, is a bad move. I hoped that by keeping him out of the loop, they might have predicted he would concoct an alternate plan, albeit one that couldn’t officially be endorsed, but in fact the real lesson came from that plan falling through and the sacrifice of Vice Admiral Holdo (in a truly beautiful mix of visual and sound effects) which finally hammered the message home, that he is not the great hero he thinks himself to be, but he could become one. Let’s not forget that Luke spent the majority of Empire whining and being chastised by Yoda – it’s always a hero’s journey, mistakes and all that fully rounds them out. It’s also worth pointing out a great article over at Vanity Fair on the Poe/Holdo/Leia dynamic.
Now, while I can see the concerns over character development for others over the course of Jedi, it’s worth noting that events roll on from The Force Awakens quite quickly and take place over a very short amount of time. Gone are the traditional three year gaps from previous adventures that have, by proxy, allowed for all kinds of growth and allusions to previous encounters – I know movies should work to a different dynamic to the real world, but I can’t say that I’ve developed much this week. That said, it was Rey’s journey, alongside Luke and Ben Solo that really flourished in TLJ and for that alone I’m grateful.
The prosecution: Porgs, boo!
The defence: Porgs, yay!
The prosecution: Milking space teets.
The defence: Luke loves his different coloured dairy products? Ok I’m out.