Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Wade F — 12 Dec 2018

Why the Star Wars Fandom is so divided over "The Last Jedi".

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" had perhaps one of the most mixed reactions in audiences that a film can get. The film divided the fandom into a spectrum from those who hated it to those who loved the film. For me, personally, I enjoyed the deep themes the movie carried but had some problems with small pockets of the story. But how and why exactly did this occur? The answer in more complex than one might think.

The first thing that divides the fandom is the downfall of Luke Skywalker's character. When we last left off with "The Force Awakens" we see Rey holding out a Luke's lightsaber to with a desperate and awed look in her as if Luke truly is her "only hope". The movie starts with this scene being sharply interrupted with Luke ignoring Rey and disregarding the lightsaber. As Rey persists asking to be trained, Luke continues to ignore her and continue with his hermit way of life. The reason this upset so many people is because so many fans had high expectations that Luke would be this kind of ultimate badass savior that was going to fix the rebellion. People needed Luke to be the hero that was going to save everything for them, and in a way, that was the rebellion's hope too. But Luke wasn't, instead Luke was just a crabby old hermit going nowhere. Luke was back to living the life of the farm boy, the life he once longed to escape. To some fans this was the ultimate disappointment and ruined the movie for them, because they needed Luke to be the hero. On the other side of the fandom however, the fact that Luke wasn't the hero is why they enjoyed the movie. They enjoyed it because it showed that our heroes are not Gods, they are people, and they will fall, and make mistakes, and disappoint us. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed the movie because I saw it as realistic. No one should have had the weight on their shoulders that Luke did, and it torn him apart. And honestly, if I was the Last Jedi, and I had to try and save the rebellion and start a whole new age of Jedi all by my myself, I might have a mental breakdown too. The movie teaches us that not everyone can be perfect all the time, and even the strongest most dependable people can face emotional and mental crisis like Luke. Not all heroes can live up to the pedestal they are always put on. And I think the movie is beautiful for portraying this theme.

This idea of being disappointed by your heroes continues when Rey's parentage is revealed. So, so, so many fans wanted Rey to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi, but instead Rey's parents were nobodies. And I think this let a lot of fans down because, we've been so used to people like the skywalkers, the solos, and the kenobi Kenobi saving the galaxy, fans have gained trust in their names. That's why when we found out that Rey comes from no one, fans were let down because they expected that if Rey is going to be great, she must come from something great. But that just isn't the case at all in this movie or throughout the entire franchise. In the end scene credits, we see the lowly janitor boy, using the force to sweep up the porch, and look up to the stars with hopeful eyes. Finn, is stormtrooper who was expected to be nothing more than just a soldier, but instead became a rebel hero. Rose Tico is nothing but a mechanic and ends up risking her life for the rebellion. All these characters are nobodies, but they become something more. And what do we see from our expected heroes? We see Luke, who has fallen apart and refuses to be a hero. We see Ben Solo who has fallen to the dark side and become Kylo Ren. We see those who are expected to be heroes fall into nothing. And those who are nothing, become heroes. From this Star Wars teaches us two themes. One, that our heroes will let us down. And two, that a hero can come from anywhere and be anyone.

The next issue of story that most fans can disagree on was the major plot device used to keep the other characters occupied while the main story continued with Rey, Luke, and the Kylo Ren plot. Finn, Poe Dameron, Leia, and new character Rose Tico are left wondering how the First Order is tracking their movement across the galaxy. Finn and Rose embark on a wild goose chase of a mission that has a sort "let's destroy the death star again" feel to it as they escape to find the device directly. Meanwhile, Poe, Leia, and the rest of crew attempt to outrun the First Order. They then try to find ways to fight against them especially after they loose a large majority of their crew in an attack that hospitalizes Leia. This is highly obvious that this was just a plot device was created just to keep these characters busy and relevant to the story.

With this subplot of the story comes a LOT of issues and concerns from fans. The first being Admiral Amilyn Holdo. Many fans saw her as very arrogant and power crazy character when she becomes Leia's temporary replacement. Many fans were also up upset that Admiral Ackbar, who holds the same office as Holdo, was not entrusted to carry out the secret plan created by Leia. Holdo, a new character who has not been around for long and is no way a senior officer to Ackbar. Which out ranged a lot of fans, and I personally agree with them that was kind of a dumb move on the writer's part. Especially with Ackbar being such an iconic and beloved character, I would have enjoyed more screen time from him instead of having him killed off. Most fans (including me) also disliked Holdo's cocky arrogant behavior, and the way she treats the ever-popular flyboy Poe Dameron. Though in her last scenes before her admiral death, she pulls off the secret plan she'd been hiding from the crew the whole time and gives the rebellion a huge win but destroying the huge fleet that been chasing them. However, I argue her own death could have been avoided if she simply told Poe and the rest of the crew her plan instead of hiding it from them for absolutely no logical reason. She could have been clearer with everyone about what they were doing and what was going on, considering everyone was also risking their lives, and would have saved a lot of time, and more planning could have gone into it to prevent more deaths.

Another "problem character" was Rose Tico. A lot of fans were giving her crap for trying to stop Finn from leaving to find the tracking device because "she doesn't know what he's been through". And they're right, she didn't know. I argue that Rose was just standing up for what she believed in even if she was just a lowly mechanic opposing a rebel officer, she was fighting for her life too and wasn't even going let Finn, a rebellion leader, bale. And once Finn explained to her what he was doing she gladly embarked with him on his journey. Another large complaint with her is the fact that she messed up the fan favorite ship of Finn and Rey by becoming another love interest for Finn. Some critics would argue creating a love triangle builds drama, while others argue this is simply an overplayed cliché. I personally like the intense drama it can build, but I am personally rooting for Finn and Rey, so I would lying if I said it didn't make me frustrated at the writers for disrupting the series main power couple. Overall, however, I have to agree with critics that Rose Tico was a dynamic character and likable character, as opposed to most fans who simply didn't like her for doing things that seemed to be natural to her character, or anyone in her situation for that matter.

Another large complaint about the movie from fans was that the big villain, Snoke, was killed off too quickly. In both "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" Snoke is hyped up to be an all-powerful all-knowing evil being. Rey and Kylo-Ren, despite being on opposing sides, team up to fight Snoke. This scene is arguably one of the best in the movie and gave fans, including me, the iconic Star Wars action they craved after sitting through so much exposition. When Kylo-Ren outsmarts Snoke and makes the final blow, knowing that the series is a trilogy, this raises a question to the audience of "okay so what's next? Who's the bad guy now?". Rey and Kylo-Ren are then faced with a choice: either join in good or join in evil. They both end up parting ways as Rey chose the light and Kylo-Ren chooses the darkness. Some argue that killing off "the big bad villain" loses audience hype for the final movie. However, I would argue that by having Kylo-Ren be the one to outsmart Snoke and kill him is kind of genius. This shows Kylo-Ren's capabilities and potential and helps reveal him to be the true villain of the series. It also shows character growth as Kylo was easily defeated by Rey in the first movie who no training at the time, to killing Snoke, the big bad leader.

After touching base on the controversial scenes, I would just like to elaborate on what I consider to be one of the best scenes in the movie. This being the very last fight scene between the rebellion and the empire. The scene completely revived Luke's character as a whole. Luke used a force ability unknown to fans in which he had the ability to project himself in another location. Which was a pleasant surprise to fans and critics alike, including myself. Luke uses this to charge Kylo's army without being hurt by a fly. This distraction allows for the rebellion to escape to safety. However, using this ability uses the last of Luke's energy, and he dies becoming one with the force shortly thereafter. This scene was the most satisfying to everyone overall as we got an amazingly shot fight scene, we saw Luke's character redeem himself, and we now had hope for the rebellion.

Despite the a few natural story-telling pitfalls, I enjoyed the movie overall and reflecting on the movie while writing this review, I realized just how deep the themes of the movie go. I think some fans will never appreciate the movie for what it is because they don't see the deep themes the movie was trying to convey. All they see is the movie's pitfalls and a screw up of some of their most favorite characters. When in fact, their favorite characters like Luke, and Kylo, making mistakes is in fact perhaps one of the most realistic things to come from the movie. So this brings us back to our main question: Why is the fandom so split over this movie? Though there are many reasons to love and hate movie, the main reason I believe that divided the fandom is seeing some of our most beloved heroes fall off the pedestal we put them on. Whether or not you think that makes them wussy or all the more human, is for you to decide.