Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Do B — 17 Jan 2018

Disclaimer: This will be long. There will be criticism. None of it will be hate-fueled or prejudiced. Most of the most blatant criticisms of the plot have been stated hundreds of times so I'll try and only make points I haven't seen discussed as often. Also I'm not going to discuss the visuals. In the era of CGI and with a $200 million budget, the movie had better be pretty at least.

In many reviews, people will bring up the prequels. Already that should be a bad sign as they're clearly not the benchmark of the Star Wars series. It gets worse when you see that most people are stating that Disney's new film, The Last Jedi, has made them realize the prequels weren't all bad. At least they felt like Star Wars (a hard thing to describe, but something anyone inspired by the Original Trilogy will understand). What the public has been given in The Last Jedi is a modern deconstruction of the Star Wars mythos (very intentionally) dragged along by a weak plot and shallow characters. And, maybe worst of all, it just isn't a fun film. This is Star Wars, not 'Mother!'. Viewers shouldn't come out of the theater confused. That's not to say that Star Wars is 'for children' as many people would have you to believe. The Original Trilogy was a huge inspiration for many, many people involved in the film industry today. There's a reason why Disney paid old Georgie so much for the property. What I can't figure out is why they paid the toll if all they wanted to do was destroy it?

A line from the film which has been much discussed seems to be the mantra of the film. "Let the past die. Kill it if you have to." I can see Rian Johnson mouthing the words in excitement as he sat behind the camera filming the scene. I had no feelings about the man before this film. Looper, to me, was mediocre and that was the extent of my experience with his work. The question is did Disney really allow him full creative control with no oversight, or did they bring him on (director change is usually a red flag) because he was willing to fulfill their specific vision of Star Wars. The answer seems clear once you view the film.

What people need to realize is that when we, as fans, criticize the inclusion of real world politics in Star Wars that doesn't mean that we're against the message. This saga was never meant to be an on-the-pulse take of the current political landscape, but in space. It's a mythic tale of good versus evil and the common connection that unites all life. In a way, The Last Jedi has somehow become a microcosm of American politics. Everything becomes divisive and each side chooses the weakest argument of the opposition and touts it as proof that they're right. Some people are criticizing the film for 'SJW' overtones and the feeling of diversity for diversity's sake. The thing is, when you read through actual people's reviews of the movie, it is a very small minority that use these points as valid criticism. Most are decrying the 'chase movie' plot, the lack of real character development, and the absolute disregard for the way The Force Awakens was constructed. And yet those that enjoyed the film feel the need to include terms like 'haters', 'trolls', 'fanboys' (is that bad? I know plenty of disappointed fangirls as well). They tell potential viewers to 'ignore the hate', say that people simply had their expectation quashed (not untrue) or point the the amount of money the film has grossed as vindication (it's Star Wars, it's going to make money no matter what). I never thought I'd live to see the day where liking Star Wars became a divisive issue, and yet here we are.

Of course, form your own opinion of the movie. But when fans that have enjoyed every installment of the franchise up until this point feel the need to post warnings to others about the nature of the film, something is seriously wrong. There are articles galore about "Why You're Wrong If You Thought The Last Jedi Was Bad" or "Why Rey Doesn't Need Training" or "Why This Is The Star Wars We Needed". The real issue is that they feel these things need to be explained at all outside of the film. That's a failure by the writer/director (same guy). Star Wars has always had tons of peripheral material in all forms of media, but I shouldn't need to read novels and comics just to understand why characters are the way there are in the movies.

Honestly, I'm not sure where to start with criticism of the film. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I barely enjoyed a single sequence simply because of how strange it was. From the first sequence between Poe and Hux (Prank call? Really?) to Luke unceremoniously tossing the saber after a two-year long cliffhanger, I felt as if I'd been bashed over the head and watched the rest of the movie in a fog. I know anecdotes aren't the best evidence, but the theater I saw the movie in was strangely quiet all the way through the end, especially for how much 'humor' there was throughout.

Personally, I was in the camp that was severely disappointed in The Force Awakens because I was not expecting a reboot (it's A New Hope with a new coat of paint, try and argue against it). Still, it was well-crafted and had that magic feel to it (though I think a lot of that came from Harrison Ford, for me at least). Same with Rogue One. There were a few things I would have done differently, but I can say that about almost all movies. Criticism does not equal hate or even dislike, it's simply thoughtful questioning instead of just absent-mindedly consuming whatever is on the screen. All in all, I enjoyed Rogue One and thought the ending battle was among the best scenes in the franchise. Both were equally diverse in their casting (if not more so) than TLJ, and while the vocal minority decrying these changes was still there, we didn't see anything close to the divisiveness of TLJ. Many people who liked Finn in TFA felt let down by how his character was treated in this film. Many people who liked Rey and wanted more backstory on why she is who she is were disappointed to only see more of the same 'master-of-all-trades' abilities that made people question just how good of a protagonist she can be if she doesn't have to struggle. Many people who liked Poe and wanted to see more of him (since he was barely in TFA) were disappointed when he was reduced to being made an example of after saving the whole of the Resistance in the previous movie. We get it, Rian. Everyone is flawed. Everyone fails. None of us are saying we didn't want struggle or hardship. Hell, the heroes of Rogue One all get obliterated at the end of the movie. However, when a single theme is so ever-present throughout the movie it feels like the director is trying to beat it into the audience's head with a stick instead of letting the story do the talking.

There are two things I will touch on, that everyone else has, and that is the treatment of Leia and Luke. Again, many of us had accepted that Luke would most likely die in this movie. Many of us would have been okay with him being 'disillusioned' with the Jedi order, as it were. But when you take every quality that people loved about one of the most iconic characters in history and tear it down to the ground, without any hope of redemption, then you should expect a negative reaction. Everything about him was just wrong, even down to little details such as how his 'Force ghost projection lightsaber' (a phrase I never thought I'd use) is blue (Anakin's) instead of the green one he built himself. As many have said, it honestly feels like this film was made by someone who had only a passing interested in Star Wars or actively hated it. That's not to say a fan should necessarily direct the film, but someone who cares for and understands the franchise certainly should. I'm not sure what to say about Leia. It seems the one thing that unites most people, no matter their opinion of the film, is just how odd the so-called "Mary Poppins scene" was. It was weird, unexplained, largely senseless, and worst of all none of the characters in the movie said anything about it. They all just kind of accepted that it happened and moved on. I thought they both acted well in the roles they were given, but the roles they were given were off-putting to say the least.

I'm just going to run through criticisms that I agree with but have been expanded upon elsewhere: the 'gotcha-ism' of the entire plot, deus ex machina BB-8 (most powerful character in the new trilogy), use of bombs/ridiculously slow bombers in space, fuel (when has this ever been a concern in Star Wars, ever), technologically and numerically superior First Order can't figure out how to capture/stop/surround one Rebel ship, terrible strategic decisions made at every turn on both sides, continuation of nostalgia driven plot from TFA (Dagobah rehashed, Luke/Yoda rehashed, Hoth rehashed), how did Finn and Rose know the plan to tell the 'hacker', the character of the hacker, the whole prequel-esque Canto Bight sequence, how were Rose and Finn able to get to Canto Bight/why didn't they escape that way, total non-explanation of timeline from last movie and throughout the different storylines, Rose being Finn's moral compass, Holdo, Force Facetime, Snoke and his death, weird throne room fight scene with Zoro-style action, no reason to be afraid of villains, Rose/Finn in the speeders, Yoda acting strangely ("not a page turner") and using Force Ghost lightning, Luke non-plussed by Han's death, Rey continuing to act with rage and violence even against Luke (anger leads to hate, etc). Captain Phasma wasted again, Captain Phasma/Finn rivalry.

Worst of all might be the hyperspace kamikaze scene, which by all accounts breaks everything we know about the universe and begs the question why that hadn't been done all the other times the Rebels were fighting losing battles. The list goes on. I know at a certain point I'm probably nitpicking, but the problems seem to proliferate the more deeply I think about the film. Honestly, what even is the message of this film? That failure is okay? That anyone can be a Jedi (and yet you're still randomly chosen)? In the end, the characters that survived are in nearly the same position they were at the beginning. The only real changes are Kylo is in power, Luke is gone (again) and the Resistance is in shambles. They could have put the whole plot of this film in the opening scroll of the next one and call it a day. Star Wars is one of, if not my favorite franchises of all time and I can honestly say that even if this wasn't a SW movie it would have been mediocre to me. It is, however, part of a saga with a rich history. That history is the reason why many people see the new iterations, not because of anything Disney has done. And yet they treat that history like a stain that needs to be erased so a new era can be born. I've never seen so many people have such a visceral reaction to a movie though Star Wars has always been unique. There are thousands of reviews which state they only came to this site and made an account to voice their displeasure of the film. Honestly, I'm one of those people. I review movies by myself or with my friends, never in a public forum. I didn't do it for the prequels or The Force Awakens even though I had many criticisms. For myself and many others, The Last Jedi turned out to be The Last Straw.

The one star I've awarded is symbolic. This is the only movie I can ever remember wishing that it didn't exist instead of simply never viewing it again. I've never been one to decry people for liking things I don't, but I do not comprehend how anyone can defend this movie beyond saying it looked nice. If that's all that matters to you, more power to you. That doesn't mean you get to write off those who hated it.

As a side note, there is no way the audience score is 49% considering the sheer volume of 1/2 and 1 star reviews. Not sure if that is intentional or the byproduct of RT's rating system (perhaps 2 1/2 or 3 star counts as 'positive'?). The clear disparity between critics and fans is alarming in itself.

R/TheLastRebels, for those who need more validation that you're not alone.