Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Rafe R — 08 Jan 2018

This was an instance of an incredibly missed opportunity, and there seems to be an almost fanactical denial of the flaws that brought this film down. I'd liken it to being unsure what to do with a great shock. While others have given very detailed lists of the issues, I'll list a few of my own with the film:

1. Luke's arc, or lack thereof. Luke Skywalkers handling in this film is just appalling and out of character. The sea milk? The tossed lightsaber? Were these trolls for the fans who had complained that they didn't get to see Luke? Trying to murder family in their sleep because they sense a little evil? Didn't seem to bother him when he was trying to redeem Vader. I've seen several people making an argument that Obi-Wan and Yoda didn't want to train, but Yoda wasn't related to Luke, and did not raise him from a young boy. Yoda also was not tempted to murder Luke in his sleep. The sacrifice at the end has no real payoff, either. There are other ways to pass the torch. What if Luke had surrendered and they had to rescue him in the next film, for instance?

2. Yoda. Incredibly out of character with the odd, maniacal behavior and Force ghost powers out of nowhere. I understood in Empire when he was pretending to not actually be Yoda, but here it's uncalled for. Where was the serious Yoda from the prequels? The Original trilogy once he actually started teaching Luke? Apparently now they can summon great energy to actually do physical harm if they wish. Adds more questions to the Lore than answers and randomly throwing things into a film does not 'expand' things. Was all this a troll for fans who are fans of Yoda as the wise mentor?

3. Leia. An empowered female pushed to the back to make place for other out of place characters. Using the Force to survive space and fly through it into the space ship once she gets sucked outside into the void? Is this a troll to the fans who like Luke for being a Jedi, and they wanted to establish she's powerful too? They would have been better off, in my opinion, if they had faded to black and just said she survived somehow in the wreckage. If they wanted to give a proper send off they should have had her kamikaze the ships, and maybe that have been the driving arc that makes Poe be serious and Luke finally get involved. She seemed to have been developing a mentor bond trying to force Poe to be a better commander for the bit of screen time before she woke up again.

4. The humor completely destroys the tone at times. Poe's your mother joke call at the beginning is horrible. Finn and Rose on the casino planet seemed like something out of Harry Potter with the creatures, and was almost an odd take of their own on slavery, pod racing, and capitalism. The milking scene, I could go on. Every five minutes there seemed to be some joke thrown in.

5. The Finn and Rose arc goes nowhere, and the entire casino planet scene could easily be removed with no consequence to the story. Finn came close to having an actual arc with actual depth when he was going to sacrifice his life, and Rose stops him with a speech about how it's not destroying hate but saving what you love as she plants a quick kiss. Ironically in the background of the kiss is the super laser destroying the door to the base which would have allowed the First Order to kill all of their friends for her choice if they hadn't been stopped by other plot developments. In all honesty, all of casino planet could be cut and they could have just met the hacker on the ship for a suicide mission.

6. Ackbar. In my opinion, a huge miss here where they could have had Ackbar as the acting Captain instead of the one that stepped in and wouldn't tell anyone the plan until it was too late. The emotional depth of giving him a proper sendoff sacrificing himself to save Leia and them would have been just as welcome, or maybe even sacrificing himself with Leia.

7. Kylo/Rey/Snoke. Snoke was a huge missed opportunity. So powerful he can link Rey and Kylo's minds without them knowing so they can Force Skype across the galaxy in real time, yet couldn't detect a lightsaber turning right next to him. No answers to his backstory. Rey just knows how to do everything just because, and as a result it doesn't feel earned. Kylo does a complete 180 and just destroys the mask he was proud of after Snoke mocks it. Very odd behavior, and very out of place.

All in all, I could go on but I'll leave it here. Too much humor and too many 'gotcha, just kidding' moments where several things are backtracked on just ruin what could have been an otherwise decent film.