Articles and Content

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is proving to be an overwhelmingly divisive film, and understandably so: it takes a lot of risks and goes in directions many were not prepared for. Some hardcore Star Wars fans (a little less than half of them according to Rotten Tomatoes) found themselves disappointed in the final product. But why? I will attempt to address that along with many of the more common complaints about the film in a very SPOILER-FILLED manner. So, if you have not seen the film, stop reading here.

Full disclosure, I am a fan of The Last Jedi and my love for it grows by the day. While I am in the 56% of fans who liked it, there are legitimate problems with it. The pacing of the film drags mostly due to the casino planet sequence that is simply too long; the humor often goes a beat too far; and there are certain moments (such as the Leia floating scene and Rose kissing Finn) that are not executed all that well and come off as cheesy. These, among others, are fair reasons to dislike the film. However, there are some common issues fans have raised that simply do not hold up to careful scrutiny. Let’s examine these complaints one at a time.

Complaint number one: “They ruined Luke Skywalker.”

Besides the obvious counter argument of “people can change in 30 years,” there is a bigger issue here of understanding Luke’s motives in this film. No, he was not a “coward” who gave up when things got difficult. He was a master who secluded himself in shame after failing his nephew – by pondering murder, no less. And is that really any different than the Luke we know? Doing something emotional and rash, and something that he likely was not ready to do (such as going to face Vader to save his friends or, in this case, starting a Jedi temple). Realizing that you considered murdering your nephew would probably mess you up too.

As for his personality, if we can accept that prequel-era Yoda turns into the slightly insane Yoda that we meet in Empire Strikes Back, how is this any different? A Jedi secludes himself after his failures and becomes a little less self-serious after a while away from civilization. It is at least comparable.

Luke’s death has also been an area of contention among many. What many are calling anti-climactic, I call beautiful. Luke’s death very much mirrors that of Obi-Wan’s in A New Hope. They both become one with the Force after fulfilling their purposes and facing their greatest failures: the pupils that they lost, all the while giving those they cared about time to escape. To simplify it to “he ran out of force batteries” is a complete disservice to that moment.

Complaint number two: “They set up this mystery of Snoke in The Force Awakens only to kill him off?”

First, The Force Awakens does not make a big deal out of who Snoke is or where he came from. That film presents him as simply an evil overlord who corrupted Ben Solo; there are no allusions to Snoke’s past or where he came from. The fan theories are to blame for those expectations.

In all reality, if you apply the logic of this complaint to the original trilogy, you could say the same thing about the Emperor. We are never given his backstory in those films and he dies after roughly the same amount of screen time as Snoke had - none in episode IV, one scene in episode V and 15 minutes in episode VI. Yes, we get the backstory in the prequels, but the point is: were people complaining after Return of the Jedi that they did not pay off the mysteries of the Emperor? I think not. Not to mention that killing Snoke propels us into the unexpected direction of the ever-complex Kylo Ren being the big bad of the final film.

Complaint number three: “The answer to the question of Rey’s parents is not satisfying.”

Again, (and I know this one is going to be harder to convince people of than Snoke’s death not being anticlimactic), The Force Awakens does not make a big deal of Rey’s parentage. It mentions that she was left on Jakku by her parents, and that she thought they would come back for her one day, but that is about it. The scene many often point to in The Force Awakens to say they did is when Maz Kanata asks, “Who’s the girl?” immediately followed by a cut away to a different scene. But did anyone ever consider that maybe we just did not need to hear an answer we already knew? “She’s some girl from Jakku who was on my ship when I found it.” Riveting. In fact the idea of Rey letting go of the idea of her parents originates from The Force Awakens.

The fans made a big deal of Rey’s parentage, and I understand why. Family has always been a major theme in Star Wars. However, The Last Jedi sets out to establish a new theme: the Force is for everyone. Luke bluntly says as much and the final scene of the film with some kid from Canto Bight using the force reinforces the idea.

Rey being a descendent of no one important works because one of the points that the movie is attempting to make throughout is that you do not need to have special parents to be special yourself. The fact that many ‘Star Wars’ fans think she needs to have special parents for the force to use her is sad and honestly says something about our own society.

Even if we apply this logic of “her parents need to be important” to the Skywalker lineage, it eventually falls apart. Yes, Luke was the son of Anakin; but, Anakin was the son of Shmi, a random slave on Tatooine who the Force seemingly chose for no reason. Who were her parents? Oh right; nobody cares. It does not matter.

Complaint number four: “This movie is poorly structured and does not progress the story enough.”

Ok, this one has shades of truth. As previously mentioned, the Canto Bight sequence is long and some could argue unnecessary. However, without it we would not have that small but important thematic moment of the kid who had been inspired by Poe and Rose telling stories about Luke and using the force.

More importantly, this idea that the film does not progress the story enough is baffling, especially considering that The Last Jedi is structurally similar to Empire Strikes Back: rebels on the run while the Force-sensitive protagonist is off training on another planet. The Last Jedi actually progresses the story far more than Empire Strikes Back did because it also has many elements of Return of the Jedi in the third act in particular with both the death of Snoke and Luke.

Ultimately, the fact that The Last Jedi broke the mold of what we expect from a Star Wars film is what makes the movie work so well. It subverts expectations and keeps the viewer off balance the entire time. How many times do we see the rebellious hero disobey seemingly incompetent leadership to execute his or her own plan and succeed? To see Poe fail and be wrong was genuinely surprising.

And how much time did we spend thinking about what Luke would say or do when Rey handed him the lightsaber? To see him toss it over his shoulder was jarring and frankly off-putting at first, so I understand the feeling. However, the reality is that those types of shocking choices are what made things like the universally-loved, throne room scene work so well - because by that moment, the movie had trained you to genuinely believe that any outcome was possible, which was thrilling.

The Last Jedi left things off in a place where we are forced to let go of the tropes of the franchise’s past and expect new things. I have no idea where Episode IX will go, and that is exciting.

I know that this is not going to convince many of you, and if you still do not like the movie, that is fair. But, let us know why on our social media accounts! Do so in a respectful and thought out manner though, please.