In my first viewing of the The Last Jedi about two years ago, I couldn't help and be taken back by a particular scene that, even in the internet warfare that has ensued over this film, has been largely forgotten. In this scene, Rey, having risked life and limb to get Luke Skywalker his light saber and get him to join the resistance, finally hands it to him, only for Luke to throw it away nonchalantly. I couldn't help thinking while watching this scene that I hated it. This is Luke's lightsaber! Not only was it the mcguffin for The Force Awakens, but it was a symbol of his growth as a hero in the perhaps the greatest pop-series the world has ever known. And he threw it away! I hated it at the time, and I even hated it more after watching it again in theaters. However, after this re-watch, I noticed an important detail with this scene that is metaphorical for the entire experience of this difficult, challenging, and heavily flawed filmLuke doesn't completely throw it in the sea. He could have thrown it away, forever erasing his identity as a Jedi, but he doesn't. The history and legend of Luke Skywalker, and by proxy Star Wars itself, may change, some of it may be discarded, but, unlike what Kylo Ren says later in the film, it is not Rian Johnson's intent in this film to "erase the past." Far from it. He wants to challenge and enhance what came before. Is he entirely successful in this? Not at all. The Last Jedi is heavily flawed in many ways, but when it works, it REALLY works. Like Empire Strikes Back level of working. But because this film is so imperfect and so challenging, it was destined to be controversial in the black/white moral aesthetic of the online culture war. Say what you want to about this film, it's not easy to characterize, and it takes a couple of viewings to really get a feel for it. Our twitter and Instagram-fueled society is not conducive to this kind of thing. I think we're going to look at The Last Jedi as, at least, the most interesting and daring Star Wars film ever made, even with its imperfections.
The Good:
Luke Skywalker's arc in this film is one of the best things Disney has done with the franchise. There, I said it. If Rian Johnson's goal was to shake-up Star Wars, this is the way to do it. The easy thing would have been to just re-create Luke as another Obi-Wan, molding Rey about the importance of the force/Jedi/etc. Johnson doesn't do that. One of the things I love about Star Wars is that although it takes place in a galaxy far far away, it involves real human emotions and conditions that speak to us all. Having Luke Skywalker be unchanged on Ob-Wan like would not have aligned with that. As you get older, you do get more cynical and burned out. His change here is startling, brutal, but totally backed by the plot and Star Wars history. The Jedi are failures in Star Wars. That's been a joke and meme for years, and Johnson just verbalized and dramatized it in the film. When he fails with Ben, it just confirms all his fear about Jedithat they are out of touch, myopic, and kind of stupid. Instead of ignoring that, Luke and by proxy Johnson confront that idea and propose a new one: can the Jedi change? Can they embrace the dark side a little? What does a Jedi look like in this new area of ironically resurgent fascism? In a way, almost accidentally, Johnson confronts what were all thinking about our own country. What does America look like in the new century? What ideals/morals do we keep? Which ones do we lose? Do we EVEN want to lose any? It's difficult, painful stuff, and its reflected in Luke here. It's brilliant interconnection between theme, character, and context.
The climax of this film perfectly reflects this theme of failure of change and is one of the best endings to Star Wars ever. Luke's walk out to Kylo is the ultimate reflection of this theme of failurea man literally walking into the bright light of that failure, and confronting it. Initially, I hated the fact that Luke was basically turned into "Matrix Luke" and is just a projection. Now, I see that it reflects his change backhe has fully embraced again the Jedi ideal of defense and not attack here. Plus, it further inspires a spark that could help rejuvenate the rebellion by fulling embracing the legend that he struggled with so much. It's just brilliant stuff.
Kylo Ren and Rey, and the complicated nature of their relationship, also is done well here. Instead of the straight adversarial nature that was probably initially intended, Johnson creates an almost toxic/faux-romantic relationship between the two that really could go interesting places. Rey's realization that Ren could be a victim is, while not entirely original, an interesting way to go in the black/white characterization of Star Wars.
All in all, the Kylo-Luke-Rey trifecta really saves this film from being an absolute **** show. Kylo in particular here is still struggling, just like Luke with his own identity. Should he be Vader 2, or his own man? Once again, the school-shooter as Vader role here gets more interesting.
The Bad:
As brilliant as Johnson's handling of Luke and Kylo is, Rey herself really does get almost shorted here. Finding out she is a nobody is brilliant, (I really hope Abrams doesn't reverse it), but her character just gets stronger? There's really not an arc here other than being a vehicle for more force action with Kylo. Her love/hate relationship with Kylo has interesting potential here, but Johnson really doesn't do much with it.
Poe Dameron's arc here is interesting, but just as clumsily handled as Rey's. Having him be an arrogant, reckless guy that causes as much harm as he does good is an interesting place to go, but Holdo being such a nothing character really hurts it. Holdo, herself, really should have just been Leia here. I tend to think this was just a choice that Johnson made because perhaps he didn't quite trust Carrie Fisher to pull off the acting required. While the lightspeed collision mentioned here is awesome, it really is done under stupid circumstances.
The Ugly
As great as Johnson was at handling the Luke/Rey/Kylo trifecta, he equally screws up anything dealing with the resistance's slow crawl of an escape scene. Everything about this section makes no logical sense. Holdo's big plan is to leave on the transport ships? And that is going to fool the Frist Order, how? She keeps everyone in the dark regarding this brilliant plan, for what reason? This section of the story is really what keeps this film from being an undisputed classic. It's prequel-level bad level of world building and plotting. It's legitimately perplexing how Johnson can handle anything with Luke so well and totally miss the boat on everything else.
Canto Bright was somehow worse than the last time I saw it. I get it's importance in the film,( to expand the role of big business in the war), but seeing it again made me think of George Lucas' aimless forays into CGI just for the hell of it in the prequels. In the end, I feel that Johnson really didn't have a lot for Finn and Rose to do here and just used them as background.
Ultimately, The Last Jedi is a film that is frustratingly close to greatness, and I think its this Jeckyl and Hyde nature that has ultimately doomed it forever be controversial. If it was straight terrible as some claim, we could just dismiss it like we do Attack of the Clones, The Phantom Menace, the holiday special, etc. However, the fact that it gets so much right and is borderline brilliant in many cases almost works against it. I'll be honest though, this re watch almost moved it into almost classic status despite its weaknesses. I can't help but relate to Luke in this, which is surprising considering he's a space wizard that has miraculous powers. I may not have the force at my fingertips, but I damn well know what failure is and how it can make you cynical. But that's the brilliance of Star Wars when it's workingan amazing knack for making the fantastic possible on a basic human level. The Last Jedi is an imperfect film for an imperfect time, and I can't help but love it for that.
Final Rankings:
1.The Empire Strikes Back
2.Star Wars
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Rogue One
5. The Last Jedi
6. The Force Awakens
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. The Phantom Menace
9. Attack of the Clones
