I finally got around to seeing The Last Jedi for the third time in theaters. The flaws bother me less and I appreciate the many good things more. And because the debate over the movie is still raging across the Internet (and likely will for some time), I have more thoughts. If you have nothing better to do than debate the merits of a work of fiction about space wizards with laser swords, read on.
(I love debating the merits of a work of fiction about space wizards with laser swords, by the way. Somebody should pay me for this.)
SPOILERS BELOW, obviously.
You can dislike the movie if you want. That's well within your right as a Star Wars fan or moviegoer. But maybe watch it a few times and think about it before you succumb to knee-jerk hate generated by unfair expectations. Don’t judge the movie harshly because the events that transpired didn’t line up with your personal post-Return of the Jedi head-canon, either.
1. I'm tired of people claiming that the new movies ruined Star Wars. No, they’re not perfect. But they are really good movies. Part of the reason the Disney-era movies can’t seem to please a vocal contingent of longtime fans is the new movies have an impossible bar to clear. It’s not just that we think the original trilogy were great movies; we’ve practically canonized them, Catholic-style, and sent them on the fast track to movie sainthood. We enshrine the original trilogy on this unassailable pedestal, looking back at them through the rosy lens of nostalgia.
They're great, don’t get me wrong. I love them. But they aren't perfect.
They did have their flaws. Boba Fett stood around and did nothing, then died like a chump. The whole Leia-is-your-sister reveal was clearly a late-conceived, awkward solution to the Han-Luke-Leia love triangle. Leia herself didn’t get the character development her male counterparts did. Jabba the Hutt's scenes were full of burp jokes, long before a certain floppy-eared Gungan ever came along. Star Wars NEVER gave a crap about real laws of space physics. And of course, a tribe of teddy bears defeated a galaxy-spanning Empire by throwing rocks at them.
And yet we love the movies anyway, because of the moments that made us sit up straight in our seats and cheer, or the moments where we saw ourselves looking out with Luke into the twin suns. In this cynical age, it might be too much to ask to extend the same courtesy to The Last Jedi, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.
2. And as for the controversy about "ruining" Luke Skywalker? Just because you defeat evil once doesn't mean you get a free pass from your personal demons for the rest of your life. Sometimes even heroes backslide, screw up, and don't get to walk off into the Endor sunset. Luke failed with Kylo Ren (how could he not when he got, like, six total days of master-student Jedi training himself?), he paid the price, and he was crushed under the weight of his despair, fleeing from his friends and from the Force for fear of further failure. (Whoa, sometimes my alliteration game in ON POINT.) But, like his father, he was redeemed in the end.
Don't mistake Luke acting like a real human being for bad character development. Sometimes even our heroes fall. So why can't we cheer when they get back up again, Force-project themselves across the galaxy, and drop the mic on Kylo Ren?
3. And then there's Snoke. I’ve heard people complain that “after all that buildup,” he died without having his backstory revealed. Well, guess what? So did like 4,256 other Star Wars characters. I’m sure the canon will fill it in eventually. And what buildup was that? The characters certainly never built up the mystery of Snoke. Star Wars fans just love a good mystery, so we may have inserted one where there really didn’t need to be one.
(You know one person in particular who died without having his backstory revealed? The Emperor. And yet we were perfectly fine just knowing that he was a super evil, ugly dude with a penchant for building really big things and wanted to rule the galaxy. Then George Lucas gave us three movies about his backstory, and they were mostly about Anakin Skywalker using his fear of sand as a pickup line. So was all that backstory really needed, anyway?)
4. One last thing. You know those so-called gravity defying bombs? Not an issue for me. All ships in Star Wars have artificial gravity. Ever wondered why they’re not floating around the Millennium Falcon like astronauts? There’s no real science there, but we’ve never questioned it, so why start now? The bombs were carried to the bomb bay doors via the momentum of their racks and the artificial gravity, after which Newton’s First Law carried them in their uninterrupted momentum toward the First Order dreadnaught. Mystery solved. Stop whining about it and enjoy how cool that scene is.
There are more defenses I could muster, but I'm tired of writing. Go read my previous post, in which I do acknowledge the movie's flaws, which are in no way eclipsed by the good aspects.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just wish our opinions were a little more thoughtful before we start crying foul at the apparent despoiling of our childhoods.
