Star Wars: The Last Jedi is ridiculed for dismissing the groundwork of The Force Awakens, but it’s a great sequel that continues the story properly. Here’s why.
I’m on board with this article. If there was, as is famously repeated online, “no plan,” then JJ should have conceded that Rian is a better writer and carried his threads forward.
Idk, hard disagree from me. I really like Rian Johnson’s work, but imo, this movie was a narrative mess that seemed like it was trying to be polarizing for the sake of being polarizing, not to elevate the franchise or make an artistic statement. I mean, he had a vision and he took a risk, which I respect, but it sounds like he was unwilling to take input from some of the players that know Star Wars best, which was a big mistake in my view.
I just wish we got something in between J.J.'s approach of essentially just remaking the old movies and Rian’s approach of subverting every possible aspect of the property until it was unrecognizable and unfulfilling… and whatever that last movie was. Yeesh.
I came out of TLJ thinking, “Well, that was not what I expected, and I’m not quite giddy, but this is absolutely the best Star Wars movie I’ve seen since ROTJ, and it may be better than ROTJ.”
A cohesive theme, a mature consideration of where this franchise needed to go, setting the table for a final act that would not simply be rehash of ROTJ, exploring a Kylo who has finally got what he thinks he wants, the Resistance poised to rebound, Finn all-in, Poe sobered and matured beyond a cliche. Even Canto Bight hinted at a galaxy that was larger than the OT-redux power dynamic that TFA crammed down our throats. If I had some concerns, it’s that a slow-speed chase was not super compelling as a framing device and they probably just should have had the Rebels get to Krait sooner, that the lack of a time-skip meant we couldn’t get as much off-screen hand-wavy character development, and some of the dialogue is a bit Marvel-ized. The Holdo maneuver could be (and was, though clumsily) waved off in the next movie (e.g. “She was able to lock onto the Hyperspace tracker!”). Given the sstate of play left by 7, I loved Luke’s arc, and understood it as a frustrated man still trying to do the right thing even when it was painful. That is ABSOLUTELY what might happen to a Luke Skywalker who found his beloved nephew was a path to genocidal evil, and even then the man who took his weapons into the cave, who risked the galaxy to save his friends, was only impetuous enough to ignite his lightsaber. Luke was at peace at the end of ROTJ, but it’s silly to think he was utterly changed from his younger self. No one is. He did way better than most.
Overall, TLJ was much better than TFA or any of the prequels, and frankly the filmmaking choices and George’s gaps in interest/talent still leave the PT hard to watch, even if the overrarching plot is less disjointed. I was excited to see Episode 9 in a way I hadn’t been in a long time, only really hoping they’d consider splitting it into two because TLJ needed to clean up the mess of TFA’s nostalgia fest (which could have been much better with only minor tweaks). But no, JJ and the powers-that-be acted like cowards and bullies’ toadies, actually wasting time to lampshade how much TROS was not TLJ (e.g. “Come with us Rose!” “I can’t! Leia gave me homework!”). This of course pissed off everyone, as of course the TLJ fans were put off, but it also completely missed the point of what those with concerns about TLJ disliked about it, as well as reminding them of it several times.
Finally, and in conclusion, find you someone who looks at you like JJ Abrams looks at a Hyperspace skip. 😂