AKA: The most controversial Star Wars movie ever, if not one of the most controversial films in recent memory.

And I like it.

Now it took me a VERY long time to form this opinion, and an extremely long rant written about how much I loathed it at around Christmas time in 2017, right after the movie had been released. Originally, I was too scared to publish it due to the amount of hate and harassment people were receiving online for liking it, and those who were involved with the movie for being a part of the project to begin with.

So before we get into why I like the movie, I'm here to present a more updated version of that original rant about why The Last Jedi is a terrible Star Wars film. 

~

Hey guys

So I just watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi and I honestly feel really mixed about what was delivered. I felt like the plot had plenty of plot holes and issues, and sacrificed much of its storyline and character development, as well as having complex themes that seem to have gone right over the audience's heads. I did not hate this movie. I appreciate the complexity of certain characters and I understand that this movie had to appeal to a variety of audiences, as well as avoid being tagged as a "remake" of The Empire Strikes Back, much like The Force Awakens was to A New Hope.

I'm going to do a bit of a breakdown of what happened in the movie and what I liked/didn't like, so major spoilers ahead. Apologies in advance for the borderline essay I have written, and please don't be afraid to comment your opinion. I'm always interested to see other point of view - especially that I really wanted to like this movie.

The Opening Battle Scene

First overall, I loved the opening battle scene. It was beautifully executed, with fantastic special effects and it helped set up Rose's character immediately with her sister's death. The audience immediately understood and was able to see the impulsive nature of Poe (which was not greatly explored in The Force Awakens) and how the destruction of the First Order's ship cost the Resistance more than they had gained. It expertly set up the rest of the film, and effectively illustrated to the audience that the Resistance was not in a good position, because of their dwindling numbers and resources.

My only complaint would be the subject of the Resistance Bomber ships. The ships looked stunning, however there was some internet backlash regarding the functionality of the bombs themselves, as we all know that gravity does not exist the same way in space. As the ships are designed to drop the bombs into the ships, many viewers questioned how this would work, as it was never explained on-screen. Online, however, it was explained that the bombs were magnetic, and it was this that allowed the bombs to function. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to name the ships something that would explain their function, or say they are armed with magnetic bombs in order to avoid confusion.

Personally, I overlooked this error prior to knowing the technological details of these ships, as if you know that gravity does not exist in the same way on earth as it does in space, then you would also know that space does not have an atmosphere. This means that all of the fiery explosions featured on-screen should not exist as there is no oxygen to light the flames, but for movie's sakes we all ignore it. I just found this to be a double standard on the audience's behalf as the bombs dropping isn't ENTIRELY ridiculuous (just wait until you see the horses in the rise of skywalker).

The more important issue I had was that the Resistance would have been entirely decimated if not for Poe, and while many people died, there were still survivors. The fact that he is reprimanded for his actions don't make much sense to the plot, but rather serve as a device for character development.

Cinematography

The colours are gorgeous, the shots are gorgeous, the CGI the special effects, the make up (Kylo Ren's scar is just mint). It is a very pretty movie to watch, with some standouts during the Throne Room scene and the salt plains with the red dirt. Also, watching Paige Tico grasp her pendant while being blown up was a powerful opening.

Leia's Relationship with The Force

Early on in the film, one of the Resistance ships has it's control deck blown up, with (conveniently for the plot) all of the Resistance Leaders - including Leia - in the room. After they are all promptly sucked into space, Leia uses The Force to pull herself back into the ship and survive.

There are so, so many things wrong with this.

Most importantly, it doesn't make any sense. In the original trilogy, the only Force "powers" Leia is really able to use is sense things like her brother, and when people close to her are in danger or die. She is open to the Force, and definitely can feel it, but not so much utilise it. The Last Jedi betrays it's source material by taking a giant leap and giving her these skills, without any sort of training. On top of this, it is an sloppy way of killing off the leaders of the Resistance in order for Admiral Holdo to be put in charge later on in the film, as well as being incredibly cheesy. Also, one inexcusable point I have to make is that they killed Admiral Akbar off-screen. As such an iconic character, I figured we would at least get to say goodbye. Thanks Johnson.

Personally, I think the scene should never have been included, and that these leaders could have been killed off in some other way, or that the story could have been altered so that they needn't kill them off in their own, specific scene. For example, all of the smaller ships in the Resistance Fleet (for lack of better terminology) are shot down by the First Order, meaning that these leaders could have easily been spread out across these vessels, and died with the crew on them.

Admiral Holdo's Sacrifice and Stupidity

After Leia's miraculous survival, she is promptly comatose. As all the leaders (oh, so conveniently) are now dead, Admiral Holdo is put in charge. After using light speed to get away from the First Order Fleet, it was revealed that the Resistance ships did not have enough fuel to outrun the enemy ships. These enemy ships could now track the Resistance through light speed, a feat never possible until this movie that also has no further explanation later on in the film as to how it works, or why this is suddenly possible. All we are told is that The Dreadnaught (the lead First Order ship) was the vessel able to track the Resistance ships. 

I guess you can take some artistic liberties.

Admiral Holdo immediately has a confrontation with Poe, which further explores his character and creates an arc for him in this film (thank you Disney!), as well as established the kind of leader and character Holdo is, as she is not seen in The Force Awakens. This dispute is about how they would fight the First Order, and what to do in regards to fuel. Holdo tells Poe, essentially, to leave her alone, and sit tight while she hatches a plan. As the movie continues, more conflict is created between Poe and Holdo until Poe literally takes over The Raddus (the main Resistance vessel) and tries to overthrow Holdo. This is only interrupted when Leia intervenes, and it is eventually revealed that Holdo has a plan all along and was going to evacuate the ship.

From a storytelling perspective, this helped propel the plot and further explore the characters of Poe and Holdo. However, if you put yourself in Holdo's shoes, this makes no sense. No person in charge of the remaining 400 Resistance members in the galaxy would risk creating such a rebellion by keeping a man known for his impulsiveness in the dark. Nor would she have a reason to. Plus, he was, until his demotion, the highest ranking officer because all of the generals had been sucked into space and Leia was comatose! You'd like Holdo would want the help. You would think that, to effectively load the escape pods and stock them with everything they would need, she would want as many hands on deck as possible, especially a man such as Poe who is well-liked amongst his crew mates, and holds a lot of social power because of this. 

She also saved, exclusively, members of The Raddus and allowed all of the other, smaller Resistance ships to run out of fuel and be destroyed by The First Order, rather than evacuate the them. Not only does her motives towards keeping her crew in the dark not make any sense, but the reason for her to stay behind on The Raddus is questionable. When Leia asks whether Holdo would be boarding an escape pod or not, the Admiral replies with "somebody has to pilot the ship".

As Holdo's plan was to evacuate the remaining Resistance members onto escape pods where they wouldn't be detected, why would she need to stay behind? Why would the Resistance need to pilot the ship if it was going to be blown up? If they really needed to pilot the ship so it kept moving, isn't there such a thing as auto-pilot? From my understanding, Holdo only decides to ramp The Raddus into light speed right thought the Dreadnaught after the resistance escape pods start to be shot down due to DJ selling them out. In order for the plot to flow, it would make sense for Holdo to stay behind and pilot the ship, however this would entail her already having prior knowledge that DJ would betray the Resistance, which is impossible.

Additionally, this move of flying ships through others at lightspeed basically removes the need for any future battles. Just fly another ship through them and you'll be sorted. 

Kind of ruins the continuity.

The Biggest Waste of Time Known As Rose and Finn's Quest to Find the Master Coder

Upon viewing The Last Jedi, I loathed this plot point. I thought it was a complete waste of time and all it did was take soak up money that could have been spent on other elements of the film, and time that the viewers sat watching.

Upon revision, I love it.

There was an important moment in the film when Finn learns why the rich make their money (that being selling weapons to the First Order and Resistance), and it helped further develop his character from easily confused and child-like. It developed the relationship between Rose (who honestly was quite ignored until this point) and Finn, further establishing their characters and the beginnings of their relationship. It was also visually stunning! I loved the Faithers (the horse-like creatures kept captive for racing on Canto Bight, the casino planet), they were so well created and absolutely adorable. When Finn and Rose freed them from the stables and rode them out of the city and up the grassy hills, I thought it was a beautiful moment for them.

To have two characters with such a dismal future, oppressed to near hopelessness, share a care free and intimate moment like this was both heartwarming for such a bleak film and an important scene.

My only complaints for this scene would be that I don't really understand why Finn and Rose didn't rescue the orphans as well as the Faithers (if I'm really nitpicking), and I was not keen on how the pair "stumbled across" a Master Coder. However, whether this was a coincidence or not is still under dispute.

What perhaps annoys me the most about this plot point is the backlash received from viewers. The main points of argument against this scene are simply that it was a waste of time, and that the time spent on the planet could have been more beneficial somewhere else in the movie. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, people regarded it as "an exciting dark turn for the franchise" and "a much-needed low for our heroes". So how, is it, when The Last Jedi comes out, and almost every plan that is made goes awry and ultimately fails (with the most discussed being Rose and Finn's mission on Canto Bight), that the fandom hates it? This theme of failure and hopelessness was prominent in The Empire Strikes Back, a feature that is advertised as one of its strong points. This is a double standard.

And while this movie is no where near as good as Empire Strikes Back, I do believe there is a double standard here.

Luke

So many viewers are butchering this new portrayal of Luke, and I get why. To have him abandon Leia and Han, who he would have died for in the original trilogy, is very out of character.

However, you cannot blame Rian Johnson solely for this.

JJ Abrams directed The Force Awakens, and it was him who decided to have Luke Skywalker in hiding on a secluded planet for all of these years. He has not been the man to face these repercussions, which I think is unjust, as he gave Rian Johnson very little wiggle room to stay true to Luke's character. However, as an audience we cannot understand what has taken place over the last few decades between episodes XI and XII (something JJ definitely should have explained in his movie), or comprehend the complexity of his feelings. I would say this plot point is plausible overall, but unlikely.

My biggest issue, and I believe to be the most common issue with the new (and not-so-improved) Luke, is that he was going to murder Ben Solo.

When I saw this, I audibly gasped, because this is the biggest betrayal of Luke's character. Luke was able to see the light even in his father, who had done far worse than Ben Solo had done at that point, and was prepared to let his son die at the hands of Darth Sidious. Luke was always offering redemption for his father and was willing to die in order to defeat Darth Sidious, which makes his unwillingness to train and help the misguided Ben Solo all the more confusing.

His only redemption is that he could not bring himself to actually hurt his nephew.

However, this scene does explain further why he would place himself in seclusion. The guilt of plotting his nephew's murder, failing his sister and best friend (perhaps even being the root catalyst of their split) and causing the galaxy to have Darth Vader 2.0 on the Dark Side would be horrific, and explains the shell of a man he has become.

However, this doesn't mean I have to like it.

Luke's Death Scene

I don't have much to say here other than that killing off one of the OG trio in each movie is not cool Disney. 

The Fandom

There are very few fandoms as toxic as the Star Wars fandom (Rick and Morty wins that battle, hands down). When you have an explosive mix of older people who remember watching the original trilogy as kids, twelvies, kids all about the explosions and lightsaber battles, crack shippers, critics and people who just enjoy these movies for what they are - it is impossible to create a movie to satisfy everyone. The fandom also hates everyone who disagrees with them and their opinion, which means fans are at each other's throats 24/7. Not to mention, if you are a casual viewer, a lot of the time, you do not get a very nice greeting online.

The biggest clash I find is with many of the "originals" fans. Many of these guys loathe the prequels, and nothing new can ever be as good as the series they grew up with. I, myself am a fan of the originals (I did not grow up with them being released, though I did watch them as a kid) and I can honestly say that with a family mixed between original fans, twelvies, people only there for explosions and casual fans, there are vastly different points of view. Their attitude prevents them from enjoying this new take on the series, and I find they make the atmosphere amongst the fandom toxic and uncomfortable.

This goes as far as people trending the #notmyluke hashtag on Twitter, and sending each other death threats online. Rian Johnson said in interview that "sometimes they [fans] care very violently at me on Twitter". It's immature, and frankly, inappropriate. A movie is supposed to be something to enjoy.

However, I am not placing the blame for this behaviour and backlash solely on the originals fans, as it is a vicious cycle that involves all fans of Star Wars.

The Hype

This movie was really, really hyped. So much so, that, the flaws of the movie are so much more striking and obvious, and that audiences are much more likely to pick apart the film. I really liked that Rey's parents turned out to be nobodies (though this does accentuate the Mary Sue-ness of her abilities), that Snoke died in an unexpected manner and that Reylo seemed more organic in The Last Jedi. However, with audiences having so many theories and wanting the franchise to go in a particular direction, the hype ruins these unexpected aspects for audiences to enjoy. As an audience we get so caught up in what we want to happen, rather than what is delivered, and I believe this is one of the main reasons the audience struggles to appreciate the film. I have found that people who aren't die-hard fans, and who aren't theorising, are the ones enjoying the film more, partially due to their escape from the hype. 

However, I believe the issue of hype was JJ's fault primarily over Johnson's. He made many mystery boxes for Johnson, with very few answers.

The Milking of the Sea Cow

Nobody wanted to see Luke Skywalker milk a sea cow with four boobs. Especially when it seemed to like it. Plus the milk was green. Just ew.

Kylo Ren

Psychopath or redeemable? This movie can't decide! And not in a good way. While I am thoroughly enjoying my Ben Swolo memes (cue me adjusting my glasses to get a better look), the characterisation of Kylo Ren is downright confusing. 

In The Force Awakens, we start off with Kylo Ren literally murdering a whole village. Bad guy. He tortures Poe. Bad guy. We find out he is the son of Leia and Han, and that he was once trained by Luke. He wasn't always a bad guy. Cue the intrigue. Then, he kills more people and kidnaps Rey. Bad guy. He tries to torture Rey. Bad guy. Rey conveniently tells the audience that he's a sacred little punk bitch through force mind reading. Bad guy with low self-confidence? Maybe not a super bad guy? Then he kills his dad, through tears. Mentally unstable bad guy. Perhaps a broken and regretful bad guy. He tries to kill Finn and Rey (fails fairly miserably because of plot armour) and solidifies his position as a punk bitch.

Not the amount of "he tries" involved in Kylo Ren's character. I think that says a lot.

In The Last Jedi, we roughly get Kylo Ren who won't kill his mother, yet will blow up the entire Resistance including his mother (and tries multiple times). Kylo Ren who is calm in his forcetime chats with Rey, sometimes looks like he wants to kiss her (we aren't going to address the sexual tension in this movie but MY GOD you could cut that shit with some rusty-ass, blunt-ass, cold-ass butter knife), is controlled by Snoke in one scene and free the next (this goes back a forth a while without any rhyme or reason) and I just-

I can't. I'm so confused with his deal. Kylo Ren can be conflicted. That is interesting. His characterisation, however, should not be conflicting.

Rey

I don't know how I feel about this, but Rey is certainly more sexualised in this movie. Whether it's the dynamic with Kylo, the throne room scene (the choreo is so bad but the fight is shot stunningly, it makes me very sad), her hair being down and more feminised, how she whispers her lines and the emotional intimacy with Kylo (wtf am I writing), something is different about her. She's still OP, but this is established in TFA so I'm not going to hold Rian Johnson to it too much (but the whole moving boulders thing with the force was OP and unnecessary), and the amount of crying she does is surprising. 

But boy when she ditched Kylo that was some big dick energy if I've ever seen it-

Snoke

You know the "Guess I'll die" meme? Yeah, that just about summarises it.

I almost love it, but here's the thing. Kylo isn't a good villain anymore tension wise. I do not believe Disney has the balls to make him full-tilt, off the wall crazy in the next film as if he's had some sort of psychotic break, which is the only way I'd buy him becoming a believable villain at this point. So if he stays the same, we already know Rey can beat him in a lightsaber fight untrained and is equal in force capabilities with minimal training. The odds of her losing aren't as high as they should be to make the tension of Kylo being a villain believable. I mean, Kylo hasn't one a single fight in these movies yet without Rey's help.

Another problem: Hux can't be the villain either. If Kylo Ren is a punk bitch, Hux is a little bitch who gets thrown around like a ragdoll. He is not a believable villain.

Thirdly: Phasma is dead.

So basically, we have no good villains left. Unless of course they use the Knights of Ren which is not the best idea anyway. (In retrospect, they did not)

What was the point?

Well... This movie is kind of pointless. Canto Bight ends up being fruitless, the mutiny on the Raddus is pointless because the Resistance just ends up back on the run like at the start of the movie, there is still no Luke Skywalker to help (get it, because they trashed his character and then killed him off in one movie?), Kylo is still conflicted and Rey is still powerful. The main things important in this movie are:

Snoke is dead (and Kylo is in charge?).

Luke is dead.

The Resistance has less people.

Rey had a few days of training (unsure if this really is important because she still would be fine).

Leia can fly.

People do not want to help the Resistance.

Kylo and Rey have some weird forcetime connection that may be more than Snoke bridging their minds or whatever.

THAT'S IT.

Oh, and FinnPoe/Stormpilot is never going to be canon. Cowards.

~

But yeah, that's essentially the end of my rant. If you actually read through all of that, I am proud of you, and I'm sorry that went for so long.

And now, we arrive at why I like this movie.

I first watched Star Wars when I was maybe seven or eight, and we began with Phantom Menace and watched the prequels, which I wasn't all that interested in, and then the original trilogy, which I remembered far better and liked more, but still wasn't in love with. Then, The Force Awakens came out right when I started high school, and it seemed like I was finally caught up in the Star Wars fever and understood what all the fuss had been about. Still, after a couple of months I got bored and went back to my regularly-scheduled MCU fanfics and shitposting.

And then The Last Jedi came out, and I was a very different person. I was a bit older, I hadn't rewatched TFA and I was now very frustrated to realise that Kylo Ren, Rey, Poe Dameron and Phasma were all very good-looking (my Phasma love stems from Brienne, god I love her) and that this series was so rich with potential. It was the first Star Wars film that I watched and thought "holy shit, I love this series" while also, funnily enough thinking "holy shit, I hate this movie". It just changed things for me, despite not being a great film.

Its not always the best film that draws people in. Age of Ultron got me into the MCU, and I had seen every Marvel movie before that without much interest. And upon reflection, it's my second least-favourite.

With The Rise of Skywalker having come out six months ago I now understand that this sequel trilogy, while imperfect, has encapsulated a little splice of my life bookended with each film. I can't think of a franchise that has done the same. I remember where I was, what was happening at the time, who my friends were and what point I was at in high school. They're little milestones.

And I hope that, while I can't help but like parts of this film and be aware that it is far from perfect, that people will eventually cool down from this issue and stop gatekeeping the Star Wars fandom. 

That gatekeeping is what essentially spurred me to write this today. I was at Zing (a nerdy pop-culture store) when the lady serving me at the register scanned an item, with my mum pointing out a Baby Yoda poster with a figurine on it that was coming in the mail for my birthday and yet to arrive. The cashier referred to it as "The child" with a bit of caution before following up with "Or Baby Yoda, whichever you prefer" and I jokingly replied with "I hope no one's abused you over the name". While I wasn't entirely surprised, she explained many smug fans had corrected her use of both names, and that it wasn't worth arguing over. 

I rolled my eyes and said that a lot of Star Wars fans can suck. She replied with:

"There is no one who hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans."

And she's right. She's exactly right.

All in all, this is just my opinion. I like The Last Jedi. You can hate it, or love it, and that's your choice. Just keep it civil folks. 

Stay nerdy.