So I
watched The Last Jedi a couple of
days ago and I’ve had time to think about it and see some reviews. My thoughts on the movie are … it was
okay. It isn’t the timeless classic of
the original trilogy, but it’s not forgettable like Rogue One.
When
I think of the original trilogy, I think of them as joyous, fun,
adventures. To be honest, I don’t know
how much of that is a result of it being simpler times and I was young and
naïve. And to be honest I don’t know how
much my being more experienced and bitter shaped my reaction to The Last Jedi. But instead of seeing a fun adventure, I saw
more the manipulation of the movie business.
The
most obvious manipulation being the porgs.
Let’s be honest, I’m sure Chewie has eaten cuter things while more of
the cuter things watched. When I first
saw the porg in the trailer, I rolled my eyes seeing it as a blatant attempt to
sell toys. But when you’re dealing with
such an unknown franchise, you have to explore other ways to make money in case
the movie bombs. I mean, the movie
itself has made like half a billion in a week, but the $20 porgs will be what
finances the next movie, if they decide it’s worth the risk.
But
seriously, a more subtle manipulation was the deal with Rey’s parents. I would bet that Rey’s parentage was
determined before her name was. I’ve
heard that nothing was really settled when they started filming Episode VII,
which almost horrifies/confuses me. They
spent billions on this property, and then they decide to just wing it? Really?
But if we found out in The Force
Awakens that Rey’s parents were just scavengers on Jakku, or Luke, or
whoever, there wouldn’t have been two years of speculation on who her parents
were. And then there wouldn’t be two
years of speculation over whether or not Kylo lied to her about her parents
being nobodies. I love that she – for
now at least – is just a random nobody, but why couldn’t we have learned that
in the last movie? Or why couldn’t we
see the graves of her parents and Rey lives with her grandmother, who is killed
in the shootout when Rey and Finn are leaving Jakku, to keep the plot point in The Force Awakens where she wants to go
back. Or maybe only her dad died – so we
don’t think her dad is Luke – and her mom went out for a pack of death sticks
and just never came back.
These
simple manipulations to get the audience to react a certain way are
understandable, since that’s what movies are supposed to do. I can more-or-less forgive them. What I can’t forgive – and my biggest issue
with The Last Jedi – are, I guess you
can call them manipulations instead of plot.
For example, why didn’t Holdo just tell Poe her plan of going to
Crait? I mean, you’re going to have to
tell everyone at some point so they can get the transports ready and loading
personnel and gear takes some time. The
only reason not to make the plan widely known is if you fear there’s a spy who
will inform the First Order. But that
doesn’t happen since instead of a spy the First Order has a technobabble
solution to following the Resistance ships.
But if Holdo had revealed her plan, then that would negate the entire
Poe/Finn/Rose storyline. Poe and Finn
need to do something, they can’t just be on the ship having a singalong to keep
everyone’s spirits up. So we’ll manipulate things to manufacture this pointless
side-trip to Canto Bight.
Now
I’ve heard some people explain the Canto Bight bit as an example of plans
sometimes fail, and how because they went on this sidetrip, brought DJ to the
First Order who sold them out, Poe, Finn, and Rose are now responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of fellow Resistance members. I hadn’t thought of that, in part because I
don’t think any of the characters have thought of that. I mean, I doubt there will be a scene in
Episode IX where Rose is crying over these deaths and Finn has to comfort her.
But
what could they have done? How about
this. They know they are near an old
Rebel base that has shields, communication, and say an ion canon. The plan is to send a small team – Poe, Finn,
BB-8, Rose, maybe some others – to the base to get it ready and send out a call
to their allies. Then in one hour, the
fleet will jump to the base luring the First Order into a trap with an ion
canon on the ground and more ships in space.
So Poe flies them to the base – perhaps taking damage on the way so they
can’t leave – and they find that there was a cave in and the ion canon is
destroyed. But they send out the message
and get the shields back on line. The
Resistance fleet arrives, and since they don’t expect their ships to last long
being out of fuel, they send everyone down to the base in transports. But there’s no ion canon and none of their
allies show up. So perhaps Holdo still
has to sacrifice herself to save the last bit of the Resistance. Their plan failed, and now most of the
Resistance is dead. They end up at the
same point, it’s just now more streamlined without you questioning Holdo’s
command style.
Speaking
of Holdo’s command style, I’ve seen some people say that they hated Holdo at
the beginning. And that’s understandable
because you were supposed to dislike her, thus making her later sacrifice seem
all the greater. Since people like Poe,
but Poe didn’t like her, there must be something up with her. Maybe she’s a spy, or just incompetent. Of course, since she apparently doesn’t tell
anyone her plan until the last second – which doesn’t make any sense – my lasting
impression of her is that she is a tad incompetent as a leader. Trying to manipulate the large shift from
disliking her to respecting her left a bad impression for me.
Now
let’s talk about Holdo’s end. Like
everyone my first thought was, “Damn!” But that was quickly followed by, “Why
didn’t the other ships do that?” In desperate situations, it is logical that
when the only weapon you have left is your ship you use it. I can think of multiple occasions in Star Trek or Babylon 5 where they go with “Ramming speed.” But has that ever
happened in Star Wars? In the movies at least, I haven’t watched any
of the shows. Well, the reason the other
ships just ran out of gas and got blowed up instead of ramming the First Order
ships was so that it would be all the more dramatic when Holdo did it. First you manipulate things so you dislike a
character, then manipulate things so their end seems all the more heroic,
instead of just having a good character people will hate to see go.
I’ve
spent some time going over things I had problems with, but was there anything I
liked in The Last Jedi? Yeah.
One of the issues with the original trilogy – partly based on it being a
simpler time – is that the good/evil light/dark thing is rather
simplistic. So I did like the far more
gray approach they seem to be going in now.
I also enjoyed the idea of the student outgrowing the master, although I
do wonder if they made it a bit more “This is less of a continuation of the
trilogy you love so much and more of a new
thing.”
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