Star Wars The Last Jedi: why is not like the Star Wars we know and love

The Last Jedi backlash is not without reason because a lot of things feels strange and against what came before.

But before we start with the issues here are the good things.

First and foremost, like George Lucas said “beautifully made”. The cinematography was great, the angles for the camera very unusual.

Poe was the best character in the movie; we really want to follow him and see his growth as the hero and maybe the leader of the Resistance in the next movie. (Carrie Fischer died, so Leia has to die)

Kylo Ren is still a conflicted character and very interesting. By far the only

villain we care about. Hux and Snoke are wasted (more of this below).

Luke and Rey’s scenes are good, but should have more of Luke actually teaching her.

Leia using the Force was great. That’s the kind of unexpected we want.

Just a little side note: from whom she learned? In the Star Wars The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary states was not from Luke.

R2 could have more scenes in this movie but the scene when he shows the Leia’s hologram to Luke was completely unexpected. This scene brought warm feelings to my heart.

The Jedi’s ability of projecting themselves to other places through the Force. A good extension of the Kylo Ren’s mind reading ability in The Force Awakens.

BB8 still robs the scenes, he is very funny and the jokes with him are very good.

Yoda is always Yoda. He is the man.

So, lets see what went wrong. What causes most harm is the fact that Episode VIII starts right after Episode VII.

I cannot believe the First Order is in the verge of galaxy domination. In the previous movie they were a group that poses no real threat to the New Republic. Only with Starkiller base they became an issue. And with its destruction they too receive a heavy blow. They cannot obliterate planets anymore.

It’s completely unbelievable they are the new dominant regime just because  they destroyed the Capital and other important worlds. I have to say the destruction of a few planets is not enough to make a legit form of government (The New Republic) to fall. It’s like saying the destruction of Washington DC and New York will make the United States to fall. A lot of battles and time are necessary.

Another huge issue is “Jedi” Rey. She goes from a scavenger to confront Snoke and his Pretorian guard in just a few days. Empire Strikes Back has a similar problem but at least we see Luke receive some training from Yoda and of course he was no threat to Vader. Rian Johnson basically takes the situation from the Return of the Jedi (Luke goes to Vader trying to turn him but instead Vader takes him to the Emperor) where Luke is almost a Jedi and puts Rey in his place who barely starts her training. (Do not forget Luke is developing his skills for a year the time period between Episodes V and VI)

That being said if we take the movie and jump one year ahead but leaving Rey and Luke part right after The Force Awakens that will solve these major issues. Will have time for the First Order wipe out the New Republic and also for Rey’s training. Just add “1 year before” in the first scene with Luke.

Talking about Luke, what Rian Johnson did with him is almost criminal, and it is a very big issue. Luke Skywalker is one of the greatest hero characters the world of fiction has ever known. His journey became the template for all hero journey’s that follow. In this new trilogy everybody expected our hero would hear the “Call to Adventure” again and come back for one final heroic deed and pass on his knowledge (as asked by Yoda) for the next generation (Rey). Abrams set up the Call perfectly (Rey delivering the lightsaber) but what Rian Johnson does? He just throws away, literally and gives us grumpy Luke. Hidden from his failure with Ben Solo. Not what we expected from a Jedi Master. Making Luke use “astral projection” as his final deed is also problematic. Rian Johnson denies us the very conclusion of Luke’s journey, because he did not go anywhere, he stays in Ahch-To. There is more. How satisfying is seeing the greatest hero of the galaxy being use just to stall the bad guys? Not satisfying at all, it’s a misuse of character.

Little side note for Star Trek Fans:

Can you imagine Captain Kirk being back from the Nexus just to stall Soran? No, he faces the bad guy and gives his life so Picard can save millions of people. It’s not perfect but much more satisfying than just stall the bad guy.

Not forgetting the mystery around Luke’s missing. We cannot deny this was a very big mystery permeating all Star Wars universe because were not mention even in the books and comics. And we find out he just went away for that island. No good reason was given. He just wants to find the first Jedi Temple and hide. Really? That’s not what the greatest hero of all time would do.

Let’s talk about Rian Johnson’s theme for the movie. In several interviews he says the main idea was to do the unexpected, not do what the fans wanted. Turn Star Wars upside down. So I’m calling Rian Johnson’s theme, Upside Down theme in homage to Stranger Things. But he miscalculated because to do the unexpected was a very bad choice for a theme. For the technical part and others little things works but not for the main story line. We had a lot of past history with the characters acting in a certain way that you just cannot change without a good reason, and he did not gave us a good reason. He just wants to follow his theme, no matter what.

And that’s not all, I think he did not like where Abrams leave the story and the characters at the end of The Force Awakens. He was obliged to follow but he did want to do his own story using his chosen theme so he deconstructs almost everything Abrams set up in the Force Awakens.

The most obvious moment was Luke tossing the lightsaber away. The Force Awakens was constructed with Luke being the McGuffin, the entire movie runs around trying to find Luke, so everything was built for that specific moment. When Rey deliver the Lightsaber, that’s the payoff of the movie and Rian Johnson makes a joke of it just because was unexpected, following his theme.

Rey’s parents were another. Like in Empire Strikes Back that Lucas did not know who the “Other” (mention by Yoda) was, Abrams and Kasdan did not know who Rey’s parents were, maybe just a vague idea. By saying they were nobody Rian Johnson is saying I do not care, I will not trying to solve this mysteries. He just wants to follow the upside down theme. Just for the record Lucas solve the problem of the other saying was Leia. Not the best way but nevertheless a satisfactory way. (In my opinion this was the thread lay down by Lucas for the sequel trilogy. But he gives up and we get Leia as the other)

All the mystery created in VII surrounding Snoke was just cut with a lightsaber, literally. He does not want waste time to come up with ideas; he just wants to follow his upside down theme. And by the way he appears to be more powerful than Sidious. If so, where were he when Sidious was Emperor?

These other choices below demonstrated Rian Johnson was not happy with The Force Awakens.

Kylo Ren smashing his mask. He is basically killing his identity. After this we have only Ben Solo.

Hux being mocked and not even notice. You take a very well created proto-Hitler character and made a caricature of himself. He became an idiot. The same way Vader and Tarkin was never part of mockery the same should have happen with Hux. There are too many jokes in the film. This is not a Marvel movie.

Maz Kanata was one of the most interesting characters since Yoda and she gets a cameo. Really? That is hate for the character?

The new characters created by him were completely unnecessary.

Rose is useless. She does nothing, only robs Finn from his "Blaze of Glory" moment at the end of the movie. Her sister was a more compelling character.

Holdo has the same function as Leia. This got me thinking because I read somewhere that Leia using the force was Kennedy’s idea. I think Rian Johnson’s original idea was for Leia to die but Kennedy did not agreed. We already have Luke’s death. Kennedy must have given him a choice, kill just one of them. So he chooses Luke and gave us out-of-the -way Leia (in coma) so he can introduce Holdo. And, of course, Holdo has his “Blaze of Glory” moment. This is just bad Rian Johnson. You do not need to follow your theme all the time. You can do what we expected. Everybody knew Carrie Fischer had died, so everybody was expecting a farewell to her. This would have being the perfect one; she dies saving everybody, perfect. And leaving Luke’s death for the next one.

Why create the DJ character to solve a problem if he will be responsible to create the same problem again. Because of that the whole Canto Bight sequence was unnecessary. Was well done, but does not add anything to the movie. And should have being Lando instead of DJ.

One more thing: the main plot of the film is just bad, there is no way around, because is so bad. But is just Rian Johnson doing something never done before. In a time where hyper drive technology is common, do not make sense a pursuit in sub-light speed. You just use the hyper drive and jump ahead. The pursuit is over.

A final comment: there are so much better stories in the Legeds books and comics. So many great authors (Luceno, Zahn, Anderson, Karpyshyn) contributed to the Star Wars mythos, use his ideas. The true Heir of the (Star Wars) Empire is Dave Filoni. He worked close with George Lucas and understands the Star Wars mythos. So, use Rebels as an example, they create a lot of new stuff, but also pay tribute to the Original Trilogy, Clone Wars, and Legends. They did all in a seamless way.

You can say a lot of things of George Lucas prequels, but at least they were consistent with the Original Trilogy story and themes. Because of that they are a lot more satisfying to see than The Last Jedi.

PS: Help us JJ. You’re our only hope.