The Last Jedi
by Rian Johnson, George Lucas
It took me longer than I expected to see The Last Jedi, but finally I was blessed with the chance to watch confident women of a certain age boss Oscar Isaac around on the deck of a starship.
Here’s a short, spoiler-free review of The Last Jedi. Please note that there may and likely will be spoilers in the comments, as we are creating a space for you all to discuss the movie together. Also, please note that if there are typos, please forgive me as I am down with the same cold that everyone in Sacramento currently has. If you were one of the last healthy people in Sacramento, and you went to the movies on December 22…sorry about the virus.
The Last Jedi picks up exactly where The Force Awakens left off, with Rey handing (or rather, attempting to hand) Luke his lightsaber. The cast spends most of the movie split up into small groups, with Rey and Luke on Luke’s island hideout, Finn and new character Rose (she’s the best OMG I love her) trying a secret complicated maverick plan to save the Resistance fleet, and Poe arguing with Leia, played by my beloved Carrie Fisher, and then with Admiral Holdo, played by my beloved Laura Dern. Meanwhile Emo Kylo Ren has a Force mindlink with Rey, who thinks she can turn him to the good side. Honey, just…no.
Here are some important things about the movie:
- The moral of this movie is “Listen to women.”
- The other moral is “Fancy lineage is overrated. Don’t be a snob. Learn from your elders but don’t be bound to their authority or mistakes. Tropes were made to be subverted. Also, listen to women.”
- The third moral is “Relationships that involve gaslighting, whether between parent and child, mentor and student, or between lovers, are toxic. Also, listen to women.”
- “We will win this war not by fighting what we hate but by saving who we love.” I’m not sure that line makes strategic sense, but I couldn’t ask for a better mantra to save me from bitterness during the Age of Trump. By now it should not shock you to know that this line is spoken by a woman, to whom we should listen.
More, somewhat more trivial, points of interest:
- Laura Dern has the most beautiful hair color. This is trivial, yet it gave me great joy.
- Poe continues to have chemistry with everybody on screen including BB-8.
- Kelly Tran, who plays Rose, is a wonderful sparkly rainbow of glitter and I love her with the power of a thousand suns. I am also a very short person, and watching her try to drag Finn around by his foot (for reasons) is my everything. Dear Kelly, please be my best friend. Love, CarrieS.
- Women in this film are good fighters, pilots, leaders, and mechanics. They also do an astonishing amount of emotional labor.
- The movie is 152 minutes long not counting trailers. Don’t drink any soda.
- Things blow up. People fight with lightsabers. Shit burns down, etc. At one point the only sound in the theater was the stunned voice of the guy behind me as he said, reverently, “Day-um!”
And now, a word about our Lady and Savior, Carrie Fisher.
Carrie Fisher completed all her filming for this movie before her death and director Rian Johnson swears that her performance was not altered in any way after her death. It’s an emotional performance and an emotional viewing experience. I can’t say more without spoilers, unfortunately – but I do think her fans will be happy.
I’d happily give this movie an A, but frankly I think it’s at least two movies crammed into one. If it had been split into two ninety minute long movies certain elements could have been more fleshed out and we wouldn’t all have needed to pee so badly once the credits rolled. There’s pacing issues because of leaping from plot line to plot line, and some things don’t make sense although the plot does makes MUCH more sense than the plot of The Force Awakens.
Finally, I’m thrilled with the diverse casting overall, but it’s the end of 2017 and we still don’t have an onscreen, canonically, spelled out so the audience can’t miss it, LGBT character. You’ve come so far, Star Wars. We’re so proud. Now give Poe the sexy boyfriend he so very much deserves.
NB from Sarah: Several of you have asked for a space to discuss the film in detail with spoilers. Here is that space!
SO BEYOND THIS POINT THERE MAY BE SPOILERS. LOTS OF THEM. TONS. METRIC TONS. BE YE WARNED. THE COMMENTS ARE A SPOILER-IFIC ZONE OF MUCH SPOILER IN A WEBSITE THAT IS NOT FAR FAR AWAY. IT IS IN FACT RIGHT HERE.
GOT SPOILERS? WHY YES WE DO.
SO! What did you think? What parts resonated with you? Let’s discuss!
Sooooo late to the party, but my thoughts:
-I have no idea where the third movie will go, and I like that.
-I liked the Rey/Kylo scenes because (as I commented in an earlier post), SW has tended to be a fairly sexless universe. (Han/Leia always vibed more screwball comedy to me in the original trilogy.) So to me, that felt like a missing piece, a human drive that’s typically just missing from SW. That said, Kylo puts all Fake Rakes to shame. I don’t think he’s a redeemable character given all the mass murdering, aggressive warmaking, and Force-choking he does on the regular. Maybe he’ll dramatically die to save the Resistance in the end, but that will require that he be acting against some new antagonist, and it’s not clear who that’s going to be. Unless Hux is going to become less of a joke, or Snoke is going to return from the dead.
-That said, I think that with Kylo they’ve achieved something that most recent superhero movies have failed at – interesting, human, compelling villainy. The last time I saw that onscreen was probably the first X-Men movie. Which was when I was in college. Plus, the thing is, Kylo’s not wrong – not entirely. There’s a pretty good argument that they do need to let the past die, to move away from the dualistic light/dark Jedi/Sith ragtag individualists/fancy-dress Nazis history and onto something else. This movie makes it pretty clear that the Jedi actually f’d things up pretty badly (missing the rise of Palpatine), and maybe if they’d been a little more nuanced in their view of the universe, that wouldn’t have happened.
-I totally bought old jaded Luke. Thirty years changes a person. And what happens the heroes when the battle’s done and they have to live with the world that comes after is a theme that I really enjoy. Speaker for the Dead (the sequel to Ender’s Game) is a fantastic example of this, as is Richard K. Morgan’s Land Fit for Heroes trilogy (also, if you’re looking for fantasy with LGBT/POC heroes and heroines, Land Fit for Heroes will be your jam – the first book is The Steel Remains).
-I got the flaws in how the movie was structured, but ultimately I really loved it although I would have preferred that more care be taken with Finn’s plot. He was in a ton of the movie, but it didn’t feel like the filmmakers had really invested a lot of thought into his character’s journey in this installment, and since in many respects he’s kind of an audience surrogate, that seemed like a waste.
I’d love to see this again in the theatres, but schedules likely won’t allow that. As such, there was the euphoria of seeing a new SW in a full theatre, but I’m still unpacking how I feel about the film. There are some things that stood out, though.
1) When Kylo took Snoke out, my first thought was, “Oh, it couldn’t be that easy, could it?” Yet, for one moment, I did believe (or hope) that Rey had actually succeeded. Then he asked her to join him and I was “damn.” That pitiful “please” from him though was a bit heartbreaking, though.
2) Most of the line personnel have clearly decided Kylo’s a few fries short of a happy meal, given some of reaction shots. Especially the guy pilot the shuttle Kylo was in on the rebel planet. “Yes, sir. Right away.”
3) The theatre going deadly silent when the ship went into the destroyer. This was an audience packed with fanboys and not a sound could be heard. That’s up there with hearing “No, Luke. I am your father,” for the first time back in ‘80.
4) Luke and Leia’s reunion because it was so in vein with, “Aren’t you a little short to be a stormtroper.”
5) The end of Phasma’s story pissed me off because that was just a waste of a character and building us to to think there’d be a plot point there.
6) I think you can see all the things in Luke’s nature that could lead him to sulking alone on a planet for years, but that’s just my opinion and your mileage may vary.
7) Even with all its flaws, it doesn’t have Jar-Jar Binks. Or Ewoks. The Porgs didn’t save the day and were apparently used to help cover up the puffins where they were filming. So, they really are space puffins.
8) There was some overall plot things with the casino, but I don’t think they tied it in close enough to the main plot. At the very least, it needed to be tightened because there seemed to be too many coincidences.
When the film’s released for home viewing, I’m going to have to watch it at least a couple of more time to really get the main effect — but glad I got to see it in the theatre.
I loved it so much and am having ALL THE FEELS right now. The only thing that really disappointed me was how arrogant and mansplainy Poe was—I understand why, but in an early scene he grabbed Leia by the arm and I was like, “EXCUSE ME? That’s GENERAL Leia Organa you just put your hands on, sir. Step OFF.”
On the other hand, his epic trolling of Hux at the beginning was utterly delightful. Oh, Poe. I can’t stay mad at you.
Saw this Christmas Day with three generations of fans. I enjoyed it a lot. Not sure if holds up that well to analysis.
Misc thoughts:
– still really, really annoyed that the Finn / Rose plot was mostly pointless. I would have been annoyed no matter what, but it’s especially annoying that the only two poc leads were used in a plot that ended with them unintentionally causing the destruction of the Rebel fleet.
– felt like Rey lost a lot of her personality in this film compared to the previous one.
– Keylo Ren is growing on me as a villain.
– still mad about Poe
#TeamPoe+SexyBoyfriend
#TeamReylo after Ben learns his lessons and Rey kicks his ass. I mean Ben Swolo for the love of the Force.
Long time SW fan. Love this movie. It’s not perfect. But I loved it. It’s transformative for the SW universe and that needed to happen. Embrace the chance.
While everyone is here for ReyLo, I’m thinking a lot of people are going to be extremely disappointed when it turns out their related–like Luke and Leia
Im just sad Phasma is dead and I don’t know when we will see her again, if ever. She should have been a hella badass chrome deliverer of girl power, and instead of being scary and inspiring, she came across as a scared, weak little girl. It was pathetic.
As for Rey and Kylo, I absolutely loathe the idea of them being a couple. It’s too abusive a dynamic for me to ship. I wish Rey would get with Finn. Rose is so mean to him (I mean, she goddamn tased him!) and he and Rey would make a sweet, healthy couple, which is exactly what I want.
I personally felt there was a theme of ‘women need to take care of men’ and it made me feel weird. It also bugs me that the two women who died weren’t in a relationship/teased to be in a relationship. Sexism much?
I have a lot of issues with this movie.
1. Phasma died early and never got to be empowering or inspiring.
2. Rey and Kylo are on a path to a gross abusive relationship and I really shopped Rey and Finn. I thought Rose was mean, especially how she tased Finn.
3. The women who died were the ones who weren’t in relationships.
4. The message seemed to be ‘women need to care for men’.