Hopefully at this point now you have seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi because I’m about to go in depth with some of the ‘big moments’ of the film so if you’re triggered by spoilers of any kind, I would advise you to log off, see the film and then give this piece a read. I’m serious. Final warning. Ok. You gone? Alright let’s begin. So with this article, I decided to break it into sub categories mainly because I feel that these are the main moments that are worth talking about. I also want to clarify that I did really like the film overall and that my discussion of the following spoilers basically serves as my method of counter arguing those who may have had a problem with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
1.) THE RISE AND FALL OF LUKE SKYWALKER
In my review, I gave significant praise to Mark Hamill’s performance and he is excellent in this film. I must admit I did not expect him to hurl his old lightsaber over his shoulder after having it handed to him by Rey. It was one of the many humorous moments of the film. I was really fascinated by this interpretation of Luke Skywalker: A more bitter and elderly version who has grown weary of his ‘legendary’ status, someone who is bottling a lot of guilt having failed to keep Ben Solo on the light side of the force and someone who is afraid to be involved in the fight because he may be responsible for any more casualties. The more heart-warming moments occur later on when he interacts with R2-D2, his dear sister Leia and his reaction upon hearing about the loss of Han Solo.
I’ve heard some people argue that Luke’s behaviour in this film was very contradictory to the characteristics he had in the previous trilogy. Why would the former hero of a previous saga attempt to murder a pupil of his only because he feared what happened to his father might happen to him? Why is he so persistent on rejecting the concept of Jedi? Why does it take him so long to come to the decision to train Rey and then join the fight at the end? I’ll counter those points with this statement: people change over time. Luke has had to deal with so much throughout his life, growing up not knowing who his mum and dad were, or his sister, losing his hand in a battle with his father, being electrocuted, losing his best friends son to the dark side when it was his responsibility to train him which then led to the death of his best friend. You can see why he would be so hesitant to join the fight again. When he does join the fight it’s incredibly to satisfying to see. He faces off against his former pupil on the planet of Crait, with his hair cut short and wielding his father’s old lightsaber. Kylo then strikes Luke across the chest only for nothing to actually happen. Luke then reveals that he was actually projecting an image of himself and that he was still meditating on the island of Ach-To in order to buy time for the rest of the resistance to escape. He then gives Kylo a wink and mutters “see you around kid”, a line passed at him before in the previous saga by Han Solo, before evaporating on the island as his cloak flies off into the wind. Luke has passed on and become one with the force.
An argument that I have heard about this is why would Luke just suddenly die and disappear, he was never sick nor did he show any signs of degeneration so why only now did he pass. For me this was a very important moment for his character. It was a redeeming moment, he was finally presented with an opportunity to carry out an act that served the benefit of those he cared about. He faced his past, learned the error of his ways and saved the lives of those he cared about. He has done all he can to redeem himself and he can now rest easy and be one with the force. I was very satisfied with his character arc and it was tough to let him go. He was one of my favourite protagonists in movie history and I was extremely happy to see him get he send off that he got. This does raise an interesting point though: with Han Solo dead and gone, and now Luke and also Leia (even though her character is still alive by the end of the film, Lucasfilm have announced that she will not appear in the next film or will be digitally recreated like her appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) what exactly is going to happen to our new faces in the next film? Will they be killed off or live on to become legends like the ones from the previous films. Guess we’ll just have to wait two more years to find out.
2.) ROSE, FINN & THE CANTO BIGHT SEQUENCE
Since I have seen the film and have only now had the chance to look at the majority of reviews, all have been overwhelmingly positive, this sequence in particular seems to be the one area that critics have had a MAJOR problem with. Finn and a new character named Rose, a technician for the Resistance, have to travel to a casino planet known as Canto Bight in order to seek the help of a hacker named DJ so that they can drop off the radar of The First Order so that they can shift into lightspeed and escape. I must admit it is a bit of a convoluted exercise to get the plot rolling and to devote more time to these two side characters but to be completely honest, this sequence didn’t bother me too much. It does serve as an opportunity to showcase some of the fantastic creatures brought to life by practical effects. My god do they look incredible.
To be fair to the criticism, this sequence does drag on for a bit but I do think that it has relevance to the plot. Earlier on we encounter a farm boy ( who is actually played by the same child actor who portrayed the telekinetic boy Cid in Rian Johnson’s previous directorial feature Looper) and the we see him later on forcing a broom to his grasp just before the end credits roll. This is one of the crucial messages that the film is trying to get across: the force isn’t specifically orientated for the Jedi’s of the Skywalkers, it belongs to everyone. It promotes the message that it isn’t lineage or heritage that causes one to go on to do great things, everyone has the potential to achieve greatness. Forgive me for sounding to philosophical but I just think that this is a message that is beautifully conveyed. So in short, this sequence isn’t that bad, maybe could have done with a teeny tiny edit but it was relevant to the overall story.
3.) WHO IS SNOKE?
Oh boy oh boy did this character strike a chord with the Star Wars fan community. When we were first introduced to this scarred old fogey back in The Force Awakens we were all left with the same burning question on our minds. Who is Snoke? Is he Palpatine? Is he Vader? Is HE the last Jedi? Is he Jar-Jar? Is he a porg? Etc Well I can in fact confirm that Star Wars: The Last Jedi does not answer any of these questions. In fact, Snoke is actually pretty useless in this film. Yep I’m being serious. Who is Snoke? We’ll probably never find out. Mainly because Kylo Ren slaughters him by cutting him in half with the lightsaber he previously took from Rey. We’ve seen characters get cut in half before in this franchise, like Darth Maul who was brought to life in Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV spin-off with cybernetic legs, but I would have to assume that there is no chance that Snoke is alive after this or there is any chance he’ll be coming back any time soon
Now when I said that critics had a major issue with the Canto Bight sequence, I’ve talked to a couple of people who were ENRAGED by this moment. What the hell (except they didn’t say hell) was the point of Snoke? He did nothing? They set him up as this big deal when they just killed him off! And he was barely in it? And this is all true but I do feel as though Snoke actually was an important character. He was important to the development of Kylo Ren’s character. The moment in which Kylo ignited the lightsaber and struck down Snoke signified something very crucial to me: it is from this point on that Kylo is the agent of his own actions. We’ve been given this impression of Kylo that he is prone to tantrums, incomplete with his training and is struggling with some sort of moral conflict. Does he continue his path to the dark side or does he abandon that and become an apprentice of the light. He killed his own father to go down the path yet he hesitated to kill his mother. But he eventually came to the decision to kill the main person who toyed with his decisions and manipulated him to the dark side. Kylo has no one to act as his own puppet master. He is now in charge of the first order and I feel as though he going to be a much larger threat in the next film?
Would I have like to have seen Snoke pick up a lightsaber and go up against Rey or Luke? Yeah that would have been cool. But I feel as though it would have also been expected. This moment completely caught me off guard but it was necessary and did lead to an incredible fight between Rey and Kylo against the Praetorian Guards. I didn’t mention it in my other review but they were such a cool inclusion to this franchise as they managed to hold their own against two Jedi’s. It reminded me of the moment when the “TRAITOR!” Storm-trooper from The Force Awakens squared up to Finn when he was wielding the lighsaber. Such bravery and brilliance exercised by such an expendable individual.
4.) THE HUMOUR
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of humour in film. It can be used effectively in some cases lightening the tone and causing the audience to relax so that the film isn’t just one progression of bleak and serious events. With the case of The Last Jedi, some people have complained that the humour that was used in this film doesn’t feel as though it belongs in a Star Wars film and that it relies on it too much. I disagree. It’s not as if Star Wars hasn’t ever had humorous moments, some of the best jokes can be found in the original trilogy and I will admit there are some glimmers of effective comedy in the prequel trilogy (“d’wanna buy some deathsticks?”).
Moments like the “I can’t hear you can you speak up” exchange between Hux and Poe in the opening space battle sequence, Luke tossing the lightsaber and then tickling Rey’s finger with a piece of thistle tricking her into thinking it’s the force, to Chewie struggling to eat a cooked Porg in front of a bunch of wide-eyed innocent Porgs all fit very well with the tone of the film and don’t feel as though they compromise the more serious moments. Even in a moment as serious like the confrontation between Luke and Kylo where he orders the AT-ATs to open fire on his projection to which he appears from the dust and simply brushes it off work effectively. The humour works here and I think Rian Johnson did a really good job balancing these moments which was definitely made all the more evident from the shrieks of laughter that filled the theatre that I watched the film in when these moments occurred.
5.) THE RETURN OF YODA
This is the final spoiler fuelled moment that I would like to discuss is that a certain character appears in this film who I did not think would make an appearance at all. Just after Rey leaves the island of Ach-To face off against Snoke, Luke is visited by a figure from his past. It’s YODA! But not just Yoda, it’s puppet Yoda from the original trilogy and voiced by Frank Oz himself. He still looks and sounds as great as he did when we were first introduced to him back in The Empire Strikes Back and his appearance can be considered to be a plot device for Luke to finally come to the decision to help those he cares about but it is relevant to the concept mentioned earlier about the force. He calls down a lighting bolt which strikes the tree containing the ancient texts written about the force. When Luke questions why Yoda would do such a thing he simple responds by saying (and I’m paraphrasing here) “read those books did you? Page turners they were not.” I loved that line. In short, Yoda is one of my favourite Star Wars characters and it was brilliant to see him again on the big screen. It also debunks the theory that ghosts in this universe can sit down, a question raised after Ben Kenobi’s ghost sat on the log when he was talking to Luke in Return of the Jedi. Not only does Yoda sit down, he also taps Luke on the forehead with his walking stick. It was brilliant.
So that’s my take on the spoilers of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I have to stress that I did love this film more than The Force Awakens and that these problems that others may have had with the film didn’t seem to bother me when I saw it. I feel as though those who are arguing about certain character arcs not being fulfilled or story choices that are made here comes from people feeling unsatisfied that their theories weren’t explored. I like how unconventional it was and it makes me very intrigued about the concluding chapter of this trilogy. Here’s hoping we can go three-for-three. It’s so great to see another brilliant Star Wars film and the future couldn’t be any brighter for this saga.
Cold Coffee Press 