The Last Jedi broke a lot of new ground for the Star Wars franchise.
It gave Luke Skywalker his first speaking role in the saga since 1983 and, perhaps most
importantly, brought fans closer to watching Chewbacca eat a comic relief alien than they
ever dreamed possible.
And while The Last Jedi really was a great movie, there are still a few points that we
couldn't quite wrap our heads around.
Sore losers
From the very start, George Lucas has credited Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand
Faces as his inspiration for the Star Wars mythos.
Campbell's book outlines the basic story structure of most heroic journeys in Western culture,
and told us why we always end up rooting for the protagonists.
In one word: tenacity.
But if that's what we like in our good guys, why do we keep rooting for the Jedi?
Luke tried to become a Jedi — and succeeded.
He also tried to blow up the Death Star — and he did that, too.
Then he tried to teach a new generation of Jedi, and it went so badly he flipped the
table and rage quit polite society.
What's likable about a hero who only keeps trying when he's always winning?
We've seen this before, of course, when Yoda couldn't beat the Emperor on the first go
and subsequently sulked off to live in a swamp for a few decades.
"Do or do not, there is no try" might make for a great inspirational poster, but in practice,
it's pretty fatalist and kind of whiny.
At least Yoda learned something in the end.
Forcing it
The Force: if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Nobody'd ever be able to find the droids they were looking for, the Mos Eisley cantina would
have padded walls for all the telekinetic bar fights, and Skee-Ball would become infinitely
easier.
Sadly, it’s not the case that everyone can use it, and even the most sensitive Force
user needs intense training to harness their slick menagerie of space wizard powers.
You've gotta have a teacher if you're gonna use the Force.
Rey needed Luke.
Luke needed Yoda and Obi-Wan.
Leia needed, well, apparently Leia just needed a good kick into gear.
We get it.
We love Carrie Fisher, too.
She was amazing.
But it seems weird that all it took was a little jeopardy to suddenly become a vacuum-traversing
flesh-based escape pod.
“That’s not how the Force work."
A hollow victory
Of the complaints fans had about The Last Jedi, one reigned supreme: Canto Bight.
But there was one aspect of this portion of the film that stands out as especially jarring
if you give it a few seconds' consideration.
Rose and Finn, looking for a way out of the city, climb onto a horse-like creature called
a fathier and make good their escape.
Rose is positively delighted that she and Finn managed to set the beasts loose and help
them to freedom.
But how did they do it?
By taking them 30 seconds outside town.
Unfortunately, the film makes a point of explaining that these animals are owned and abused by
the ultra-rich.
Freeing them would be like riding Seabiscuit into the parking lot of the race track, declaring
him free forever and then climbing into your sedan and driving away.
If you think there isn't going to be a search party herding those camel cats back home inside
of fifteen minutes, you're living in a science fantasy world.
Masters of disguise
Everybody loves a good disguise sequence, and Star Wars is no exception.
Luke and Han did it.
Lando and Leia did it.
Even Jyn and Cassian gave it a go.
But there are some times when it just doesn't work.
Towards the end of The Last Jedi, Rose, Finn, BB-8, and DJ infiltrate Snoke’s Star Destroyer,
the Supremacy.
Their first move is to disguise themselves by donning the uniforms of the First Order’s
military officers.
So far so good, right?
Well, considering these would be the first racially diverse First Order officers we’ve
seen so far in the saga — and considering Finn is still on the organization’s Most
Wanted list — choosing disguises without masks or helmets might not have been a fantastic
idea.
It’s just a shame there weren’t any outfits nearby which are, say, notorious for covering
the faces of the wearer.
“Boring conversation anyway."