The Last Jedi has a real problem in acknowledging itself as a sequel. At every turn, the script introduces new characters, thereby leaving behind everyone else. The trouble with this approach is that it overwhelms the script with people and new backstories we now have to fish out, and doesn't add much to established characters' stories and arcs. I would argue this is the greatest reason so many fans dislike the film - there seems little point in introducing characters in The Force Awakens when their potential is all but squandered in the film's sequel.
 |
| Is Chewie judging you? Why yes, yes he is. |
The Knights of Ren, shown as evil and menacing in Rey's vision in the first film, are not even mentioned in the film; Captain Phasma, such an enigmatic figure who has captured all our imaginations is brought back for two scenes, only to be killed off unceremoniously. I really hope she's the Boba Fett of this trilogy and keeps popping up when we least expect her.
Here's the thing about Phasma: she and Finn get a wonderful, albeit brief, fight scene that is both breath-taking and raw. Finn's vitriolic hate for Phasma is evident in his every expression and movement when she is in his vicinity - would part two of this trilogy not have been the perfect place to build on the reason behind this hate? What kind of Commander was Phasma that her presence terrifies Finn? He seems to be suffering from PTSD, but why? We need to know!
The Force Awakens was an introduction to many of the characters and hinted at their past suffering and triumphs. But, the whole point of the sequel was to eke those out. If Abrams had written a self-contained story like Rogue One we wouldn't still be wondering why Finn and Rey are drawn to each other, or what the significance of the Knights of Ren is. That's why we have a trilogy. But there's no follow-through in this film, because Johnson seems interested in creating a brand new universe, and hence only begrudgingly includes the characters he absolutely must.
via GIPHY
The Force Awakens was an introduction to many of the characters and hinted at their past suffering and triumphs. But, the whole point of the sequel was to eke those out. If Abrams had written a self-contained story like Rogue One we wouldn't still be wondering why Finn and Rey are drawn to each other, or what the significance of the Knights of Ren is. That's why we have a trilogy. But there's no follow-through in this film, because Johnson seems interested in creating a brand new universe, and hence only begrudgingly includes the characters he absolutely must.
It astounds me that critics have brushed off how quickly Snoke is dispatched in this film. Their argument has been that fans have obsessed about this character, and well, haha, now he's gone, you losers. Uh... I am certain every critic on the planet called out the Marvel films for not assembling the Avengers for the world-ending antics of the villains in Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 3; why isn't there a similar criticism for this film? There are important questions we have about Snoke, not least that a being powerful enough with the Force to have created - or at least aided in the creation - of the galaxy-threatening First Order, should be of some significance. He needn't be the next Palpatine, but how can such a threat be neutralised in one fell swoop? We may never know how he missed Kylo's betrayal, but were it just one of a handful of plot holes, we could have forgiven it. But it isn't.
 |
| The Supreme Leader is dead; Long Live the Supreme Leader |
By not building on the source material, the film often doesn't make sense. For one, the fate of the galaxy is at the mercy of two 30-year-olds? Ren and General Hux are shown as rivals for Snoke's praise, but that is only touched upon in this film. Hux and Kylo don't get many scenes together in this film, and that is a loss to the film - them riffing off each other was a highlight in The Force Awakens.
Ren and Hux, and their mostly amusing battle to best each other just doesn't seem scary enough for fighters of Leia and Luke's calibre. These guys have fought Vader and won, they beat Palpatine; what are two bickering kids going to do against these galaxy-saviours? It just comes across as silly, which is why a menace like Snoke would have balanced out the immaturity of these two characters.
Our main cast suffer plenty too. Finn comes out mostly unscathed from Johnson's writing. He is still a good person with a heart of gold, constantly looking out for the best in people. John Boyega obviously loves this character, and he does a wonderful job as Finn.
The trouble with the writing of this film is that the narrative goes through the same beats over and over again. I would call this the creator's unoriginal imagination, but that appears to be at odds with everyone's insistence that this film is innovative. Finn nearly dies five or six times over the course of the film - that is just way too many close calls in the span of 18 hours. Like, at what point would any normal person/ character just say 'I give up, kill me already'?
The trouble with the writing of this film is that the narrative goes through the same beats over and over again. I would call this the creator's unoriginal imagination, but that appears to be at odds with everyone's insistence that this film is innovative. Finn nearly dies five or six times over the course of the film - that is just way too many close calls in the span of 18 hours. Like, at what point would any normal person/ character just say 'I give up, kill me already'?
| Should have just stayed in the bacta-tank |
The writing is particularly poor when it comes to Rey. She is introduced as a powerful Force user, and at the end of The Force Awakens we see her meet the last living Jedi master, assuming her offering of his lightsaber is a call to come back to the Force and train her to be the next hope for the galaxy.
The Rey we get in The Last Jedi is obsessed with finding out the truth about her heritage, and is suddenly all-forgiving of Kylo Ren. Admittedly, the message, hammered home to us by analysts rather than the film itself, is that Rey doesn't need a legacy to be the hero of her own story, and that is what her ultimate decisions (and apparently her Force vision) tell her and the audience. That is the best character arc for her, if only the writer had emphasised that aspect instead of having her cry during every encounter with Kylo. Give her more substance than being reactive to everyone and everything around her.
So, let's talk about Poe Dameron. Poe is the reason why I feel Johnson doesn't understand Star Wars, doesn't understand he was writing a sequel, and simply doesn't care.
Poe is Leia's right-hand man, her best pilot and perhaps a confidante. She has immense faith in him, as he is the one sent to collect the vital missing piece of the map to Luke in The Force Awakens. Poe idolises Leia, and you can see their comfortable camaraderie in their brief scenes together in the previous film.
The Poe in The Last Jedi is a brash, arrogant, fool-hardy SOB, who has serious issues with authority, is an agitator and a general idiot who causes so many casualties, the Resistance is practically wiped out. How can we believe one of the heroes from the original trilogy would have faith in a man who can't even organise an attack formation that takes into account the possible trajectory of flying debris? Poe's stupidity kills all the Resistance bombers - tens of lives destroyed because he couldn't take no for an answer. This is not the Poe we signed up for.
Then, once Leia's finished re-enacting Mary Poppins (I'm not going to think of that stupid scene, I knew from that moment on the film was going downhill), Laura Dern's Holdo takes over. She makes some simpering speech - another derivative attempt to capture Mon Mothma's presence in Return of the Jedi and immediately gets to work, only for Poe to get all up in her face about what the situation is, what the plan is, etc.Poe is Leia's right-hand man, her best pilot and perhaps a confidante. She has immense faith in him, as he is the one sent to collect the vital missing piece of the map to Luke in The Force Awakens. Poe idolises Leia, and you can see their comfortable camaraderie in their brief scenes together in the previous film.
The Poe in The Last Jedi is a brash, arrogant, fool-hardy SOB, who has serious issues with authority, is an agitator and a general idiot who causes so many casualties, the Resistance is practically wiped out. How can we believe one of the heroes from the original trilogy would have faith in a man who can't even organise an attack formation that takes into account the possible trajectory of flying debris? Poe's stupidity kills all the Resistance bombers - tens of lives destroyed because he couldn't take no for an answer. This is not the Poe we signed up for.
| Hey Mr Johnson, the fandom called, we want our Poe back |
Honestly, this is such a poorly contrived attempt at creating friction between a current character and a new one. Why couldn't Holdo have been a hero in her own right without having to negate all that was great about Poe? Oscar Isaac has been saddled with so many bad guy roles; Poe was supposed to be something different. For once, Star Wars has multiple female and POC characters, but Johnson and Disney keep doing their best to reduce their significance by making them act out of character. People keep talking about Poe's toxic masculinity - we don't need any more toxic masculinity in Star Wars or our entertainment and we certainly don't need it in a character who is a good guy and a hero.
Ideally, the story shouldn't have put Leia out of commission, because we didn't need Holdo. If Holdo were to take over in Leia's place, now that we no longer have Carrie Fisher with us, I would have understood her inclusion. But she is added to simply tick the diversity box, and is then killed off part way through the film. Her sacrifice is a stellar scene that will remain in my mind forever. That kind of devious intelligence and cinematography is what we go to Star Wars films for - why couldn't all of the film have been that smart?
 |
| Holdo - as sacrifices go, hers was memorable! |
Back to Holdo - in the hands of a better writer, a) Poe's arrogance wouldn't have killed the Resistance bombers; he and the team would have been heading back on Leia's command, only for the evil First Order to play dirty and start attacking, and that would have led to heavy losses. This would have weighed heavily on Poe, who would then have suggested - along with Finn - that while the fleet is running low on fuel and Holdo is continuing with her secret mission, they could try and disable Hux's Dreadnought. Holdo could have given them the green light to go on this separate mission as it may enhance their chances of survival. Finn thinks of Maz Kanata (after all, Poe doesn't know who Maz is, so how come he contacts her in The Last Jedi and why would she even respond to this stranger?) as their best chance to break into a First Order Dreadnought, they go to Canto Bight, things go south, and despite their best efforts, they get captured, then save themselves, but the First Order still finds out about Crait and opens fire, and the third act could possibly continue in the same vein.
The trouble with Poe and Finn being the causes of so many mess ups in this film is that they no longer remain heroes. Finn is less to blame, since Poe is the seasoned officer and should know better. But, the film writes Poe as nothing more than arrogant with little remorse for what he has done, and well, I seriously can't get behind that. The Nerdist analyses this failure very well in this article. After all that he has done, to give Poe the line about being 'the spark that lights the fire of the Resistance' makes me want to punch him in the face. Enough lighting of fires, idiot. Just sit in the brig!
I love Poe Dameron; he deserved so much better. So did the fans. Making a mistake that leads to damage or some casualties can be forgiven if the character rightfully suffers (see: Diego Luna's Cassian Andor in Rogue One, who looks sick with guilt every time he has to kill or is ordered to kill - that was a good instance of character-building). Here, there is no redeeming Poe in my eyes. I firmly believe his character will be killed off in the next film - honestly, that will suck, though.
via GIPHY
I love Poe Dameron; he deserved so much better. So did the fans. Making a mistake that leads to damage or some casualties can be forgiven if the character rightfully suffers (see: Diego Luna's Cassian Andor in Rogue One, who looks sick with guilt every time he has to kill or is ordered to kill - that was a good instance of character-building). Here, there is no redeeming Poe in my eyes. I firmly believe his character will be killed off in the next film - honestly, that will suck, though.
I haven't ignored Rose Tico, I am just struggling to understand this character. Tran was cast before The Force Awakens was released, so I am not sure what the plan for her arc was at the time, but I am certain it was not to end the film almost sacrificing her life and kissing Finn. As I said, everyone keeps doing the same things over and over again in this film, and sacrificing one's self is high on the writing tics. She is, undoubtedly brave, kind and good, but, do we really need her?
By the end of the film, it felt like Rose was added to the cast with the direct intention of splitting up Poe and Finn. She doesn't have the greatest story arc as it is. She is introduced to us weeping on her own (red alert!) and is then swept into Finn and Poe's plan and therefore aids in the death of countless members of the Resistance. She is supposed to be the heart of the story - telling us through expositional dialogue that this galaxy is a bad place. Her 'heart' takes time out of their time-sensitive mission to free the space-horses, and because neither she nor Finn bothered to look up the parking rules on Canto Bight, they get arrested and grab the wrong Codebreaker, who leads the Resistance to their deaths.
Honestly, why is this character even here? I hate hating on Rose, because Tran obviously loves being in Star Wars (who the hell wouldn't?) and Rose is a lovely character. She just doesn't have enough substance or an arc that doesn't enable the male characters around her. Honestly, most of the female characters in this film have a similar problem, but it bothers me with Rose because she feels superfluous. So many women in one film, and The Last Jedi still doesn't pass the Bechdel test.
 |
| A Rose between two thorns |
By the end of the film, it felt like Rose was added to the cast with the direct intention of splitting up Poe and Finn. She doesn't have the greatest story arc as it is. She is introduced to us weeping on her own (red alert!) and is then swept into Finn and Poe's plan and therefore aids in the death of countless members of the Resistance. She is supposed to be the heart of the story - telling us through expositional dialogue that this galaxy is a bad place. Her 'heart' takes time out of their time-sensitive mission to free the space-horses, and because neither she nor Finn bothered to look up the parking rules on Canto Bight, they get arrested and grab the wrong Codebreaker, who leads the Resistance to their deaths.
Honestly, why is this character even here? I hate hating on Rose, because Tran obviously loves being in Star Wars (who the hell wouldn't?) and Rose is a lovely character. She just doesn't have enough substance or an arc that doesn't enable the male characters around her. Honestly, most of the female characters in this film have a similar problem, but it bothers me with Rose because she feels superfluous. So many women in one film, and The Last Jedi still doesn't pass the Bechdel test.
Also, and this irks me, by insisting on Rose and Finn being on a mission together, Poe has nothing to do for the majority of the film. For all you know, he started the mutiny because he was so bored. He and Finn could and should have been on the Canto Bight mission together, the only reason they weren't is because of #Stormpilot.
Comments