Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, despite near universal critical acclaim and insane box office results, has still had its share of detractors. The conversation on social media over the weekend pointed out quite a few issues fans had with the series: Why didn't Laura Dern just tell Poe her plan? What was the point of Finn's story line? Why didn't Luke actually train Rey? How in the world did Leia float through space like Mary Poppins? I could go on. And while several of these complaints are valid, I found TLJ to be an engrossing Star Wars film that actually had something new to say, a feat that The Force Awakens and Rogue One did not accomplish. There were still the callbacks and nostalgia that comes with the territory of a Star Wars movie in 2017, but I felt that the twists and turns as well as the new additions to the Star Wars mythos elevated my interest level. This time it wasn't like poetry- it did not rhyme (as much anyway).
Some of the new additions to the force mythology included: Leia's ability to return to the ship while being suspended in space, the location of the original Jedi temple, the fact that the Jedi had ancient texts that they self-describe as religious, the ability to project an apparition of yourself, Rey and Kylo's ability to commune using the force, the expansion on the concept of having evil and good at the same time, and more. Here's a list of what The Force Awakens added: umm nothing? Pretty much everything in it regarding the force has been established in previous films. Which was fine for that movie, but if its follow up offered nothing new, the grace we gave the reboot would not have been as kind.
Poe and Finn's story line was kind of stupid, I'll give you that. A lot of their motivations and actions could have been resolved with a quick scene of dialogue between them and Laura Dern. But I applaud director/writer Rian Johnson for where he took these characters as far as their story arcs. Poe was introduced (and to a lesser extent Finn) as the "new Han Solo". Cocky, funny, and quick to make rash decisions. Finn and Poe fail several times in this film, and miserably. It didn't feel good in the moment to learn that Finn and Rose's mission was a failure, or that Poe's decision to attack the ship in the (amazing) opening sequence led to some unnecessary loss of life (quick note on the criticism that you can't drop bombs in space because there's no gravity- there's no fiery explosions in space either because of the lack of oxygen, but Star Wars has had those since the beginning. Star Wars has always been much more fantasy than science fiction). However difficult these moments of failure are, Finn and Poe learn more about their place in the rebellion and why being the "handsome hero" is not always the path that leads to victory. This a different arc than we've really ever had in Star Wars, which is why I think people are initially hesitant to it.
Continued criticism was lobbied at the revealed backstory of two Jedi characters- or in one case, the lack thereof. Rey was revealed to not have any important heritage. Snoke didn't get much of an explanation at all. Director Rian Johnson has explained why he made this choice, and I see his point. Having Snoke and Kylo Ren work together just echoes Return of the Jedi, which is a movie all of us have already seen countless times. Kylo is the much more interesting character and having him kill Snoke but retain his "evil" intentions retains some mystery for his character in Episode IX. We may never know where he came from or who he is, but this trilogy is about Rey and Kylo Ren, not Snoke. In RotJ I didn't necessarily need to know how the emperor rose to power. I just knew he was pure evil and a great villain. The prequels expounded upon this and gave the emperor a backstory but that was pretty extraneous. I didn't walk out wanting to know more about Snoke, but couldn't wait to learn more about Kylo and Rey.
There were some plot holes (see above), cheesy moments (shoe-horning in some class warfare/animal cruelty stuff on the casino world), and awkward dialogue. But my biggest fears were not realized. With Force Awakens being essentially a remake of A New Hope, I was terrified that TLJ would just mirror The Empire Strikes Back. Not the case. Time will tell, but I believe this film will age better than both The Force Awakens and Rogue One because it took some risks. "Epic" and "classic" films achieve that status based upon audience feeling, and reliance upon nostalgia cannot create these feelings- at least the ones that last.
