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On its third birthday, I have some thoughts about The Last Jedi, my favorite Star Wars movie of all time. In no particular order, 12 reasons it's my favorite.
1) Throne room fight
This is one of those rare turns in a movie where, even if you read the clues correctly and see it coming before Ben lights the saber and cuts Snoke in half, it still lands a substantial punch.
This is one of those rare turns in a movie where, even if you read the clues correctly and see it coming before Ben lights the saber and cuts Snoke in half, it still lands a substantial punch.
What follows is so beautifully choreographed that it puts itself in the running with the fights at the end of TPM and ROTS as the best lightsaber fight in any Star Wars movie.
2) Holdo maneuver
At every screening I was in for weeks, this moment was a moment of reverence for the audience. The nearly black and white visual is iconic. It’s one of the best events in any Star Wars movie.
At every screening I was in for weeks, this moment was a moment of reverence for the audience. The nearly black and white visual is iconic. It’s one of the best events in any Star Wars movie.
3) Grumpy Luke
I appreciate the evolution of the character from callow farm boy to confident Jedi. Life does not offer straight lines from success to success, and given his failure to reestablish the old Jedi order and losing his nephew, Luke’s destination rings true to me.
I appreciate the evolution of the character from callow farm boy to confident Jedi. Life does not offer straight lines from success to success, and given his failure to reestablish the old Jedi order and losing his nephew, Luke’s destination rings true to me.
Life is hard. It hasn’t offered much kindness to him. His removing himself from the galactic power dynamic and the force feels like a noble sacrifice and his outlook feels real. His being grumpy and recalcitrant just seems like the most natural evolution for the character.
4) End of TFA
A hallmark of Star Wars is the Rashomon-inspired idea that one’s point of view is not the objective truth. We get this both Luke and Ben’s subjective takes on what happened the night Luke’s Jedi temple fell and when we see the moments after the ending of TFA.
A hallmark of Star Wars is the Rashomon-inspired idea that one’s point of view is not the objective truth. We get this both Luke and Ben’s subjective takes on what happened the night Luke’s Jedi temple fell and when we see the moments after the ending of TFA.
Rey’s POV: she walks up hallowed stairs, having overcome fantastic challenges, and approaches her potential mentor and the savior of the Resistance. Luke’s: why the hell is this girl I’ve never seen offering me a lightsaber that I never want to use again in my life? Go away.
5) Canto Bight
One of my moral quandaries about my Star Wars fandom comes from being a pacifist but spending a whole lot of time loving on a series that has a fetish for military hardware and "war" in the title. TLJ’s treatment of the issue feels like a bit of absolution.
One of my moral quandaries about my Star Wars fandom comes from being a pacifist but spending a whole lot of time loving on a series that has a fetish for military hardware and "war" in the title. TLJ’s treatment of the issue feels like a bit of absolution.
In the form of the character DJ, the movie continues the exploration of the fallout of galactic civil war and its impact on the small people of the universe that began in TFA.
The exploration of the military-industrial complex is so sharp and unlikely to appear in a mass-market movie that I marvel it stayed in at all. Having it in a Star Wars movie makes me feel better about the tension between wanting peace but deeply enjoying a series of war movies.
6) Porgs!
I didn’t like Ewoks when ROTJ came out because I was an adolescent male and cuteness offended me. Porgs though? I love ‘em. So much. I see a Porg, I smile. The amount of Porg-related merchandise I own is obscene.
I didn’t like Ewoks when ROTJ came out because I was an adolescent male and cuteness offended me. Porgs though? I love ‘em. So much. I see a Porg, I smile. The amount of Porg-related merchandise I own is obscene.
7) Yoda’s wisdom
“Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery but weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. This is the burden of all masters.”
“Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery but weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. This is the burden of all masters.”
Behind “luminous beings,” these are my two favorite Yoda quotes of all time, and they appear back to back.
8) The climax
You could teach a year-long college course about the structure of the climax of this film. It’s one of the best structured, most exciting climaxes in all of movies and certainly the best in Star Wars.
You could teach a year-long college course about the structure of the climax of this film. It’s one of the best structured, most exciting climaxes in all of movies and certainly the best in Star Wars.
The pacing of the three storylines, the increasing pace of the intercutting among them, and ending with three literal cuts – the Raddus cutting the Supremacy, Ben and Rey splitting the saber, and Rose’s hair being cut by the executioner’s axe. It's pretty much perfect.
9) Duel on Crait
Anger vs. peace. Aggression vs. compassion. Violence vs. pacifism. The storytelling in this fight is so specific and the motivations are crystal clear.
Anger vs. peace. Aggression vs. compassion. Violence vs. pacifism. The storytelling in this fight is so specific and the motivations are crystal clear.
Luke loves his nephew. His greatest regret in life is the fleeting moment where he considered killing him to save the galaxy. He is never more of a Jedi master than the moment where he sacrifices his life to save both his nephew and the Resistance.
And he does it by showing up with a laser sword and facing down the entire First Order. Bonus points for playing completely fair with the reveal that Luke isn’t physically there: the clues are all there but skillfully hidden enough that most only see them in retrospect.
10) Criticism of the Jedi
“The legacy of the Jedi is failure.” Luke’s case for why the Jedi couldn’t detect a Sith Lord in their midst comes from his wide investigation of the force and its place in the universe.
“The legacy of the Jedi is failure.” Luke’s case for why the Jedi couldn’t detect a Sith Lord in their midst comes from his wide investigation of the force and its place in the universe.
In part detailed in the book The Legends of Luke Skywalker, his search to understand the galaxy’s perspective, a more nuanced view that is far beyond what the Jedi teach, coupled with his own failures to reestablish the order...
... lead him to understand that the Jedi order was flawed, myopic, and insular in a way that directly led to the rise of the Empire. I remember the shock of hearing him say in the trailer that it was time for the order to end but hearing him lay out the case is persuasive.
11) Leia on Crait
This shot and the reverse with her silhouetted in the doorway are both haunting.
This shot and the reverse with her silhouetted in the doorway are both haunting.
12) Leia uses the force
It’s a moment every Star Wars fan wondered about. I was resigned to never getting it. I’m so glad we got to see it in a moment of mortal peril for Leia, her training kicking in to save her life and possibly that of the entire Resistance.
It’s a moment every Star Wars fan wondered about. I was resigned to never getting it. I’m so glad we got to see it in a moment of mortal peril for Leia, her training kicking in to save her life and possibly that of the entire Resistance.
Of course Luke trained her. Of course she was strong with the force. I still find this sequence breathtaking.
