SPOILER DISCUSSION
1.Let me preface this by saying Anakin is my favorite character in the franchise. I’m not done with the Clone Wars yet as of writing this (finishing Season 4), but I absolutely love him. The fact that he does not show up in this movie at all made me fairly upset. Palpatine is his enemy. His arc is tied up with Palpatine. He was literally “The Chosen One.” I’m not mad that Rey beat Palpatine. I’m upset in the way it was done- Anakin’s line to her about bringing balance back to the Force like he did felt hollow to me. How did he bring balance back if Palpatine never died and just existed as some kind of decomposing mecha Sith lord?
Yes I know – he turned back to the Light and helped the Rebels win- but their win didn’t mean much did it? The First Order had come back and had been planning in the shadows the whole time. Then immediately they destroy the New Republic. The organization was run by Snoke – who was apparently controlled/was Palpatine or a proxy of some sort? So in reality, nothing really happened. It just feels disappointing that the “Tragedy of Darth Vader” – the overarching plot-line of the first six episodes- feels so disassociated with this movie and subsequently the trilogy. The worst part is that his inclusion in the film could’ve felt natural without disrupting the importance of Rey and Kylo. Imagine if he showed up in Kylo’s moment with Han as a Force Ghost and gave guidance to his confused Grandson – thereby setting his course straight and rectifying balance in the universe. It would have been amazing to see Kylo react to his hero help him and then choose a better side. (NOTE – I loved the Han scene – I’m just saying there’s missing potential. ) Or imagine him showing up one last time to distract Palpatine during his final confrontation with Rey (think Vegeta shooting Cell during the latter’s last beam blast struggle with Gohan). It would have at least made her winning the fight feel more deserved. Instead she channels a bootleg version of the Avatar Spirit from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Just missed opportunities.
2.The reveal that Rey was Palpatine’s grand-daughter absolutely killed any interest I had in the movie. I was having a good time in spite of the lack of emotional weight and rushed plot , but the moment the reveal came I just felt an immense sense of disappointment followed by a wave of apathy. Literally one of the worst retcons I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing. The attempt at trying to shoehorn in the “alternative” explanation was laughable at best and insulting at worst. To add insult to injury, Leia apparently also knew about this? Really? Like you’re going to drop that on us with literally no foreshadowing or set-up. It honestly just felt like a bad fan fiction moment.
Rey not having any “meaningful” relations in the last movie was one of the BEST aspects of the film. The Force is mythical and chooses to manifest in unique ways – that’s what makes it so appealing. The idea that there could be such a powerful Force user with no meaningful lineage made it feel like anyone could use the Force again. Reverting everything back to the idea of bloodlines literally makes that thought meaningless. Now you can only be powerful if you’re a Skywalker or a Palpatine. It completely undercuts the meaning of The Last Jedi in the worst kind of way, robbing Rey of any nuance. Of course she’s so powerful – she’s a Palpatine!
3. Speaking of Palpatine – what? How did he come back? Why did he not die when he was thrown down by Vader? The film almost seems to make fun of these questions by throwing out “the Dark Side” and “cloning” as though those are sufficient explanations for how the main villain of the previous 6 movies survived a fatal injury.
Even if I was willing to suspend my disbelief on his survival/revival – his broadcast at the beginning of the movie is never explained. Why did he wait so long to reveal himself? Why not just come to Kylo during the Battle of Crait and wipe out all the key players at once with his infinite array of Death Star Destroyers and just wipe everyone out? His inclusion in the story feels contrived and desperate. I wish they had just gone with Kylo as the final villain and explored his relation with Rey as the central conflict of the film instead of being a soft reboot of Episode VI.
However, I have to give credit where it’s due. I loved almost every scene Sheev was in. The call backs to his lines from the prequels were great. I did wish he screamed “Unlimited Power” when he shot out his huge bolt of lightning at the Resistance ships, but the spectacle of that scene had me grinning from ear to ear. I might’ve checked out at the reveal of Rey’s lineage, but I loved how evil and powerful Palpatine was.
4. The Knights of Ren were huge let downs for me. I was hyped to see them the whole time. Instead, we barely see them, and then when they finally become somewhat relevant, Kylo just deals with all of them. They don’t even feel like a real threat and all the build up to them feels like a huge loss of potential.
5. Why did so many of the emotional moments need to be undone? When I thought Chewbacca died, I actually felt something. Then when I saw him alive, I felt betrayed. It’s like the same thing that happened to Poe in Episode VII – a bait and switch. There was no reason for it and having a death like that happen early on would keep the tension and stakes high, especially after the reveal that Rey can force heal creatures. This happens again with C-3PO. What was the point of building up his “disappearance” if R2-D2 literally had a backup of him that resolved most of the damage? It just cheapened the whole moment and made it feel like a joke.
6. Kelly Marie Tran got done dirty in this movie and I feel awful for how Rose was treated. Her and Finn’s relationship at the end of the last episode, despite the inopportune timing, felt cute. Watching Finn dote over her near the end of the movie was touching. Now suddenly he’s all aboard the Rey train? It just feels so out of place – like TLJ Finn never happened. Worst of all Rose goes from relevant to the story to a random side character that barely gets screen time. This felt like pandering to all the hate her character and the Canto Bight arc received and I’m not for it.
7. My biggest issue with the movie is how it betrays a lot of the more nuanced takes on the Dark vs Light side of the Force. The prequels hint that the Jedi Order is corrupt and is only different from the Sith in how they view themselves. Mace Windu’s decision to execute Palpatine and Anakin’s reaction are indicative of that. Luke’s moment of giving into the hate and then backing off in Episode VI , makes this idea even more pronounced. The Dark Side isn’t “bad” as much as it is intoxicating and overpowering. Luke could control it and abstain from letting it fully corrupt him. This moment is why I love Return of the Jedi so much. Furthermore, I’ve been watching the Clone Wars (2008) and have been loving how much further into this discussion its gone. The idea of a gray jedi is interesting and I’ve loved how its stressed that you can never really erase all the light or all the dark from yourself. These are the ideas that I think are interesting and why I love the prequels so much in spite of their mishaps. (These are also only a few of the more poignant examples- literally Qui-Gon’s journey and subsequent decisions are a result of him understanding the Taoist nature of the Force).
This is also why I loved The Last Jedi so much. Kylo kills his father in cold blood but chooses to spare his mother- why? There’s a light that can’t be extinguished and a sense of confusion. Rey instinctively chooses to go to the dark side, but there’s never a real sense of malice about her- just a desire to know more. Luke gives into his fear momentarily, just like he did in Episode VI, but he doesn’t get a chance to “take it back” and is forced to deal with the consequences and shame he feels at his lack of discipline. Everything so far seemed to be leading up to the dissolution of the Jedi/Sith Dichotomy. Yoda even burns the old texts indicating that old prejudice and dogma should be cast aside in favor of a new approach.
Everything up till this has been hinting at the dissolution of the dichotomy- Sith and Jedi don’t matter as much as intention and use of aspects of the Force. Instead of expanding on and going that direction, we get a rehashed good vs bad story. Nuance and subtlety is thrown out of the window in favor of a simple “objective” morality. Not only is this approach boring- it fails to build up on the abundance of plot threads present in the franchise that could have allowed for an intricate and complex finale. It just feels like a shame.