This is my third such piece, and I have to say that, immediately after writing a review from which I must withhold spoilers, it is incredibly cathartic to just express my thoughts on all the twists and turns that usually characterize big blockbusters. It'd be nice if people shared their comments and views as well, but writing the piece itself is fulfilling enough.
Such is the case with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which, honestly, really just features several different variations on one specific twist: almost no one's plans work out the way they want.
The Resistance's plan to escape doesn't quite work out, Finn's and Rose's plan to take out the First Order's tracking device doesn't work out, Snoke's plan to wipe out the Jedi doesn't work out, Rey's plan to turn Kylo Ren back to the light doesn't work out, and Kylo Ren's plan to turn Rey to the dark side and stamp out the Resistance doesn't work out either. What makes Johnson's storytelling so unique is that he actively makes it a point to subvert expectations, and he virtually telegraphs his intent when Luke Skywalker blurts out the line "this is not going to go the way you think!" Johnson recognizes, especially in the wake of the backlash against the first Star Wars sequel in over ten years, that the franchise was in dire need of some serious shakeups, and whatever one thinks of his approach, one cannot deny that for the most part, he's trying something different. I know this new approach to telling stories in the Star Wars Universe hasn't gone over well with everyone; the film currently has a 57% or "rotten" user rating over on the controversial review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and at least one person I know says this movie makes him actually appreciate George Lucas' prequels. While that last statement made me throw up in my mouth a little, part of me does understand where this antipathy is coming from.
As a cultural touchstone, the Star Wars films, at least the original trilogy of films and the volumes of comic books and novels that they spawned between the 70s and the 90s, have left such an impression on the collective consciousness that they're basically the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. It's hard to mess with a recipe that everyone knows, like KFC's 11 herbs and spices or the Big Mac's special sauce, as no less than Star Wars creator George Lucas learned to the detriment of his reputation when he did the prequel trilogy at around the turn of the millennium. I suspect this is also why legendary producer Kathleen Kennedy, who is to the new Star Wars Universe what Kevin Feige is to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has kept all of her directors on a very short leash and has fired no fewer than FOUR directors from various Star Wars projects. If the stories are true, Kennedy rules the SWU with an iron fist that makes Feige's creative muscle-flexing over the MCU directors and writers seem absolutely limp-wristed. The bottom line is that messing with the formula can be a fatal mistake, which makes the fact that Rian Johnson's vision even saw the light of day a miracle of some sort.
For me, some of the attempts to subvert convention didn't work, but fortunately, most of them did. Johnson asked and answered one of the simplest questions that could be asked in the franchise: what if those crazy, virtually impossible plans the rebels are always hatching actually go awry? It also asks and answers the question: how far will the rebels go when their backs are absolutely against the wall, with a powerfully visceral moment that features Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Holdo making the supreme sacrifice to save the fleeing Resistance members.
Speaking of characters' swan songs, my hat goes off to Rian Johnson for giving Luke Skywalker a properly epic sendoff, as his confrontation with Kylo Ren and the First Order forces on the planet Crait, while brief, is utterly thrilling. Essentially, Luke saves the day, after all of the plans and ideas of the various characters have fallen by the wayside. It really was brilliant; having just successfully deceived Kylo Ren into thinking he was actually right in front of him when he was just projecting his consciousness all the way from Ahch-To, Luke has scored an unqualified victory, and his act of fading away while sitting still, amid a glorious sunset paying homage to his moment in Episode IV was a perfect ending for this character, especially when Rey describes his passing as a peaceful one. I'm sure hardcore Star Wars geeks picked up on the nature of Luke's appearance much sooner than we casual fans did, with Luke having cleaned up and everything, but for me, even knowing what was going on would have taken nothing away from the moment. So Johnson continues Abrams' tradition of killing off OT characters, but at least he does it with considerably more panache.
Now, regarding Luke's successor, Rey, there was something distinctly gratifying about the revelation that she is not in any way related to Skywalker, Kenobi or any other family that has left its stamp on this universe, and that her parents are so anonymous they're never even named but are described only as "junkers." Kylo Ren may have been a clear-cut bad guy by the film's end, but he was right in declaring that the overarching story needs new blood and that all of the old things need to be washed away, which is somewhat ironic considering his own heritage. Also, having Rey finally meet up with Luke and learn about the Force from him made her act of saving the day by clearing away the boulders all the more satisfying in a way that her curiously out-of-the-blue lightsaber fight with Kylo Ren at the climax of the first film simply wasn't. To me it felt more like she'd "earned" her hero moment this time around.
Also, it was deeply satisfying that the "evil emperor" wannabe Snoke was handily dispatched in this film, and that all of the protagonists, going into the last movie of this new trilogy, are in no way related to any of the Skywalkers. I also found it interesting that the entirety of the new iteration of the Rebel Alliance could basically fit in the Millennium Falcon. These are exciting new times.
Finally, I confess I have mixed feelings about Finn's and Rose's doomed mission to Canto Bight, the casino planet. Rian Johnson takes the opportunity to talk about social inequity by showing audiences a planet full of opulence and decadence, where people who have no problem selling weapons to both sides of the conflict go to spend their blood money. It's a wonderful conversation to start having, and it helps that the characters in it, Finn, Rose and even Benicio del Toro's DJ, are all persons of color. Elements like this are the driving force behind wars in the real world, not hopelessly broad concepts like "good" and "evil." The movie takes on a fascinating new complexion at this juncture. My problem with this, however, is, that this is a conversation that deserves its own full-length film, one that repaints the entire new trilogy in a shade of grey, the way Rogue One did for the original trilogy, with its decidedly more realistic look at the sort of things insurgents often do. All we get, unfortunately, is a subplot that bloats the film's running time, complete with a tacked-on romance, which feels all the more ridiculous considering that by the end of the movie, Rose has only known Finn for less than a day. I did like that Johnson gave some closure (or appeared to give closure) to Finn's arc with his former boss, Captain Phasma.
The very end of the movie, though, with the stable boy on Canto Bight showing the ability to manipulate the Force, however, shows that Rian Johnson is not done exploring his 'haves and have nots' concept. I hope Disney isn't, either.
The bottom line for me is that, even though not all of the notions brought forward by Johnson work, this series, now 40 years old, needs new ideas if it's going to stay relevant past Episode IX, especially considering a new trilogy is planned. This movie makes a strong argument that Rian Johnson is just the man to bring those ideas to life.
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