The Last Jedi is the Greatest Star Wars Film Ever Made

When Disney bought Lucasfilms and, therefore, the right to produce more Star Wars films, there was genuine excitement. Disney was going to bring in the best, most talented team to launch a new era of Star Wars films, featuring a new Skywalker trilogy, an anthology series, and more. The possibilities were only limited by Disney’s imagination! That’s why I was so disappointed after seeing the first two new Star Wars films. While they’re undoubtedly well-made and thoroughly enjoyable films, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ felt reductive. The former felt like a literal remake of the original trilogy beat for beat, while the latter sometimes felt too referential to the main saga. Then came Rian Johnson’s ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, a film I still can’t believe Disney allowed him to make, due to all the creative risks it took.

For those of you who may have been out of the loop the past two years since ‘The Last Jedi’s’ release, the film was extremely polarizing among fans. It may not be evident upon first glance, especially with the film’s universal critical acclaim, but divisive it was. With most blockbuster flicks, it’s the professional film critics that tend to bash the film, whereas fans tend to approve. Hence why it was so shocking when so many fans flocked to see ‘The Last Jedi’ and left super pissed when the majority of critics approved of the film. What happened? In my view, the negative reception is due to the toxic fan culture that has risen in the Internet Age.

Fan theories are some of the popular discussions happening on the internet. We see it mostly with superhero films since they’re the biggest IPs on the planet right now, but the same issues apply to major franchises like Star Wars. ‘The Force Awakens’ set up a lot of plot points seemingly intended to be revealed in the following installments, such as Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) parentage or Supreme Leader Snoke’s identity. In the two years since that film’s release, fans have spent countless hours theorizing and debating these mysteries. The belief seemed to be “Episodes 8 and 9 must answer these questions for us because we as fans deserve it, therefore we demand it!" Well, writer-director Rian Johnson said “Yeah… fuck all that.” You want to know who’s Rey’s parents are? They’re nobodies! Anyone can be a hero! Who is Snoke? It doesn’t matter, he’s dead now! Focus on the characters that actually matter. These are some of the (many) shocking moments from ‘The Last Jedi’, but they’re not just shocking for shock value’s sake. These are decisions meant to further challenge what a Star Wars film can be.

“Let the past die,” Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) says early on in the film. This could very well be Rian Johnson’s mission statement. Everything you think you know when it comes to what a Star Wars film can be has been thrown out the window. The cocksure, hot-headed hero types like Han Solo and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) are no longer the smartest people in battle; their actions have consequences. Legendary figures like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) have flaws, make grave mistakes, and have to live with them. And missions don’t work out in the end just because our heroes are leading them. The film subverts our expectations because not doing so wouldn’t be rewarding eight films into this series.

“Especially when your job is to make a good movie, and making a good movie means drama, and drama means throwing roadblocks in the way of the easy answers and the expectations. That means in some ways you're going to be butting up against your own instincts as to what you as a fan want. You have to defy wish fulfillment in order to tell a good story — especially to tell a good second act of a story, which is what the middle chapter basically is. It was absolutely something we had to keep in mind,” Johnson tells Vox. From the very beginning, Johnson was going for a more challenging kind of Star Wars film than we’re accustomed to, one that isn’t beholden to fan service.

This is the first Star Wars film to depict the greys in a conflict that’s often displayed as black and white. We see the heavy toll that comes with war. The introductory battle may have been a victory for our hero Poe, but the film puts in effort to show minor characters sacrificing their lives for the cause. We clearly see General Leia (Carrie Fisher) saddened by the casualties, wondering if it was all worth it. The side quest on Canto Bight features people profiting from the never-ending war. Benicio del Toro’s character DJ is introduced as our typical anti-hero, yet his ultimate betrayal is shocking, not because he did something bad, but because we’re so used to the anti-hero types being selfless when the right moment appears.

‘The Force Awakens’, while universally acclaimed by both critics and fans alike, received some backlash from toxic fandom when it came to some of the casting. A female lead? That can’t be right. A Black stormtrooper? Oh hell no! The toxic fandom was too used to its vision of a Star Wars hero - that is, a white dude. Unfortunately for these fans, ‘The Last Jedi’ was even more progressive. I didn’t take the time to look through all of the films, but I’m pretty sure ‘The Last Jedi’ features the most female and POC characters on screen in a Star Wars film. It introduces more unique female characters too, from minor characters like Paige Tico (Veronica Ngo), to major ones like Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern). I mean, how cool is it that a freaking Star Wars film features not one, but two Vietnamese actresses?

Rian Johnson took a four-decades-old franchise and gave us something new and refreshing. I haven’t even mentioned the film’s stunning cinematography by Steve Yedlin, giving us the most beautiful Star Wars films ever. Seriously, I can't believe Disney let him make this kind of Star Wars film, especially considering the studio’s been notoriously hands-on with its other Star Wars productions (see ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, or Colin Trevorrow’s cancelled Star Wars film). Instead of taking the easy route and continuing what ‘The Force Awaken’ established, Rian Johnson propelled the series forward in new and exciting directions. It’s not the Star Wars film fans want, but it is the one we need.