Master of Disguise
Banned
I'm not really a fan of The Last Jedi as a movie overall, but it's the only film in the Sequel Trilogy that displays any kind of understanding of the underlying themes of Star Wars around non-violence, the path of the Jedi, and so on. It understands Star Wars in a way that the JJ Abrams movies simply don't. Those movies are a childish imitation of Star Wars by someone who only really cared about the pew pew, lightsabers, and X-Wings. The way the film is shot does have a sense of artistry to it, a sense of slowness and thoughtfulness that calls to mind Lucas's work. It's a deconstruction of TFA just as Lucas himself deconstructed the idealized vision of the Jedi presented in the OT. Yes, the film's best scenes are basically retreads of scenes from Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones. But they don't come across as "let's just slap the imagery onscreen with no regard for theme or context" the way TFA and TROS did.
TROS straight up pisses all over Lucas's advocacy of non-violence and personal sacrifice that is baked into the DNA of Star Wars as a series. Luke overcomes the Emperor because he lays down his weapon. The message of Star Wars that was firmly cemented across the six Lucas films was "don't kill people, and be compassionate". TROS teaches that the path to victory is using two lightsabers to kill the bad guy instead of one.
TFA is a hollow fan-service-fest where the MF is just sitting off to the left of the camera with the space keys in the space ignition. It is purified memberberries. It is the worst kind of pandering to OT Star Wars fans that rode a massive wave of hype, selling them a hollow imitation of something that once had social/political meaning behind it. Lucas intended children to watch Star Wars and come away thinking about the temptation of power and how doing the right thing is hard. Terribly hard.
The thing that is so brilliant about Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi is that Luke stood strong in the face of death. He was afraid, but he refused the temptation to give in. In Revenge of the Sith, in this scene's mirror image, Anakin is afraid, and at the moment of truth, his fear consumes him. He mixes up fear and control and love and cannot see the path of the Jedi. So he makes a terrible decision because he is ruled by fear of loss, his weakness since childhood.
The issue with TLJ is that I don't think the film did a good enough job conveying what had gone wrong with Luke. I think that it does an okay job if you sit down with it, but it needed some fleshing out to help audiences understanding that Luke cracks. Just a little bit. He would never have harmed Ben. But in that one moment, the fear worms in, and his lights his saber. He lets fear control him, just for a moment. Just like it did Anakin. Just like it almost did him. And his moment of fear is misinterpreted as hate, and everything snowball from there by a frightened Ben. Again, fear. Ben is driven by fear. Fear that he isn't good enough. Fear that he's a poser in a mask. Fear that he has done the wrong thing and damned himself.
There's some really good stuff there, and I think Star Wars 9 had an opportunity to take these developing threads and weave them into a finale rivaling Revenge of the Sith. A compelling character driven movie that leaves a permanent impact. Instead we got a wet fart in TROS that feels like a bad Marvel movie instead.
TROS straight up pisses all over Lucas's advocacy of non-violence and personal sacrifice that is baked into the DNA of Star Wars as a series. Luke overcomes the Emperor because he lays down his weapon. The message of Star Wars that was firmly cemented across the six Lucas films was "don't kill people, and be compassionate". TROS teaches that the path to victory is using two lightsabers to kill the bad guy instead of one.
TFA is a hollow fan-service-fest where the MF is just sitting off to the left of the camera with the space keys in the space ignition. It is purified memberberries. It is the worst kind of pandering to OT Star Wars fans that rode a massive wave of hype, selling them a hollow imitation of something that once had social/political meaning behind it. Lucas intended children to watch Star Wars and come away thinking about the temptation of power and how doing the right thing is hard. Terribly hard.
The thing that is so brilliant about Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi is that Luke stood strong in the face of death. He was afraid, but he refused the temptation to give in. In Revenge of the Sith, in this scene's mirror image, Anakin is afraid, and at the moment of truth, his fear consumes him. He mixes up fear and control and love and cannot see the path of the Jedi. So he makes a terrible decision because he is ruled by fear of loss, his weakness since childhood.
The issue with TLJ is that I don't think the film did a good enough job conveying what had gone wrong with Luke. I think that it does an okay job if you sit down with it, but it needed some fleshing out to help audiences understanding that Luke cracks. Just a little bit. He would never have harmed Ben. But in that one moment, the fear worms in, and his lights his saber. He lets fear control him, just for a moment. Just like it did Anakin. Just like it almost did him. And his moment of fear is misinterpreted as hate, and everything snowball from there by a frightened Ben. Again, fear. Ben is driven by fear. Fear that he isn't good enough. Fear that he's a poser in a mask. Fear that he has done the wrong thing and damned himself.
There's some really good stuff there, and I think Star Wars 9 had an opportunity to take these developing threads and weave them into a finale rivaling Revenge of the Sith. A compelling character driven movie that leaves a permanent impact. Instead we got a wet fart in TROS that feels like a bad Marvel movie instead.
