Star Wars: State of the Union, Pt. 2

In case there was any mystery about it (but probably not), I've loved everything Star Wars since before my age reached double digits.  I grew up with the Original Trilogy, and then the first round of Special Edition releases on VHS -- the ones with those 30+ minute George Lucas documentaries that were, for some self-egrandizing reason, placed BEFORE the feature film.  I've faithfully followed EU content since I found Michael Stackpole's The Bacta War (the fourth X-Wing novel) in 1997 while walking through a random book store with my dad, and my mind was completely blown that there were MORE STAR WARS STORIES than just what was on film.  I suffered through the prequels when they were released with some enormous internal love/hate conflict, because a) MORE STAR WARS STORIES, but because b) bad acting and poor retconning.  And the same could be said of my current predicament with Episodes VII and VIII: a) MORE STAR WARS STORIES, but b) not at all what I'd dared to hope for.

Those of us who come from decades of EU fandom are probably at a huge disadvantage compared to those who are new fans, or those who never delved into that treasury.  Viewing these new movies with a more or less blank slate for post-ROTJ material is definitely a leg-up toward appreciating the new direction of the franchise.  And even with my scruples, there's lots of stuff to like about these new movies.  Granted, I had a lot less to complain about with The Force Awakens than I have with The Last Jedi, but for the most part, I've ridden the wave of excitement surrounding all of the new and upcoming Star Wars films.

Why?  Because I've loved everything Star Wars since before my age reached double digits.

That said, what I forgot is that -- in this day and age -- you're not allowed to hold a critical opinion or you're automatically intolerant and shortsighted (even if you love the very thing you criticize).  And you're especially not allowed to be critical of anything touting itself as progressive, and TLJ makes no bones about its attempt to radically challenge the established "rules" and tropes of a 40-year-old franchise.  I'm exceptionally critical of TLJ because I think it was radical simply for the sake of being radical (my thoughts on the movie itself here).  But I'm also exceptionally critical because I've loved everything Star Wars since before my age reached double digits, and when you love something, you truly want it to be the best it can possibly be.  Unfortunately, the modern mindset can't comprehend how you can possibly say anything negative about anything deemed to be progress.

In that regard, this followup post really isn't about Star Wars movies.  It's about Star Wars fandom.  And I wouldn't feel the need to bring up the issue, except that media everywhere and even voices from within the franchise itself have backlashed against the backlash against TLJ (did you follow that sentence?).  Fandom itself has been on trial in the weeks following the release of TLJ, because people no longer know how to disagree about things without drawing battle lines -- not even when it pertains to space operas about space wizards and laser swords.  Joanna Robinson put it best in this great Vanity Fair article about the same topic: "We are, these days, a culture of extremes."  Therefore, it's become virtually impossible for any kind of disagreement to be cordial.  That's why articles upon articles are being published, and even the Alt-Right has been brought into the conversation about maliciously impacting reviews.  A strong variety of passive aggressive memes are right now being rampantly shared by official pages and fans alike, criticizing the fanbase for claiming The Force Awakens was too much like the original trilogy, and then claiming The Last Jedi wasn't like them enough.  In other words, casting the filmmakers and writers as victims: "They've done what you wanted, what more do you want?"

There will never be a perfect conclusion to this trilogy.  I don't say that because I'm a crotchety EU fanboy, but because there is realistically no way any filmmaker can touch any kind of original material by addding onto it or changing it in some way, and not expect somebody somewhere to have contrary opinions.  Not with the amount of time that has passed between the release of ROTJ and today, a time period in which so many stories and theories and ideas have become entrenched, and not everyone is capable of letting their imagination go so easily.

And to retreat to my intial point, that SHOULD be okay.  We should all be allowed to have our own opinions and disagree on which movie is the best in the Star Wars universe without being cast as ungrateful children.  I'm not sure why the fanbase (or subsets of the fanbase) should be labeled fickle for disliking the direction a particular franchise film went, especially when -- by virtue of writing more stories -- you are narrowing the scope of the myth and the mystery surrounding a story by locking it into a defined narrative with defined events and defined results.  If you write the followup story, you inveitably take away theories and possibilities and cast the older material in new light.  That is inevitably going to irritate some people who feel as though well enough should have been left alone, while simultaneously catapulting other people with fewer preconceived notions into new heights of imagination.  The novels did the same thing back in 1978 when Alan Dean Foster's Splinter in the Mind's Eye first hit the shelves; Lucas' prequel trilogy did it again with The Phantom Menace in 1999; the Disney franchise is treading the same lonely paths of mixed reviews with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

When you love something, you want it to be the best it can be.  As someone who's loved everything Star Wars since before his age reached double digits, and as someone who enjoyed TFA but particularly disliked TLJ (maybe -- maybe -- almost as much as Attack of the Clones), I've also REALLY enjoyed discussing the particulars of this movie with both my friends who share my opinion and also those who completely disagreed with me.  It's helped me to see things in a different light, to better articulate my qualms with the new brand of storytelling, and to talk about space wizards and laser swords with people who care as much about them as I do, albeit from different perspectives.

In sum, I'm not sure why the filmmakers and critics and media reps are so offended and disheartened that some fans strongly dislike their movie and not everyone is head-over-heels for it.  I mean, there is that one idiot who started a petition to have The Last Jedi removed from the canon, so maybe it's all his fault?  Furthermore, I really wish people who all love Star Wars could stop drawing lines in the sand of what constitutes "true fandom" and together embrace the pros and cons of the imperfect art that is storytelling.  No franchise is flawless, and that's the beauty and integrity of what makes even space operas about wizards and laser swords ultimately about humanity.

Maybe The Last Jedi isn't the story I wanted, but it is the story I got.  Perhaps Episode IX will collectively bring TFA and TLJ into a much stronger, much more cohesive focus.  We won't know until we get there.  And since I've loved everything Star Wars since before my age reached double digits, and because I want Star Wars to be the very best it can be...  I'll wait with eager expectation.

Star Wars: State of the Union

I didn't blog about Rogue One when it finally came out (although I did beforehand).  In my opinion, that's probably still the best new Star Wars movie to be released, although I certainly didn't love it.  However, I've come to grips with where the franchise has gone, and while I've still been underwhelmed by the majority of the new content and direction, I just love Star Wars too much to stay away.

It should go without saying that there will be spoilers ahead, although I'll attempt to be as tactfully vague as possible.  But seriously, if you're reading blogs about Star Wars so close to a movie premier without first seening it, I'm not really sure you have the right to be upset with anyone but yourself if anything is given away.

I'll start with things I liked about The Last Jedi, because I don't want to be a crotchety "old-Star-Wars-was-better, long-live-the-EU" patriot just for the sake of hating everything new.

Likes

A-Wings.  I like the A-Wings.  Finally, a decent -- if brief -- utilization of one of the coolest ships in the Star Wars universe.  The Rogue Squadron and X-Wing simulators were some of my favorite games growing up, and the A-Wing was always a favorite of mine to fly.  Of course, in its original concept, the A-Wing was primarily a lightly armed reconnaisance snubfighter, fast enough to go head-to-head with the Empire's TIE Interceptor but not really intended for dogfighting, so I suppose the tricky spot the Resistance finds itself in necessitates scrambling every available fighter for action...  I'll take what I can get.

Last Jedi features some pretty cool Force techniques and effects.  And blessedly, there is still no mention of Midichlorians anywhere in the new triliogy.  I also appreciate Last Jedi's near direct citations of the Force according to Ben Kenobi, and the fact that it is described as its own entity, existing in the spaces between everything.

There's also a pretty cool lightsaber sequence with good choreography, believable pace, and symbolic parallelism that I really enjoyed.  I won't say more.  You know what I'm talking about.

This film takes a cue from George R. R. Martin and makes the bold decision to kill characters willy nilly.  I like a story in which heroes and villians aren't untouchable and the audience can get a sense of their mortality.  Unfortunately, I don't care enough about any of these characters to be more than passingly phased when each meets an untimely demise.  Well, except for Admiral Ackbar, but Force Awakens and Last Jedi both so poorly utilized him that the scriptwriters felt it necessary to literally tell the audience that he'd died so they'd actually notice he was gone.

Lastly, I love Mark Hamill.  I've got plenty of stuff I don't like about Luke Skywalker in this film, but Mark Hamill's portrayal of this iteration was great.  He plays the role of reluctant mentor well, and delivers some of the movie's greatest lines.  And frankly, it was just fanstastic to see Mark Hamill again wielding a lighstaber.

Dislikes

All of the bad guys in this trilogy are weak sauce -- maybe cool at a concept level, but flat in delivery.  In particular, Snoke's character is a missed opportunity for a cool, mysterious villian, with a too-soon reveal, a stupid name, and stereotypical bad-guy shortsightedness.  In turn, Kylo Ren is a child with powerful toys, surrounded by laughably ineffecient and unbelivable pawns.  At least the grunts Vader choked out in the OT were militaristic, disciplined, and appropriately professional.  In sum, there is no Vader or Palpatine equivalent to truly make this a saga of good versus evil, or even a conflict to really care about, and portrayal of The First Order is a joke compared to that of The Empire.

Rey's resistance to Kylo Ren's call to the dark side is a foregone conclusion.  I mean, obviously.  The good guys always win.  But at least cause me to suspend my disbelief a little.  At no point during the course of Last Jedi is there any real danger of Rey going to the dark side -- no legitimate temptation, no personal weaknesses.  While she's the only character in this new Star Wars saga that I can really find any interesting qualities in, she's also a huge Mary Sue, because she makes all the right decisions all the time without failing.  While I'm not entirely convinced we've been told her true parentage, I do appreciate the fact that the writers didn't (yet) shoehorn her into some OT genealogy, although their solution still somehow feels like a bit of a cop-out after all the anticipation surrounding the movie.  I imagine the writers standing around literal drawing boards with furious ink splotches all over their faces, holding the following conversation: "Skywalker's out because that's too obvious."  "Solos are out because seriously how is that even possible without them knowing?"  "Kenobi's reaching."  "Fett's just fan service."  "She's got Qui Gon Jinn's hairstyle, is that enough?"  "No, that's all stupid.  Let's just play it safe instead."

Moving on.

Let's face it.  Star Wars without Harrison Ford attempts to do humor and ultimately falls short.  Sure, I chuckled at a handful of slapstick things in this movie, but there is no more purely Star-Wars-brand humor than Han Solo snarkiness juxtaposed with C-3P0's matter-of-factedness (who, by the way, was essentially a non-character in this film).  Goofy Finn moments don't cut it any more than goofy prequel droids.  Even OT Star Wars didn't shine when it tried on the Three Stooges act either (see: R2-D2 swallowed and spit out by a swamp monster; Ewok shenanigans; weird Special Edition edits to the Max Rebo band in Return of the Jedi).

There are only so many times a montage of weird background space aliens works for me.  The prequels are notorious for their meaningless backdrops full of tentacled and strangely-dressed characters who only serve as texture.  We get it.  We're in space.  There are aliens.  You don't have to convince us anymore.  Rogue One actually did this element well with Jedha City, and Maz's cantina in The Force Awakens likewise felt like it belonged because it was intentionally mirroring the Mos Eisley cantina in order to establish new Star Wars lore.  But Last Jedi's take on Jabba's palace meets Casino Royale was forced at best, and ultimately detracted from the rest of the story that was transpiring.

I believe strongly in the "If you show the gun, you must use the gun" rule of writing -- otherwise, it's just lazy writing or lackluster fan-service.  Luke's submerged T-65 X-Wing submerged was the thing in Last Jedi that truly got me excited, but it ultimately wasn't anything more than a symbolic set piece -- merely indicative of his abandonment of the Force and his history, and showing how he got to the island in the first place.  There is nothing I would have loved more than to see Luke Skywalker use the Force to lift that classic X-Wing out of the water -- symbolizing a rebirth of his character, a "character flaw" of always coming to rescue his friends, and a new resolve to right past wrongs.  He should have gotten into that X-Wing cockpit like he does in every single other Star Wars movie featuring Luke Skywalker the pilot.  But because this new franchise is about Rey, and apparently only Poe is allowed to fly X-Wings and live in this saga, that simply couldn't happen.

In that regard, I dislike everything about this interpretation of Luke Skywalker's character (with the noteworthy exception of his incredible display of power at the conclusion).  Hermit in exile?  Sure.  Crotchety and a little crazy like both of his deceased mentors?  Okay.  But fearful?  Callous and uncaring?  No reaction to Han's death or seeing Chewie again for the first time in decades?  This is not the same Luke Skywalker who faced Darth Vader in ROTJ and redeemed him, whose belief in the Force motivated him to again and again face impossible odds and forsake his own training to rescue his friends, and who was so in touch with the Force that he was able to commune with the spirits of his mentors.  It's even harder to accept this weak characterization coming from the EU as I do, where "Master Skywalker" is a title associated with a New Jedi Order and long-term heroism and fidelity.  I get that he's hardened by his failure with Kylo Ren.  And admittedly, this version of Luke could be so much more believable if I was sold on his post-ROTJ activities in the new canon, but so much lackluster backstory doesn't make Luke a tortured, tragic figure brooding on an isolated, Dagobah-esque island.  It just makes him disappointing.

Lastly, my biggest complaint is the contrived plot in this film.  Kasden & Kershner's script for The Empire Strikes Back did a fantastic job of making an extended chase sequence gripping and believable for the course of 124 minutes.  Last Jedi attempts to emulate this, essentially taking the big plot points of Empire and mashing them with loose ideas from heist and action movies, and then regurgitating them into a sequence of events that play loosely with believable time lapse and ultimately drop flat or unrecognizable characters into a current of events, in which their decisions don't matter because the plot marches forward without any connection to their choices.

Conclusions

Bear in mind that I'm rating this movie on a couple of scales.  My overall description of The Last Jedi as a standalone film devoid of context is "fun."  It's entertaining, familiar, well-acted and well-produced.  As the followup to The Force Awakens, this film is good plot development and will hopefully be a solid platform for a great conclusion to the trilogy.  My big critiques come from an overall universe and writing perspective.

We should all be on the same page by now that the new Star Wars universe is a deliberate rehash of the original trilogy, rescripted and retooled for a new generation of fans.  The last few times I've sat down to watch OT films with friends or students who had never seen them before, they've afterward wanted to know what the big deal was.  The long and short of it is that OT Star Wars simply doesn't connect or resonate with sci-fi/fantasy fans raised in an era of J. J. Trek and high-budget blockbusters that rely more on effect than content.  That's why The Force Awakens deliberately retold Episode IV, and Last Jedi borrows from Empire -- to bring the classic Star Wars experience to a new generation.

So while The Last Jedi by itself isn't so bad, this version of the Star Wars universe is just completely underwhelming to me.  There's a way to do complex worldbuilding that tells/shows just enough to keep viewers intrigued about the background, yet supplies enough information to flesh out a believable context without forcing fans to go to extra-film sources unless they really want to.  I'm also confident that some of the spaces have been intentionally left to be filled by further anthology films in the new Disney Canon.  But by themselves, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi lack any real concept of government (Republic, Resistance, and First Order are all just names in their film iterations with no sense of scale), believable command structures (neither as a Captain nor as a Commander would Poe Dameron have any say in any legitimate fleet chain of command), and any true understanding about the core roles each character in this saga should be playing (aside from stereotypical rogue, hero, and comic relief tropes).  Ultimately, these movies are just flashy imitations hinting at the elements that made the original movies so great.

Frankly, I don't know how Last Jedi has been rated as highly as Empire.  It has cool effects, cool ideas, and some exciting plot elements.  But seriously?  All it's done is capitalize on the hype generated by the revitalized franchise.  And yet I've read far too many posts over the last few days stating that this film is moving the franchise in a "great direction," that it is possibly the greatest Star Wars film ever made, and that is simply astounding to me.  What exactly is this "great direction?"  Surprising twists and turns?  Cool new space ships?

I have a sneaky suspicion that the people pushing these reviews for likes are those forward-thinking individuals who have been clamoring for the Star Wars universe to be made "more diverse" by populating it with more female and multi-ethnic characters -- casting choices that would be fantastic on their own, were they not done as such a deliberate social statement.  I'm all for diversity and equal opportunity, and I love seeing different actors and actresses in new and exciting roles.  But Star Wars films shouldn't be propaganda pieces for modern political ideologies -- that's Star Trek territory.  Space opera can and should borrow from real life for its themes and characterizations (i.e. Lucas' Empire obviously paralleled Nazi facism), but until recent years, Star Wars has always bordered on the allegorical, not the social critique.  Bottom-line, if the franchise is moving in a "great direction" according to Twitter champions, then it's likely got less to do with the storytelling and more to do with an agenda.

Forgive the rabbit trail -- I really just wanted to talk about Star Wars here.  Last Jedi certainly didn't live up to the hype I was hearing, but I'm admittedly somewhat predisposed to be critical.  Yet, despite my qualms, I'll still pay to see every Star Wars movie that Disney continues to put out, even if I am moved in my spirit to write disheartened blog posts about them afterward.

Hope springs eternal, of course, and X-Wings and lightsabers are just that fun.