Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Tim D — 19 Jan 2018

I just can't get over what they did to Luke Skywalker. Taking the greatest and most well-known hero in the galaxy, an icon of optimism beloved by millions, and turning him into a bitter, hateful, sarcastic codger.

It is unforgivable. There are tons of other problems with the film which have been thoroughly discussed. I would highlight that there is no "super-villain" in the film except for Snoke, but he amounts to very little, and is nothing but a side-character in this film.

Rian Johnson's fundamental mistake was that he decided to make the movie he wanted to make, just for him, just to satisfy his creative impulses, and in doing so he didn't respect that the entire Star Wars universe and franchise was built by the blood, sweat, tears and talent of other people.

Rian Johnson behaved as though he owned Star Wars, instead of acting like the respectful temporary creative custodian of the franchise. The treatment of Luke was inappropriate and crass in that regard.

I find myself struggling to care about the remaining characters, though I still think Kylo Ren is a good character. I give two stars for that, I will say the Rey-Kylo dynamic was good and interesting.

Also two stars for the visuals and sound, the film was great in that regard. But the story as a whole was wonky and uninteresting. And what they did to Luke, I will never understand. I fear Star Wars is dead.

The most memorable scene in the film is after Rey and Luke have the staff battle, where Rey is holding out the light saber, basically begging Luke to help his sister and the good guys. Luke turns his head away form the lightsaber like a selfish, bitter coward.

On so many levels, this scene in particular disgusted me. That is not Luke Skywalker. They desecrated Luke Skywalker and this would only even be conceivable if George Lucas himself gave the order, not Rian Johnson.