Against the Grain - The Last Jedi Is Thoroughly Good

What, so you say Star Wars films aren't games, huh?

Look closer and you'll see our name is Light-hearted Investigations and Interpretations on Games, and High-tension Explorations. Reviewing a Star Wars film is a high-tension exploration, if there ever were such things. It is probably THE definition of a high-tension exploration.

I'm writing this short piece because The Last Jedi made me so happy. Extremely happy in fact, and the feeling is only growing stronger and more confident. Which is why I'm so baffled seeing so many so disappointed in the film. I see people distancing themselves from the story, and it’s breaking my heart.

Lower your guards - you can keep reading. I will not be stepping onto spoiler-territory, at all. Still, I'm presenting my interpretations on the tone and beats of the film, so if you want to go in without any expectations - which I recommend - by all means skip this one for now. The comment sections is open for spoilers, of course.

Two years ago, I was giddy as a school boy when the yellow-tinged intro crawl of Episode VII - The Force Awakens finally arrived onto the big screen. By the time the ending credits appeared, I was ecstatic, literally exclaiming my joy and surprise. I had just seen something that had very much of the familiar, warm and fuzzy stuff, but with ingredients that made it feel new and invigorating.

Being a small-scale Hayao Miyazaki fan, echoes in the story and characters of the classic film Nausicaä tugged at the heartstrings - they felt like a subtle wink from the makers, something that only few of us could catch. This was natural continuation - Lucas himself borrowed heavily from Kurosawa films for the original trilogy. As someone who claims the awful episodes I-III never happened, to me it was important that the new story felt like a part of the Star Wars universe. And the new characters were lovely, someone to root for.

Back then, some were quick to point out that the plot and structure followed that of Episode IV - A New Hope rather closely, and not unfairly. It's as if the filmmakers wanted to reassure the fans that they understand Star Wars and give them something they had been craving for. It certainly helped fans accept the surprising set of characters. A female lead and a black sidekick in a beloved, classic adventure saga were a daring, but risky step to take. As a result, people saw the film as lively and yet comforting, just what they had wanted since the original trilogy.

But remember what happened in Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back? After the first adventure, the blue-eyed tale of a young hero finding his powers and confidence, and saving the Rebels, the second chapter changed the rules entirely. Now, Luke faced gloom and uncertainty, fear of failure and self, while the rebels faced defeat. This subversion of expectations is what allowed the story to deliver the impact - it's why so many of us came away stunned in the end. Now, if the middle episode was going to achieve the same effect this time round, it had better find a new way. And it did exactly that. Not by turning the darkness and dread to overdrive, but by doing something unexpected.

In The Last Jedi, pretty much all that the fans wanted, they were denied. The familiar ground grew unstable as the story unfolded, and people felt uncomfortable.

I suspect this alienation was not, however, the result of the story bringing in too many new characters or places, or stylistic choices borrowed from other modern films, previously foreign to the universe and taking us out of the fantasy. At least not in any meaningful way. I believe the unease comes from elements that had previously very much existed in the Star Wars story, but been kept at arm’s length. Now they’re surfacing, changing the playground. It came across as a powerful message.

I think the story took what was extraordinary and surprising in Empire Strikes Back and turned it into a fully-developed theme, a guiding light, a supporting undercurrent that flowed through all the events, characters and their lines. And the characters were beautifully real because of that.

In this mellow haze of contentment it would be tempting to to ignore the fact that the film was indeed quite rough round the edges and some story threads felt loose. The aforementioned undercurrent is there, always, to connect the story points and emotions, but they did seem to drift, like flotsam and jetsam, in and out. Sometimes you can sense what the scenes aimed at, the suspense and feeling of being there, but didn’t quite reach. The pacing was especially abrupt near the end, even when mirrored against the non-traditional story arcs in The Empire Strikes Back. But note how these are purely cinematic failures. I don’t think these are that hard to overlook if the heart of the story is in the right place and you’re looking for it. The stumbles notwithstanding, the film attempted to do things that felt right.

That heart most certainly is there, but for some it will be difficult to accept. It’s not necessarily the most welcoming of hearts. Some characters might turn out different to how you’ve hoped or imagined them. Certain elements of the story might turn out to be red herrings. Some plans and endeavours from our characters didn't pan out as much as they simply fizzled out. Scenes where we waited for dramatic pomp and wise words refused, instead giving us awkward pause. Yet, these all quietly supported the theme of the story, that undercurrent.

Perhaps these intentionally unexpected elements and simple unintended blunders in cinematic storytelling blurred together for many viewers. Perhaps the sense of ownership of many fans - "This is not my Star Wars!" - is stripped away too quickly and the sting is too much. These factors can make for an unsatisfying individual film experience, but I feel they serve the larger picture, the overarching story, really well. And that is what really matters - that is perhaps the only thing that matters in a saga such as this. I’m going to say, even, that this episode retrospectively made The Force Awakens better than it was before.

If the Star Wars mythos, the baggage of tradition and expectations weighed upon these new stories like a heavy cape covers a Jedi, in this episode we saw that cloth slowly coming off and falling into the ground. It feels like the right time to let go. And that, ultimately, made for a thoroughly good darker middle chapter in what is slowly brewing into a proper Star Wars story.

- Janne