Fixing the Last Jedi

So we finally finished watching The Last Jedi and found ourselves enjoying the third act more than we did during our first viewing.

The second act was bad enough to be in a Lucas Prequel and this left us reeling. But having put a week between the second and third acts we are able to appreciate the former on its own merits.

Unlike the Prequels, about which nothing can be done, there's a good moving in The Last Jedi. One just has to chop away the bad parts. Unfortunately these are considerable.

To start, let's drop the second act, it existentially sucks. The second act sucks so bad it goes back in time and makes The Force Awakens suck.

Instead of that stupid, contrived chase and sojourn to the casino let's just have the Resistance fleet flee directly to the salt planet. The action there is actually pretty good if one forgets about the second act, which sucks so bad we feel we need to restate that it sucks so bad.

So now the second act is just the interaction between Ray and Kylo and Luke's retelling of the destruction of his temple and the turning of Ben Solo into Kylo Ren. By doing so we lop off 40 minutes of really bad movie, cutting the time down to a more manageable 150 minutes.

Also, drop all the humor, none of it works. When Luke said, 'See you around kid,' we almost wretched.

Axe all the big stuff. The reader(s) will know what we mean. We're thinking of the massive flying wing, the super-huge AT-ATs and the battering ram. Everything had to be bigger in The Last Jedi. Why? The super-star destroyer in Empire was so cool, but like George Lucas, director Rian Johnson over did it and made everything as big as possible. What's he trying to prove?

As Rian Johnson wrote and directed The Last Jedi we remain hopeful that the bad bits are the work of Lucas Film head and Social Justice Warrior Kathleen Kennedy. They better be, because Johnson is in charge of his own Star Wars trilogy.

The Last Jedi: Review Redeaux

So last night we saw The Last Jedi made it to Netflix and wanted to give the film a second chance. Twenty minutes into the picture we thought, Why are we doing this to ourselves, and switched to Rogue-One, which is friggin' awesome.

We really like the way Felicity Jones plays Gin Urso in Rogue-One, and not just becuase we think she's adorable.  Of course we could stare at that pouty English face for hours, but still. Gin Urso has the MaGuffin, her father, but is vulnerable yet driven.

We've heard a lot of criticism that Gin Urso is just another 'Mary Sue' character, but we think director Gareth Edwards killed this trope early on. Remember Gin tries to get away from her Rebel rescuers, but is knocked flat and held upside down by K, the reprogrammed droid.

This is hardly the stuff of a 'Mary Sue'.

Star Wars: Your Movies Didn't Matter

We think Return of the Jedi is perfect.* The movie gives us a swashbuckling and at times funny intro, a deep and important second act, and then finally an epic conclusion as we go from the battle on Endor, to the battle between the Rebel and Imperial Fleets and the ultimate battle between Luke and the Emperor for Darth Vader's soul. The scenes aboard the Death Star are packed with drama, tension and emotion and worth the price of admission on their own.

Over all Return of the Jedi is well executed fun.

It's all undone by The Last Jedi.

At the end of The Last Jedi we have a few rebels fleeing for their lives from Kylo Ren and The First Order which is now all powerful.


It's like the Great War. How do you celebrate winning the Great War when you know 20 years later your gong to do it all over again?

As C3PO says in Return of the Jedi, 'Here we go again.'

You see, we always thought Return of the Jedi's ending in the forest was well done, Luke cremating his father, the fireworks from the X-Wings, the celebration with the Ewoks. Heck, you even get a final group photo. We all knew what this meant. The Rebel Alliance has won and this is goodbye.

And according to The Last Jedi none of it mattered.

*The Ewoks didn't bother us then, they don't bother us now.

Our Last Star Wars Film

Well, we've slept on it.

We've consulted friends, family, fans and fellow authors to sort things out in our own head.

The Last Jedi is deeply flawed.

Our eleven year old loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This is a dangerous sign.

The plot involves the Resistance fleeing their base and the First Order pursuing. This plot device is silly and stupid and feels like a BSG episode. Most of the events happening around the plot are also silly and stupid.

That said we thought the movie was holding up pretty well. And then the second act happened. One could slip the second act into a prequel. Lots of dumbness.

The third act was unfulfilling and derivative...oh look attack ships closing on AT-ATs!

We liked Rey and Kylo Ren and thought they both had some great scenes and interactions. As readers suspect Rey spends time with Luke in training. Frankly, Mark Hamill is not a very good actor. We are willing to reconsider this after a second viewing, but we just don't think he's up to it. Kylo Ren is the most interesting character and Adam Driver is truly great in this film. His arc is well made and unpredictable.

Po has a dumb and contrived character arc. Finn is absolutely useless in this film and his part is, what's the word? Oh yes, contrived. There's no point to him.

BB8 got stupid.

The Last Jedi doesn't suck like a prequel, but it is not very good. There's just too much wrong with it.