I need to use another filler video. It’s a long one and my time is short, so probably not going to say much. Plus Literature Devil already says so much in 2+ hours. Supposedly we’d someday reassess Star Wars: The Last Jedi and see it as a true masterpiece. That’s what defenders say. Defenders were wrong.
While the prequels, while still subpar, has been reassessed due to Lucas’ intent, the sequel trilogy came out as intended, or at least the individual movies were. While Disney’s Lucasfilm tossed out a lot of what George Lucas had suggested for the sequels, so did Rian Johnson toss out the direction J.J. Abrams had set up in favor of a movie that subverted everything, including the desires of the fanbase. Subverting expectations is fine and keeps things fresh, but when you subvert desires, you lose the fans and the story bombs.
It doesn’t help that The Last Jedi is basically The Empire Strikes Back in reverse. Where Empire starts on a snow planet, Last Jedi ends on a salt planet. Where the older movie shows heroes rising only to hit a huge brick wall as the middle part of a trilogy, the younger movie tries to end the trilogy early with everyone practically winning and the villains already defeated or looking so weak as to be ineffectual. Finn’s character arc (and I’m not part of the “he should be a Jedi” camp because his story arc doesn’t need it any more than Han or Lando did) was tossed out, Luke fails in a way contrary to his hero’s journey and redemption of his father, and unnecessary stuff added nothing to the drama while the big generals escape plan seemed to kill more resistance fighters than it saved.
Enough about me, though. Let’s hear what Literature Devil has to say.
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BW Media Spotlight 
Star Wars: The Last Jedi> Eight Years Later
I need to use another filler video. It’s a long one and my time is short, so probably not going to say much. Plus Literature Devil already says so much in 2+ hours. Supposedly we’d someday reassess Star Wars: The Last Jedi and see it as a true masterpiece. That’s what defenders say. Defenders were wrong.
While the prequels, while still subpar, has been reassessed due to Lucas’ intent, the sequel trilogy came out as intended, or at least the individual movies were. While Disney’s Lucasfilm tossed out a lot of what George Lucas had suggested for the sequels, so did Rian Johnson toss out the direction J.J. Abrams had set up in favor of a movie that subverted everything, including the desires of the fanbase. Subverting expectations is fine and keeps things fresh, but when you subvert desires, you lose the fans and the story bombs.
It doesn’t help that The Last Jedi is basically The Empire Strikes Back in reverse. Where Empire starts on a snow planet, Last Jedi ends on a salt planet. Where the older movie shows heroes rising only to hit a huge brick wall as the middle part of a trilogy, the younger movie tries to end the trilogy early with everyone practically winning and the villains already defeated or looking so weak as to be ineffectual. Finn’s character arc (and I’m not part of the “he should be a Jedi” camp because his story arc doesn’t need it any more than Han or Lando did) was tossed out, Luke fails in a way contrary to his hero’s journey and redemption of his father, and unnecessary stuff added nothing to the drama while the big generals escape plan seemed to kill more resistance fighters than it saved.
Enough about me, though. Let’s hear what Literature Devil has to say.
Continue reading →
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on June 3, 2025 in Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, Literature Devil, movie review, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
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