A lot of people have been criticizing the ideas behind TLJ, but I actually really disagree on that point.
I think it’s great to bring different perspectives on established ideas in media. I especially love it when the series is self-aware enough to do it on its own. Theoretically having a character be critical of the Jedi and in the end reject their ways is a great idea that allows the world to be even more fleshed out and feel more real to the viewer.
This is going to get off topic, but I believe this post will put into perspective my issues with The Last Jedi so bear with me.
My absolute favorite Star Trek series is Deep Space Nine. It takes a very critical look at the Federation and the optimistic future set up by Gene Roddenberry since the very first series and tests these ideas in the show repeatedly with a war they can’t simply talk their way out of, inner conflict in the Federation, and more space-political drama. I really admire what they did with the show because I never felt that it was fairly respectful of Roddenberry’s vision and in the end I believe the Federation stood up to these various tests. It allowed a fresh look at an existing world with a new and diverse set of characters including one old one. Very admirable in my opinion.
My favorite Star Wars media outside of the main film series is Knight of the Old Republic 2 as some of you might have guessed by my avatar. It builds off of Knights of the Old Republic’s fairly usual Star Wars story and gives it some depth with a different perspective on the Mandalorian Wars and Darth Revan. One of the companion’s views of the Force, the Jedi, and the Sith are incredibly critical with some reasonable explanation as to why she felt that way. It was really fantastic and I felt that even though the game is unfinished, the goal of the writers and the way they pulled it off was so admirable that I couldn’t help but fall in love with the story.
Now really why did these series work, but The Last Jedi didn’t work for me? In the end, I feel it really boils down to execution. The Last Jedi using existing characters like Luke to criticize the Jedi way really didn’t work out for me. KotOR 2 and Deep Space Nine both brought on new characters to provide another perspective on the world. I felt that in the end, Kylo Ren could have been much more suited for that critical outlook on established Star Wars ideas like the Jedi and the Sith instead of Luke. Particularly towards the end where he gives that speech about wanting Luke, Snoke, the Jedi, and the Sith to all die. I felt that Luke should have been the grounding Star Wars character in that movie, a familiar character that tests Kylo Ren’s ideas. They went a completely different direction with Luke’s character though, to the point where I was taken out of the movie because I adamantly believe that most of what Luke did in that movie was out of character. The ending scene with Kylo Ren and Luke together kind of did this for me, but I was still taken out of it due to how Luke was previously characterized in the movie.
I also believe that everything involving Finn, Poe, Rose, and Holdo would have worked much better if there was a spy relaying their hyperspace jumps to the First Order instead of them being able to track them through lightspeed. That was my first thought when I was watching the movie and was why I thought Holdo was withholding her plan until they found the spy. I feel like that sequence of events would have been better for Finn’s character progression and Poe’s while making Holdo a much more agreeable character to the audience. It would have been interesting to have a feeling of mistrust among the Resistance, maybe even mainly directed at Finn who was a former First Order soldi- I mean janitor.
So yeah I feel the movie was really wasted potential along with being a bad movie that didn’t manage to get its themes across well due to poor execution. Also the excess of humor definitely detracted from the ideas that movie was trying to present. And I think some people have pointed out that the originals definitely had their fair share of humor too, but I always felt that it was naturally presented in the story and didn’t detract from the tone the movies were going for. Well, except with the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi.