This is not to say that I don’t like the movie. TLJ is the sequel I have the most respect for, since it seems to be trying to say something. But the way it treats the characters and the universe seems almost flippant at times, even toward story elements of its own invention.
Who cares about Anakin’s/Luke’s lightsaber?
Who cares about Snoke?
Who cares about Hux, the First Order, or even the Resistance?
Who cares about the Sacred Jedi Texts?Whereas prior Star Wars movies would earnestly engage with their own universe and story, this one pulls back and asks: who cares? Instead of pitting good versus evil, or even one side versus another, the story asks whether or not we should even care at all. Even if eventually the answer is yes, we should care, as it seems to be saying in the end, the question still hangs over the entire enterprise and feels like a mutation of something deep in the DNA of this surrealist fantasy. It is the dreamer pinching themselves and wondering why they don’t simply awaken from the dream, which is both the most unique strength of the film and also its greatest weakness.
Just a weird movie, and difficult to describe.
TLJ has a lot of “meta” in it. Like Rey makes a joke about how the Force is just “lifting rocks.” But why would she think this? Did she watch The Empire Strikes Back? Clearly, that line winks to the audience. This sort of self-referential meta-humor or irony never existed in the OT or PT. It’s very postmodern or more accurately metamodern. Lucas was always sincere and straightforward, working with classic archetypes. TLJ, not so much.
Now, I absolutely hate TLJ, but I also respect it. It’s basically a “deconstruction”, a semi-self-aware satire of Star Wars itself. But it’s not outright parody like Spaceballs. It mostly takes itself seriously. Luke blatantly says “Do you really expect me to just whip out my laser sword and kick ass?” or something. I mean, yeah… we did expect that. But TLJ is telling us we were stupid to expect such a predictable, unironic thing. (Except then Luke actually does this at the end… sort of.)
Even the “big reveal” that Rey’s parents were nobodies has more significance to the audience than Rey herself. Like, why would she have expected her parents to be anybody significant? The audience was speculating that Rey could be a Skywalker or a Kenobi. That reveal subverted audience expectations more so than it functioned as game-changing new info for Rey herself. (Then it was retconned anyway. What a mess.)
The movie is ultimately about moving on from the past - or at least not venerating the legends of the past, and instead looking inward to the self in order to move forward into the future.
It’s an interesting take on Star Wars, but in my opinion not appropriate for one of the main line movies. Also, for an actual spiritual successor to Spaceballs, see Rise of Skywalker, directed by Mel Brooks.