I was hoping TLJ would make up for the mistakes of TFA, and it mostly did, but it made a whole lot of new mistakes. While TFA made up for a trite and boring plot with mostly good execution, TLJ spoiled a lot of cool plot ideas with sloppy execution.
The first point I noticed was how dumb the plot devices are. Maybe it’s just me who is dumb or I missed something, but during the chase scene, I feel like they never sufficiently explained why the star destroyers couldn’t have just warped in front of the resistance cruiser and cut off its path. Then, in the siege scene, they never sufficiently explained why the First Order couldn’t have just turbo lasered the base until there was nothing left. A movie has some problems when I can’t even accept the basic premise. Unfortunately, this is the level of dumb I have come to expect from Star Wars. The Trade Federation’s motivations in TFM were dumb, the Jedi’s unwillingness to question the origin of the clones was dumb, and the Star Killer Base attack scene was so dumb that I doubt Star Wars will ever outdo it.
Aside from the plot, the weapon designs in TLJ were dumb too. The resistance bombers and the space battering ram reminded me of the kind of Soviet prototypes that Red Army commanders got fired for and never made it to production. This is supposed to be all high tech, but these weapons seemed far less effective than their counterparts in 2017 Earth.
It’s all a shame, because TLJ contained some really timely and interesting themes which frankly, deserved better plot devices. The Rey Poe and Finn all seemed to believe that the righteousness of their cause made them invincible, and as a result, the resistance was routed and humiliated.
Just as many people saw the prequels as an allegory for the rise of militarism and unchecked executive power under the Bush administration, I thought that this movie worked pretty well as an allegory for the 2016 election in the US. The allies who abandoned the resistance to their fates mirrored the Democrats’ former supporters in the rust belt. Rey’s naive attempt to turn Kylo Ren by appealing to his better nature mirrored the Democrats’ plan for white suburban moms to flip Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona. Poe Dameron’s mutiny mirrored the damage the Democrats did to themselves during the primaries, and Snoke being replaced by the First Order’s hilariously inept middle managers reminded me of the Republican primary.
Even if the movie doesn’t work as political allegory, the focus on humiliation, defeat, and despair made for some great thematic storytelling, and it’s why I love what they did with Luke. A lot of people are saying the movie ruined Luke, so I guess they must have seen something in him that I didn’t to make them think that Luke couldn’t turn in to this.
Another thing I didn’t like was the casino planet. If Disney wanted to spend 40 minutes on a side story to give Rose and Finn a chance to bond, and build up some false hope in the Resistance before tearing it all down, that’s all well and good, but did they really have to do it on the most boring planet ever? Sure, it had the horse lemurs and the occasional alien gambler, but this still seemed like the most mundane settlement in Star Wars. Star Wars is supposed to be weird and alien, and the Finn+Rose subplot squandered the opportunity to take us someplace interesting. It’s like they used up all their cool ideas on Space Iceland.
Another thing I liked was Yoda, he just didn’t seem to give a fuck in this movie. He seemed less like Yoda who droned about fear leading to anger in the prequels, and more like the Yoda who ransacked Luke’s ship and stole his lamp in the the OT. I liked the OT Yoda better, he was fun.
While taken as a whole, the movie seemed like a bit of a mess, a lot of the scenes were just some really great Star Wars, like Rey’s vacation to Space Iceland and the Throne Room battle, I loved those. The porgs were great too, so I think I can give this movie a passing grade. 7/10.