How to Fix The Last Jedi

If you haven't seen "The Last Jedi" yet, and you don't want to be spoiled, I suggest you step away from the computer now.

Err...at least retreat to a safe site because this post will reference *SPOILERS*

There, you've been warned.

It's no secret among members of The Star Wars fan community that The Last Jedi is one of the most divisive films of the franchise, in terms of how good a film it is and how well it fits into the whole overarching Star Wars Saga.

I don't really have time to go over my full opinion of the film, though I will say it was definitely not my favorite, I do think it had a lot of potential.

So I'm just going to go over the one change that I think would make the main protagonist's story in The Last Jedi (That's Rey if you were wondering) MUCH more compelling:

#1 Delete The Forcebacks

The Last Jedi has these two scenes, which are a visual callback to a certain point of view: Showing the same events from two different perspectives: Luke and Ben's.

From Ben's perspective, Luke is a homicidal maniac: complete with bulging eyeballs, glowing in the deranged light of his green lightsaber.

From Luke's perspective, his own attitude is more anxious and contemplative. The story makes it clear that Luke's is the true perspective, and the other is a distorted memory. There is no ambiguity about who Rey should listen to, and which perspective she should trust.

As was the case with many other instances in the movie, this is a scenario which I think had great potential. Not only in exploring Ben and Luke's relationship, but in forming Rey's character and her outlook on the world:

Who does she chose trust and why?

• Has Luke given her any actual reason to trust him, or is she just going off of Leia and Han's good word?

• Does she identify at all with the young, vulnerable apprentice Benjamin Chewbacca Organa-Solo, and see his choice as a decision she might have made in his place? His decent into evil a choice she could have made under similar circumstances?

The ForceTime interludes could actually work to reinforce this, rather than just being there for the sake of, you know, sexual tension...

With Luke continually shutting her out, and Kylo Ren trying to be open and dropping all these little hints that he's up to something; they may actually have a common goal...

[*Cough* Kill Snoke *Cough*]

That would have been way more interesting a motivation for her to try to #savebensolo

With that kind of uncertainty and intense emotional build up, it could have lead to Rey's big reveal being on par with moments like these:

(You know, like a life changing discovery that makes you question the purpose of your life, and casts all of your past actions in a new light, and leads you to make life-altering decisions that will profoundly affect the course of the plot?)


Instead of...

Bonus: 

If you want to keep Luke as a sympathetic character, give him an actual reason why he'd shut Rey out. It could be something simple like Kylo Ren mentioning his cousin (Luke's child) during their duel. Maybe he psychologically can't develop paternal or mentor relationship with Rey because she reminds him of how he failed to protect his own son or daughter.

Both of these changes would take minimal effort on the part of the filmakers. Just adding a few lines of dialogue and editing out the forceback scene (which is actually really short), and suddenly there's a story behind the story. Suddenly these characters have motivations and conflicts other than what the plot requires them to have at any particular moment.

I think it's kind of sad especially because this movie has some outstanding actors, and Mark Hamill and Adam Driver are arguably the best among them. This movie could have easily been their chance to shine, but instead the conflict between them feels so contrived.

They never even attempt to make the cold-blood murder of his nephew seem like something Luke "There's-still-good-in-him" Skywalker would actually do.

They never succeed in making Kylo Ren the least bit menacing as an antagonist, the least bit sympathetic as a fallen hero, or even particularly compelling as a contagonist for Rey.

But I think worst of all is they never allow Rey to actually develop as a character. She has all these new experiences, but nothing that takes her emotionally to any place we haven't seen her go before.


(BTW, to everyone who thought that Rey is a Mary Sue in The Force Awakens: Congratulations, this movie proves you are absolutely correct.)