With The Rise Of Skywalker coming out this past month, I decided to do retrospectives on each of the films. I am going in the order of the story which means we’re continuing on with The Last Jedi.I had to make this a 2 parter and if you missed the first one then you can check it out right here.
Picking up where we left off is the second force encounter between Rey and Kylo Ren. This is when Kylo starts to question and Rey is still so angry at him. He’s trying to figure out why they’re being connected in the first place but then Rey just comes out the gate swinging and just calls him a murderous snake. She basically declares that he’s done because she’s going to become a full Jedi now but all Kylo says is “Did he tell you what happened?” He wants her to join him so bad but he also wants to be seen as the monster that she says he is. That’s the entire reason that he says “Yes I am” so intently. It’s a very intense moment. The strength of Kylo Ren as a character to me is that I never could figure him out. He does so many evil things but there’s always that hint of the light in him. It’s very subtle but that’s why Adam Driver is such a fantastic performer.
Next up is the start of the Canto Bight sequence. I just never had a problem with these scenes and I don’t know why so many other people did. Rose even tells us that Canto Bight is full of the worst people in the galaxy and the next shot is a bunch of Rich Aliens drinking champagne and gambling. 1. That’s hilarious and 2. It’s good storytelling to me. It automatically shows a lot more about Rose’s character and that she doesn’t like the opulence of this place and it sets up her next big scene. Finn absolutely loves this place, the lights, the sounds, everything. It’s all great to him and that’s why I like that the next scene is the two of them watching the Fathiers.(The big horse looking things that are awesome.) Finn asks her why she hates this beautiful place so much and she simply says : “Look Closer” Finn looks and sees how they’re mistreating the Fathiers and that they have slaves. Rose begins to talk about how her and her sister’s planet was taken over by the First Order and mined for it’s ore. Then they attacked her planet to test their new weapons. She then asks him “Who do you think these people are? There’s only one business in the galaxy that’ll get you this rich. Selling weapons to the first order.” It’s a really solid moment and I like that it adds this moral and emotional weight to the story. That’s what Rose does this entire movie really. BB-8 comes out and tells them that he found the codebreaker but right before they get to him, they’re taken in by authorities for a Traffic Violation. I always hated that part but you’re supposed to. It’s supposed to be a stupid moment really where it’s basically “What else could go wrong?”
We switch back to Achh-To for Lesson 2 from Luke. He begins by stating that the Jedi are romanticized and deified but that the true legacy of the Jedi is failure. That at the height of their power, they allowed themselves to be destroyed. If you’ve read my previous pieces on the Prequels then you’ll know that Luke and I fully agree on that one. Rey on the other hand tries to tell him that it wasn’t like that anymore since Luke saved Vader. Luke explains that there was Balance until he tried to train Ben Solo. He talks about how he was a “Legend” and how he wanted to pass on his strength to Ben but his heart had been turned by Snoke. Luke blamed himself though “Because I was Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, a Legend.” I both loved and hated this part, I loved how well it tells the story but I hate how accurate it can be. How many times do we think we’re better than what we are? That’s basically the entirety of Luke’s story here is that he was great and then he got overconfident and didn’t know how to help him. It’s one of the most tragically beautiful parts of the Star Wars Mythos. We’ll get more to it soon.
We switch back to Poe and the Resistance, which just lost their medical frigate. They were able to evacuate most of the crew out of there fortunately and get them to the main cruiser. It switches back to Rose and Finn in the prison on Canto Bight and this is where we meet DJ. DJ is played by Benicio Del Toro and I honestly hated his character the first time I watched this but he actually started to grow on me a bit after a few more viewings. He offers up his services for to help them get onto Snoke’s ship but they turn him down and so he just walks out of the cell without them and runs into BB-8. BB-8 takes out all of the guards and the two of them team up. Meanwhile, Rose and Finn escape through the sewers and end up in the Fathier stables. They start to free one and one of the slave boys is about to hit the alarm before Rose shows him the Rebel/Resistance Symbol and he immediately smiles. They release the fathiers and they start running wild through the casino and the rest of the town. Rose and Finn ride one to get to their ship. The guards blow up their ship. Rose and Finn let the fathiers go and BB-8 and DJ show up in a ship of their own.
We see Luke trying to access the force again and the first thing he does is contact Leia. This also leads to the next scene between Kylo Ren and Rey. Kylo tells her about the night he left Luke and about how he saw it as Luke trying to kill him. Rey says that he’s lying and that’s when he says “Let the past die, kill it, if you have to.” It’s probably my favorite line in the film because it explains Kylo so well. Rey then goes to the place that’s strong with the dark side and then we have the scene with the mirror. (I liked this scene originally but I really don’t understand it after watching The Rise Of Skywalker) Rey asks the mirror to show her but all it does is show herself and I originally took that as her being her own person and not having her origin based in the family of anyone important to the Star Wars universe.(But we’ll get to that in my Rise Of Skywalker article.) While Rey is having this experience, she’s also giving us a voiceover about how she felt alone but then Kylo tells her that she isn’t alone. They go to touch hands and it’s actually a very important moment because it’s really the first time that Rey has reacted this way to Kylo. It’s actually a very tense scene that culminates in Luke barging in and using the force to just destroy her hut. Rey demands that Luke tell her the truth about Kylo and even fights him with her staff. Luke finally confesses to the truth and the wording on this scene is incredibly important :
“I saw Darkness. I sensed it building in him, I’d seen it in moments during his training. But then I look inside and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, and pain, and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become and for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow and I was left with shame and consequence. The last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him.”
That moment, in my opinion, is the most important one in the entire trilogy. It tells you everything you need to know about where Luke and Kylo both are at the beginning of The Force Awakens. The wording on it is important because of Luke’s phrasing. Notice that it’s all in future-tense especially when he says “Because of what he will become.” Rey tells him that there’s still light in Ben Solo and that she’ll turn him. Luke pleads with her to stay away from him and her response is to try and hand him the lightsaber again. When he doesn’t then she says “Then he’s our last hope.”
After she leaves, Luke goes to burn down the tree and that’s when Yoda shows up. He watches Luke even though he knows he won’t do it and that’s when Yoda straight up burns it down for him. He doesn’t even care anymore and I love it. Yoda’s lines are very important here too. He tells Luke that the Jedi Order doesn’t need the Jedi text to continue on and he then sums up Luke perfectly when he says “Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. Never here, now, hmm? The need in front of your nose.” That’s exactly who Luke really is. He’s always off looking to the horizon and in a lot of ways, he’s still that boy from Tatooine. That’s why I love this story arc for him. Following this Yoda tell him that his failures are his true lessons. For failure is the greatest teacher of all. He then ends with “Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.” It’s such a beautiful line and it’s perfect since it’s coming from Yoda.
We switch back to Rose, Finn and DJ on the ship and I love that when DJ asks for Rose’s necklace as a deposit, she barely thinks about it. The last keepsake she has of her sister and she’s willing to give it up to save the fleet. That’s just who Rose is, really. Following that we get to learn a bit more about DJ in the sense that he doesn’t believe in the Resistance or the first order, he just believes in serving his own interests. Back with the resistance, Poe walks into the bridge and argues with Holdo again only this time it’s about the fact that she’s fueling up the transports and Poe sees it as they’re running away instead of standing up to the first order. That part’s always been a bit weird to me because I never really understood what he wanted the cruiser to do against a massive First Order fleet. Anyway, Holdo has him removed from the bridge and he contacts Finn and Rose who asks him to buy them some time. They sneak onto the first order ship while Poe starts a mutiny and assumes command of the Resistance ship. Holdo doesn’t stay a captive for long though and Poe maintains on the bridge and waits for to hear from them about the tracker but unfortunately, all he hears on the comms is them being taken captive. Just then the door to the resistance bridge flies open but it’s not Holdo, it’s Leia. She stuns Poe and they load him onto one of the ships. Holdo tells Leia that she’ll have to stay behind and pilot the ship for their escape.
While all of that is going on, Rey has set herself up as a prisoner of Kylo Ren. He brings her to Snoke and on the elevator they basically are both just stout in their beliefs that the other person will turn. When they finally get in front of Snoke, he admits that he was the one who bridged their minds in an attempt for Kylo to bring her to him without him even knowing. Snoke begins torturing her for Information about Luke.
Poe wakes up and Leia tells him that The resistance is making plans to land on Crait, it’s an old mining planet where they can regroup and get a signal out. She also tells him that Holdo was more concerned with what saved lives over what made her look like a hero. We then switch back to Finn and Rose and unfortunately, they’re about to be executed but not before we find out that DJ deserted them and cut a deal, telling them the plan for the resistance ships. The first order begins firing on them, destroying multiple ships.
Back in the throne room, Snoke has all of the info and shows Rey that the resistance is being destroyed. She keeps trying to pick up her lightsaber and Kylo Ren’s lightsaber and Snoke keeps throwing them away, with Kylo’s landing at his feet and Luke’s lightsaber being on the throne with Snoke. He keeps telling Rey that Kylo Ren can’t be turned. Kylo begins to turn his lightsaber in his hand while he starts to turn the other lightsaber with the force. He ignites it killing Snoke and sends the lightsaber toward Rey who catches it and then they start probably my second or third favorite lightsaber fight of the entire series. Kylo Ren and Rey versus all of Snoke’s Praetorian Guards. It’s such an epic moment and the visuals with the red curtain of the throne room is absolutely fantastic. That aspect only gets better when the curtain catches on fire, the last 40 minutes of this film are basically just full of set pieces where you can tell Rian Johnson and the rest of the team were just thinking “Alright, how cool can we make this look?” The fight’s choreography is nothing short of phenomenal. I honestly never know who to watch when it starts and both Ridley and Driver said that they really gave their all in every take of this scene and you can definitely tell in the final product. They manage to tell stories in their fights in this trilogy in a way that I think a lot of films could learn from. Kylo is 100% concerned about Rey’s well being here. He’s taking on three of the guards and he’s still constantly still looking at her to make sure she’s alright. It’s a subtle thing to notice but when you do, you realize how important their roles are for each other.
Also, Snoke was a boring character and the only thing that made him mildly interesting was the mystery of who he was and I had no issues with killing him off to make Kylo Ren a stronger character. It was a very good decision on Johnson’s part and I will always stand by that.
The fight ends with that awesome lightsaber throw and this is where we get the beginnings of what I thought Episode IX was going to be about. Rey and Kylo Ren. Both wanting to turn the other and both of them at odds with the other. Kylo says it’s time to let old things die, he tells her that they could together and he’s right they’re strong enough that they would have the entire galaxy bow to them. He tells her to not hold on and he says that she needs to admit the truth about her parents. That they were nobody. “You have no part in this story. You come from nothing. You’re nothing. But not to me.” Kylo says to her. He holds his hand out and once again, Adam Driver just kills this performance with just one more word : “Please.” It’s such a perfect moment for the two of them.
Next up is the grand finale for Holdo and one of the most epic moments in the entire series. The ships are being taken out one by one. Rey and Kylo both start fighting over Luke’s lightsaber. Both of them are using the force to pull it and Finn and Rose are about to be executed. Holdo uses the resistance cruiser to go to lightspeed and charge at the First order fleet. Her sacrifice destroys the ship and the other ones around it while the ships are able to get away and Finn and Rose are able to run away in the ensuing chaos. They get stopped by Captain Phasma and some more stormtroopers when BB-8 takes control of an AT-ST and helps them out. Finn duels Phasma and although I like this scene I just wish they had done more with Phasma’s character throughout these 2 films. She’s basically a footnote and I always thought she deserved better with both a really cool design and an actress with the caliber of Gwendoline Christie playing her. That being said, she does allow Finn to have a really cool moment when he defeats her and she says “You were always Scum.” and Finn just responds with “Rebel Scum.” Before the floor gives out and she falls to her death. Finn, Rose and BB-8 escape and head down to Crait. After that, we see Hux walk into the throne room while Kylo unconscious and I love that he’s about to pull out his blaster and then when Kylo wakes up he calmly puts it away. It tells you everything you need to know about Hux. Kylo asks where the girl went after she murdered Snoke and Hux tells him that she took Snoke’s escape ship. Kylo Ren tells Hux that they need to get down to the planet and finish this and Hux questions him about it before Kylo force chokes him and Hux declares him the new Supreme Leader.
Crait is another planet where you know that they were just thinking “How can we make this look awesome?” It’s a mineral planet so there’s Salt on the ground instead of Snow and the core and dirt of the planet is a dark red color. It’s genuinely beautiful. The resistance begins to set up their base and send out a distress signal while The first order sets up what is basically a gigantic laser cannon that will blow through the gates to their base. They make the call that what they have to do is buy time for other allies to join them and save them. Unfortunately it doesn’t go that well for them. They set up their defenses and Finn, Poe, Rose and a handful of pilots begin to race towards the walkers and that giant cannon. They use these older speeders which once again just create a fantastic visual. Right as the fighters begin attacking them, the Millennium Falcon comes out of nowhere to save everyone. Rey and Chewbacca are in perfect sync, taking out fighter after fighter. Kylo Ren is furious at even seeing that ship. All of the fighters peel off and chase after the falcon. Poe and the rest of the crew start their final attack runs when Poe realizes that it’s ultimately a suicide run. I love how it shows how he’s changed since the start of this film. Everyone pulls off except for Finn who refuses to back down from them. He begins charging the cannon and takes off his headset even though Rose and Poe are telling him to retreat. He keeps going until Rose runs into his speeder and knocks it out of the way in time before the cannon goes off. Finn rushes to her and she gives the perfect answer to her entire character arc : “That’s how we’ll win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” She then kisses him and passes out. Finn carries her back to the base.
It switches back to the resistance and they realize that no one’s coming despite hearing the call. It’s at that moment that Luke comes through the door. Luke sits down and talks with Leia and apologizes and Leia tells him that she’s just glad he’s here at the end. Luke says that he came to face Kylo Ren and that he can’t save him. Leia says that she knows her Son is gone. Luke responds by saying, “No one’s ever really gone.” and handing her Han’s dice from the Falcon. He walks out and winks at C-3PO one last time before he walks out and faces the entire First Order by himself. Kylo Ren says that he wants every gun that they have to fire on Luke. They do and they keep firing. They basically make a crater where he’s standing. Once they stop shooting, Luke walks out and literally dusts his shoulder off. Kylo Ren prepares to go out and face him himself. Poe and Finn are watching and at first they want to help him until Poe realizes what Luke is doing, he’s buying time for them to escape. Poe and Finn start looking around and they realize that the crystal foxes, which were previously everywhere are now nowhere to be found. They find one that looks to be leading them out and Poe says “Follow Me” Everyone looks to Leia and she says “What are you looking at me for, follow him.” It’s a perfect moment for the two of them. They find the opening but it’s covered by rocks except for one small opening. Rey stands on the other side and and knows what she has to do. Meanwhile Kylo Ren keeps charging at Luke and he just keeps dodging him and then he tells him that he’s sorry and I love that Kylo’s response is “I’m sure you are!” Once again, he’s basically an angsty teenager and I love it. He says that he’s going to destroy the resistance, that the war is over and that after he kills Luke then he’ll have killed the last Jedi. Luke simply responds by saying : “Amazing, every word of that sentence was wrong. The war’s just begun, the rebellion is reborn today and I’ll never be the Last Jedi.” It’s really cool how it switches back to Rey lifting the rocks and saving the resistance at that point. Kylo goes to kill Luke and that’s when he realizes that he was never there to begin with and that he was only a force projection. He realizes that Luke was only buying them time to escape. Kylo looks up at Rey one last time through the force and she closes him out. He’s completely alone.
We watch as Luke fades away and becomes one with the force as the suns begin to set. It’s great because the music swells just like in A New Hope. It’s a perfect finale for our hero. He finally redeemed himself. The film ends with Leia and Rey on the Falcon with the broken lightsaber. She asks Leia, how can we rebuild the rebellion from this? And Leia simply responds with : “We have everything we need. Right here.” I love that Leia gets the final word on this film and it’s such a great finale for both her and Carrie Fisher.
The Epilogue on the film though is the children on Canto Bight telling the story of Luke vs. The First Order. His story inspires them. The children run off and the main boy grabs the broom with the force and then looks up at the stars while he holds the broom like the lightsaber. I love that this solidifies that anyone can be strong with the force and anyone can be a hero.
This film is perfect to me. It’s as simple as that. It’s second only to Return of the Jedi for me and that may always remain my listing. Thank you all so much for joining me on this journey through the history of Star Wars! I hope you’ve had as much fun as I’ve had. I’ll be posting my Rise of Skywalker article here soon so be on the lookout for that!
