https://townhall.com/columnist...-wars-movie-n2428896

The Last Jedi: The First Anti-Star Wars, Star Wars Movie
Jack Kerwick

Having fallen in love with Star Wars from the time that I first saw it in the late 1970s, it brings this 45 year-old no pleasure to concede that, for various reasons, the latest installment in the SW saga is simply not a good film.

Much has already been written about The Last Jedi’s poor story-telling, sorely underdeveloped and misused characters, and rampant Political Correctness. Most of the commentary has been spot-on in these respects. However, little to no attention has been drawn to that which is most disturbing about TLJ:

It is the first anti-Star Wars Star Wars movie.

TLJ essentially deconstructs the whole SW saga.

The classic tale of the perennial battle between Good and Evil collapses in on itself, here being revealed as an epic delusion begotten by the monumental arrogance of those—the Jedi—who thought themselves heroes.By insisting upon a hard and fast distinction between the dark and light sides of the Force—by insisting that morality is an objective feature of the universe—and positioning themselves as guardians of the Light, the Jedi, in their “hubris,” as Luke Skywalker says, gave rise to all that had gone wrong in the galaxy.

In other words, it is the Jedi Order that is the “root cause” of evil (if we can even coherently speak of evil in connection with TLJ). To put it more exactly, it is civilization, its traditions and institutions, from which all corruption springs.

Freedom, Equality, and every other virtue can come about only after the old civilization has been razed, burnt to the ground along with its literature, those Jedi texts to which Yoda takes the proverbial match in TLJ.

This idea that civilization is corruptive of nature extends back centuries in Western thought. Its most prominent representative is the 18th century French philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau. It was Rousseau who famously remarked that “man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains.” Civilization enslaves. Specifically, the institution of private property, the cornerstone of civilization, is the origin of all cruelty, vice, and horror. Rousseau’s remarks on this subject say it all:

“The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said ‘This is mine’, and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by…crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”

Private property engenders material inequalities and hierarchies, the “chains” that enslave. The Jedi, to hear TLJ’s Luke Skywalker tell it, created and perpetuated hierarchy and inequality vis-à-vis the Force inasmuch as they were either delusional or deceptive enough to presume that they alone had the right to protect it, as if it somehow belonged to them.

And herein lay the true significance of Daisy Ridley’s “Rey,” the chief protagonist of Disney’s trilogy:

She is a Rousseauian Hero, the Great Leveler, the quintessential champion of Equality.

Rey is the most sagacious, potent, and capable of Force users, exceeding in these virtues even Yoda; yet she is no Jedi—at least she is not a Jedi in any traditional sense of this term. The criteria that aspiring Jedi were expected to satisfy before they could be recognized as “masters” by guardians of the old order have not only been relegated to the dustbin of history, but that history itself both the heroes and villains of TLJ agree also needs to be erased.

Rey herself has no history or, what amounts to the same thing, no history worth talking about. This trilogy’s main villain, “Kylo Ren,” wayward son to Leia and Han Solo, nephew and former student of Luke, and grandson of Darth Vader, has a history; but, as far he is concerned, it is inconsequential, a thing to be unequivocally repudiated. As he tells Rey: “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.”

The heroes agree.

The little green Socrates of SW, Yoda, emerges for one brief scene in TLJ to beat Luke to the punch by destroying all of the ancient Jedi Scriptures.Yoda tells Luke that all that Rey needs to know regarding the Force she already knows. “We are what they [students] grow beyond.”

Rey already outstrips even Yoda in sagacity.

In The Last Jedi, Light and Darkness, the Jedi and the Sith—these are for all practical purposes dismissed as relics of a bigoted past. The Resistance indeed promises to continue fighting against the First Order, but unlike the misguided Rebellion and, before it, the Jedi Order, it is not concerned with restoring balance to the Force or the freedom that existed during the days of the Republic.

No, the Resistance is about as interested in conserving the past as is Kylo Ren. It would appear that its point in fighting is to hit the reset button, to wipe the slate clean and write anew.

This is no slight deviation from the SW mythos. The Jedi and all of the heroes of the Old Republic were akin to the men of the American founding generation inasmuch as they fought for the sake of conserving an inherited way of life. In glaring contrast, the Resistors are more like the French Revolutionaries, radical egalitarians inspired by Rousseau and against whom Edmund Burke defined what would become known as conservatism.

The radicals of the French Revolution were zealots who, for the sake of leveling the inequalities and hierarchies that were the legacy of the past, fiercely and indiscriminately used the guillotine against the members of the Ancien Regime that they sought to purge from their midst.

Most decent folks today, regardless of their politics or religion, share Burke’s assessment of the French Revolution. The radicals were many things, but they were not good.

This, then, is another respect in which The Last Jedi underscores the arbitrary, the arguably artificial, character of our conceptions of right and wrong, good and evil:

The Resistors are not good in any objective sense of this term.

And neither is The Last Jedi a good film.

^^^^^
I think this guy is over thinking it.

It was a bad movie.

quote:

Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
^^^^^
I think this guy is over thinking it.

.

Way, Way overthinking it.

Plus it's quite possible that the next installment will prove that Luke's (and Yoda/everyone else's) opinions in TLJ are completely wrong.

cc

quote:

Originally posted by ccmdfd:

quote:

Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
^^^^^
I think this guy is over thinking it.

.

Way, Way overthinking it.

Plus it's quite possible that the next installment will prove that Luke's (and Yoda/everyone else's) opinions in TLJ are completely wrong.

cc

And the fact that the crux of his argument about killing the past is eviscerated by the fact that the Jedi Texts were stolen by Rey and placed on the Falcon before she left the planet.

Rey might not deny the Dark Side, but I think she is clearly good.

This movie might have had some bad moments, but I think there is enough interesting bits to make me want to see it again, as well as give Ep. 9 a fair shake.

quote:

Originally posted by agony:
I want to punch Rian Johnson for absolutely ruining the Star Wars universe. Did he truly watch any of the films? Even JJ Abrams showed us that he loved the franchise. This guy? Fuck him. Even midi-chlorians were forgivable, but not this film.
All those positive reviews? Written by millennials most likely.

I hated pretty much everything about this film, but mostly:

Luke was an absolute waste.

No background on Snoke.

Lightly touched on Luke's Jedi temple.

Leia flying back to the ship.

Casting Laura Dern was a huge mistake.

The casino scene/giant rabbits. Seriously?

The Disney-esque ending with the force-sensitive kid.

The comedy...way too much.

Absolutely nothing was resolved, other than Snoke and Luke dying. It's like the final season of Dexter, or Mad Men. I just want it to end for good.

Sums it all up perfectly, except that Mad Men comment...

Seriously though I couldn't wait to go see this in the theater, as I have missed the last two - and I was simply disappointed. Best part was when General Hux slapped Finn. Entire theater is all quiet, I look over at my seven year old son and give him that "what the heck" look - and he busts out laughing, causing me to laugh out loud. It was just so stupid.

I was thinking of finally seeing this on Sat. Based on this thread, I’d better wait until it’s on Netflix and I’m dozy so I do not get too pissed.

I remember exactly where in the theatre I was sitting in 1977 as a nine year old. 03 ANH was earth shattering to a little sigcrazy7. Dammit, it’s getting difficult to maintain the faith.

Maybe I’ll see Jumanji instead. I’m not as emotionally invested in the original, since Kirsten Dunce was still too young to hold my interest.

Just came out of the movie. Must say I cannot argue with most opinions in this thread. I couldn't care less about Rey's lineage, but I must say that the story sure felt derivative of those that went before.

Interesting take on Last Jedi from a Christian perspective; what do you guys think?

quote:

"...In a way, The Last Jedi can be seen as the turning point between two Star Wars testaments. The divided audience reaction to the movie evokes the way devout, first-century Jews responded when, after centuries of prophetic silence, their long-awaited Messiah stepped onto the pages of history with a surprising, controversial agenda. With all the bedraggled flair of Luke Skywalker abruptly tossing his father's lightsaber off a cliff, Jesus took his people's misguided messianic expectations and cast them aside, refusing to play the part his most zealous fans had outlined for him. Defying their hopes that he would take down the entire Roman empire, Jesus instead announced a new dispensation in God's dealings with the world—one that would begin with their Messiah literally putting to death the old ways of the Jewish religion.

That wasn't exactly a popular message, particularly for those with a lot at stake in the preservation of the old ways. But one of the great mysteries of the Bible is that Jesus' rejection by some was eternally decreed for the salvation of many. “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,” Jesus said, “it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” In the economy of God's salvation, death and division point the way to new life.

When Jesus died on the cross, rocks split open and the veil of the Jewish temple tore from top to bottom. Like the violent bolt of lightning Yoda unexpectedly calls down upon the ancient Jedi tree on Ahch-To, as well as the explosive severing of Anakin’s lightsaber during Rey’s duel with Kylo Ren, this epic event signaled the end of an era. No longer would circumcision or ritual purity determine who could approach the Most Holy God. Henceforth, all the “nobodies” of the world—Jews and Gentiles alike—would have unfettered access to God in Christ..."

The Last Jedi’s New Covenant: A spoiler-heavy case for The Last Jedi as a bridge between Star Wars' old and new testaments.

My one word critique of this movie- horrible. I liked Rougue 1 (save the middle eastern-ish theme), but Disney has successfully driven the final nail into the franchise.

Knowing that Mark Hamill asked to die in exchange for appearing in it should have been a huge clue, but I wanted to give it a chance for informed opinions sake.

Agreed. Can't believe how utterly horrible the writing was for this film.

quote:

Originally posted by Jumper:
Agreed. Can't believe how utterly horrible the writing was for this film.

This film? A new hope was just as scandalously bad. The only reason rouge one gets as many nice comments as it does, is that it is held to the standard of these two movies. Watch it by its self, or even with 456, or 123, and it becomes laughably bad.

Disney had put these scripts together by polling a variety of sjw groups. It is just sad.

You actually think Rogue One was a bad movie? It was easily the best of the nine movies!

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
You actually think Rogue One was a bad movie? It was easily the best of the nine movies!

In comparison to 456 yes, Les so to episodes 2 and 3. I would put it on par with phantom menace. It stands out against 7 and 8 clearly. When rated against the others it is not that great.

"On par" with The Phantom Menace. Interesting. Your criteria is wildly different than most peoples', I think. But to each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
"On par" with The Phantom Menace. Interesting. Your criteria is wildly different than most peoples', I think. But to each his own.

I like it the most out of the 7,8, RO. I dislike 1,2,3,with 1 being the best of the 3. 4,5,6 are about as good as it gets with six being a little bit of a marketing ploy. The clone wars movie and Tv show was excelently done.

this showed up on my news feed

https://movieweb.com/amp/star-...-last-jedi-problems/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DSgrouse,

quote:

Interesting take on Last Jedi from a Christian perspective; what do you guys think?

I didn't read the article, just what you quoted. No disrespect to you sir but I say HORSESHIT.

If this movie actually did what that writer is implying I'd actually be pretty cool with it. If this was the actual intention all along the movie was even worse than I originally thought. As a work of cinema it just was 90 percent crap.

I was having a conversation with someone today about Episodes 4,5, and 6. The coolest thing about the films imho is that we go through two and a half films before we realize that the story isn't about Luke and the Rebellion fighting the evil empire. The real story is about the redemption of Anakin Skywalker. This is something George Lucas has said.
Then the Prequels came along and we see Anakin has killed many "younglings". Children. He killed children. At this point Lucas negated the objective of the original trilogy. Killing the Emperor to save his son does NOT in my mind redeem him for killing children.

The New Testament does not negate the Old Testament but fulfill it. In what way did this movie fulfill anything. Yoda burnt the old religion. So what. Nothing new was established. The only thing that was firmly established is "Once a Skywalker, always a Skywalker". That is to say, once a spoiled whiny bitch, always a spoiled whiny bitch. Where exactly is the "New Covenant" in that?

Professional critics and Rotten Tomatoes are trolling hard. It's got a "90% Fresh" rating for this pile of shit movie.

90% fresh?

I am a huge SW nerd. I even enjoyed the prequels. They may not have been examples of fine movie making, but they were still fun and I enjoyed them.

Rogue One was very good, I enjoyed it. TFA was OK.

The Last Jedi sucked. Plain and simple. It sucked. It pissed all over the storyline, was mostly totally irrelevant, and I hate Rian Johnson for what he's done. Nerd Rage...

The fate of the entire SW universe is now in the hands of J.J. Abrams. Help us, JJ, you're our only hope.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
The fate of the entire SW universe is now in the hands of J.J. Abrams. Help us, JJ, you're our only hope.

That is 9 tenths of the problem