Ricky Church on the ‘failure’ of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (spoilers follow)…
Though it has only been out in theatres for a week, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has already proven to be a rather divisive film among fans. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that a film with such high expectations like Star Wars would cater some debate, but there is a high level of outright dislike for this film. Many fans have either expressed disappointment with director Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi or gone even further by petitioning to have the film removed from the official canon.
The one word, however, I have seen tossed around a lot: failure. “The film was a failure on every level.” “Rian Johnson failed the franchise.” “The story failed the characters of the Original Trilogy.” Yes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a failure. Or rather, it was a story about failure.
Both J.J. Abrams and Johnson’s Star Wars films have tackled the theme of failure, but Johnson really dives into this theme in The Last Jedi. Its one of the strongest and most resonant themes of the whole film, especially when it comes to the Original Trilogy’s main hero, Luke Skywalker. Perhaps that’s one reason the film is getting hammered so hard: fans don’t like seeing Luke having failed and gone into hiding, a decision even Mark Hamill didn’t altogether agree with.
Luke’s role in The Last Jedi is much more minimal than anyone expected. Though he reluctantly teaches Rey some of the ways of The Force, he doesn’t actually step into the action until the film’s climax and even then he’s not actually physically present. However, his arc is pretty clear as he contemplates not just his failure in Ben Solo’s turn to the dark side, but his own hubris in beginning a new Jedi Order, falling into the same traps as the old one.
Luke admits that the Jedi’s hubris in believing they’re the only knows who know how to use The Force properly is what led to their destruction. Luke’s own belief in The Force and idolization of Jedi like Yoda and Obi-Wan never allowed him to look at their failures and adapt to the future. Instead, he believed he was capable of teaching a new generation (which he certainly was), but, as Yoda once warned him, let fear get the best of him in the slightest of instants that ruined everything. The film deconstructs Luke’s role as a teacher and galactic legend, showing us a man who has come to regret his decisions in treating The Force as a tool for his own power and making things worse through his supposed recklessness.
Luke’s failings aren’t the only ones Last Jedi examines. The film also deconstructs the maverick-type character with Poe Dameron, the Resistance’s best pilot. Though he is indeed great in an X-Wing, he has much to learn about what it takes to lead as his own bravado causes the loss of several lives and bombers, even if they did manage to take down a dreadnaught. The film treats Finn similarly as he nearly abandons the Resistance just to prevent Rey from coming into danger, placing her life above that of the only force capable of fighting back against the First Order.
Perhaps it’s aggravating to some fans, but everything Poe and Finn do in the film end up counterintuitive and even harmful to the Resistance’s survival. Their plan to get aboard Snoke’s ship, as does Poe’s attempted mutiny, backfires immensely as it leads to the deaths of several Resistance members. By the end of the film, both Poe and Finn have grown from their maverick ways by realizing they can’t do everything on their own, but need to work with others to achieve victory. Not only that, but Poe realizes he can’t solve everything with guns blazing and learns the importance of fighting the right battles, evolving into the type of fighter Leia first saw in him.
Failure even touches the film’s villains. Despite his declaration to “let the past die”, Kylo fails to move beyond his past and lets it dominate his every move while Hux allows his arrogance to blind him at nearly every turn, letting the Resistance escape just as he’s about to complete his victory. Even the enigmatic and all-powerful Snoke succumbs to failure, believing so much in his own power that he didn’t see Kylo Ren’s betrayal coming. In this way, he’s not much different from Luke or the old Jedi Order in his hubris and confidence in The Force.
The film’s examination of failure is best said through Yoda as he tells Luke to pass on what he has learnt, including his failures as those are the best teachers. Luke, Poe and Finn have learnt from their past failures by the film’s end and grown into better characters. Johnson even uses this as a bit of meta-commentary for Star Wars, acknowledging the franchise and future films have to grow beyond their past in order to develop and expand for the next generation of fans. It’s not often we see the heroes fail so much in a film, but then it’s also even rarer to see them grow so much out of that failure. That’s why Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a great addition to the galaxy far, far away.
SEE ALSO: I Can’t Believe It’s Come To This: In Defence of The Last Jedi
Ricky Church
