Let's be real. It has been years since Rian Johnson released Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the internet still hasn't moved on. Not even a little bit. You can go into any Reddit thread or Twitter scrap today and find people still screaming about Luke Skywalker’s green milk or whether Admiral Holdo should have just told Poe the plan from the jump. It’s wild. Most blockbusters have the shelf life of a banana, but Episode 8 is different. It’s the "The Room" of big-budget sci-fi, except instead of being unintentionally hilarious, it’s intentionally provocative.
People love it. People hate it. Honestly, there isn't much middle ground left.
The Luke Skywalker Problem: Subverting or Sabotaging?
The biggest sticking point for most fans—and even Mark Hamill himself, if we’re being honest—was the depiction of Luke Skywalker. In the original trilogy, Luke was the beacon of hope. He was the guy who saw good in Darth Vader, a man who had literally spent decades murdering his way across the galaxy. Fast forward to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and we find him as a grumpy hermit who thought about killing his nephew because of a bad dream.
That hurt. It felt like a betrayal to some.
But if you look at it from a narrative perspective, it’s actually the most "human" thing the franchise has ever done. Myths are heavy. Imagine being the guy responsible for the rebirth of an entire religion and then seeing it all go up in flames because you failed one kid. That’s enough to make anyone want to go drink unpasteurized thala-siren milk on a remote cliffside.
The movie argues that "failure is the greatest teacher." Yoda says it directly. But for a lot of people, they didn't want a lesson in failure; they wanted the hero they grew up with to show up with a green lightsaber and kick some First Order teeth in. Instead, they got a projection. A ghost. A man who won a war without ever swinging his sword. It was brilliant, and it was deeply frustrating. Both can be true at the same time.
The Rey Nobody Reveal
Then there’s the parentage thing. J.J. Abrams set up a massive mystery in The Force Awakens. Who are Rey's parents? Is she an Obi-Wan descendant? Is she a secret Skywalker? Star Wars: The Last Jedi gave us the answer: "They were filthy junk traders who sold you off for drinking money."
It was a gut punch.
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For the story, this was actually quite powerful. It meant that you didn't need a famous last name to be the hero of the galaxy. The Force doesn't care about your bloodline. It’s a democratization of the Jedi mythos that actually takes the series back to its roots—before the "chosen one" prophecies and midichlorians complicated things. Of course, The Rise of Skywalker eventually walked this back by making her a Palpatine, but for a few years there, Rey being "nobody" was the most radical thing to happen to the franchise since the Vader reveal in Empire.
Canto Bight and the Pacing Issues
Okay, we have to talk about the casino. This is where even the most die-hard defenders of the film usually start to stutter a bit. The Canto Bight sequence feels like it belongs in a different movie. It’s long. It’s loud. It’s very... Prequel-esque?
Finn and Rose Tico head to a luxury planet to find a codebreaker, and we get a whole subplot about animal cruelty and the military-industrial complex. While the message is fine—Star Wars has always been political—the execution felt clunky. It halted the momentum of the high-stakes "slow-speed chase" happening in space.
However, Rose Tico as a character represented something important: the perspective of the "little people" in the galaxy. Not the generals, not the Jedi, but the mechanics who keep the ships running. It’s just a shame her big moment at the end—crashing into Finn to stop his suicide run—felt like it robbed him of a meaningful character arc.
Killing the Past: Kylo Ren's Evolution
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
That’s Kylo Ren’s whole vibe in this movie. Adam Driver absolutely carries the emotional weight of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. His performance is nuanced in a way we rarely see in these films. When he kills Snoke, it’s a genuine shock. Most of us expected Snoke to be the big bad for the whole trilogy, the new Emperor. Instead, Kylo slices him in half before the third act even begins.
This move was incredibly bold. It left the story in a place where there was no master, just two young people trying to figure out what they wanted the galaxy to look like. The throne room fight—the one with the Praetorian Guards and the vivid red backgrounds—remains one of the most visually stunning sequences in cinematic history. The choreography has its flaws if you pause it and look at every frame, but the raw energy is undeniable.
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Why the Backlash Was So Intense
So, why did this movie cause such a rift? Part of it is the "mystery box" culture. We spent two years theorizing about Snoke’s identity and Rey’s parents, and Rian Johnson basically threw those boxes in the trash. He wasn't interested in the questions J.J. Abrams asked. He wanted to answer them in the most unexpected way possible.
For some, that felt like a slap in the face. For others, it was a breath of fresh air in a franchise that had become too reliant on nostalgia and fan service.
There’s also the "Holdo Maneuver." You know the one—where Laura Dern’s character rams the Raddus through the First Order fleet at lightspeed. Visually? Stunning. Scientifically? People are still arguing about why nobody ever did that before. If you can just jump a ship into another ship and wipe out a fleet, why did they bother with the Death Star runs? These are the kinds of lore-breaking questions that keep Star Wars fans up at night.
The Visual Mastery of Rian Johnson
Whatever you think of the script, you cannot deny that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best-looking movie in the entire saga. Steve Yedlin, the cinematographer, did things with lighting and color that hadn't been seen in Star Wars before.
- The salt flats of Crait: That white salt kicking up blood-red dust? Iconic.
- The red room of Snoke: It looked like a stage play in the best way.
- The silence of the Holdo Maneuver: Removing all sound for that split second was a masterclass in tension.
The film has a weight and a texture to it. It feels expensive and deliberate. Even the Porgs—clearly designed to sell plushies—had a weird, gross charm to them that felt very "Star Wars."
Real-World Impact and Legacy
The reception of Episode 8 changed how Disney approached the brand. They got scared. You can see the fingerprints of the "The Last Jedi" backlash all over The Rise of Skywalker. That final movie felt like a frantic apology, trying to fix things that didn't necessarily need fixing.
Because of the divide, the fandom became more polarized than ever. We saw the rise of a specific kind of online discourse that made it hard to just talk about the movies. But looking back, Episode 8 is the only one of the sequels that really tried to say something new. It challenged the idea of heroism. It challenged the idea that the Jedi are perfect.
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It’s a movie about legacy.
How to Re-watch (and Actually Enjoy) It
If you haven't seen it since 2017, or if you walked out of the theater steaming, it might be time for a re-watch with a different mindset.
- Stop looking for theories. Ignore what you think should happen and just watch what is happening.
- Watch Luke’s eyes. Mark Hamill gives a career-best performance here. The pain in his face when he sees R2-D2 is real.
- Appreciate the sound design. The way the Force "connections" between Rey and Kylo sound is subtle and brilliant.
- Ignore the logic of the chase. Yes, the First Order could have probably just jumped a ship ahead of them. Just let it go. It’s a space opera, not a physics textbook.
Ultimately, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a film that demands to be reckoned with. It doesn't let you sit back and be comfortable. It forces you to ask what Star Wars actually means to you. Is it just a collection of X-wings and lightsabers, or is it a story about the choices we make when everything goes wrong?
Love it or hate it, we're still talking about it. And in a world of forgettable content, that's a win for Rian Johnson.
Actionable Steps for the Curious Fan
If you want to go deeper into the "whys" of this movie, there are a few things you should check out. First, watch the documentary The Director and the Jedi. It’s a raw look at the making of the film, and it doesn't shy away from the tension between Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill. It makes you appreciate the craft even if you still hate the plot.
Next, read the novelization by Jason Fry. It adds a lot of internal monologue for Luke and Rey that explains their motivations way better than the movie had time for. It fills in those gaps that felt like "plot holes" to many.
Finally, look up the concept art. The visual development of Canto Bight and Crait shows just how much thought went into the "look" of this era. It helps you see the film as a piece of art rather than just a product.
Star Wars isn't going anywhere. But it’s unlikely we'll ever get a movie as divisive, bold, and visually arresting as Episode 8 ever again. Disney seems to have learned that playing it safe is "better" for the bottom line, which is a bit of a tragedy for those of us who liked being surprised.