Following the destruction of Starkiller base, the First Order are hunting down the Resistance fleet.
In an attempt to save his comrades, Fin leaves the fleet accompanied by young rebel Rose (Kelly Marie Tran).
Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) struggles to pull Luke Skywalker out of exile, while trying to learn more about her past.
That journey puts her on a collision course with Kyle Ren (Adam Driver), who is on his own mission to confront his past and remold himself.
The Last Jedi.
A defining movie of its era - for reasons external to the movie, as well as what it did for the franchise. Or what future movies sought to undo.
This is the one time it feels like this series has settled into itself and is figuring out its own course.
The Force Awakens is enjoyable - but this movie feels like the key ingredients being sorted into a new, unique recipe.
With distance, this movie gains an added poignancy.
Not just for Star Wars.
But for pop culture.
For established stories and characters.
A group of filmmakers came up with a movie that cleared the runway, blew open the concept of what this franchise could be.
And every choice after it came out feels like the franchise being forced into a box - and not even the box it was originally delivered in.
The Last Jedi feels like a story. With a beginning, middle and end. You can watch it on its own, and the ending does not require any kind of follow up.
The film’s staying power is its focus on character growth.
Rey’s realization that she is not predestined for greatness is the film’s greatest asset. While Kyle Ren is the product of legacy, struggling to find his own path, and taking the wrong lessons, Rey is gifted with an opportunity to make her own way.
I did not mention Adam Driver’s performance in The Force Awakens. He adds a sense of menace all his own. And he gets some real meat to work with here.
After killing his father, it is a logical next step that he would eventually remove Snock, to finally stand as the captain of his destiny, rather than beholden to others.
Poe Dameron’s battle with Admiral Holdo is ultimately about the character realizing his blasters-first approach has to take a backseat for the welfare of the people around him.
And then there is Luke Skywalker. Driven to isolation by failure, he finally is able to ascend to a higher level of consciousness by accepting it.
I am not a Star Wars guy.
My fandom dwindled to a natural death in the early noughties.
Mostly I put it down to burnout (I was way too into it) and when puberty came around, Star Wars was too sexless to keep me interested.
It is a testament to The Last Jedi that I could enjoy it, be not just engaged but inspired by it.
I left the movie actually excited for what could come next.
The final image of a child hoisting a broom handle like a lightsaber felt like the ultimate rejection of the series’ focus on the Skywalkers, and bloodlines. Frankly, it felt like a reset to the original Star Wars, pre-Empire Strikes Back.
The Force was for anyone, everyone.
It is hard, even all these years later, to write about this movie without taking into account the online reaction. And it was mostly an online reaction - a 1.3 billion gross puts the lie yo do the idea that movie was divisive.
Rogue One’s success felt like an after effect of the 2016 election (let’s go watch the movie about resisting an evil empire!).
Released a year into the Trump presidency, The Last Jedi became the locus for the online bile which has continued to this day.
It was not the first (Ghostbusters 2016, and John Boyega’s experience post-the release of the first TFA trailer would have a word).
But it has become the poster child for the dark side of online fandom, and the way online platforms like Twitter and RottenTomatoes have been weaponised.
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