Disney is Searching For its ‘Empire Strikes Back’ in ‘The Last Jedi’

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Rad or Bad

5 min readDec 27, 2017

This has been one of the most anticipated Star Wars movies ever. Well, each one is massively anticipated, but only a few achieve the level of curiosity and excitement The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have warranted. The Last Jedi, critically, has been acclaimed, but the fandom has been split down the middle, some calling for its removal from lore. But I’m here today to find out if The Last Jedi is good and if it matches up to another critically praised sequel: The Empire Strikes Back.

Was The Movie Good?

The movie is actually very good. Some plebs will give it a “meh” rating, but they were never going to be happy. The movie is very good but it’s not great.

Was it Better Than ‘The Force Awakens’?

No, it was not. The Force Awakens was phenomenal, even if it was a slight retread. So far, the new Star Wars rankings go:

— The Force Awakens

— The Last Jedi

— Rogue One

The Force Awakens was fast paced, fun, and did a great job walking the line between nostalgia and shooing in the future. The Last Jedi was darker, but at times undercut its tension with awkwardly placed humor. Although, it gave us two of the strongest moments in the Star Wars universe: Vice Admiral Holdor’s silent sacrifice and Kylo and Rey fighting back to back against Snoke’s guards.

Were There Any Wack-Ass Moments?

Oh, boy.

Whatever the fuck Leia was doing in space was wack as shit. She reminded me a lot of Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Some people weren’t fans of the Casino planet, Canto Bight, but I thought it was a fun little detour. The only bad thing about that was Benicio Del Toro and whatever movie he thought he was in.

I mentioned earlier the humor undercutting tense moments. It felt Avengers-esque, which is fine for the first movie and the reintroduction/introduction of new characters, but when you’re trying to make a serious and darker movie, the humor sometimes feels awkward and takes away tension the filmmakers were trying to build. I understand having to reach a wide array of people when you have a billion dollar product, but sometimes it’d be nice to treat tense situations as they are: tense.

What Was The Best Moment?

Loved, loved, loved Holdor driving that bitch straight through the First Order’s fleet. Astounding, shout out to Rick Ross. The silence of the scene and the slow motion explosions were some of the most dramatic moments in Star Wars lore.

Shirtless Kylo. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him shirtless but he’s shredded. He’s got, like, an eight pack. Some people would say he’s maybe 30 pounds soaking wet in that black dress, but they would be wrong. Also, space Skyping Rey shirtless was the ultimate power move.

YODA!!! And not just Yoda, but puppet Yoda!

Hologram Luke was some real power shit. Has there ever been an equivalent to Luke telepathically transporting across the galaxy just to son Kylo Ren? Only thing I can think of is Iverson stepping over Tyronn Lue. Or Bron swatting Steph out of the gym and Steph getting butthurt. Or Jordan hitting his final shot against the Jazz.

Finn/Rose or Finn/Rey?

For the entirety of the movie, I was all in on Finn and Rose. They are so sweet and perfect together that an indie Star Wars romance movie would be the logical next move. Just a movie with no battles and Fin and Rose staring at the stars and holding hands. She saved Finn! I thought he was a goner for sure. And then she shot her shot and delivered a kiss that wasn’t reciprocated at all. But, I’m still on board for Finn and Rose.

I’m also super on board with Finn and Rey. The way they hugged each other at the end of the movie brought back all the feels from the first one. I would love for Finn and Rey to be an intergalactic power couple on some Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie shit — minus the divorce.

But I could also see Poe/Rey, because he’s so damn handsome and perfect and charming and possibly asexual or gay or pansexual. It doesn’t matter, Poe is the most perfect person in the galaxy and I’m 100% in on whoever he decides to pursue.

How Should it Have Ended?

After the battle with Snoke’s guards, Kylo should’ve joined Rey. They fly to the safety planet so the rebellion can regroup — considering they lost literally 2/3 of their crew thanks to one Poe Damron. Kylo and momma bear have a moment together and it’s beautiful and perfect.

General Hux, meanwhile, flies to the First Order base and calls on their secret weapon. Two robotic legs enter the frame, and the camera pans up to reveal Darth Maul.

We see Luke looking at the two suns and Yoda sitting next to him followed by…Obi Wan! And he eventually fades into nothing.