The Last Jedi's Heroes Are the Worst in the Series
As inept and useless as the villains were in The Last Jedi, the heroes weren't much better. In every Star Wars film, the good guys are outnumbered and outgunned, only narrowly winning at the end through guile, hope, and the power of friendship. It's a great way to gain the audience's sympathy.
That sympathy quickly erodes into frustration in this film when the protagonists make one poor decision after another. In fact, The Last Jedi seems to make a concerted effort to show just how dim Team Light Side actually is.
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Poe Dameron
Ace X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron was an excellent hero in The Force Awakens. In The Last Jedi, not so much.
The film opens with Dameron distracting General Hux with a prank call so he can get close enough to take out the First Order Dreadnought's defensive cannons. It's a stupid plan that only works on a stupid enemy, but Dameron is well aware of how thick his plot armor is, so of course the gambit pays off.
"It's not stupid if it works," doesn't apply here, because in order for the good guys' dumb plan to succeed, the film has to portray the bad guys as even dumber. It's college football all over again.
Over the course of the film, Dameron sacrifices the entire Resistance bombing fleet to take out that one Dreadnought, doesn't tell his superiors about his convoluted plan to evade the First Order's pursuit, and stages a mutiny because he doesn't trust Laura Dern. I get that, as established in the previous film, he's a hotheaded, passionate man of action, but this film takes those characteristics to an unreasonable extreme.
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Amilyn Holdo
Wow, it's Dr. Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park! And she has a brilliant plan to escape the First Order! But she won't tell Poe Dameron about it because she's offended by his reckless machismo and smoldering intensity.
To be fair, Vice Admiral Holdo's plan isn't much better than Dameron's. Credit to Laura Dern for acting genuinely surprised and horrified when those transports were getting shot down, like she didn't think the First Order would be cunning enough to look out a window.
I get not wanting to tell Dameron just to snub him, but why didn't Holdo inform other crew members about escaping to the hidden rebel base? So many people were out of the loop that even the workers fueling the transporters didn't speak up about Salt World while Dameron was doing his whole mutiny thing.
Lastly, Holdo makes a heroic sacrifice by pointing her frigate at the First Order flagship and jumping to light speed. Truly noble and all, but if playing destruction derby with spaceships was on the table, why didn't they do that with the two other frigates instead of letting them run out of fuel and then get shot down?
Even worse, had Dameron and Holdo actually argued about which of their stupid ideas was better (instead of hiding them from each other), they might've actually arrived at the conclusion to sacrifice one frigate to ram the First Order flagship. This not only would've taken out the "active tracking" preventing the Resistance from making a meaningful jump, but has the bonus of potentially killing the First Order's entire leadership.
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Leia Organa
General Leia is a much-needed contrast to Poe Dameron's hotheadedness. She's the voice of calm reason, tactical caution, and sympathy for the people whose lives she risks with each military decision. You know, a good leader.
I actually have nothing bad to say about General Leia's role in this movie--except that she doesn't die. And it has nothing to do with Carrie Fisher's unfortunate passing or my misgivings of a potential CGI Leia in the next film. No, my main gripe is that after her miraculous Mary Poppins recovery after getting spaced, Leia does nothing noteworthy for the rest of the film. Except ending Dameron's silly mutiny, but that hardly counts.
She becomes a useless character after the Resistance arrives on Crait. Although she's still technically in command of the Resistance forces, the film makes it clear that Poe Dameron is the real leadership as he spearheads the base's defense. And if that wasn't clear enough, Leia literally tells Dameron to lead the way out of the doomed base when an escape route is found.
You can't even say Leia's important because she's the figurehead of hope for the Resistance. Sorry, the film makes it pretty clear that's Luke Skywalker's job. Funny how "one man with a laser sword" can't change the outcome of a war, yet everyone in that bunker on Crait suddenly perks up when the last Jedi (an astral projection of him, anyway) shows up.
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Compared to Team Dark Side, the heroes in The Last Jedi do feel more like characters than caricatures. It's too bad they make so many questionable choices that it's hard to share in their peril. When some of your problems could be solved simply by communicating openly with each other or obeying your established chain of command, you're probably not on the winning team.
The Last Jedi teased many great things that it did not deliver upon. We did not get an epic side-switch like the ad campaigns hinted at, although I don't think anyone truly believed that would happen. But more importantly, the film itself seemed to be leading us toward a "burn it all down, new world (galaxy) order," given how Kylo Ren's and Rey's arc unfolded--no Light and Dark, no Jedi and Sith.
The film purposefully and nonchalantly discarded Snoke, Rey's parentage, and Luke's lightsaber as though to represent shedding the series of George Lucas's and J.J. Abrams's holdovers. And where did it end up? Right back at "ragtag group of freedom fighters trying to overthrow a tyrannical regime." Good game, Rian Johnson.
That sympathy quickly erodes into frustration in this film when the protagonists make one poor decision after another. In fact, The Last Jedi seems to make a concerted effort to show just how dim Team Light Side actually is.
------
Poe Dameron
 |
| Looks like a competent team of good guys, right? |
The film opens with Dameron distracting General Hux with a prank call so he can get close enough to take out the First Order Dreadnought's defensive cannons. It's a stupid plan that only works on a stupid enemy, but Dameron is well aware of how thick his plot armor is, so of course the gambit pays off.
"It's not stupid if it works," doesn't apply here, because in order for the good guys' dumb plan to succeed, the film has to portray the bad guys as even dumber. It's college football all over again.
Over the course of the film, Dameron sacrifices the entire Resistance bombing fleet to take out that one Dreadnought, doesn't tell his superiors about his convoluted plan to evade the First Order's pursuit, and stages a mutiny because he doesn't trust Laura Dern. I get that, as established in the previous film, he's a hotheaded, passionate man of action, but this film takes those characteristics to an unreasonable extreme.
------
Amilyn Holdo
 |
| The outfit and hair really inspire authority. |
To be fair, Vice Admiral Holdo's plan isn't much better than Dameron's. Credit to Laura Dern for acting genuinely surprised and horrified when those transports were getting shot down, like she didn't think the First Order would be cunning enough to look out a window.
I get not wanting to tell Dameron just to snub him, but why didn't Holdo inform other crew members about escaping to the hidden rebel base? So many people were out of the loop that even the workers fueling the transporters didn't speak up about Salt World while Dameron was doing his whole mutiny thing.
Lastly, Holdo makes a heroic sacrifice by pointing her frigate at the First Order flagship and jumping to light speed. Truly noble and all, but if playing destruction derby with spaceships was on the table, why didn't they do that with the two other frigates instead of letting them run out of fuel and then get shot down?
Even worse, had Dameron and Holdo actually argued about which of their stupid ideas was better (instead of hiding them from each other), they might've actually arrived at the conclusion to sacrifice one frigate to ram the First Order flagship. This not only would've taken out the "active tracking" preventing the Resistance from making a meaningful jump, but has the bonus of potentially killing the First Order's entire leadership.
------
Leia Organa
General Leia is a much-needed contrast to Poe Dameron's hotheadedness. She's the voice of calm reason, tactical caution, and sympathy for the people whose lives she risks with each military decision. You know, a good leader.
I actually have nothing bad to say about General Leia's role in this movie--except that she doesn't die. And it has nothing to do with Carrie Fisher's unfortunate passing or my misgivings of a potential CGI Leia in the next film. No, my main gripe is that after her miraculous Mary Poppins recovery after getting spaced, Leia does nothing noteworthy for the rest of the film. Except ending Dameron's silly mutiny, but that hardly counts.
 |
| Spoilers: Not dead, somehow. |
She becomes a useless character after the Resistance arrives on Crait. Although she's still technically in command of the Resistance forces, the film makes it clear that Poe Dameron is the real leadership as he spearheads the base's defense. And if that wasn't clear enough, Leia literally tells Dameron to lead the way out of the doomed base when an escape route is found.
You can't even say Leia's important because she's the figurehead of hope for the Resistance. Sorry, the film makes it pretty clear that's Luke Skywalker's job. Funny how "one man with a laser sword" can't change the outcome of a war, yet everyone in that bunker on Crait suddenly perks up when the last Jedi (an astral projection of him, anyway) shows up.
------
Compared to Team Dark Side, the heroes in The Last Jedi do feel more like characters than caricatures. It's too bad they make so many questionable choices that it's hard to share in their peril. When some of your problems could be solved simply by communicating openly with each other or obeying your established chain of command, you're probably not on the winning team.
The Last Jedi teased many great things that it did not deliver upon. We did not get an epic side-switch like the ad campaigns hinted at, although I don't think anyone truly believed that would happen. But more importantly, the film itself seemed to be leading us toward a "burn it all down, new world (galaxy) order," given how Kylo Ren's and Rey's arc unfolded--no Light and Dark, no Jedi and Sith.
The film purposefully and nonchalantly discarded Snoke, Rey's parentage, and Luke's lightsaber as though to represent shedding the series of George Lucas's and J.J. Abrams's holdovers. And where did it end up? Right back at "ragtag group of freedom fighters trying to overthrow a tyrannical regime." Good game, Rian Johnson.
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