Failure is the Greatest Teacher(ITS JUST A LAST JEDI REVIEW)

Hello, I am currently in a line at Troy Daze writing my blog post. It’s somewhat windy and I’m about to enter the twister. I’m currently on about 5 hours of sleep because of homecoming. Hopefully I do not throw up on this ride. Anyway, in class a seed that I thought of while writing my college essays was failure or learning from one’s failure. Since I'm a film guy that's into Star Wars, there is a Star Wars movie with the theme of failure and that's the Last Jedi. Also, I stated that I liked the Last Jedi as my weird thing that I liked on the second day of school. Some people in the class were a little surprised so I decided to write my blog post about it. This is kind of a stretch from the core seed, but this is the only thing I can think of that I can write passionately about right now as I wait in this line

I like to preface that I am a huge Star Wars fan that has watched all the movies and shows and read some of the books, but also I can admit that every Star Wars movie kind of just doesn't make sense. When I say I like this movie, I really mean that I like ⅓ of this movie, meaning the part of the movie that pertains to my seed(failure). Anyway, I am now going to do a review on this movie and explain why I like ⅓ of it and how failure is a beautiful theme.

I THOUGHT LUKE WAS PRETTY EPIC AND I LIKE HOW HE FAILS

I know some people who really despise Luke in this movie and understandably so. They rip apart the original character that we knew him as, but this is why I love him in his movie. If I had to choose between a movie where Luke is just on the island and trains Rey and a movie where a broken old Luke Skywalker actually goes through character development and rediscovers what it's like to be a hero, well I’m choosing the ladder. The toughest pill to swallow about his character in this movie is the fact that he would ignite his lightsaber on Ben Solo. For the longest time, I hated this character choice, but it's kind of grown on me. Luke has never been a perfect character. 

The audience just assumes that Luke Skywalker is just this untouchable deity that can do no wrong. Everyone is expecting the Luke Skywalker that will bring balance to the force once again. This is the Luke Skywalker that's going to turn the tide of the war. This is the Luke Skywalker that everyone in the last movie was hyped to see come back. This is the Luke Skywalker that does not exist. 

Rian Johnson is essentially telling the audience to reject the myth of Luke Skywalker and showing us that our heroes can have failures. He did something so bad, so egregious, so ill-befitting of his character that it has haunted him for years and hinging the entire plot of the movie on that fact is masterful. Luke Skywalker is not a legend. He is a man. He makes mistakes. This ⅓ of the movie is easily my favorite Star Wars content. 

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY

As a film nerd myself, this movie is easily the most cinematically beautiful Star Wars film ever created. From the red salt on that snow planet to light speed jump. This movie is visually stunning. Let's all take a moment to appreciate the cinematography:

“THE GREATEST TEACHER, FAILURE IS”

A huge theme in this movie is failure. There is literally a part of the movie where Yoda comes down and literally tells us this. This entire movie our characters are failing time and time again. Luke fails to bring back the Jedi. Rey fails to find her “parents”. Poe fails to become a leader. Finn and Rose fail their mission(even though I don’t really like this part of the movie). Johnson also ties this theme of failure to other movies like the movies in the prequels. Even the Jedi in the prequels failed to prevent Anakin from turning to the Darkside. Johnson is telling us that you should not let failure overcome you and instead you must learn from your failures and become a better person. One person that does overcome their failures is none other than Luke Skywalker.

The final showdown with Luke and Kylo is amazing. For the entire movie, Luke has resented his status as a hero. This is where Luke truly becomes a legend and he realizes that his sacrifice will inspire hope across the galaxy. His arc is beautiful in this movie and there is something so refreshing when Luke speaks of hope, emboldened with the sense of optimism in the future stating that “[he] will not be the Last Jedi”

Despite all of his failures, despite him wanting to end it all, despite the fact that he is a man that makes mistakes, he over comes his failure, regains his status as a hero, and sacrifices himself inspiring others across the galaxy to fight.

One thing I hated was that he died at the end, but after thinking about it. This is honestly the only way I can accept Luke Skywalker dying. If he went to the planet, did some Jedi flips, and got stabbed by Kylo, that would be so stupid. He died in the most Jedi way possible, by using the force so hard that his body just shut off.

CONCLUSION

There’s a lot more I could talk about but I’m about to go on my last ride and also this has exceeded the word count minimum by a lot so I think I’ll call it a day. There’s a lot of things I do not like about this movie like Canto Bight, Finn and Rose, comedic dialogue, but that's also why I stated that I only like ⅓ of this movie. This is the only Star Wars movie with a clear theme and I think failure is something we can all learn from. Failure is an important part of everyday life. But it is only through these failures and trials that we can come out a better person. Much of my college essay is about how my failure has lead me to become a better person and why it is integral to who I am.

I hope the four people that actually read this enjoyed this review.