Warning: The following article contains spoilers for “Star Wars Episode XII: The Last Jedi.”
When The Last Jedi, the highly anticipated eighth installment in the Star Wars saga, hit theaters about a month ago, expectations for this film were high. Months of promotion leading up to the film’s release promised that this Star Wars film was going to be unlike any of its predecessors, and fans of the franchise waited eagerly for the film they thought was going to blow them away. Upon arriving in theaters, The Last Jedi seemed to be a worldwide hit, earning over $1 billion at the box office. It is widely praised by critics for being a bold and fresh breath of air into the Star Wars saga. However, fan reactions to the film told a different story, as numerous moviegoers aired their grievances online about the film, complaining that The Last Jedi failed on many different levels and that critics were wrong about it being an excellent movie.
One of the major reasons noted by fans claiming that The Last Jedi was a flawed movie is that the characters in the film themselves failed. The failure of Rose and Finn to complete their mission made their story arc insignificant. The revelation that Luke Skywalker attempted to murder his nephew Kylo Ren was also seen as out of character and disrespectful to the iconic character. While I can agree that The Last Jedi did have its flaws, I think it is unfair to call it a bad movie because some character arcs seemed pointless or unsatisfying. It is in my opinion that in these failures lie the film’s greatest strengths.
Take, for example, the story arc of Finn and Rose, who go on a mission to find a master codebreaker who will help them save the Resistance from being destroyed by the First Order. Despite this plot thread taking up a significant portion of the movie’s runtime, the mission ends in failure, as they are unable to find the master codebreaker, instead finding a different one who ultimately betrays them resulting in the destruction of most of the Resistance. Those who claim that this portion of the story is flawed because their mission was ultimately pointless and a failure are missing a crucial element that is woven throughout the entire movie – it is not just Finn and Rose who fail, but the rest of the main characters do as well.
The theme of failure is constantly present throughout The Last Jedi, from Rey believing there is good left in Kylo Ren only to fail in convincing him to return to the Light Side, to Luke Skywalker, who failed Kylo Ren by assuming he was too far gone to the Dark Side to be redeemed. Each one of the films’ protagonists try their best to do what is right, but ultimately all fail in some way. But within their failures, there is a powerful lesson to be learned. As Yoda tells Luke Skywalker, “The best teacher, failure is.” In underestimating Kylo Ren, Luke might have betrayed himself and the heroic character we have all come to expect, but sometimes failure is necessary in order that we might grow. Although it is hard to see a character as iconic as Luke Skywalker not act the way we hope he would, his shortcomings allow his character unexpected depths of growth.
Despite their constant struggle to do what is right but always seeming to come up short, these characters failures do not define them. By learning from their mistakes and letting them guide their future actions, their shortcomings become like a mosaic: many broken pieces coming together to create something new and beautiful. Although Luke, Rey, Finn, Rose, and others fail both themselves and,perhaps, expectations of those watching the film, their actions still pay off in the end as a new Resistance is born. It is Rose, the character at the center of the film’s most seemingly pointless and useless storylines, who delivers the line that is at the heart of what makes The Last Jedi such a powerful and beautiful film. “We won’t win by fighting the things we hate, but by saving those we love.” By the end of the movie, these characters have learned through their failures that acting out of hatred or wanting to get even will not lead to victory. Only when we learn to act out of love and prioritize compassion over destruction will evil truly be overcome.
It is for this reason that The Last Jedi puts a conscious emphasis on storylines not having the satisfying resolution we were hoping for or characters acting the way we’ve come to expect. By doing so, this film offers a powerful lesson that, sometimes, in order to win the fight we must first fail. So, while it is alright to find flaws in this film, as there were many, those who found the film a failure because of the storylines of the characters might want to give it a second chance. Because if you want to find where The Last Jedi truly succeeded both as a Star Wars film and powerful storytelling in general, you can find it in the failures.