Star Wars: The Last Jedi Recap and Predictions for Episode IX
December 15th, 2017
If you’ve seen The Last Jedi, read on. If not, go see it. It goes without saying, but there are mad spoilers ahead.
If you’ve seen The Last Jedi, read on. If not, go see it. It goes without saying, but there are mad spoilers ahead.
The Last Jedi was the riskiest Star Wars film yet, featuring a lot of new characters, a lot of gut-wrenching deaths, and just enough nostalgia sprinkled in to remind you that this is indeed, a Star Wars film after all. Although garnering mixed audience reviews, its message was audibly clear: this won’t be the Star Wars franchise that your parents grew up on.
The Force Awakens was criticized by some to be too similar to A New Hope. It didn’t just give you a feeling of nostalgia. It straight up gave you deja vu because of how identical the two storylines were. With The Last Jedi, its goal to separate itself from Star Wars movies and cliches past was achieved, a little to the chagrin of diehard fans. Our new Supreme Leader Kylo Ren said it best when he called for letting the past die. No more Snoke, no more Skywalkers, no more rebels, no more villains in black helmets. All of the played-out master and padawan duos are no more. For as long as anyone can remember, a teacher-learner dynamic has always existed in Star Wars, and this current trilogy seemed to follow that mold before The Last Jedi trashed that cliche. The mysterious and powerful Snoke is murdered by his apprentice. Luke makes an epic sacrifice and passes peacefully. By the end of the movie, so much has changed that the Star Wars universe has become nearly unrecognizable, making for what will undoubtedly be a wildly unpredictable Episode IX. We all know that the next film will conclude this new trilogy, but it feels like whatever finale we get will have too many loose ends to tie up. No amount of Porgs can fill the Skywalker-sized hole in my heart, but overall The Last Jedi was a damn good movie. Change is always an uncertain thing, and for diehard fans that were captivated by Luke, Han, and Leia 40 years ago, it is understandable that a mega-franchise like Star Wars taking a new direction will face its fair share of criticism. After the less-than-great prequels, the Star Wars franchise was in a limbo, kind of like a leg that needed to be amputated. The Force Awakens gave us our anesthetic, providing us with all of the nostalgia-provoking fan service that we could have asked for. The Last Jedi completes that painful amputation, cutting us off from the familiarities of the franchise and pushing us towards a new direction. It hurts at first, knowing that Episode IX will be the first Star Wars film not featuring a (living) Skywalker, but it had to be done in order to prevent every Star Wars film from here on out becoming a rehash. Han’s dead, Luke’s dead, and Leia has been confirmed to not be appearing in Episode IX. Now, Star Wars fans must rally around new heroes or in support of the conflicted but undeniably badass Kylo Ren. So what exactly is going to happen in Episode IX? The Resistance has been reduced to a dozen or so spunky soldiers. Kylo Ren has established himself as one of the best Star Wars villains in a long time, but where exactly will his path take him? What’s Rey going to do without a lightsaber? Is Chewbacca a vegetarian now? Let’s start with that ambiguous ending where we see a young force-sensitive boy possibly giving a clue to what direction Episode IX will be taking. 5. Episode IX will be set further along in the future From a realistic (as realistic as Star Wars can get, anyway) viewpoint, the Resistance stands no chance against the First Order. Sure, they’ve got the only person in the entire galaxy that can compete with Kylo Ren, but like Luke said, what’s one Jedi going to do against the entire First Order? The dwindling forces of the Resistance constantly spoke about sparking something, inspiring others with their actions and becoming legends for aspiring heroes to look up to. The force-sensitive boy at the end could be a future Jedi, but more likely than not, he could have just been used as a single example of what the future of the Resistance will be. There’s no way the Resistance can face the First Order right now, or even in the near future, which leads me to believe that there’ll be at least a 5-10 year gap between Episode VIII and Episode IX. That gives the Resistance plenty of time to regroup and amass more soldiers, as well as giving Leia an offscreen death of old age. Leia’s death could also potentially serve as a battle cry for those against the First Order to finally join the Resistance. Article continues on the next page
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