Here’s 15 Reasons Why Fans Hated ‘The Last Jedi’
The entire lore of Star Wars changed when ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ was released as part of Disney’s new Star Wars canon after acquiring Lucasfilm. ‘The Force Awakens’ seemed to be a good start to what fans thought would be another memorable trilogy. Of course, there was a good reason why that movie was the highest-grossing domestic film of all time in the US.
In that regard, fans were excited about ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’ because it would continue the good start to what was a successful first movie of the new trilogy. But fans were quick to get disappointed by ‘The Last Jedi,’ which may have performed well as far as critics were concerned but was a huge letdown regarding fans’ expectations. So, with that said, let’s look at the top reasons why fans hated ‘The Last Jedi.’
1. Luke Skywalker was turned into a coward
There is no doubt that Luke Skywalker was one of the biggest heroes of the Rebellion because he destroyed the Death Star and defeated Darth Vader. He also became the leader of the new generation of Jedi when he decided to establish his new Jedi Order. In that regard, the future was bright regarding Luke’s story because this man wasn’t tempted by the dark side and had the courage of a thousand men.
When ‘The Force Awakens’ showed that Luke had been hiding on a secret planet, the expectation was that there had to be a good reason why he retreated to this system while the First Order was running rampant throughout the entire galaxy and destroying entire planets. But in ‘The Last Jedi,’ Luke simply became a washed-up old coward who ran away from his responsibilities to the galaxy to live a secluded life on some distant planet. He didn’t care about what the First Order was doing or that his friends and allies were dying. Luke simply gave up after contributing to Kylo Ren’s fall to the dark side.
2. Weak backstory between Luke and Kylo Ren
One of the things that we know is that Kylo Ren fell to the dark side before the events of ‘The Force Awakens.’ He was a Jedi Knight named Ben Solo before an event in his past forced him to walk the path of the dark side. Of course, Snoke had much to do with that, as teased in ‘The Force Awakens.’
But the problem is that the event between Luke and Kylo Ren seems weak at best. Luke said he sensed an inner darkness in Ben and was about to kill him. However, he stopped at the last minute, and Kylo Ren saw that his uncle was about to kill him. This was one of the things that eventually forced him down the path of the dark side, and we all know that this could have been remedied by a simple heart-to-heart talk between the two.
3. Leia flying
While the Resistance and the First Order were fighting out in space, Kylo Ren had a chance to shoot the flagship of the Resistance fleet. However, he sensed that his mother, Leia Organa, was on the bridge, making him hesitate. Another pilot, however, shot the bridge and destroyed it.
Leia was left as the only survivor of that event, as she was floating in space. However, even though she was never a fully trained Jedi, she used the Force to make herself fly through space and return to the ship. This was a weird scene because Leia didn’t die right away even though space has freezing temperatures and no air. This “Mary Poppins” moment wasn’t well-received, especially because Leia wasn’t a Jedi despite her sensitivity to the Force.
4. The Snoke buildup was ruined
Throughout ‘The Force Awakens,’ Snoke is set up as this powerful and scary master that was supposedly strong enough to order Kylo Ren around. He was supposed to be a mysterious presence with an equally mysterious backstory that no one knew anything about. Fans were quick to speculate that he may have been a familiar person that lived before the rise of the Empire.
However, when Rey met him, nothing was mentioned about who he was and where he came from. He may have been powerful, but ‘The Last Jedi’ mishandled his character because he died before he could even make a memorable impact. And Snoke died before we even got to know who he was and where he came from, as fans were forced to read the comics to learn more about his backstory.
5. Snoke was kind of useless
In addition to the fact that Snoke was a mishandled character, he was quite useless in ‘The Last Jedi’ because he didn’t do many things. All he did was order people around while sitting in the comforts of his flagship.
Snoke did have a memorable scene involving Rey and Kylo Ren, but he was killed before he could even make a lasting impact on fans. Kylo Ren killed him by igniting a lightsaber through his torso using the Force, which led to the immediate elevation of the former Ben Solo to the rank of Supreme Leader.
6. General Hux was weak and incompetent
The one thing that made the Empire so threatening was that it had many military commanders and leaders capable of running things without the help of Emperor Palpatine or Darth Vader. For instance, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Grand Moff Tarkin were intelligent and competent leaders.
However, General Hux, who was supposed to be a feared military leader, was degraded to an incompetent, angsty general who seemed stupid and gullible. Poe Dameron could easily fool him in the movie’s opening scenes, as it was clear that he wasn’t the smartest military leader in the First Order. And most of the other First Order leaders didn’t leave a lasting impression on fans.
7. Rey’s story revolved around Kylo Ren
When we met Rey in ‘The Force Awakens,’ she had a very intriguing story that was seemingly quite interesting because she had a mysterious background but was strong in the Force. She eventually traveled to see Luke Skywalker hiding on a distant planet in the galaxy. As such, we thought her story would revolve around her journey with Luke as a Jedi.
However, the entire Rey storyline revolved more around her relationship with Kylo Ren, as ‘The Last Jedi’ seemingly tried to sell the romance between the two. They even had a weird connection that allowed them to see each other through the Force. And because of this, she became naturally drawn to Kylo Ren throughout the movie’s events.
8. Rey was just suddenly strong
We knew Rey was strong in the Force and a capable fighter because she grew up independently and had to fend for herself. However, she had never used the Force before nor fought using a lightsaber. And she didn’t even spend too long with Luke to learn everything she needed.
Despite that, she suddenly became strong enough to fight on par with Kylo Ren and the best well-trained Praetorian Guard members who spent their entire lives mastering different martial arts and combat styles. At least Luke, despite his fast-tracked training in the original trilogy, needed years to become good enough to fight Darth Vader.
9. The man vs. woman theme
A good part of the storyline of ‘The Last Jedi’ revolved around the hothead man vs. the coolheaded and strong woman theme. Leia understood that Poe could be a hothead, so she demoted him. But what grinds the gears of fans is that Vice Admiral Holdo was so against Poe that she didn’t even bother to give him a platform after she took over Leia’s role as the leader of the Resistance when Leia got injured.
Throughout the movie, the relationship between Poe and Holdo is questionable because, for some reason, Holdo wants to stand her ground. The man that was seemingly trying to take her authority away from her even though Poe was just trying to help. As such, Holdo immediately became an unlikable character.
10. Vice Admiral Holdo was pointless
On top of the fact that the bickering between Poe and Holdo was quite tiresome, it became clear that she wasn’t very useful. Some fans believe there was no point in adding Holdo to the storyline. Yes, it might have been possible that Lucasfilm wanted to add another strong and independent woman. But it seemed like Holdo was quite redundant and annoying.
What made fans think Holdo was useless was that she wasn’t even willing to tell Poe the plans Leia told her to accomplish. A lot of bickering between the two could have been spared had she shared the plans with Poe, who she often made fun of because of his demoted rank.
11. Finn became irrelevant
When Finn was introduced in the events of ‘The Force Awakens,’ he became a very interesting character. On top of being a person of color, he was a Stormtrooper that defected from the First Order. As such, the potential for him to become a very important character was there, especially considering that he may have been sensitive to the Force.
However, ‘The Last Jedi’ seemingly made his story much less interesting. He had little to no character development in this movie because he had no clear story arc. Even John Boyega, the actor that played Finn, hated the way that ‘The Last Jedi’ portrayed his character. And this ultimately turned him off from the entire Star Wars lore even though he grew up a Star Wars fan.
12. Kylo Ren acted like an angsty teen
We know that Kylo Ren is a grown adult who fell to the dark side due to misunderstandings between him and Luke Skywalker. However, throughout the movie, he acts like an immature and angsty teen who mostly acts out of rage and spite. He didn’t look like a mature adult who could decide things independently without incorporating his emotions into everything he did.
While Kylo Ren was already an angsty teen in Episode VII, it became worse in Episode VIII because it became clear that he had mommy and daddy issues that he never resolved, even though he was now a full-grown man. And these mommy and daddy issues that he struggled with became why he even fell into the dark side.
13. Rose had zero to no impact
Rose was introduced as a Resistance character that helped Poe and Finn with the master codebreaker arc (another useless arc in the movie). Of course, she had the potential to be a good character. But as the movie progressed, it became clear that she was just filling in for a role that was left behind by Rey when she left the Resistance fleet to find Luke.
The problem with Rose’s character was that she wasn’t written to have a compelling story. Some fans thought she was only added to the movie as a diversity hire that added more people from different backgrounds and races to ‘The Last Jedi.’ And while we are not faulting the actress for her performance, Rose’s character just didn’t have a story that allowed fans to empathize with her.
14. The master codebreaker arc was just dumb
Finn and Rose realized that the First Order had discovered a way to track the Resistance fleet through hyperspace. In that regard, they needed to find a master codebreaker that could crack the code behind the First Order’s tracking device so that they could disable it. That was why they traveled to a distant planet where this master codebreaker could be found.
However, instead of the master codebreaker, they worked with a seemingly drunk and untrustworthy scum named DJ, who they found in prison. They immediately trusted him and his word, only for DJ to eventually sell them out to the First Order without helping them. In that regard, this entire master codebreaker arc was pointless because nothing came out of it.
15. A Rehash of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’
The entire movie was simply a rehash of the events of ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ where the villains chased the heroes after the good guys suffered a heavy defeat. Meanwhile, the main character seeks out a master that could train them in the ways of the Force.
The climax is also the same in that the heroes go and help the good guys who are in trouble and about to get killed. Of course, the movie ended with a loss on the part of the good guys but with their heads held up high because they still hoped to defeat the enemy. Nothing about the flow of ‘The Last Jedi’ seems original, as it simply followed the same formula that made ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ so popular and successful.
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