The missed potential of "The Last Jedi" in two little words! - Jason On Movies

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:01]The Star Wars sequel trilogy. Has there ever been a series of films that disappointed fans so much? Has a franchise ever fallen so hard in such a short time? Maybe. That word maybe will be important later. But even if something else has failed as hard and has crushed the dreams of hardcore fans as much as episodes 7 through9, plummeting from a $2 billion high to culminate with something that makes the entire story virtually meaningless and unwatchable. I can't think of it. If you can, let me know. Right in the middle of that failure sandwich is what half of the fan base am I being generous with that estimate? Only half maybe. Anyway, sitting right in the middle of what half of the fan base considers the worst Star Wars film ever made, or at least the worst of that trilogy is, ah, The Last Jedi. So divisive. In the first video in this series, I explained how there were no original characters in The Force Awakens. Ray was just Luke with a hint of Leia. Po was the real Leia, although he cosplayed as Hannah and Luke briefly when the plot needed it. Finn, who could have been someone truly original, wound up just being C3PO, annoying and cowardly, while occasionally vomiting up useful info to move the action along.

[00:01:20]And Kylo Ren was obviously Darth Vader, apparent fall from grace included. So little to build on. There is a saying from sports that fits here. Pick up the ball and run with it. J.J. Abrams with his ridiculous mystery box style of storytelling littered the Force Awakens with so many balls that it was impossible for the next person in line, Ryan Johnson, to juggle them all, let alone choose a few to try and carry over the goal line. Now, I'm of two minds about Ryan Johnson. I like some of his work, the Knives Out series for example, but I think other things like Looper are a little halfbaked. But I do know that Johnson, unlike Abrams, can tell a solid story, halfbaked or not, and that when his story starts, it will go somewhere and have an actual ending. Also, unlike Abrams, so with The Last Jedi, Johnson had nothing for Po to do except watch from the background during a stupid slow-e chase through space. Finn was the same typical non- character, wanting to run away from danger to save Ry, then wanting to run towards danger to save Ry all the time knowing exactly what people needed to learn to set their plans in motion. Finn working as a janitor in the luckiest of places. Convenient, maybe.

[00:02:41]Finn and Po, just empty, characterless mannequins taking up narrative real estate. So Johnson left the multitude of Abram's balls lying on the field and tried crafting something different. I like The Last Jedi the most out of the three sequels to be honest. The reason is simple. I hate about 60% of each movie and the 40% that I like revolves around the real focus of the greater story. Ray and Kylo aka Ben Solo, chop off Finn and Po all together, and there might be one good film hiding in all of the trilogy nonsense. Yet, it is with Finn that I find one of the balls that Ryan Johnson left on the field for the next film. And it all boils down to one little word, five letters, two syllables, a word packed with so much potential that it is a shame nothing came of it. I won't rehash Finn's plot points from The Last Jedi other than to say that he failed, utterly and completely failed at getting his job done. Along the way, though, Finn met someone that Ryan Johnson introduced, someone dancing the line between the good guys and the bad guys and not choosing sides. In fact, not joining the First Order nor the resistance is his mantra in a way. This is DJ and he is a mystery. That name DJ means don't join.

[00:04:06]By the way, why does he help Finn at all only to later betray him? DJ rescues Finn and Rose from impending capture, flies them in a stolen ship back to the slow motion chase, and helps them try to salvage their mission. Along the way, he shows Finn that the First Order and the Resistance buy their weapons from the same sources, and that there are those in the world who stand to profit from unending war and conflict. Does it really matter if you are on the good side? If you're putting money in the pockets of people who don't want the fighting to end, will it ever end? The last time they see each other, Finn calls DJ out. This is just business, DJ responds. You're wrong, Finn challenges.

[00:04:50]After waiting a beat, DJ drops the mic.

[00:04:54]Maybe. And he walks away. Unswwayed, unmoved, staying true to his own wisdom, DJ suddenly becomes one of the most interesting characters in the entire Star Wars universe. All because of one small but loaded word. Maybe. Does he come back at the last moment to save his friend as handed at the end of A New Hope? Nope. DJ is just gone. The real problem in the post Empire Star Wars galaxy is that while on the surface seemingly a battle between light and dark, good and evil, all conflict is actually more systemic than that with selfish interests making themselves available to either side as fights progress and control shifts much like our own real world. Does it really matter who has the seat of power if it is all being funded behind the scenes by more powerful families and corporations?

[00:05:48]What has DJ seen that makes him so sure of his uninvolved stance? How did he become so jaded, apathetic, opportunistic, morally gray? Something to chew on. A ball left on the field by Ryan Johnson. A ball that was never picked up, at least in the sequel trilogy. We can see elements of this ball being carried in a fashion in the Andor series. So, there are some people out there willing to make thoughtful Star Wars stories for grown-ups. There is another word, one syllable, six letters long, that carries a lot of weight, even as it is whispered by the speaker. One more word that when unpacked, casts a certain character in a new light. And in that new light, we again see gray. One more ball that Ryan Johnson left on the field that was never picked up. This time, let's look at Kylo Ren through my own lens. If you don't see him the way I do, fair enough. But just give me a listen, please. Ben Solo, born of the Union of Princess Leia, who became a senator and then a leader of the rebellion. and Han Solo, a smuggler who chose a side in the conflict and rose to be a highly respected general.

[00:07:05]Grandson of Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one, who fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader before returning to the light and destroying the Emperor.

[00:07:15]Nephew of Luke Skywalker, founder of a new Jedi order. Ben Solo inheriting great power in the Force through his bloodline from Anakin to his mother and uncle to him. Imagine growing up with the weight of all that legacy on your shoulders. Imagine the expectations thrust upon you. Your grandfather was the chosen one and ultimately defeated the Emperor. Your father is a renowned pilot and general assisting in the destruction of two Death Stars. Your mother is a princess and helped end the Empire and is now a leader in the New Republic while also being gifted in the Force. Your uncle is the only remaining Jedi, hero of the Rebellion, actual destroyer of the first Death Star, going from simple farm boy to legend. And you are strong in the Force. So your mother and father and uncle all expect you to become a Jedi, a hero, a legend, because of the circumstances of your birth, not of your own choice or desire. Maybe there is a reason the Jedi always stole children away from their families when they were inducted into the Jedi order.

[00:08:24]As Yoda explained, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. But what leads to fear? In the context of that lesson, when the child Anakin was afraid of losing his mother by becoming a Jedi, it was love.

[00:08:41]Love leads to fear. So love is the first step on the path to the dark side. Does that make sense? I can see it. Anakin's love for Padme was the beginning of his fall, right? The Jedi needed to steal children away from their parents so the Jedi order could suppress that initial love a child has for their mother. as soon as possible, creating emotionless soldiers for the cause of the light.

[00:09:05]Just as the First Order stole children away from their families like Finn, and made them into soldiers, too. Two sides of the same coin. What did Ben love?

[00:09:16]What did Ben fear? I think he loved his mother, his father, his uncle. But he feared not having control over his own life, his own path. He feared not living up to the expectations set before him by the very people he loved. at the same time fearing being molded into something they wanted him to be rather than something he wanted for himself. Just as Luke didn't want to stay on Tatooine for one more season like his uncle needed.

[00:09:41]Just as Rey didn't want to stay on Jaku and grow old and live a life with no future in the faint hope that her parents would one day return. Snoke took advantage of this confusion, this conflict between love and fear, and drew Ben toward the dark side. But men couldn't go all the way there because his love for his family was still strong. He tried to sever that emotion when he killed Han and attacked Leia's ship in hopes of destroying her, but the embers of that love still burned inside him. Upon meeting Ry, Ben found a way to be truly free to make his own choices.

[00:10:16]Get Snoke out of the way. Just another person forcing expectations on him, belittling his own decisions like wearing a mask as his grandfather had.

[00:10:24]And escape it all. No resistance, no First Order, no Jedi, no light side, no dark side, no legacy from other people's pasts crushing him. Ben held out his hand and asked Ry to go with him.

[00:10:39]Begged, pleaded. So different from DJ, Ben asked Ry to join him.

[00:10:45]please. Such a powerful word delivered in such a powerful way. And Rey said, "No." This word and the concepts behind it, that the Jedi were wrong, that the earliest texts of the Jedi described balancing all emotions, including fear and anger and hate, that people were free to choose their own paths and not be bound by legacy or destiny or whatever you want to call it. We see it in the mosaic of the first Jedi, light and dark, yin and yang. the potential for not Sith, not Jedi, but something else like the Bendu, something gray yet complete and balanced and emotionally honest to be born. That was the other ball Ryan Johnson left on the field, and it just sat there untouched.

[00:11:33]Those are the two little words that make me intrigued by The Last Jedi. Maybe and please. The gray at the end of the rainbow for Ben Solo and Rey. a new direction for Star Wars to go in. Not recycled nostalgia and the imagined comforts of deja vu storytelling, but unexplored territory and the dangers to be found there. And that territory remains unexplored as Abrams came back and put the last bullet in the brain of Star Wars with The Rise of Skywalker, another unsatisfying deja vu roller coaster of desperate grabs for undeserved audience reaction. and the only reaction was for people to keep their money in their wallets and stay home. But what if we had seen maybe and please properly followed up on? What if the next film had dealt with the greedy forces behind the post empire battles and Ben Solo's continued recruitment efforts of Rey, someone to run away with and leave it all behind? A man trying to escape the weight of the past and a woman with no past at all. and Rey using the original Jedi texts to teach Ben how to balance the conflicting emotions he feels. Stakes so much smaller than saving the galaxy in another cartoonish good versus evil plot. Personal stakes.

[00:12:50]Rey saving the soul of Ben Solo and with him becoming something not seen for untold time. The force in balance. Nope.

[00:13:02]All dust in the wind, balls left on the field, potential left unrealized.

[00:13:07]Anyway, this has been the second of my series, an exploration of The Last Jedi, and the two small words that make it my favorite. If you have come this far, leave a like to let me know, or if you enjoyed this video, drop a comment to tell me what you think, share this if you can, and consider subscribing to my channel for more videos like this, the usual YouTube stuff, and it would be greatly appreciated. Next video will be the last in this series. What I think is the only way to salvage cinematic Star Wars, but it's drastic. Make sure you come back for that. I'm Jason. Thanks for watching. See you next time.