A Reasonable Discussion of The Last Jedi - Part 10

            At last we come to the final act.  All the stories have come together and landed on Hoth... I mean, a completely different planet because Rian Johnson made it clear we are supposed to let go of the past.
            To be fair, it is a very clever world.  I once filmed my own movie in a ghost town just off the Salton Sea.  The sea had overflowed into the town, then dried up, leaving only the salt behind.  Just beneath the surface was a soggy, blood red clay.  It gave off an ominous, semi-horrifying appearance.  This could really make for an interesting environment.  Rian Johnson and his cinematographer make the best of this location, creating some of the most beautiful images ever put into a Star Wars movie.

            Unfortunately, the story doesn't live up to it.  First, it continues to copy Empire by having literally the same AT-AT's walk slowly toward the rebel base while a line of infantry fire useless shots at them and a bunch of air speeders fly out to defend it.  Again, I'm less offended by this series of choices than I am by the fact that Rian smugly told us to let go of the past while he clearly clings to it like a safety blanket.

            When Fin lined up to sacrifice himself for the cause, I felt a little bad because I wanted to see John Boyega do more than they had let him do in this movie.  But it would be a truly heroic death scene.  When Rose ran into him, I at first was a little relieved.  He'll be able to do something more.  But when I found out it was on purpose... and her reason...

            Basically they turned her into a little girl talking about war.  Her views are naive and immature.  This belief that you fight for what you love, not kill what you hate is admirable, the type of thing we all go "awww" when a five year old says it.  But adults understand that unfortunately, when evil people are set on killing us, we have no choice but to try to kill them before they can continue to kill us.

            I'm sure all those people who stormed Normandy Beach would rather be saving those they love back home rather than trying to kill the ones they hate.  But they understood that this was the only way to stop the killing, and they sacrificed themselves for the greater good.  Rose's naive line is a slap in the face to anyone who made that sacrifice.

            And what makes this line so particularly crazy is the fact that she says it literally as the big gun shoots the front entrance, thus dooming the ones they love to death.  It's almost like Rian Johnson realized his own hypocrisy at this moment and pointed it out, but he didn't do anything more about it but add a kiss.

            At last, with all hope lost, Luke Skywalker enters to save the day.  This gave me hope that it would all wrap up with something amazingly memorable.  It was incredibly touching to see Luke and Leia together at last.  This literally brought a tear to my eye; not just because of the Luke and Leia reunion, but because Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were such good friends.  Seeing them connect one last time was absolutely special.  For a moment I was glad they didn't kill Leia off on the ship.  Story-wise, it would have made a lot more sense, but that was such a beautiful scene between the two that I no longer gave a damn.

            Then the music starts marching triumphantly to the beat of Luke's feet walking out to face Kylo Ren.  It is on, and the boy in me is getting pumped up.  The shots of him striding out on the field to meet those AT-ATs are spectacular.  We have waited decades to see what the Jedi are capable of.  The originals had mere shadows of the Jedi.  The prequels showed us the Jedi, but now Luke is supposed to be the chosen one, the height of what the Jedi could achieve.  Vader had said in the original that the power of the Death Star was insignificant next to the power of the force.  That's saying a lot, that a literal planet killer is nothing compared to a force wielder.

            Now we're going to see why.

            Then the AT-ATs fire.  I'm not going to lie, it looked cool because of all that red thrown up from beneath the salt.  And as the dust settles and Luke comes out dusting off his shoulder, again, I have to be honest, I laughed.  I laughed because I was excited.  This is the power of the Jedi, something more powerful than a planet killer.  Kylo's going to have to go down and face him.  This is going to be awesome.
            Now, to be honest, I did see an idea later that would have worked better.  How it Should Have Ended did this scene with Luke freezing all the laser bolts in the air, then he deflects them back at the AT-ATs, destroying them.  This not only would have been an awesome show of power, but it would also have brought something around full circle from Force Awakens.  The first power we see Kylo use is to freeze a laser bolt in the air.  This would have harkened back to that, shown that Luke can do it with a lot more laser bolts, thus showing his dominance over Kylo, and it would have revealed that Kylo learned this skill from Luke, the man who was about to kick his ass.

            But oh well, now we get to see this duel between two titans, great sword play and force powers to be used against one another.  This is going to be great.  Inside the Resistance base, not much made any sense.  They had to figure out that they needed to get out, even though Luke could have told them he was stalling the bad guys.  And for some reason they can't find the back exit, even though they're the ones who freakin' built the damn...

            Okay, back to the battle between the two force wielders.  It looks great.  The cinematography is awesome.  They could be using their powers a bit more, but whatever.  The lines are a bit cheesy, but it's the two best actors in the movie, so whatever.  Then Luke looks like he's going to sacrifice himself as Obi-wan did.  Well, I wish I'd had more saber battle, but whatev...

            Luke turns out to be projecting himself.  Okay, that made this fight a bit more lame because the personal stakes were gone.  But it means Luke will be coming back in the next movie.  That's the one positive element to him not actually being there.

            Then he dies anyway.  What... the... fuck.

            Look, if you're going to kill someone off, you might as well do it as dramatically as you can.  Think of when Obi-wan died right in front of Luke.  He screamed in horror and chaos broke loose.  Think of when Han died and Chewy screamed in agonized sadness.  Imagine that same sort of thing but Leia is watching; all of the Resistance is watching.  That could be so dramatic.

            But no, he instead just fades away on some rock.  It literally reminded me of a joke my girlfriend and I had been telling where we'd see a movie, and then during the credits we'd say, "And then he died of a staph infection."  Here is one of the most iconic characters in cinematic history, and they literally have him, as General MacArthur said of old soldiers, just fade away.

            Ugh.

            And with him fading away, so too did my interest in Star Wars.  I was left depressed, realizing that the guy who created this would be doing the new trilogy, and the guy who set up all the problems in it would be completing this trilogy.  The Last Jedi made more than two billion dollars and was the most well reviewed Star Wars film of all time, so why should they care what I thought?  It was like the commercials for Abrams' Star Trek atrocity, "This isn't your father's Star Wars."  It certainly isn't.  I held a torch for this series for decades, hoping it would one day live up to the potential it always had that I feel was never realized.  And now I won't ever see it.

            Oh well.  I'll just have to tell my own version through RPG games and fan fiction.  Plus, the first two original films and Rogue One can always inspire me to make great stories of my own.

A Reasonable Discussion of The Last Jedi - Part 4

            So then we get to the island and we at last get to see what Luke and Rey do after staring at each other for an eternity.  This is where Rian and JJ's visions become clearly not in sync.  The two of them are not standing the same distance from one another and there's a different tone.  And then, of course, Luke tosses the lightsaber over his shoulder.  And, I'll just say it...

            I don't hate this... at least not entirely.

            The problem with it, of course, is that Luke is so flippant about it.  For one thing, this saber has a history to it that Luke would at least have a reverence for, even if he's lost his own spirit.  And at the very least, he's going to be confused as to how it was recovered.  This was the saber that was lost along with his hand in Bespin.  JJ Abrams passed the buck on how it was recovered, and now it's being passed on once again.  It's lazy writing by people who just don't care.

            The biggest problem with this is that it's once again a humorous moment that diffuses later drama.  They purchased a cheap laugh at the price of important character development; and one must ask him or herself, what's more important for this character arc?

            So why do I not hate this moment as much as so many rabid Star Wars fans?  It's because I get the basic idea of what Rian Johnson was going for with Luke, and with all due respect to Mark Hamill and many others, I think it's a good idea... in theory.

            Remember that JJ Abrams set up a very difficult scenario.  He made it that Luke had secluded himself on an island, then he did what he always does and passed it on to someone else to figure out why.  Johnson had to make a reason, and having it such that he's lost all hope is a good one.  His character literally represents hope, so the theme that runs through his story arc should be all about hope.  In this case, it's the loss of hope, and it's up to the new lead character to help him get it back.

            I can't think of any better way to personify that than to have him disregard the lightsaber.  It's a good way to introduce that dramatic arc.  BUT... there are better ways to do it than to have him flippantly toss it over his shoulder.  He could ask her where she got it, hand it back to her, even shout at her for not leaving him alone.  And if they wanted him to throw it away, have him turn and chuck it in anger.  Make it clear this isn't a joke to him, but that he's truly turned away from this life.

            Aside from this misstep, my favorite scenes of the movie are on the island.  Hamill's performance is incredible, and the character development is most interesting during this time.  The best character interactions are either between Luke and Rey, or Rey and Kylo.  I even like the pogs and Chewbacca's interaction with them is adorable.  And of course the scene with Luke and R2 is enough to bring a nostalgic tear to the eye.
            I even like where he drinks milk from the beast.  I know, that's heresy to say, but here's why I like that.  Again, going with the idea that Luke has lost hope, nothing shows more vividly how far he's fallen than seeing him drink from the tit of a beast.  Is it the Luke we used to love?  No!  That's the point.  He's lost his hope and his dignity and is wishing to die alone.  That creates the obstacle Rey has to overcome; to bring back the spirit of the most optimistic man in the galaxy.

            And at last Rey's character arc is able to do something.  Abrams weakened the drama with her by making her too powerful, but Johnson grabbed onto the story about her not knowing her heritage or understanding why the force is so strong with her.  She explores this through her conversations with Luke, her interaction with Kylo, and in that wonderful mirror sequence in the cave.  It's obscure and we don't yet know what it means, but it was a very creative way to slowly reveal the mystery of her only character arc thus far.

            It's also an example of what is done right on the island.  There have been a lot of complaints that Luke doesn't train Rey on the island, and this is valid in that Rey should not yet have full control over her powers as she's not received any real, formal teaching.  But you also don't want this movie to just be a copy of Empire, so it shouldn't be just a rehash of him teaching her what Yoda taught him.

            Alas, there are other things they do wrong, which we'll get to later.

A Reasonable Discussion of The Last Jedi - Part 3

            When the trailers for The Last Jedi came out, a friend of mine said he was worried it would be a copy of Empire Strikes back.  I believed it wouldn't.  But when the movie began with the resistance escaping a planet the First Order was trying to blockade, I thought, "well, crap."
            But here comes Poe, my favorite character.  I was hoping there'd be some focus on him.  I was even still on board as he began trolling Hux.  I have to admit, I found it funny in the moment.  Now, a lot of people have claimed that comedy has no place in Star Wars.  That's ridiculous.  First, the original films had plenty of humor in them, and even if they hadn't, it's meant to be a fun series.  Humor has every right to be there.

            However, with every decision you pay a price, particularly when you put comedy somewhere.  In this instance, the comedy took away the power of Hux and the First Order he represented.  Imagine the same joke being used on Sauromon in Lord of the Rings.  You may laugh in the moment, but the price you pay is ever feeling any fear for that villain again.  It's a basic cost-benefit analysis which the writer didn't do.

            I also want to point out one other thing about the dialogue.  The way Hux speaks, he might as well be twirling a curled mustache.  Star Wars has always been about good versus evil, but there's a certain point where the evil has become so cliche it's a parody of itself.  The dialogue here is more a view of what this sort of movie is supposed to be rather than having an identity of its own.  Compare this to the evil ways people speak in Rogue One.  The characters give you chills without sounding like they're coming out of a children's book.  I'm disappointed that this one didn't do the same.

            What followed looked pretty cool.  It was clear that Poe saw an opening as long as he destroyed the towers to make way for some bombers, and it was neat to see just what a droid does to repair a ship; though that turned into the droid essentially plugging holes like it was filling with water.  But whatever, Poe gets rid of the towers, supposedly making way for the bombers.

            Next is something very strange.  General Leia has ordered no attack to happen, and has been chastising Poe for going out there.  But when he clears the last tower, the bombers are already on their way.  There's no moment where someone says, "It's okay to go!" and they launch.  They have that moment in Rogue One where the rebel base has said they're not going to support the team, but then they learn that the team has gone anyway and they're succeeding, so Mon Mothma and the others order the attack to go forward, and you see them launching.  Here... it feels like that's missing.

            Anyway, the rebel bombers launch and the tie fighters go at them and rip them apart.  There's a bit to unpack here, so let me pause a moment.  First, I want to commend Rian Johnson for having A wings and a new type of bomber here.  He recognized there were more ships than just X-wings and tie fighters, and that there should be new ships.  He also understood that Star Wars ship battles are supposed to have a World War II feel to them, so he made the bombers much like Flying Fortresses.

            However, there's one thing he didn't quite understand.  The fighter battles had always felt like a World War II battle, they weren't right on the nose like these bombers.  Granted, the other ships don't fight the way they would in space; to get a better idea of what that would be like see the remake of Battlestar Galactica.  But the Star Wars ships always had a sort of compromise between WWII fighters and space ships.  These bombers, straight up Flying Fortresses; slow, cumbersome, and they have to get directly over the target to drop their bombs.

            And it turns out taking out those gun towers did no good whatsoever.  Look, I understand if the towers would make it harder, but if everything gets destroyed by fighters anyway, what was the point of taking out the towers at all.  It's not like Poe wouldn't know that there were fighters on the capitol ships.

            As far as dropping the payload, I realize there are all sorts of arguments about there being no gravity, maybe it's the artificial gravity that shoots them out, they're magnetized, whatever.  First, I guarantee you Rian Johnson did not think about it that deeply.  By this point it's already clear he's going with the "good ol' fashion" style of storytelling where you're not supposed to ask.  To be fair, that's been in Star Wars for a long time.  There are plenty of aspects of the original series that people have always joked about.  Here, though, it was inadvisable because it was so over the top in its illogic, and it would have been so easy to get around that.  Simply have it be short range missiles that they have to be close to fire, or have someone say drop the magno bombs or something.  Such an easy fix would have avoided a big controversy.
            After the dreadnought is destroyed, there's a scene I really like.  Snoke calls Hux and his big head appears as a hologram above him.  Not only is this image intimidating, but he then slides Hux around the room, revealing just how powerful he is.  Between these effects and Andy Serkis's wonderful performance, they're really setting up Snoke to be a frightening villain.

            In fact, there are a number of performances I'm really liking here, including Carrie Fisher's daughter, who I'd like to see more.  It's all of this great talent that I feel has gone to waste.  It's the biggest missed opportunity since Star Trek 5.

A Resonable Discussion of The Last Jedi - Part 2

            To be fair to Rian Johnson, the major problems with The Last Jedi do not begin with his movie.  They begin with The Force Awakens; or more specifically, JJ Abrams.  Why Abrams is considered a mastermind capable of handling the largest franchises of all time is beyond me.  His breakthrough project Lost has literally the most infamously bad ending in television history.  He built up a mystery for years and abandoned the project so others would be blamed when no answers were revealed.  He then developed Star Trek with unsustainable world building, then abandoned it just when audiences lost interest so others would get the blame.

            He goes to Star Wars and admittedly creates a fun story with likable characters, but it's a repeat of the original with no coherent world building.  It also creates a mess which he once again walked away from, leaving someone else to clean it up.

            For instance, the basic logic of the story of Force Awakens makes no sense.  Luke Skywalker (whose name is always uttered with extreme reverence) has left a map to him which the heroes have to get back to the rebel... I mean "resistance" base.  If they get the plans, they can go find him, but if the bad guys get it, they'll go kill him.  Now, why the hell would Luke make a map to himself that could get in the hands of someone who could come kill him?  Why not just tell his sister, or someone he trusts?

            But the main problem this sets up for the next film is that now they have to explain why Luke has isolated himself on this planet, and why he made a map to be found.  Standard Abrams setting up an impossible to explain situation and leaving it for someone else.  Speaking of which, he has a scene where Maz hands Luke's lightsaber to Fin and literally tells him that the story of how she got it is "for another time."  Never before has Abrams been so blatant in his plan to pass the buck than that line.

            The biggest challenge of all that Abrams has left is how this galaxy even works.  He acknowledges the original trilogy and says it happened 30 years earlier.  But then he sets up a new empire called The First Order and shows the rebellion is still fighting under the name "the resistance."  With such a setup, one needs an explanation as to why that dynamic still exists three decades after the climax of Return of the Jedi.  He makes it even more confusing by saying there is a new republic which is somehow relegated to only one solar system.  This is confusing not only in that a GALACTIC REPUBLIC is only in one star system, but it makes it all the more confounding that the "resistance" is on their side.

            Someone might need to get a dictionary to Mr. Abrams so he understands that a "resistance" is set up to resist the government.  If there's a galactic republic, they're supposed to be fighting that.  If they're fighting for the republic, they're either a government entity, or mercenaries.

            He furthermore created a main character that has started out where characters should end up; already powerful enough to take on and beat the main bad guy.  She can also fly the ship that gets them around, and is adept at using the force.  Dramatically, there's little room for her to grow.  However, Abrams did set up a mystery with her parents, so perhaps they can explore that aspect, and there will be something interesting there.

            There's also a nitpicky thing that I still think is a bit relevant.  Abrams being the hipster that he is, only put in the ships that he liked from the original, and developed no others.  So the resistance has X-wings, and the First Order has tie fighters.  Nothing else has been developed in 30 years, and even the ships that had existed in the other movies, such as Y-wings, B-wings, A-wings, tie interceptors, etc. have no upgrades.  Only the ships Abrams thought were cool got to continue to the next film... with new paint jobs.  Oh, and of course, the Millennium Falcon.  Can't let the new characters have their own identity with a new ship.  Only Abrams' memories shall be allowed here.

            So that's what he handed off to Rian Johnson with the new movie.

A Reasonable Discussion of The Last Jedi - Part 1

            When I went to see The Last Jedi in the theater last December, I was hyped up beyond any other recent Star Wars movie.  It had been reviewed better than any other Star Wars film, and was lauded as better than Empire.  I told my girlfriend I would probably be coming back on cloud 11.  But as it unfolded, I got uncomfortable.  I started wondering what might be wrong with me.  If everyone thought this was so amazing, what was I missing?  I kept trying to make excuses for it; trying to go along with it.  But by the time the film was done, I was just depressed.  Not only had I not enjoyed the movie, knowing what the future held for the franchise, I wasn't interested in anything they had planned for the future.  I had just lost my love for the series.

            This was a big deal to me because I grew up with Star Wars.  The original Star Wars was the second movie I ever saw, (damn you, Benji!)  My first experience telling stories was playing with the action figures; and that literally caused me to become a writer.  Most of all, I always saw untapped potential in Star Wars.  The title alone implies so much.  "Star" - Within a galaxy there are hundreds of millions of stars, around which billions of beings live.  "Wars" - Within any war there are millions of stories, and this is plural, implying many, many more stories.

            My biggest disappointment with The Empire Strikes Back was that it only followed the main characters.  Though in retrospect it was the greatest of the Star Wars movies, I always felt that it could have branched out from there and done what the Marvel universe is now doing.  So when Disney bought the rights to the franchise, I thought they'd do something similar.

            And to be fair, they are; but unfortunately the people they've put in charge of it have turned out to be wanting to go in a direction I simply don't care about.  This was the crossroads where that's happening, where JJ Abrams has been brought back to finish the main storyline, and Rian Johnson is going on to create the new series, while Kathleen Kennedy oversees it.  These are the three people that have proven to be on a path I believe is detrimental to the franchise.

            By the time I got home that night, I was downtrodden.  I truly did not care what happened next.  I never thought that I would actively boycott the next films; I just had no interest.  It was the first time in my life that had happened, and I felt empty.  My girlfriend asked if I was on cloud 11, and I said, "There is going to be a huge backlash over that movie."

            I'm not a film critic.  I usually endeavor to tell my own stories rather than criticize others.  In the case of Star Wars I've been writing my own fan fiction to tell it the way I would  You can find it at:

            But this time my mind kept racing back to it.  For some reason it's really bothered me and I've wanted to speak out.  I didn't for a while partially because it's just not something I do, but also because my prediction of the backlash has been right, and there's been so much vitriol from both sides.  I didn't see how my voice would help.

            I doubt it will help now, (in fact, I'm probably just beating a dead horse,) but it's bothered me long enough that I just need to get it out on paper.  I'm not going to write a diatribe of how bad it is; I wish to be reasonable about it and even point out where it was good.  I also don't want to belittle people who liked it.  If you enjoyed it, that's fine.  In fact, I envy you.  I wish I could have enjoyed this as much as you did.

            This is intended to be a reasonable discussion on The Last Jedi, but bear in mind that there will be more negative than positive.

My Visit to Shiloh and How Carrie Fisher Led Us to Jack Daniels

My girlfriend Jamie Ball put up a bunch of pictures of our trip to Tennessee. I thought I'd put up a few specifically about one incident that may interest some specific people who know my interest in the Civil War.

In the late '90s, I had the privilege of speaking with author Shelby Foote for a while. We spoke a bit about the craft of writing; about the importance of telling a story rather than just throwing out names and dates. I asked who his favorite general was, and interestingly he said Grant. He pointed out Grant's fascinating personality, and how he is misunderstood as a drunk and a butcher. He pointed out the Vicksburg Campaign as an example of his skills in leadership and strategy.

As we wrapped up, I asked him what battlefield I should visit. I like to joke that he told me to get lost, because he told me to go to Shiloh, to choose any path to walk into the woods. Then, he said I should leave the path and walk deeper into the woods until I don't know where I am. Then I'm exactly where I should be.

Ever since that conversation I have intended to go to Shiloh and follow his advice. I finally got that chance, but it began to rain. Jamie and I had driven across the entire state of Tennessee to get there, (from Chattanooga, another one of Grant's victories,) so we weren't about to give up. We had gotten lost along the way and wound up at the Jack Daniel's distillery, but that wasn't going to count.

We found a path, and waited for a break in the rain. As we wandered down the path, we heard distant roar of thunder in the clouds. We feared being hit by lightning, but yet it was somehow perfect as it resembled the rumbling of cannon. We got to a monument tucked away in some small clearing, and Jamie waited there while I walked into the woods.

I reached a point where I could no longer see a path, and wasn't exactly sure how to get back. So I figured that was it. The thunder was still rolling overhead, and besides that, it was silent, save for a few birds emerging after the rain. I listened for whatever it was I was supposed to gather out there.

I had come to Tennessee to see my dying uncle, but he had passed just before I got there. He was only 60 years old, 14 years older than I am. He was also one of my earliest influences in writing, being a nonfiction author himself. I wrote my very first script when coming back from his wedding in the 1970s. I felt like this had somehow come full circle.

The one thing I felt was the moisture of the air. In Tennessee, after a rainfall, the humidity remains giving a sensation to both body and smell. I closed my eyes and let that moment sink in. The booms continued overhead and I tried to shake the fear of being stricken until I one of the booms was a distant gunshot. Someone was probably hunting, and it added to the historical nostalgia, but I didn't want to be the subject of an accident, so I hurried back.

There was Jamie, wearing a hood whose sharp angles looked like she was hiding horns coming toward me. That's about as much meaning as I'm going to get out of that journey, but it's a journey I had to take, and am glad I did. It had been a perfect time to fulfill the advice I got from one of my literary heroes.

Coming to Realize How Important an Affect Princess Leia Had on Our Culture

I began last season of RPG Storytime: Star Wars with a tribute to Carrie Fisher, who had died the end of the year before.  It was a bit of a late tribute, but so was my recognition of her character's effect on our society.

I had never really thought about the impact the character of Princess Leia had on our society.  It is odd that such a feminist icon came out of the mind of a man who also said "there are no bras in space," but Leia made a huge impact on the way female characters were portrayed on film.

It's easy to look at it today and say of course women are supposed to be right there in the action.  But if you look at other media at the time, including other movies, TV, and even games and books, women were the "romantic interest" to be saved by the heroic man.  Star Wars began with that trope where the heroes were supposed to save a princess from the clutches of an evil empire.  But then it upended that idea by having the woman snap back at the men, criticizing them for their lack of planning.

Most of the time, the imagery of her was not as a victim needing to be saved, but as one of the heroes along with them.  Her very first action in the film is to shoot down a stormtrooper.  She wasn't intimidated by the lead villains, despite them scaring the crap out of the audience.

I say "most of the time" because there were advertisers who displayed her as the sexy damsel in distress.  One of the most famous posters is of her sprawling at Luke's feet, clutching to his leg for protection.  But that was by people who were still thinking in that period of time.

The presumptuousness of the film taking for granted that Leia is strong and in charge caused an entire generation, my generation, to grow up with an assumption that women can be in charge.  We've barely argued the issue because we know women's equality to be true.  Typically, these sorts of social changes are credited with some sort of more prestigious event or person.  But the simple fact is that EVERYONE saw Star Wars.  And it's that sort of huge impact that truly changes a culture.

I wish I had recognized all of this while Carrie Fisher was alive.  I know she didn't create the icon, but she deserves credit for breathing life into her, and carrying a torch of dignity and intelligence throughout her life.