After all, this is a franchise picture - the writer-director was playing with other people’s toys. It’s possible that such twists were part of the blueprints all along, and that we’re laying too much blame on Johnson here. A general air of “Betcha didn’t see this coming, didja?” pervades the movie. There’s Kylo ditching his helmet, or there being no explanation as to why Maz Kanata had Luke’s lightsaber, or the lack of any mention of the Knights of Ren (whither the guy with the big anime sword?). The Force Awakens sets up an array of elements that The Last Jedi’s director discards, in defiance of what we anticipated. Afterward, everything is up for grabs: Who knows what other significant players in the dramatis personae might get dispatched by the filmmaker in an unpredictable moment?īut is there much of an added value to such subversions? Johnson seems to think so, deploying them again and again. Rather than take the obvious path of giving us the information we crave, he makes an abrupt left turn and throws us off balance. For one thing, it’s a clever subversion of expectations on the part of writer-director Rian Johnson. Now, there’s an argument to be made in favor of offing the Supreme Leader without explaining his whole deal. It’s even harder not to be a lot confused. It’s hard not to be a little disappointed. Instead, we saw Snoke yell at some people and then get killed. Surely, at least a few answers would be forthcoming. The trailers had hinted at a beefed-up role for him in The Last Jedi, or at least an appearance in the flesh. A guy at my synagogue said he was convinced Snoke was Leia, though he couldn’t explain how that would be possible. Maybe he was a deformed clone of Palpatine. Perhaps Snoke was Darth Plagueis the Wise, the Sith genius whom Palpatine told Anakin Skywalker about in Revenge of the Sith, the one who was implied to be Palpatine’s old master. The 50 Greatest Star Wars Moments, Ranked His existence raised all kinds of questions: How could such a powerful Force user have hidden himself from the universe? How ancient was he? Did he pre-date the Emperor? Was he a Sith Lord, a fallen Jedi, or something we’d never seen before? Related Stories Much like the Emperor in Empire, we’d seen a holographic glimpse of First Order Grand Poobah Snoke (Andy Serkis) in The Force Awakens. I was prepared for The Last Jedi to perform a similar leap forward. Then, in Return of the Jedi, we actually spend time with Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor and learn that, however frightening Vader might be, he’ll never be quite as satanic as the boss of the Empire. We catch a glimpse of the mysterious Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back and Vader kowtows to him, but the wrinkly overlord doesn’t seem nearly as scary as his apprentice. By the time the orchestra hits and the logo appears atop the void, the audience has already seen two movies in which Darth Vader is established as the baddest mother in the Galaxy. Return of the Jedi has its flaws, but it does a remarkable job of upping the ante in the villain department. Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi below. Whither the Supreme Leader? Photo: Lucasfilm / Disney
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |