The EXACT Moment Star Wars Lost Its Way
The Scene That Broke Star Wars: "Join Me"
The scene that exemplifies the past, present and future of Star Wars in one gesture - and the scene behind the purpose of this article - Kylo extending the hand of partnership to Rey.
Following the pair of them decimating Snoke and the Praetorian Guards together, Kylo offers Rey a truce:
Join with him, and rule the galaxy together.
Obviously we have a clash in core ideals - the very idea of galaxy-wide rulership invokes dictatorships and tyranny from Kylo, versus whichever sense of governance, equity and rule-making Rey and the rebels would be comfortable with, but the point stands:
This was Star Wars venturing so much further into grey subject matter; the mixing of two ideologies, with semblances of Vader-like redemption and forgiveness, than ever before.
All the subversion; all the narrative rug-pulls and the strange feel to Rian Johnson's script - all built to this moment.
The combination of Luke's "The Jedi need to end" mentality twinned with a depth of scriptwriting that would see Star Wars into a whole new realm of nuanced, thematic potential? It could've been the birth of a whole new dimension to what Star Wars represents.
Sadly, at this pivotal moment - and likely because the film needed to end in a way for another director to pick up the baton - Rian Johnson pulls back.
Rey rejects this "middle ground" entirely. She wants to fight. She meta-textually needs to maintain the brand; the endless war of light versus dark that IS Star Wars. There is no middle ground or room for true progression on a human level.
Star Wars needs heroes, villains and easy-access motivations. Light, dark, good, bad. Now and forever.
Johnson took us to the edge of where this fiction can go, then walked us back, almost throwing a middle finger to the background business interests that govern a blockbuster Disney trilogy along the way. The Last Jedi is one hell of a thing, but it closes out by resetting the playing field for an infinite future of sequels and spin-offs.
Once the Force Ghost was out the bottle, though, it can't go back in.
Cont.