I watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi when it first opened. While there is a lot to digest, I enjoyed the movie overall. I've been meaning to watch it again, but in the meantime, I have been taking in the odd phenomenon of self-proclaimed Star Wars enthusiasts who often happen to be political conservatives attacking the film. With every negative review I read, the more I like The Last Jedi.
Which is why after all of the presents were unwrapped on Christmas morning, this tweet from Randy Barnett was a nice bonus gift:
@benshapiro expertly enumerates all the flaws of @starwars #TheLastJedi as only a @Harvard_Law nerd. And there are soooo many. https://t.co/vnedm8fiZQ— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) December 25, 2017
I don't pay attention to Ben Shapiro because why should anyone? But Randy Barnett is a law professor and noted conservative voice who blogs at the excellent Volokh Conspiracy -- making me all the more sad to see him promoting what turns out to be repetitive, ill-conceived complaining about The Last Jedi.
For those of you who enjoy reading negative reviews of the movie like I do, I recommend reading Shapiro's review first, which you can find here. And because it is Christmas day, the presents have all been opened, and I still have a lot of leftover rage from some family ping pong games, my response to Shapiro's review is below the break. There are many spoilers, so don't read ahead if you want to avoid those.
It should be noted that Randy Barnett is a law professor and Ben Shapiro apparently went to Harvard Law, so that should be enough of a legal hook to let me post it on this law blog.
Shapiro's criticisms are numbered in an attempt to hoodwink the audience into believing that repetition and verbosity are hallmarks of sophistication. The numbers and taglines of each complaint are listed below, and Shapiro's complaints are summarized when necessary, but for the full version of each, you will need to read his article which I am not going to re-quote in its near-entirety here.
1. The Force Awakens Apparently Never Happened.
Shapiro is confused why the First Order still has weapons after their base was destroyed. Why this translates into The Force Awakens never happening is unclear, as only the base was destroyed in that film. The same criticism could be made of Empire Strikes Back, where the Empire still has numerous ships, including a Super Star Destroyer, after the Death Star's destruction. But nothing in Star Wars: A New Hope or The Force Awakens suggests that anything other than the large planet-destroying base was destroyed, so this criticism, which would have been senseless in the age of Empire, is senseless now.
2. There Is No Gravity In Space.
Again Shapiro takes aim at the beloved Empire Strikes Back. Wait -- as it turns out, he's not criticizing the scene in Empire where Tie Bombers drop bombs on an asteroid in which the Millennium Falcon is hiding. Instead he is criticizing the opening scene where a bomber drops bombs on a First Order Dreadnought. Shapiro admits "It's a cool scene," but adds it to his list for the sake of volume (even though he ends up with an awkward 19, rather than 20, criticisms). Ignoring the possibilities that the bombs could have been calibrated to seek out the (admittedly weak) gravity of the (huge) Dreadnought, or even a more basic explanation of mechanisms that kick the bombs out into space and/or magnets that activate after a delay, Shapiro decides that the film is worthy of criticism for not explaining every little detail. This is the first step on a dark path that leads to Midi-chlorians.
Also there is no sound in space, and has Shapiro ever criticized that? Probably not.
3. Snoke Is A Throwaway.
Shapiro is angry that Snoke dies before the third movie because he apparently wants Episodes 7-9 to completely retread the plot lines of the original trilogy even though this was the biggest problem with The Force Awakens (no, Rey being able to use the Force effectively despite being
Snoke was an arrogant jerk who treated Emperor Palpatine the same way that Kylo Ren treats Darth Vader. Snoke stole the giant-head hologram (wonderfully used in The Last Jedi), large swivel-chair, and red-guard fetish that the Emperor had. Rather than keep this guy around for too long, he is killed off in a sudden manner that is surprising, new, and that leads to an excellent lightsaber vs. energy sword/spear/etc. fight.
4. Kylo Ren Isn’t Intimidating.
Shapiro complains that Kylo Ren not being competent, strong, or Darth Vader-y enough is "the biggest problem." Shapiro wants the films to sacrifice what makes Kylo Ren interesting (his conflicted nature and the fact that he is still growing in power and knowledge of the Force) in favor of him filling the Darth Vader gap that cannot and should not be filled. And to the extent that Shapiro argues that Kylo Ren is difficult to see as "the ultimate bad guy," it is unclear if this is the role that Kylo Ren is supposed to play, and leaves open many new and interesting directions that Episode 9 may take.
5. Rey’s Backstory Sucks.
This criticism is so misguided that it is worth quoting in part:
The series wanted to reset so that anybody could have abilities with the Force — a laudable goal. But by sucking Rey out of the family drama, we’re no longer dealing with the central storyline — a point Kylo Ren makes to Rey openly. I guess the idea is that we’re supposed to now think that small street urchins without any sort of bloodline can become incredible Jedi. That’s democratic, but it’s not true to the storyline, and it doesn’t provide any drama.Does Shapiro think that Mace Windu, Yoda, Plo Koon, and Ki-Adi-Mundi were all related? The prequels established that the Jedi
6. Luke’s Weird Farmer Life Is Weird.
Shapiro's full complaint is:
Did we really need a whole day of Luke going around milking an alien seacow and drinking it?Absolutely. That scene is iconic.
7. Luke Is A Bad Teacher.
Luke doesn't want to be a teacher and his confidence has been shattered by his disastrous last attempt. Luke's reluctance to teach and lack of thorough lessons makes sense. Shapiro, however, is correct to the extent that I wanted more scenes with Rey carrying Mark Hamill around in her backpack.
8. Celebrity Cameos Make No Sense.
Shapiro apparently thinks that Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro are "celebrity cameos." These are not cameo appearances. Justin Theroux briefly appearing as the Master Codebreaker is a cameo. Daniel Craig playing a stormtrooper in The Force Awakens was a cameo. Laura Dern and Benecio Del Toro play full-on characters in the film and just happen to be actors that Shapiro knows better.
9. Poe Dameron’s Story Arc Is Foolish.
Shapiro says that "Poe is supposed to be a newfangled Han Solo." No he isn't. Shapiro says that "Poe is a dolt." Not really, although Poe is a hotheaded pilot who needs to learn to be a part of the team, and his learning this is the focus of his character growth in the movie.
Shapiro wanders off into the criticism that Laura Dern should have told Poe her plan, and that Poe ends up making "stupid plans with Finn that have no actual effect on the plotline." Shapiro ignores that the "stupid plans" end up getting most everyone killed, which is an "actual effect." And Shapiro assumes that an Admiral should tell a recently-demoted-for-being-too-impulsive-and-therefore-getting-most-every-Resistance-pilot-killed captain what her plans are.
10. Finn’s Storyline Is Useless.
We are ten criticisms in and finally have a bit of a valid point -- the Finn and Rose adventure on the casino planet did not add very much to the story and at times (read: during the alien horse chase) was goofy. Shapiro, though, argues that Finn should have died in the last movie and in this one and says that nothing comes from Finn's story. Finn is an interesting character who ultimately grows as a result of his (yes, silly) quest from being a deserter to a man willing to die for a cause and finally confronts his old tormentor, Phasma, head on.
11. Rose Is Useless.
Rose both helps Finn grow and serves to show that the briefly-seen pilots and ground crew of the Resistance have interesting backstories and can become heroes themselves and who may have even more notable and interesting roles in future films. But the movie did not count out the possibility that she is a Skywalker, so don't count her out so quickly, Shapiro.
12. Social Justice Warrioring On Interplanetary Monte Carlo Is Awful. Awful.
The one interesting thing about the casino planet was the notion of third parties profiting from the war -- a dimension that we have not yet seen, and a notion that hints at happenings in the galaxy as a whole. We should probably start thinking this way if Rian Johnson's next trilogy is going to be set beyond the immediate back and forth between the Empire/First Order and Rebellion/Resistance. Also, it's strange that pointing out alien-animal abuse is "Social Justice Warrioring." Using enslaved animals to one's advantage against the enemy is a time honored Star Wars tradition (or, at least it happened with dinosaurs in the (amazing) Ewok movie, The Battle for Endor). Also, stop trying to make "Social Justice Warrioring" as a verb happen, Shapiro.
13. Captain Phasma Is A Nothing.
So was Boba Fett, but everyone loves him. At least Phasma briefly has some cool moments, displays an evil personality, and has a fight scene. As you can see, in part, here, Boba Fett stood around, said five words, got his gun disabled immediately, fired a useless rope, took an awkwardly long time to raise up his arm which had another gun on it, fired two shots, and then was accidentally knocked into the mouth of an alien ant eater. But everyone loves him.
14. Luke Shouldn’t Have Been A Hologram.
Shapiro's criticism here is borderline incomprehensible.
Why is it cool for Luke to survive a barrage from AT-ATs if he’s not even there?...it makes sense that he survives because he isn't there. And it's cool for several reasons, the most obvious of which is him dusting off his shoulder.
Why is it cool for Luke to best Kylo Ren in a light saber battle if (1) Rey has already done so, and (2) Luke isn’t even there?...he doesn't best Kylo Ren, and the no-contact hologram fight is pretty cool and leads to a surprise that he isn't there.
They easily could have brought Luke there, and had him do exactly the same thing, but sacrifice himself — or perhaps just fade away in front of Kylo Ren.I hope that Shapiro sticks to being a "Provocative Gladiator" and never somehow stumbles into writing for these movies.
15. The Powers Of The Force Aren’t Magic.
I too wish that the Force only kept doing what it did in the earlier films and that it was never used or developed in interesting ways.
16. Light Speed Can't Be Used As A Weapon.
Shapiro correctly (what?!) points out that if light speed could be used as a weapon, it would be used more often. While that is a bit of a hole, the upshot is not that light speed "can't" be used as a weapon, so Shapiro's argument is muddled and pointless. Most importantly, Shapiro calls into question the best moment in the film and one of the best moments in the series. I don't care if it raises questions or if there are plot holes, the hyperspace moment was fantastic.
17. Why Would Luke Try To Kill Kylo?
Because he was never raised as a Jedi, nearly killed Vader before he finally stopped hacking at him, has killed SO MANY people, and has finally built something after a lifetime of seeing many of those close to him die only to see that thing on the verge of being torn down. I've seen other self-proclaimed Star Wars nerds raise this point as well, and it boggles the mind how little clue they have about Luke's experiences and the effect that they might have on a person.
18. There Are No Interesting Characters Left Except For Kylo Ren.
Shapiro complains that the characters from the original trilogy are no longer around and misses the whole point of the new movies handing the story off to a new generation. As for the new characters, Shapiro argues that Rey has a "crappy backstory," (ENOUGH with everyone needing to be a Skywalker), "Finn is a nonentity," (what does this even mean, and no, he has heart, is funny, and is the first character we have seen cross over from a background of serving the bad guys to the side of the Rebellion/Resistance), and "nobody cares about Rose," (nobody cares what Shapiro thinks about Rose).
19. Kylo Should Have Sided With Rey.
"This is the biggest problem of all."
Shapiro's list is so bloated that he forgets that the "biggest problem" was previously listed at number four: Kylo Ren's lack of being intimidating and no longer being a credible "big bad." Not only is this sloppy writing, it is a fascinating contradiction. Kylo Ren should be scarier and a more intimidating bad guy, but he ALSO should have joined up with Rey? And, "Kylo is far more interesting as a character trying to hold his darkness in check than as a guy who gives into it" misses the point. What makes Kylo Ren interesting and new is that he is trying to be evil, but is being occasionally won over by the good that is still in him. Kylo Ren's conflicted nature makes him a compelling character, but having him join up with Rey would have been a redemption that a character who killed Han Solo (and many, many others) a few hours ago does not deserve.
Shapiro goes on to undo a bit of his article's nonsense by pointing out some good things about The Last Jedi, but it is too little, too late. If anyone has any other problems they want to point out with the movie, feel free to leave them in the comments where I may or may not address them.
No comments:
Post a Comment