This month, Empire is celebrating the 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century so far – a list voted for by critics and readers alike. In the ‘Where Was…’ series, Empire writers look at the films that somehow missed the cut. Here’s Ben Travis, making the case for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Now that The Rise Of Skywalker is out, I’ll finally say it – Star Wars: The Last Jedi is, for me, the best film in the Sequel Trilogy. If The Force Awakens was a pure, energetic blast of the Star Wars we knew, loved, and had long missed in the Prequel era, Rian Johnson’s follow-up gave us something different – something that challenged and interrogated the entire Star Wars mythos, while also delivering huge narrative swings, purposeful character arcs, and some of the most extraordinary imagery of the entire saga.
While The Force Awakens made Empire’s 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century list – it came in at #48 – it shocks me that The Last Jedi missed out. If Johnson’s middle chapter is still deemed controversial by some fans, it already seems to be growing in stature year on year, a visionary and nuanced chapter in the Skywalker Saga that asked us to examine the whole Star Wars universe more closely – perhaps to the detriment of the clunkier moments to come in The Rise Of Skywalker.
Unlike the Luke Skywalker action figures held on to by fans who grew up on the Original Trilogy, The Last Jedi’s returning Luke gave us a hero who hadn’t remained in stasis for all those years. But his disillusionment in the face of failure gave him a far more interesting role here – he’s still the old Rebel hero who teaches Rey what she needs to know about the Force, but he's also given his own path to reckon with, eventually understanding that he can’t simply retreat from the world as evil flourishes. If any moment in The Last Jedi Force-leaks tears from my eyes on a re-watch, it’s the reunion between a defeated Luke and Yoda’s giggling Force ghost, who dispenses perhaps the entire trilogy’s best line: “Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”
And if you’re asking for stellar moments, The Last Jedi is chock full of them – the stunning opening dogfight and bombing raid, Rey’s gorgeously abstract moment of reflection as she searches for the truth in a cave under Ahch-To, the ski-speeders kicking up red soil on the surface of Crait in the final showdown. And what about the Holdo maneuver (I still can’t watch it without holding my breath), Kylo Ren and Rey teaming up in Snoke’s throne room, Luke stepping out in front of the might of the First Order, or Chewie being stared down by the cutest Porg the galaxy has ever seen? From scene to scene, it just keeps on delivering. Even the Canto Bight stuff is better than you remember – a visual throwback to the Prequel era that makes the whole universe feel more intertwined, with a fun chase sequence you know you would have loved as a kid, and thematic resonance in exposing the cruelty and exploitation that often comes as a cost of luxury.
The Last Jedi thrills on so many levels – but mostly, how driven it is by ideas. Heroes aren’t infallible. Institutions need to evolve. Anyone can be a hero. And most importantly, the one that got missed among the in-fighting and arguments that the film inadvertently caused: “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” So this is me, doing what I can to save The Last Jedi – the best Star Wars film of the 21st Century.
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