Sightlines · reception
How Star Wars: The Last Jedi was received
2017 · Rian Johnson · Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Sightlines
The arc
Landed in 2017 to rapturous reviews and one of the loudest fan revolts in blockbuster history — review-bombed, petitioned against, endlessly relitigated. Nearly a decade on it's steadily reappraised as the boldest and most personal of the Disney-era Star Wars films, though 'reappraised' has never meant 'settled'.
What’s debated
The definitive modern fan-vs-critic split: is it the smartest thing Star Wars ever did or a betrayal of it — with almost nobody parked in the middle.
Its footprint
Luke tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder became an instant, evergreen meme, porgs briefly conquered the internet, and 'The Last Jedi discourse' itself became shorthand for online fandom wars.
Where it stands
A genuine litmus-test film — on Letterboxd it's the Star Wars entry cinephiles are most likely to four-star with a defiant 'yes, really' review.
Did you know? Mark Hamill publicly said he 'fundamentally disagreed with virtually everything' Rian Johnson decided about Luke — then walked it back, praised the finished film, and the quote has followed the movie ever since.
Named by the director
- Twelve O'Clock High (1949) — Johnson screened it for the crew as a model for the film's WWII-bomber-style aerial combat and command-under-pressure tension.
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) — Another of the films Johnson showed his crew, cited for its war-movie fatalism and flight sequences.
- Letter Never Sent (1959) — Johnson pointed to Kalatozov's expressionistic camerawork and imagery as visual inspiration.
- Three Outlaw Samurai (1964) — Named by Johnson as a samurai-cinema touchstone, nodding to Star Wars' Kurosawa-adjacent roots.
- To Catch a Thief (1955) — Johnson cited Hitchcock's Riviera glamour as the template for the film's casino-city sequence.
- Rashomon (1950) — Johnson invoked Kurosawa's conflicting-perspectives structure when discussing the film's differing retellings of a key event.