The fan reaction to the latest Star Wars movie has been mixed, to say the least. While it seems the majority of die-hards believe that the film was among the franchise’s greatest, the story told by Rotten Tomatoes’ fan scoring system belies the fact that many, however, do not. One thing is certain though among those who hate it and those who love it, The Last Jedi is a film that features many radical departures from the other films in the series.
But maybe the ways that The Last Jedi differed from its predecessors are so plentiful that you get lost in the haze of all that groundbreaking going on. So in the interest of helping our readers out, we compiled a list of all the ways director Rian Johnson broke the mold in ways no Star Wars film has, and may never do again.
- In A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi bravely sacrifices himself, enters the Force leaving no trace of a body behind, and allows the hope of the Rebellion is carried away on the Millennium Falcon. But in The Last Jedi, it’s Luke.
- In Return of the Jedi, many fans found the inclusion of “cute” new aliens, Ewoks, an unnecessary addition to the story that were probably only added for the sake of marketing the film to small children. But The Last Jedi called its Ewoks “Porgs” and made them furry, big-eyed penguin-like creatures.
- In The Empire Strikes Back, Han and Leia are double-crossed by a shadowy new figure they think they can trust. In The Last Jedi Finn and Rose are double-crossed by a shadowy character they think they can trust, but he was played by Benicio del Toro, not Billy Dee Williams.
- In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda did not want to train Luke, but in The Last Jedi, Luke did not want to train Rey.
- In The Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader turns on the Emperor to save Luke, but in The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren turns on Snoke to save Rey.
- Boba Fett was a character in the original trilogy that spent all his time behind a mask and was killed rather quickly and without much fanfare, leaving fans to want more from a “wasted” character, but Captain Phasma has silver armor.
- In A New Hope, Luke drinks blue milk from a cup, but in The Last Jedi, he squeezes it from the tit of a beast into a bottle first.
- The climactic showdown in Return of the Jedi sees a Sith killing his master, but in The Last Jedi, they aren’t Sith.
- In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke must confront his inner turmoil in a cave that is strong with the Dark Side, but in The Last Jedi Ray goes into a hole in the ground that’s strong with the Dark Side.
- The Empire Strikes Back has a surprise twist about the parentage of its protagonist, but The Last Jedi the twist is about Rey’s parents, not Luke’s.
- By the end of The Empire Strikes Back, the rebels are scattered, yet still hopeful, but in The Last Jedi they were called The Resistance.
- In The Force Awakens, they kill off a beloved original trilogy character so they could reboot the franchise, but in The Last Jedi it was a different character
