Before The Last Jedi, ships in hyperspace couldn’t be tracked. Nor is it a problem that the First Order debuts “hyperspace tracking” in this movie-the very innovation that puts Holdo in the hopeless position to do what she does. Those new wrinkles are easy to swallow because the limits of Force use have never been clearly defined given the Force feats we’ve seen, it’s plausible that powerful figures like Luke, Yoda, and Snoke could push the previous boundaries. “If the story required it and if it felt like it stretches into new territory but doesn’t break the idea of what the Force can do, Pablo was down,” Johnson said, referring to Pablo Hidalgo, one of the Star Wars authorities in the Lucasfilm Story Group. The Last Jedi features multiple previously unseen Force powers (such as Rey’s and Kylo’s long-distance Force-conferencing, Luke’s interstellar projection, and Yoda’s postmortem Force lightning rod), although Johnson has pointed out that previous films have also introduced new Force powers piecemeal. Johnson likes to bend and break rules, not only narratively-in his refreshing, if divisive, defiance of franchise conventions vis à vis character backstories-but also in terms of the concrete ways in which the Star Wars universe works. We accept its strange rules, as we accept so many others in sci-fi and fantasy, as long as they stay reasonably consistent. That’s OK, though, because Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This isn’t a setting that conforms to our understanding of physics and technology. Let me also stipulate that this is Star Wars we’re talking about, a series in which nearly every occupied planet is perfectly habitable for humans, powerful wizards can read minds and deflect lasers, and-speaking of Holdo-ships can jump to hyperspace to get around the pesky, big-galaxy plot requirement for faster-than-light travel. If you were one of those theatergoers gasping and screaming, don’t let my forthcoming Comic Book Guy–esque objection diminish the moment one bit. Let me stipulate here that the Holdo scene’s emotional impact outweighs whatever story complications and subsequent retconning it causes. Strap in, because this is going to get nerdy. Holdo’s maneuver is so surprising because we haven’t seen it before-partly because its success threatens to totally destabilize the way Star Wars space combat works. The Holdo maneuver is one of the most breathtaking moments in a film filled with striking camerawork. So perfectly, in fact, that much of the audience is left too punch-drunk to consider the implications. And at last, the score returns with a wallop, along with the actual, audible gasps and choked cries of the viewers doing double-takes at the audacity of what Holdo (and writer-director Rian Johnson) have done. The Supremacy, its stricken smaller companions, and the Raddus’s remains hang there, suspended in a silent tableau of beautiful blue-and-red death. Then we see Snoke’s B-2 bomber–shaped ship, the Supremacy, sliced into two by the passage of the now-vaporized Resistance cruiser, the Raddus. Then we see understanding register on the faces of Commander Dameron and General Hux, and finally feel it reflected on ours: Oh my god, she’s going to jump.įor a fleeting instant, we hear nothing from the sound system or from any nearby spectators who are seeing the film for the first time: no breathing, no popcorn-sifting, no wrapper-wrinkling. The knowledge of what she intends to do creeps up on us just as it dawns on members of the desperate Resistance and triumphant First Order, who first suspect that she’s either trying to save herself or to create a diversion to distract the First Order from its attack on the fleeing Resistance transports. Visually, sonically, and emotionally, Holdo’s maneuver is an indelible moment. It was Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) sacrificing herself to save the Resistance by jumping to hyperspace straight through Snoke’s flagship, thereby destroying Snoke’s flagship and fleet. It wasn’t Luke tricking Kylo Ren on Crait, Kylo killing Snoke, or Kylo and Rey drawing sabers back to back in Snoke’s throne room. Both times that I’ve seen The Last Jedi, the same moment produced the most memorable audience response.
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