Star Wars: The Last Jedi Wasted Its Villains

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for director Rian Johnston’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in theaters now.

Over the years, a major part of the Star Wars mythos has been its iconic villains, especially the Sith duo of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Even with supporting villains like Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and General Grievous, there was still a sense of dread that sent shivers down your spine. This got fans all the more excited when J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens promised us a new Vader in Kylo Ren, and a new Palpatine in Supreme Leader Snoke.

While both came off underwhelming, there was still a degree of optimism that they would be handled properly in the darker narrative of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. However, along with the other minor villains involved, all Johnson did in this new chapter was create a bunch of cheap carbon copies based on more style than substance. Let's take a look at how this new film fails on this sinister front.

Snoke

The Force Awakens crafted Snoke as a holographic mystery, building anticipation for Johnson's follow-up. However, Johnson doesn't provide any context to who Snoke is, exactly how he won over Ben Solo, why he hates Luke Skywalker, and why he's about eliminating the Jedi. These are essential if we're to believe he's something other than a Sith, as opposed to being just a random boogeyman.

Apart from a lack of identity, Johnson kills Snoke off just when he gets interesting. As he's torturing Rey, we're finally getting insight into his relationship with Kylo, only for the fallen Jedi to then slice him in half. After displaying strong Force abilities such as lightning and mental manipulation, this felt like a slap in the face. How could someone so powerful leave himself so vulnerable? Johnson shows that Snoke's anything but supreme or a leader here.

Captain Phasma

In The Force Awakens finale on the Starkiller Base, Phasma was treated like garbage... literally. She managed to survive, leaving us hoping she would play a bigger role here but instead, she's merely used as a plot tool to make Finn look heroic. When Snoke's flagship, Supremacy, is attacked, they engage in a brief and anti-climactic battle which ends in what we assume is her falling to a fiery death.

It's disappointing to see how Johnson wasted Phasma's depth, which we saw in her comic series. There, we got insight into her true character and how she views the First Order as a means of surviving. However, in this film, she's basically confirmed as a goofy lackey who can't get the job done. Phasma ends up being the new Boba Fett -- a soldier who looks cool but doesn't have any major impact. What makes things worse is that this was Star Wars' first chance at creating a memorable female villain on the big screen.

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D.J.

When Finn and Rose try to find a hacker to help them board Snoke's Supremacy, they end up with the prison escapee, DJ. Despite being a mercenary-for-hire, D.J. displays some altruistic traits that give the impression he'll be a big ally for the Resistance. Instead, Johnson opts for the cliche route by having him sell out the Resistance's plan to escape to Crait when they all get caught.

Benicio Del Toro as DJ in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This plot twist is a straight rip-off of the Lando Calrissian arc from The Empire Strikes Back when he betrayed Han Solo on Cloud City and handed him over to Vader. Here, in addition to being so unoriginal, it's just lazy storytelling from Johnson's team that wasted Benicio del Toro's charm and potential as the character. D.J. as an anti-hero would have shown that even minor criminals viewed the First Order as tyrants, emphasizing the scope of Snoke and Kylo's galactic oppression.

Kylo Ren

The Force Awakens left fans calling Kylo "whiny," "emo" and "bratty" -- which aren't words you want associated with your main villain. The Last Jedi doesn't fare any better, showing no growth and leaving him just as petulant, especially when he assumes control of the First Order and faces Luke on Crait. The main downfall of his character, though, is that there's simply no emotional connection to him.

We don't see any in-depth training with Luke to understand what fractured their relationship and drove Kylo's hate. This means we have no idea who he was as Ben Solo, why he had all that anger inside towards Han and Leia, and why he let Snoke corrupt him. These new movies are driven by Kylo being torn between the Light and the Dark, but not fleshing out these relationships with Luke and Snoke leaves his character also short of an identity. A longer flashback showing exactly how he tore down Luke's Jedi Order or reuniting him with the Knights of Ren could have made him more intimidating, but as of now, he's no Vader; he's merely a child with a mask.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Benicio Del Toro as ‘DJ’, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, and the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa.