Ramble: "Last Jedi," "Valerian," and the Importance of Character · 11:58pm Jan 2nd, 2018
In the final week of 2017, I was privileged to watch 2 sci-fi films a day apart. The first was Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the other was Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets. Both were films I wanted to see. Both were giant sci-fi spectacles with aliens, robots, and crazy space adventures. Right up my alley.
Now let me explain why the former was a joy to watch and the latter was agonizing. It has everything to do with characters.
First off, just to get it out of the way, I’m aware of the connections between Valerian’s comic origin (Valerian and Lorellei) and Star Wars. If you aren’t, the YouTube series Film Theory has a pretty good overview on it.
As that video delves into, though, sci-fi is a genre that builds greatly on what has come before it. My purpose, again, isn’t to compare the two franchises in terms of their elements. I’m simply comparing two films and explaining their merits.
First off, the two films are both great to look at. The effects, creature designs, and the host of interesting ideas are all great. Both films do a fantastic job of creating epic environments that dazzle and inspire. Ep 8 has the casino planet and a variety of interesting critters…
...while director Luc Besson, who first tried this sort of thing out with The Fifth Element, outdid himself in Valerian in this respect.
Indeed, Valerian actually outdoes Ep 8 in terms of spectacle. It’s an absolutely gorgeous film, one of the most visually compelling films I have seen in ages. The visuals are the greatest argument for seeing the film, in my view.
The plots of both movies, which I won’t spoil, are also decent. Not amazing, but decent. They both have some twists and turns, they’re both a bit on the unpredictable side (Ep 8 in particular kept me guessing), and they both… kinda go on a little too long, if I’m being honest.
But let me at last get to the point. Ep 8 succeeds as a movie where Valerian does not for one simple reason: it has way better characters.
Now, you might think Ep 8 has the advantage in every respect here, what with the classic characters from the franchise returning as well as the newer ones introduced in Episode 7. And yet, despite that, they actually introduce a new main character. Not a gimmick, not a comic relief character, a real character that does things of real consequence to the plot. Specifically, this gal:
Now, I won’t say anything about her other than her name, which is Rose. What I will say is that everything about introducing her is done right: they introduce her in a vulnerable situation which makes us sympathize with her, in minutes she shows how tough and devoted she is, and later we get more of her backstory that demonstrates her world view and makes us understand why she fights. She even displays willingness to give up something precious, which shows her unselfishness and commitment to the cause. In a flashy movie with bigger, flashier characters, she really stood out.
And the same treatment is given to all the main cast. Even when we scorn their decisions, we understand who they are, we root for them to succeed, and, most importantly, we empathize with them.
Compare that to Valerian’s main protagonists…
Valerian and Lorellei are two of the worst protagonists in a film I have ever seen. I actually turned to look at my parents, who were watching this movie with me after also having watched Ep 8, and said, “Man, I can’t wait for these two characters to become likable.”
That moment never came.
Valerian is a supposedly this amazing ladykiller with a “playlist” of dozens and dozens of love-em-and-leave-em exes despite having all the smug, adolescent charm of a scrawny punk who won’t shut up about how his dad owns a car dealership. Lorellei is a perpetually scowling, sighing, eye-rolling partner who shows only the faintest glimmer of sympathy in the entire film and that’s only near the very end.
These two try so hard to be cool and they fail miserably at it. They look and act like teenagers. They aren’t witty, their “romantic” repartee is forced and creepy, they’re cold and uncaring until the plot needs them to be, and their motivation is cryptic and contradictory. (Okay, one mild spoilery example: Valerian breaks protocol, mouths off, steals, and hits his commanding officer in this film - yet, at the end for the sake of a “character moment,” he’s asked to do the right thing and says, essentially, “I’m a soldier and have to do my duty, even if I disagree with it.” At this point, I just started shouting at the screen.)
It’s so disappointing because there are some really good supporting characters in this, and some really great actors too: Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, and, surprisingly, Rihanna. In fact, Rihanna’s character is one of my favorites… but ultimately, the movie wastes her too. Such a shame.
But all this is to point out something: as I said before, the two movies have similarly high-grade visuals and decent, if flawed, plots. But Last Jedi is emotionally satisfying and fun where Valerian is often excruciating. Think Anakin and Padme levels of poor chemistry, if you want a closer Star Wars comparison.
Let me bring in a third movie to drive my point home: Luc Besson’s aforementioned The Fifth Element.
Say it with me now: “Multipass.”
Fifth Element is a dumb movie. No bones about it: it’s loud, it’s meandering, it’s cliched, hammy, and predictable. But boy do I love it. Lots of you probably do too. But why?
Well, look at the two main characters: Korben Dallas and Leeloo.
We meet Dallas as a taxi-driver struggling to quit smoking. He’s mugged at his front door by a tweaked-out junkie with a gun he doesn’t know how to use and a ridiculous hat. Instead of blowing the chump away, Dallas calmly disarms him, keeps his gun, and even gives him a friendly, if backhanded compliment about his silly hat before letting the poor schmuck go.
It establishes him as a cool badass, but also as someone with a decent heart and sense of humor. Throughout the movie, we see him try to do the right thing, to sympathize with and save people, even when it lands him in trouble, even taking a tongue-lashing from his nosy mother.
Leeloo likewise shows her capacity as a badass when she escapes from government captivity and beats up a gang of hostile aliens, but she also shows her purity and her vulnerability.
In both cases, as with Rose mentioned above, we empathize with these characters. We feel what they feel, we connect, and we see reflections of ourselves in them. Our investment in these characters is what drives us to join them in their journey throughout the plot, even if the plot is just so-so. Valerian makes that journey feel like a death march.
Let this be a lesson to us all as writers: ideally, a plot should be good, but people will endure even a mediocre one if the characters are good enough. The coolest idea in the world, the best fight scenes, the most action, and all the intrigue won’t matter in the long run if people can’t stand your characters.
Well, that’s enough of a ramble for now. I’d like to return sometime soon to actually discussing what makes a character good or bad in more detail later, but for now, I hope you enjoyed my musings. If you haven’t seen any of the movies above yet, I’d urge you to check them out when you have the chance just to see what I mean.
And if you have comments, examples, or opposing views, please feel free to share. I’d love to hear what you have to say! Until next time, folks!
If you have likable enough characters, you can keep a franchise going forever. Look at how many Pirates movies were made simply because of Jack Sparrow.
4765981
Exactly.
I have almost the exact opposite opinion on this matter XD
While I do agree that Rose is a good character and I really liked her, I have to say that every other character is terrible. I will spoiler this so people don't have the film spoiled because I think that the Last Jedi is a good movie IN SPITE of it's characters.
Let's start with Luke. He's written so far out of character that that the movie feels like somone's fanfiction got swapped out for the script. Like Skywalker, the man who refused to kill one of the most evil men int he Galaxy EVEN WHEN ENRAGED, and went full Twilight Sparkle to bring that same man back into the light, the man who allowed himself to face certain death just for the slim chance of redeeming Darth Vader... Decides to murder his nephew for changing religions.
There is no reason give for why Luke suddenly is a person who thinks like this. But let's excuse that, let's say something happen to make him COMPLETELY terrified of all things Dark Side. Luke would NOT abandon the force and the Galaxy because he failed his nephew. That is not who he is. Luke would have dusted off his X-Wing, flown after him and sought to redeem him just as he did with Vader. That's who Luke is, R63 Twilight Sparkle. Luke would never behave the way he does in this film, not for the reasons we're given.
Leia. Okay, she's become a general in the last 30 years. I can buy that, she was command staff for the Rebellion. They never explain she had Jedi training. Not once. They never show her meditating, or otherwise demonstrating she's also become strong in the force.
Then she Merry Poppins herself back to the bridge of a starship using the force after ice has already begun to form around her body and she's clearly suffocated BECAUSE SHE'S SUCKING VACUUM... This is such a huge jumping the shark moment in terms of what he force can do. I'd have a hard time buying Yoda himself pulling that stunt and we see a person with no implications of being a Jedi Master pull that off. She's never done things like this before, she gives no indication that she can. She survives death because the writers most likly want to not piss off people by killing off a feminist icon.
They make Leia into a RL political tool to gain their movie more public approval.
Rey, oh dear lord, Rey. She actually Mary Sue. Not A Mary Sue, she IS Mary Sue, the original one from A Trekkie's Tale. Everyone in the movie is super worried for her safety and adores her, or hates her. The story is all about her, which would be fine if it were her story, but it's not. It's the story of a group of people that revolves almost entirely around Rey.
Rey also doesn't have to work to gain mastery over her powers. At all. She NEVER does. She picks up a light saber, has a vision, and knows how to use it. She is in a tight spot and poof, she just knows how to use Mind Trick. She gets three lessons from Luke and suddenly can lift every single last rock in a huge avalanche and move them away. And she can match a Dark Side user who has had YEARS of training and is shown to be very strong in the force in a one on one contest of Force Use.
She never has to work for her power, everyone good loves her on site, everyone bad hates her on site. She's quite literally the same character from A Trekkie's Tale. Rey is Mary Sue. Only she's not presented as a parody like Mary was.
Poe. I dont have anything bad to say about Poe. But he lacks any real presence or impact in the story. All he really does is institute a mutiny and get shat on by Admiral Purple hair who is written as a bitch for no apparent reason, and comes across as a man-hating-harpy with no sense of tactics or strategy. You know, a person who wouldn't ever rise to the position of Admiral in the first place.
Seriously, if Purple Hair simply explained herself to the hotshot instead of taking a shit on him at every opportunity (presumably just because he's male) Poe wouldn't have pulled a gun on her. Oh, and Poe's an idiot too. He should have told Purple Hair "Hey, Finn and Rose have a way to take out the enemy ship and are working on it. We need to give them a little more time." then explained HOW they could do it.
It was a good plan. A real Admiral would have agreed with it.
Finn... He's complacently fine. Finn and Rose's stuff is great. Why wasn't the movie all about them? Moving on to Kylo.
Kylo improved in this movie. But I still can't understand why Snoke put him in charge of anything. He's clearly a hotheaded youth with a lot to learn and yet he's second in command? This isn't a problem with his character, his character is fine. The problem here is with Snoke! What the hell are you doing, Snoke? Putting that-
Oh. You dont' matter. You're dead. All this buildup, mystery, and suspense for you to be unceremoniously cut in half by Diet Vader. Wow. What a waste of set up and characterization as the evil mastermind.
That's about it from my point of view. The characters are very poorly written with a few exceptions. It really does seem like a fanfic to me. But if you liked it, that's great! I liked it too. Mostly because it's Star Wars and I'm a dork. The plot may have been meh, and the characters were bad but I like seeing a certain Galixy far far away.
4766127
I'd say that a lot of those objections, though not all, are more related to the plot than characterization. Yes, Rey probably shouldn't be as badass as she is without more training. Yes, Admiral Lady could have been a lot more upfront. Yes, Kylo has too much power given his hotheadedness. But that's a matter of poor choice in writing plotlines, not necessarily in characterization.
Since we agree about Finn and Rose, I'll just leave that off.
As for the others, you're right that the old Luke would never act as he does in the new movie, but that's because old Luke was so disgusted with himself over his moment of weakness and failure, and his whole speech about "legends" is saying "I'm not perfect... I'm not the paragon of goodness everyone thought I was," and it haunts him so much that it's turned him into the embittered man he is in Last Jedi. He is who he is in that movie because of where he came from. We might not like it, but I think it is in keeping with his character, and his status as a fallen hero makes us cheer that much harder when he comes back.
Rey... comes close to Sue status, I'll admit. But her character is that of someone with astonishing natural, raw ability that she doesn't know how to control. She has a connection to the Force, but doesn't understand it. I empathize with her as a naive idealist who ultimately sees her assertion that she can redeem Kylo blow up in her face and whose yearning for some deep, satisfying explanation of her origins ends in heartbreak when Kylo tells her what she should have already guessed if she hadn't been too scared to do so: her parents were nobodies... vagabonds who sold her with hardly a care. Seeing her accept that was, in my opinion, one of the more poignant moments of the film.
I could go on about the others, but my point is that, even if the plot doesn't always make sense, Ep 8 has characters that keep the audience engaged. My point still stands because even if we don't agree about all of the protagonists, we certainly agree about some of them (Finn and Rose, specifically
) and that the film is enjoyable despite its flaws, whereas Valerian lacks any major protagonists that make me care about the movie's resolution. If you really want to know what I mean, give Valerian a look; you'll see what I'm talking about. 
Thanks for your comment! I think you made some really great points about how Last Jedi could have been a lot better. Let's hope they bring Rose and Finn back for Ep 9 and make it a more solid movie!
I loved The last Jedi. Got tickets for Christmas.
Honestly, Rose was my favorite. She's such a well written character with such believable motivations. Plus, she's just so stinking cute! I'm also glad that they gave Luke a fairly tasteful end. During the sequence, I was worried that a FO bomber was just going to 'splode the island. I would have been genuinely upset if that happened.
Also, yeah, the movie went on for a hair too long.
4766389 Since someone down voted me for some reason, I would like to reiterate that I liked the movie overall. I will be watching it again later. I just feel it's characterization is week for some and wrong for others. It's still a good fun movie to watch and munch popcorn. Like Star Wars should be.
Perhaps it's simply my personal School of Thought on storytelling but in my opinion the characters make the plot through their actions. As such, barring events such as "force of nature causes ______." the characters actions craft the plot via being who they are and interacting. As such, in my opinion, the events we see such as the mutiny are characterization for the people responsible for those events (Specifically for Purple Hair and Poe in that example.).
I can respect your perspective on Luke, but I still say that going to attack Kylo is so far out of character for him that it NEEDS to be explained. Otherwise it's a major pothole as a character acts completely out of character without in story explanation. Don't get me wrong, I love theorizing, but stories should ALWAYS provide you with a characters reasoning for their core motivation in a story. To use another recent movie that made the same mistake: we shouldn't have to guess why Batman is suddenly murdering people, we should KNOW why he's murdering people.
Yes, they say he "felt the dark side growing in him" but that doesn't jive. Luke is not the kind of man who would attack his family. He is presented in the OT as a family man. He disagrees with his Uncle, but respects him enough to obey even when he tells Luke he cant leave. He greives for his Aunt and Uncle's deaths. When he finds out Leia is his sister he becomes very protective of her, going as far as to face the Emperor one on one to try and distract him and Vader enough to allow Leia to destroy the second Death Star.
Luke values family, quite a lot I'd say. I have no doubts that if something did compel him to attack Kylo we would see him stop before he did just as the movie showed. Howeaver, we need something to show us why he would even try to do that in the first place. Because attacking his family is not within Luke's character. Hell, Mark Hamill agrees with me on this one.
To make myself absolutely clear: All of the issues with Luke could be fixed by simply showing us in a flashback what made Luke change into the sort of person who would get as far as entering Kylo's room and turning on his lightsaber before deciding not to murder his nephew.
As for Rey, I agree that the moment where Kylo tells her about her parents is very powerful and great. It's just a shame that her other character moments come across as Sue rather than her working for her victories. She wins without effort, that's the problem. Again, this is something that can easily be fixed going forward. We need to see her fail more. We need to see her work for her victories rather than simply win through natural talent alone. Or at least, that's what I want to see because the parts of her character which are developed and worked on are wonderful.
As far as Kylo's revelation to her... I think he's either lieing or mistaken. When Rey asks that (Dark Kiber Crystal?) to show her her parents during her Force Vision she's shown two silhouettes of herself which merge into her own reflection. Personally, I think she's a clone of someone. After all Jakku was the last Imperial stronghold and it fell in 5 ABY and Rey was born in 15 ABY, 10 years later. To this day Jakku has a ton of imperial ruins laying around. It's not out of the question for a small ragtag group of imperials who survived in some hidden lab to try post-battle to bring themselves back into power by say, attempting to clone the Emperor? After all that happened in Legends. And if Rey is a failed clone of Darth Sidious it would explain her strength, her not being afraid at all of the Dark Side, and would also get rid of her sue status since you could explain her force powers as shreds of genetic memory since that's a thing in Star Wars cloning. It would also explain why she was abandoned by her "parents". The first order started to be a thing, her parents left to join it, abandoning the failed clone they made since they no longer needed a potentially powerful force user to accomplish their goals.
But then again I'm a weirdo who likes plots like that. It's probably just wishful thinking.
I agree completely. It's not a bad movie, it's simply flawed. Everything I find problematic could be fixed quite easily with Episode IX giving us more background on Luke somehow, making Rey have to work hard to achieve her goals, or doing the best thing ever and giving us 150 minutes of nothing but Finn and Rose being awesome and taking down the entire First Order via the powers of friendship and robots! Or any of the little side movies could fix it too! Heck, maybe the novelizations fix it, I haven't read them yet.
But what I am really looking forward to is the new trilogy slated for after IX is out. X, XI, and XII will not be connected to the Skywalkers in any way so it's a fully blank slate for them to work with with no baggage from the OT or Prequels. THAT will be amazing and I want 2021 to be here already.
I did! I liked it more than The Last Jedi, but only because it hits a nitch interest for me. Fantasy Political Narrative. The story isn't about people so much as it is about the interaction of groups/nations. But your right, it's characters are worse...
Anywho, sorry for the long comment. It's Star Wars and I'm one of the hapless nerds who actually liked the OT and the Prequels (Jar Jar not withstanding...) XD