Star Wars: Every movie in the Skywalker Saga, ranked from worst to best

6. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

The Last Jedi has become one of the most — if not the most —  divisive installments in the Skywalker Saga, with Star Wars fans still hotly debating its worth on Twitter nearly three years after the film’s release. While some viewers enjoyed Rian Johnson’s attempts to break tradition and take the franchise new places, others fiercely pushed back against them.

When it comes to this film, we fall more in line with those celebrating the risks Johnson took. Although many of them were undone by The Rise of Skywalker, the message that anyone could be a hero — or a Jedi — is one that stuck, and the “Broom Boy” scene opened up all kinds of possibilities that The Rise of Skywalker promptly slammed the door on.

The Last Jedi also showed Rey coming into her power — not being saved by someone else, which is more or less what happens in The Rise of Skywalker — and sees Luke taking his final stand against the Dark Side. Add in finally getting to see Carrie Fisher in her element, painting Leia as a general instead of just a princess, and there’s plenty to applaud this installment for.

That’s not to say The Last Jedi doesn’t have its flaws. Three separate storylines were bound to get unwieldy, and there is a sort of aimlessness to Finn and Rose’s journey in the film. Everything comes together in the end, but one has to wonder whether it couldn’t have been shortened just a little.