Star Wars: The Last Jedi only gets more impressive with time, and has aged better than Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. To say The Last Jedi was divisive when it released back in 2017 would be a serious understatement; the movie wasn't controversial so much as it tore the Star Wars fandom apart. Following on from The Force Awakens, it zigged where people expected zags, upending notions of where the sequel trilogy was headed, who the original trilogy heroes truly were, and ultimately reckoning with what Star Wars is at its very core.
With all of that, it's no surprise Star Wars: The Last Jedi's backlash happened and the movie failed to please everyone. Rian Johnson undoubtedly took some bold swings, and that's always going to be a risk. That's only highlighted more with the benefit of time and full view of the sequel trilogy (and some distance from it), because The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker play things safer and aim to please fans more clearly. With that, though, it means The Last Jedi does just get better with age.
The Force Awakens Gets Less Special Over Time
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a great movie for bringing the franchise roaring back to life. That was really started by The Force Awakens' marketing campaign, which leaned heavily on the somewhat intangible feel of Star Wars - there's a reason Han Solo's "Chewie, we're home" line resonated so much, and it's because that's what it felt like for audiences after 10 years away (and the division of the prequels). That carried through into the movie which, like the marketing, was heavy on both mystery and nostalgia: raising questions without answers, and serving as a quasi-remake of A New Hope.
Back in 2015, that was enough, and it clearly worked, with The Force Awakens' box office topping $2 billion. But it also means the movie loses something over time, getting a little less special. Because it relies on nostalgia tricks, J.J. Abrams' mystery boxes, and a warm fuzzy Star Wars feeling, it's never quite as impactful as that first big welcome back moment. The more it sits, and knowing that The Rise of Skywalker will unsuccessfully attempt to end many of the storylines and character arcs it sets up, just take away from it.
That's not to say it's bad - it remains an entertaining movie filled with some great characters and action - but the presentation of it is such that it's inevitably a reduced dose of pure Star Wars adrenaline on each revisit, and the flaws shine through a little more. That's true in just how closely it follows A New Hope, in the way it sags in the second act, and in that so much is transparently just setup and outlines without much of an answer planned. It is definitely fun, but a little shallower.
The Last Jedi Only Gets Better With Age & Rewatches
In contrast, Star Wars: The Last Jedi's divisive choices only get better with age. Yes, there's a decent portion of audiences who will dislike the movie no matter what and there's nothing to say everyone should like it or agree at all, but the decisions Johnson makes are rooted far more in character, theme, and breaking down Star Wars itself that it can stand the test of time better. Similarly, because it works as more standalone - although The Last Jedi doesn't retcon The Force Awakens, but just goes in unexpected directions - then it's less impacted by the flaws of the sequel trilogy as a whole.
It's structured in such a way that it feels complete, while leaving room for what eventually became Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to build upon it. The main characters could all be explored further, and the war between the Resistance and the First Order was far from over. And yet, each character learned and developed so much across The Last Jedi it allows the movie to operate both as a piece of a larger puzzle and work somewhat independently as well, with Rey's journey of self-discovery and identity, Kylo Ren's inner conflict, and the myth and legend of Luke Skywalker in particular all brilliantly analyzed and deconstructed.
That's why The Last Jedi stands the test of time so well. Some of its decisions are shocking, but any jarring impact of them - should it exist - wears off over time as the viewer becomes more prepared, and also more understanding of why they happened. Nothing in here is a cheap narrative or nostalgia trick, there are no mystery boxes to open later: it takes what's in those boxes and gives them the attention and introspection they deserve, be that Rey being a nobody, the mistakes of Luke Skywalker's past, or the death of Supreme Leader Snoke at the hands of his star pupil, Kylo Ren.
The Last Jedi is so rich in character and theme, especially those at the very core of Star Wars: hope and despair, good and evil, failure and the ability to learn from it, family and what really defines a person. It's a rock solid foundation, giving the movie a much greater depth than most Star Wars films have ever reached for. Look no further than its ending, which returns to the crux of Star Wars: a little kid looking up at the stars, full of hope, wonder, and dreams. It gets to the very heart of why the franchise itself has endured, and in doing so ensures it too endures with it.
The Rise Of Skywalker Was Bad... & Disney Made It Worse
While The Force Awakens is good (with issues) and The Last Jedi is great (if divisive), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is, unfortunately, the only bad movie in Star Wars' sequel trilogy. The issues here are less to do with controversial choices - though there are some, such as Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter - and more to do with fundamental filmmaking mistakes. The Rise of Skywalker is a badly paced and overstuffed climax to the sequels, paradoxically trying to do too much while offering very little of genuine substance.
Core elements such as how Palpatine returned are skimmed over, and moments that should be devastating, such as Leia's death, feel too rushed in order to get to the movie's convoluted "all the Sith...all the Jedi" endgame. Where The Last Jedi was the bravest of the sequels, making hard choices even if not everyone would agree, The Rise of Skywalker is the most cowardly. It's a sign of a studio that balked at the reaction and attempted to course-correct, only going too far the other way and ending with a mess of fan service that didn't actually service that many fans.
Disney tried to fix The Rise of Skywalker after it released, especially filling in its plot holes with various books and comics trying to explain what happened and add greater meaning to them. Unfortunately, that only serves to highlight just how the movie failed. The Rise of Skywalker gets worse on rewatches because - even though J.J. Abrams is a director capable of making thrilling blockbusters - it all feels so empty, and the more it's watched, the more the feeling grows.
Star Wars likes to explore the dark side and the light, but comparing The Rise of Skywalker to The Last Jedi is night and day: one aiming for cheap thrills and "here's the Star Wars we think you want" fan service, the other with truly strong character, story, and themes that actually delivers the Star Wars you love.