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Star Wars - Finn Thought
Dec. 28th, 2017 01:59 pmI keep coming across this complaint that Finn's arc in The Last Jedi is the same as his The Force Awakens arc and I really disagree.
I think this movie actually completes the arc he started in TFA but didn't finish and it goes like this: runs away from the First Order -> finds Rey and eventually chooses her [TFA] -> chooses to be a part of the Resistance [TLJ].
In TFA Finn's arc wasn't him becoming a part of the Resistance. He didn't care about the Resistance. It was all about him overcoming his fear of the First Order, bonding with Rey and finding in her someone to fight for. He volunteers to return to Starkiller base not to save the Resistance or fight the First Order but simply to save Rey. He admits this to Han. He only wants to protect/help her.
When we begin TLJ that's where he's still at. All his thoughts are about Rey and when it appears that the Resistance is doomed he immediately tries to jump ship to try and protect her. It's over the course of the movie as he gets to know Rose and to learn more about the mechanics of the galaxy on Canto Bight that Finn's focus changes from 'fighting for, and only concerned for, Rey' to, as he says in his confrontation with Phasma, becoming 'Rebel scum' and culminating in his suicide run to protect the last of the Resistance.
It's a complete arc in itself. It is a continuation and finish of his TFA arc not a retread of it.
That said, while I did like Finn's plot, Rose and the Canto Bight scenes I also agree with the criticism about how awkwardly it fit in the movie and how it slowed the pace.
I think this movie actually completes the arc he started in TFA but didn't finish and it goes like this: runs away from the First Order -> finds Rey and eventually chooses her [TFA] -> chooses to be a part of the Resistance [TLJ].
In TFA Finn's arc wasn't him becoming a part of the Resistance. He didn't care about the Resistance. It was all about him overcoming his fear of the First Order, bonding with Rey and finding in her someone to fight for. He volunteers to return to Starkiller base not to save the Resistance or fight the First Order but simply to save Rey. He admits this to Han. He only wants to protect/help her.
When we begin TLJ that's where he's still at. All his thoughts are about Rey and when it appears that the Resistance is doomed he immediately tries to jump ship to try and protect her. It's over the course of the movie as he gets to know Rose and to learn more about the mechanics of the galaxy on Canto Bight that Finn's focus changes from 'fighting for, and only concerned for, Rey' to, as he says in his confrontation with Phasma, becoming 'Rebel scum' and culminating in his suicide run to protect the last of the Resistance.
It's a complete arc in itself. It is a continuation and finish of his TFA arc not a retread of it.
That said, while I did like Finn's plot, Rose and the Canto Bight scenes I also agree with the criticism about how awkwardly it fit in the movie and how it slowed the pace.
