The opening space battle of The Last Jedi has drawn the complaint that bombs can’t be dropped in zero-gravity space. But this isn’t the first or even the second time that bombs have been dropped in space in Star Wars. In fact, it’s a hallmark of the middle film of each Skywalker Saga trilogy. What’s unusual about the scene in The Last Jedi is not the bombs, but who is dropping them and why.
In the asteroid field chase in Attack of the Clones, Jango Fett uses rock-splitting seismic charges to try and destroy Obi-Wan Kenobi. The tactic reveals Jango’s wanton aggression. Either Obi-Wan’s ship does not have weapons, or he chooses not to use them to spare Jango’s son Boba and because his directive is to capture Jango alive. Either way, the amount of force Jango employs is grossly disproportionate to his target. This is not a fair fight.
In another asteroid field, this time in The Empire Strikes Back, TIE Bombers bombard the caverns of the larger rocks to try and destroy the Millennium Falcon. Here the tactic reveals Darth Vader’s callous disregard for the safety of his own forces. This asteroid field is extremely dangerous. In his unrelenting desire to pursue the Falcon, Vader ignores his officers’ concerns, resulting in the loss of a Star Destroyer.
The Last Jedi marks a departure from the other two films in that the bombs are being dropped by the good guys. Poe Dameron’s tactic of using Resistance Bombers to destroy a First Order Dreadnaught is not wrong in and of itself. If this is not a fair fight, it is because the First Order has the upper hand, not the bombers. And whereas Vader overrides his officers to risk his fleet, at least Poe’s pilots willingly risk their own lives to save their fleet. But Poe is flagrantly disobeying General Leia Organa’s orders to retreat, because his fear of the Dreadnaught’s power blinds him to what she has wiser eyes to see: the victory will not be worth the sacrifices. Like Jango, Poe makes an excessive show of force, going beyond his directive to only disable the Dreadnaught long enough for the fleet to escape. Like Vader, he is numb to the human toll of his drive to win at all costs.
After the battle, Leia reprimands Poe: “There are things that you cannot solve by jumping in an X-wing and blowing something up!” Poe has forgotten this, because having the power to destroy can be intoxicating and corrosive – just look at Boba’s sadistic pleasure in watching his father toy with Obi-Wan. As Yoda warns in The Empire Strikes Back, “Anger, fear, aggression: the Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will.” Worse still, when Poe follows Jango and Vader down the path of aggression, it consumes his friends.
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Characters: Boba Fett / Darth Vader / Jango Fett / Leia Organa / Obi-Wan Kenobi / Poe Dameron
Films: Episode II: Attack of the Clones / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
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Concepts: aggression
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