Mark Hamill once commented on why The Empire Strikes Back is his favorite Star Wars movie, yet his reasoning only made me more confused about his opinion on The Last Jedi. When talking about the ranking of Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi are somewhat polar opposites.

The Last Jedi‘s many controversies solidified it as the most divisive Star Wars movie to date, while The Empire Strikes Back is often considered the best in the franchise. The former was so divisive that it led to issues with The Rise of Skywalker, too, resulting in the sequels being regarded as the worst-ranked Star Wars trilogy.

Conversely, Empire‘s reputation as the strongest film in the saga only grows, with Hamill himself agreeing. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2019, Hamill outlined exactly why Empire is his favorite Star Wars movie: “…because it was so unexpected to have the protagonist be so soundly defeated. Losing the hand and the dad Vader, all of it was pretty unexpected.”

Hamill’s reasoning is sound, as The Empire Strikes Back‘s twists and turns are exactly what make it so fantastic to this day. Nonetheless, I cannot help but wonder about these comments in conjunction with Hamill’s opinion about Star Wars: The Last Jedi; It’s safe to say the iconic Star Wars actor has confused me.

Mark Hamill Has Been Open About His Opinion Of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The Actor Did Not Disagree With Some Choices Made In Episode VIII

Since 2017 and the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a big discussion point in the fandom is whether Mark Hamill hates the movie. Of course, Hamill remains a consummate professional and has always insisted that creative differences are normal in storytelling. More recently, Hamill spoke about creating a motivation for Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi.

During this interview, Hamill reiterated that he never disliked writer-director Rian Johnson and was sad that his comments about The Last Jedi had convinced people otherwise. With all that in mind, it is worth exploring exactly what Hamill has stated about The Last Jedi over the years. The crux of this entire discussion came shortly after The Last Jedi‘s release.

In an interview with Comicbook.com, Hamill stated that he fundamentally disagreed with the depiction of Luke as a bitter old man who had come to the decision that the Jedi needed to end. Hamill insisted, “That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that,” dubbing this version of the character as Jake Skywalker as a result.

Despite later voicing his regret over revealing these creative differences to the world, Hamill has doubled down on that view over the years. The aforementioned interview involving Hamill’s own motivation for Luke in The Last Jedi explains as much, with the actor believing the film did not justify the former Jedi Master’s drastic actions.

Hamill’s Comments About Both Star Wars Films Have Me Confused

Hamill’s Opinions Seemingly Clash

When taking into account Hamill’s comments about both The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi, it is clear how he feels about each. However, I cannot deny that this has caused some confusion for me. The primary reason for this is that Hamill dislikes The Last Jedi for the exact same reasons he praises The Empire Strikes Back.

Hamill loves the latter film for its unexpected final act, in which Vader is revealed as Anakin Skywalker, cuts off Luke’s hand, and leaves the hero of Star Wars broken and defeated. The unexpected nature of this is exactly what Hamill cites as his reasoning for why Empire works so well, yet it is precisely why he dislikes The Last Jedi.

If Star Wars: The Last Jedi can be described as anything, it is unexpected. The film tried to subvert expectations of what a Star Wars movie was, including making Luke a disillusioned old man who simply wants to die alone on an island in the middle of nowhere. Luke’s reason for this was the downfall of Kylo Ren.

When Ben Solo fell to the dark side, Luke Skywalker was soundly defeated, in both body and spirit, causing his exile to Ahch-To. This raises the question, then, is this all that different from the final moments of The Empire Strikes Back? Both movies see Luke suffering a major, unexpected defeat, yet one is praised while the other is not.

The Last Jedi’s Luke Story Has One Key Difference From Empire, But It’s Why The Film Works So Well

If I were to raise one key difference between Luke’s respective defeats in The Last Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back, it would be that the former was a choice. After failing to save Ben Solo and the other Jedi students in his temple, Luke chose to disappear and fall victim to his human instincts.

Luke believed he was nothing more than a legend that could not live up to his reputation. In The Empire Strikes Back, though, Luke’s defeat was forced upon him by Vader. This could explain why Hamill likes one film while the other does not resonate with him, but I think this difference proves why The Last Jedi works so well.

Yes, Luke chose to give up and be defeated, which Hamill disagreed with. That said, what makes The Last Jedi so impactful is that Luke admits he was wrong. In the film’s ending, he strides out to meet the First Order to buy time for the Resistance to escape, leaning into his legendary status to reignite the spark of rebellion that leads to the galaxy’s eventual freedom.

Just like Luke chose to give up, he subsequently chose to go against that and fight for what is right. This arguably makes The Last Jedi‘s Luke an even stronger character than Empire‘s Luke, as the former had to pick himself up from a dark choice he made, as opposed to facing what was thrown at him by evil forces.

All of this sums up why I am confused by Hamill’s choices. I, personally, see the similarities in The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi, which Hamill sums up. Nonetheless, the actor remains steadfast in his opinions about the Star Wars movies, despite them offering more thematic likenesses with one another than first thought.