You say you want something, then you get it and you’re still unhappy.
With Star Wars: Episode IX officially wrapping principal photography, I wanted to take a look at one of the most confusing parts of the space opera’s cultural phenomenon: The fans.
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens released in 2015, it received a rather warm reception with the exception of a vocal minority that said the film was too similar to the storylines of the original trilogy, specifically, A New Hope. That minority has a point. Lonely force-sensitive protagonist from a sand planet is whisked away on an intergalactic adventure that results in the explosion of a planet-sized (instead of moon-sized) space station. Primary antagonist is a Skywalker (Kylo Ren and Vader) but is a subordinate of a more powerful figure (Snoke and Sidious) whom we only see via hologram. There’s a cantina scene. A droid carries extremely valuable information to the protagonist on the sand planet. The First Order is the Empire and the Resistance is the Rebellion.
You get the idea…
So, the pressure was on Rian Johnson to create something brand new and something that deviated from the Star Wars formula. He had to make a film that was unpredictable. He did (for the most part) and people were PISSED.
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens released in 2015, it received a rather warm reception with the exception of a vocal minority that said the film was too similar to the storylines of the original trilogy, specifically, A New Hope. That minority has a point. Lonely force-sensitive protagonist from a sand planet is whisked away on an intergalactic adventure that results in the explosion of a planet-sized (instead of moon-sized) space station. Primary antagonist is a Skywalker (Kylo Ren and Vader) but is a subordinate of a more powerful figure (Snoke and Sidious) whom we only see via hologram. There’s a cantina scene. A droid carries extremely valuable information to the protagonist on the sand planet. The First Order is the Empire and the Resistance is the Rebellion.
You get the idea…
So, the pressure was on Rian Johnson to create something brand new and something that deviated from the Star Wars formula. He had to make a film that was unpredictable. He did (for the most part) and people were PISSED.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a good film. It’s a little too long, but I enjoyed it more than The Force Awakens. The Last Jedi suffered from a fervent fan base projecting their assumptions and fan theories on a film created by other human beings. Other than Finn and Rose’s subplot on Canto Bight, Rian Johnson crafted a good-to-great movie. Did it deserve its 85 Metacritic rating? No, but The Force Awakens didn’t deserve its 81 Metacritic rating either. They both got the Star Wars bump.
Fans calling The Last Jedi a bad movie because it didn’t follow through on their expectations are in for a lot of disappointment in the future. You should not judge a movie through the lens of what you want to see because that is unfair to the filmmakers and you will never truly be satisfied. You could make arguments about how a different choice may have made more sense but execution determines whether something is better or not. People had a problem with how Luke Skywalker tossed his lightsaber over his shoulder and the fact that he considered killing his nephew because he saw that Snoke was corrupting him and drawing him to the Dark Side. They said Luke would never do that because of his previous heroics. If you endured an intergalactic war thirty years ago that saw the deaths of millions of people (remember Alderaan?), wouldn’t you consider stopping another one if you could?
Now, there were some legitimate criticisms. Some believed that Snoke was an underdeveloped villain and his death did not carry a lot of weight. However, Darth Sidious was not a fully fleshed-out character if you only look at the original trilogy. He was just Darth Vader’s boss. Then there was the animal cruelty and child labor section of the film on Canto Bight that felt incredibly heavy-handed and out of place.
Fans calling The Last Jedi a bad movie because it didn’t follow through on their expectations are in for a lot of disappointment in the future. You should not judge a movie through the lens of what you want to see because that is unfair to the filmmakers and you will never truly be satisfied. You could make arguments about how a different choice may have made more sense but execution determines whether something is better or not. People had a problem with how Luke Skywalker tossed his lightsaber over his shoulder and the fact that he considered killing his nephew because he saw that Snoke was corrupting him and drawing him to the Dark Side. They said Luke would never do that because of his previous heroics. If you endured an intergalactic war thirty years ago that saw the deaths of millions of people (remember Alderaan?), wouldn’t you consider stopping another one if you could?
Now, there were some legitimate criticisms. Some believed that Snoke was an underdeveloped villain and his death did not carry a lot of weight. However, Darth Sidious was not a fully fleshed-out character if you only look at the original trilogy. He was just Darth Vader’s boss. Then there was the animal cruelty and child labor section of the film on Canto Bight that felt incredibly heavy-handed and out of place.
On the other hand, Benicio Del Toro’s hacker character, DJ, provided a nice perspective to the film when he showed Finn and Rose that the rich folks on Canto Bight sold weapons to both the First Order and the Resistance. Rian Johnson missed a huge opportunity though with Kylo Ren and Rey. Why didn’t he let them join forces?
I’m not saying he made the wrong decision or that I like the movie less because then I’d be contradicting what I said above. But in a series that has been so black and white (or Light and Dark), you have the chance to create something brand new if you have your protagonist and antagonist join forces. Kylo Ren says it to Rey in The Last Jedi:
"The Empire, your parents, the Resistance, the Sith, the Jedi... let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be.”
Let it die. Let the old Star Wars go. In order for Star Wars to continue, it has to reinvent itself, but it seems that the producers and filmmakers in charge are too afraid to follow Kylo Ren’s advice.
I’m not saying he made the wrong decision or that I like the movie less because then I’d be contradicting what I said above. But in a series that has been so black and white (or Light and Dark), you have the chance to create something brand new if you have your protagonist and antagonist join forces. Kylo Ren says it to Rey in The Last Jedi:
"The Empire, your parents, the Resistance, the Sith, the Jedi... let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be.”
Let it die. Let the old Star Wars go. In order for Star Wars to continue, it has to reinvent itself, but it seems that the producers and filmmakers in charge are too afraid to follow Kylo Ren’s advice.