If just six years ago you would have told me that the main Star Wars saga would go under Disney’s equivelant of a flaming, radioactive dumpster period, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here we are, in all of it’s “glory”. Directed by Rian Johnson, the 8th installment of the franchise came out in 2018. While I have since praised Johnson for his work on Looper and Knived Out, I still consider The Last Jedi to be a total disgrace against the entire essence of cinema.
Honestly, The Last Jedi was so bad I completely gave up on The Rise of Skywalker. Didn’t watch it, don’t plan to. Already know what happenes anyway, who dies, who lives, all that jizz. Top that with a string of mediocre to bad reviews, plus the fact that R2 and Chewies actors ( Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew ) have both been replaced, there’s realls nothing driving me to watch the TROS.
Sure, The Last Jedi had a great soundtrack, which is just about the only aspect of the franchise I could trust ( thanks John Williams ), but ultimatley, if I wnated to listen to a good score, I’d just listen to the score. A score is meant to enhance a film, not be the only good thing about it.
Kylo Ren
I’m sure I might make a few enemies for this, but I for one was never impressed by Driver’s portrayal of Kylo Ren – in the SLIGHTEST. Lot’s of people think he’s carryinh the entire saga on his back, as the conflicted rebellious teen – NO. I think Kylo’s a whiny, manchild who’s pulling his best Darth Vader impression. The only thing I even remotely liked about Ren, was his crossblade – that’s it.
Then Johnson decided to pull the whole Ben Swolo thing. I don’t even know how to comment on it.
Luke Skywalker
Honestly, this one pains me. TFA actually did a really good job at hyping up the fanbasefor Luke’s return. Which ends with a five second cameo to leave everything on a cliffhanger.
The truth is, Mark Hamill knew Luke would never have acted like this. He tries to kill his nephew from being tempted by the darkside. Mind you this is the same optimistic young lad who managed to redeem Darth Vader in his final moments. Even after everything he’d done.
Rey
Rose Tico
I’m not going to bore you with a long rant you’ve seen a long rant you’ve probably seen a dozen times on a thousand different blogs and reddit posts. Kelly Marie Tran’s portrayal of Rose Tico was bad. She constantly got on my nerves and even though I’m sure it had more to do with Johnson’s creative choices – I have no desire to see her in anything else.
Finn’s Wasted Potential
Lack of George Lucas
For me, Star Wars really only worked because of George Lucas. He always had a distinct, clear vision of how Star Wars should be. From the worldbuilding, moral themes, characters, politics – you name it, he knew it. Sure the prequel trilogy wasn’t flawless, though I’ve always been a fan of them. They had some areas that could have been tweaked here and there, but at the very least they felt like Star Wars films, and that’s the core reason why everything else failed.
Lucas also was in the midst of writing his own Sequel trilogy. He offered to guide Disney through the new trilogy. They told him they’d follow his plan. Instead of doing that, they through out everything he said out the window, just to have a slight publicity boost where people that George was involved with the trilogy. He was not! Sure he was on set a few times, but he was not involved.
As far as I’m aware the only thing he got to do, was tell Ron Howard that Solo wouldn’t bother hanging his jacket or something. Bottom line is, Lucas knew what he was doing. He had a unique vision that nobody could replicate. Abrams, Johnson, Edwards and Howard, while each have certain good traits to them, none of them could replace Lucas.
Now imagine if someone made a sequel to a David Lynch film. You know why David Lynch works? Because he’d David Lynch! Aka one of the most unique visionaries in cinematic history! It only works if he’s the man in charge! Now apply the same logic to Lucas.
PS, fun fact: David Lynch actually rejected the opportunity to direct Return of the Jedi. Would’ve been weird, but I can see his style working at certain moments.
-The Screenwriter