Home Entertainment I really hate being a Star Wars fan right now

I really hate being a Star Wars fan right now

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE LAST JEDI!

I’ve been a Star Wars geek since I accidentally discovered the magic of George Lucas’ sci-fi wonderland back in 1986. This week, for the first time since the moment that video store clerk erroneously put the VHS tape of A New Hope into the cover of Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo (and no, I’m not making this up) and blew the mind of 5-year old me, I’ve been ashamed to be part of this fandom.

I really enjoyed The Last Jedi, the latest chapter in the Star Wars saga that follows on from 2015’s The Force Awakens, but there are others who didn’t. And that’s perfectly okay. Something that gets a positive emotional reaction out of one person can outright fail to do the same in another – that’s how art works. It’s also not as if The Last Jedi is above critical reproach, as there are definite missteps in the film’s plotting and scripting. The entire sequence with Finn and Rose on Canto Bight is a clumsily handled, unnecessary detour that is just there to keep the characters busy instead of actually adding significantly to the story. So too certain aspects of The Resistance’s long chase is extremely silly – If Admiral Holdo had actually just told the rest of her crew what her plan was instead of keeping everything secret for no logical reason, Poe would never have felt the need to take matters into his own hands and thus wouldn’t have resulted in him, Finn and Rose inadvertently ruining what was actually a sensible tactic and costing the Resistance hundreds of lives. AND WHO THE POODOO MADE THE MAP TO LUKE SKYWALKER’S SECRET ISLAND GETAWAY AND WHY BECAUSE HE CLEARLY DIDN’T WANT TO BE FOUND?! (As has been pointed out by Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo to the same queries, the map is not to Luke but to the first Jedi temple, which Luke had been in search of and which Lor San Tekka had also been researching)

These and more are the types of mistakes that writer-director Rian Johnson made which deserves to be picked apart so that they don’t get made again. However, alongside all these very valid complaints, there arose a chorus of others that are utterly ridiculous. The biggest of these are accusations that The Last Jedi breaks the way the Force works. Correction: It breaks how these people think this universe and its characters work, and according to them their way is the only way, the unbreakable law, and if the people who actually created these stories deviated slightly it was heresy (because apparently I hallucinated how George Lucas kept introducing new Force powers and new understanding of it all the time in the Original Trilogy).

So Leia finally showing off Force powers and pulling herself out of a vacuum in space and sure death? Heresy. Rey being a badass fighter all on her own without ever receiving any formal training? Heresy. Snoke managing to connect Rey and Kylo Ren via the Force? Heresy. The heroic Luke Skywalker having been tempted to kill Kylo Ren and thus turning his back on the galaxy to become a bitter old man? Heresy. Rey turning out to be a complete nobody who just has a really strong connection to the Force instead of being yet another fated Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter or even a clone of Emperor Palpatine? Heresy of the highest order!

It also didn’t help that The Last Jedi took the conventions of how Star Wars movies had previously been structured, and burned them all down, to paraphrase Luke himself, to keep things surprising and fresh. Here, the difference between Light and Dark was blurred, villains remained unredeemed, the tone was completely different to anything that has come before. Heck, even the signature “I have a bad feeling about this” line is hard to find (It’s actually the droid BB-8 that says it, but we just don’t understand him). And because of committing all these heinous acts and more, Johnson is apparently the worst thing to happen to Star Wars since the Christmas Special and Jar-Jar Binks. At least that’s according to these Star Wars “fans” who promptly began harassing Johnson on Twitter. Some of this harassment is inane (like hating on him and the movie for having “too many close-ups”), but a large portion of it is toxic as hell, with Johnson even getting violent threats. Yes, people want to physically hurt him for making a movie about laser swords.

Then there is what’s happening over on RottenTomatoes. The review aggregator currently has The Last Jedi sitting on 93%, which is exactly where you expect it to be after a flood of praise from critics. However, the film’s user review score is a whole other ballgame, currently sitting on 55%, the lowest any Star Wars movie has ever received. Not even Attack of the Clones with its Hayden Christensen speeches about sand sunk to those depths. How The Last Jedi’s user score got that low is another point of controversy as there have been claims (seemingly backed up by some evidence) that certain “fans” are deliberately tanking the score by using fake profiles/reviews and even automated bots.

What’s worse is that several of these “fan reviews”, real or not, including several on other platforms like Reddit and Youtube, seem to be more offended by the film’s inclusive politics than any filmmaking foibles. The term “SJW” is thrown around a lot, unfortunately right alongside several incredibly sexist and racist slurs, as these “fans” take issue with how Star Wars is apparently being ruined by modern social diversity movements. It appears that a universe as large and immensely creative as Star Wars is only allowed to be saved by white dudes.

Oh and in a it-would-be-laughable-if-I-wasn’t-so-angry-about-it twist, a petition has even sprung up demanding Disney scrap The Last Jedi from the official canon and remake the film entirely. Think about that for a second. Online petitions are already about as effective as a lightsaber made out of toothpaste, and yet somebody was so incensed, so blind with rage, that they thought it completely logical to demand a studio take a movie that’s the middle chapter of a set trilogy and which cost them upwards of $200 million to make – and which has also already earned just under $500 million back – and throw it on the trash heap just so that they could do it all over again. DO YOU GUYS HEAR HOW CRAZY YOU SOUND?

Criticism of something is a very healthy process. We can never improve if we don’t know what we did wrong, but the vilification of Johnson and The Last Jedi has long since gone past criticism. The ever composed filmmaker has taken all this slobbering fan rage in stride though, and even offered a very restrained response to the backlash recently via Business Insider:

Having been a “Star Wars” fan my whole life, and having spent most of my life on the other side of the curb and in that fandom, it softens the blow a little bit.

I’m aware through my own experience that, first of all, the fans are so passionate, they care so deeply — sometimes they care very violently at me on Twitter. But it’s because they care about these things, and it hurts when you’re expecting something specific and you don’t get it from something that you love. It always hurts, so I don’t take it personally if a fan reacts negatively and lashes out on me on Twitter. That’s fine. It’s my job to be there for that. Like you said, every fan has a list of stuff they want a “Star Wars” movie to be and they don’t want a “Star Wars” movie to be. You’re going to find very few fans out there whose lists line up.

And I also know the same way the original movies were personal for Lucas. Lucas never made a “Star Wars” movie by sitting down and thinking, “What do the fans want to see?” And I knew if I wrote wondering what the fans would want, as tempting as that is, it wouldn’t work, because people would still be shouting at me, “F— you, you ruined ‘Star Wars,'” and I would make a bad movie. And ultimately, that’s the one thing nobody wants.

And let me just add that 80-90% of the reaction I’ve gotten from Twitter has been really lovely. There’s been a lot of joy and love from fans. When I talk about the negative stuff, that’s not the full picture of the fans at all.

Rian Johnson is clearly a better person than I am because I’ve been angry as hell since this whole debacle kicked off as I’ve had to engage in far too many arguments about this. He is right though, that thanks to the way the internet provides thugs with a loudspeaker, the negativity has been amplified. For those of you who didn’t like the film for concrete reasons and engaged in lucid and reasonable debate as to why, I thank you. You are the real fans. These other idiots are just bitter thugs with sticks.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: December 20, 2017

107 Comments

  1. RinceThis

    December 20, 2017 at 09:44

    I can’t agree more. They are worse than Whovians. I saw one video the other day with some jackass calling Rose a ‘fat Asian Bitch’. Yeah, we’re going to take what you have to say seriously man. Sad loser of a human being.

    Reply

    • Tracy Benson

      December 20, 2017 at 10:03

      Hashtag Not All Whovians! 😛

      Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      December 20, 2017 at 10:39

      Every fan-base has these people, who believe they are somehow entitled to dictate what needs to happen.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        December 20, 2017 at 10:40

        Yeah but being so blatantly fucking mean to a person based on their looks and heratige? That’s fucked up.

        Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          December 20, 2017 at 10:51

          Entitlement. Everyone feels they are the most important person on the road an no-one else matters. Just look on the roads, no respect for anyone else, but as soon as they need something everyone should stop what they were doing

          Reply

    • Phaezen

      December 20, 2017 at 14:21

      Wait people don’t like Kelly Marie Tran? The photos and videos of her at the red carpet for the premier are the purest thing ever.

      Reply

    • Bradford Gauthier

      December 20, 2017 at 21:04

      No… She was just a completely useless addition to the Star Wars universe that served no real plot purpose except to interject glib dialoge and waste a half hour of the movie.

      Reply

  2. Tracy Benson

    December 20, 2017 at 10:10

    Well said Kervyn. This toxic hatred is peak idiocy. Just remember, creators owe you NOTHING. Not a SINGLE, FRIGGIN’ THING. Take your entitlement and shove it up your Sarlacc

    Reply

    • Magu

      December 20, 2017 at 10:47

      Yeah you tell ’em T!

      Reply

    • Chepelev Anton

      December 20, 2017 at 13:09

      They owe me money for a ticket for starters.

      Reply

      • Fairgame Conquer

        December 20, 2017 at 21:42

        You must have forgotten what Lucas had to go through. You never bring him up? I wonder why..

        Reply

    • Bradford Gauthier

      December 20, 2017 at 21:02

      shove it *DOWN* your Sarlacc. You tried to have an epic remark, but you just displayed in grand fashion your complete ignorance of the franchise lmao

      Reply

      • Tracy Benson

        December 21, 2017 at 09:21

        Cool story bro

        Reply

        • Bradford Gauthier

          December 21, 2017 at 17:32

          You’re the local purveyor of snark masquerading as wit in the office I’m sure.

          Reply

    • Fairgame Conquer

      December 20, 2017 at 21:43

      Is this directed towards George Lucas? 😀 if so it’s 19 years too late.

      Reply

  3. Neji

    December 20, 2017 at 10:17

    Watched the movie this past Sunday. The quick pit stop “Canto Bight” felt like a bit of a filler but it could also be used as a spring board for episode 10.

    Reply

  4. stevethenerd

    December 20, 2017 at 10:29

    Thank you for writing this Kervyn. The entitlement of “fans”. I don’t see any of them writing a proposal to the mouse for a “better” star wars film either.

    Reply

    • Avatar Aang

      December 20, 2017 at 11:05

      See my review above. I think I was pretty fair on the film and did not lash out in anger or hatred against anyone.

      Reply

  5. Caveshen Rajman

    December 20, 2017 at 10:32

    It’s those pesky gamers again whyyyyyyIIIIIouuuughhtaa. *holds up fist*

    Can I just say, the director’s quote: “And let me just add that 80-90% of the reaction I’ve gotten from Twitter has been really lovely. There’s been a lot of joy and love from fans. When I talk about the negative stuff, that’s not the full picture of the fans at all.”

    Fuck man, that’s like 99% of every issue that becomes some big CONTROVERSY online, and I’m so glad this guy has the sensibility to recognise and acknowledge it.

    Kervyn my dude, you can’t have an all-peaceful world where everyone always gets on and agrees (one learns that shit very fast growing up in an Indian community) – while it’s certainly intolerable behaviour that should be called out, we need to always keep this in mind. People will disagree, especially when one tries to do new things with LITERALLY THE MOST BELOVED GEEK FRANCHISES ON EARTH.

    Not that any of it is new, I mean, the Jedi have previously been challenged in non-movie media. For me, some criticisms are, I think, fair. Leia doing what Yondu couldn’t, and Rey going super saiyan just doesn’t flow (for me) with the explanation of “The Force is everywhere.” That too, by the way, has been mentioned many, many times. In fact, that entire section of Luke doing essentially the opposite of Yoda from Empire was fucking PERFECT. Even addressing Rey’s parentage as a nobody was a neat touch that I was happy to have. But that whole “Someone told me about the force and now I can use it” thing is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo blase. It worked in the eighties but I mean, come now.

    I don’t care about Rey’s parentage, I just want to know how someone with no training can fight a trained former Jedi.

    Nonetheless.

    As much as we can all wag our fingers like our parents once did when we were kids, and then feel better about how we ‘dealt’ with those “bad fans” the truth is, just like when we were kids, they don’t care about your finger-wagging. You’re only doing it to feel like you’ve made some difference, right? Well. No, not really. We kinda need to figure out the best way to ignore these people and not give them platforms like these that validate their, let’s call it errant behaviour. Otherwise it’s just gonna kill you faster, man. <3

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      December 20, 2017 at 10:36

      “Leia doing what Yondu couldn’t” HAHA! Yondu was Mary Poppins yo! Not a Jedi! (loved your sentence though!)

      Reply

    • Caveshen Rajman

      December 20, 2017 at 10:48

      FWIW I’m sitting on a more-or-less 7.5/10 after a few days of thinking about it.

      There were things I loved: The handling of Kylo and Rey, Luke in his entirety, FINALLY questioning the Force, that fucking mic-drop moment that you all know what I’m talking about. Rose’s PERFECT line, “I’m trying to save the thing I love, not fight the thing I hate” (or something like that?).

      There were things I didn’t like, also. Can Disney movies literally spend five minutes without making a joke? Aforementioned Leia flying through space. Snoak and Phasma being essentially wasted as characters (again). The Resistance arc that was literally a snail-pace stroll through a small stretch of space, like what actually happened in any of this film away from Rey’s pilgrimage?

      I will take this to my fucking grave: Kylo Ren is the best thing about this new trilogy.

      Reply

      • Neji

        December 20, 2017 at 10:54

        Kylo Ren is the best thing about this new trilogy.” – you get my +1 for that. Vader from the movies came across as an asthmatic corner decoration. At the end of “rogue one” you see that he does more than just breathe.

        Kylo… in the first movie already shows that he has power and knows how to use it. Him been the office destroyer… just highlights he’s character’s development.

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        December 20, 2017 at 10:55

        What you said about Kylo!

        Reply

      • Kervyn Cloete

        December 20, 2017 at 11:03

        FWIW, I agree wholeheartedly about Kylo. He has become my favourite Star Wars villain.

        Reply

      • Anomandaris

        December 20, 2017 at 13:38

        Snoke wasnt wasted. At all. Snoke was never more than a stepping stone for Ren to become his true self. Snoke was in TRA for 30 seconds.

        How can a character with almost no screen time be wasted. It was the fans that made Snoke into something he never was and was never going to be.

        Plasma? A mid level ST with cool armor. Woop de do. Who cares about that character outside of 40 year old neckbeards wearing Han Solo pyjamas?

        I felt that to much attention was given to a nothing character whose only relevance was chrome armor.

        And yes, I agree. Kylie Ten is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. Ever.

        Reply

        • Caveshen Rajman

          December 20, 2017 at 13:58

          Phasma was Ghostbusters-reboot-levels of hype prior to TFA, so it’s a shame to see she had just as much of a shitty end (end?) as Boba Fett. As for Snoak, I’m not interested in fan theories, but I do want to know how the Sith survived after Return of the Jedi. That’s what I mean by Snoak being “wasted” in that sense. It’s one of many “Let’s not think about this too much” moments in the movie.

          Reply

      • Bradford Gauthier

        December 20, 2017 at 21:07

        Rose’ line is THE WORST line of the movie. It completely undercuts the idea of self-sacrifice which is at the heart of the Jedi ethos. If not for Luke’s astral projection, she would have thwarted Finn from stopping the laser, thereby killing all of her compatriots and losing the entire remaining rebellion forces, right before the First Order lit her and Finn up in a final barrage. That was literally the absolute worst part of the movie, on a very long list of “worst moment” candidates.

        Reply

        • Caveshen Rajman

          December 21, 2017 at 00:26

          “It completely undercuts the idea of self-sacrifice which is at the heart of the Jedi ethos.”

          Exactly why it works.

          Reply

          • Bradford Gauthier

            December 22, 2017 at 06:39

            Wow, you have absolutely zero understanding of the warrior ethos. I’m not putting something out there that’s controversial bro, word on the street is pretty much every die-hard Star Wars fan hates this movie. And this is one of the key tenets of why it is reviled.

    • Kervyn Cloete

      December 20, 2017 at 11:05

      I will never ask for everybody get along with one homogenous hive-mind. Criticism always needs to happen. It’s the extremity of this “criticism” that riles me up. Is ranting about this vocal minority effective? I will concede it may not be, but unfortunately, I’m just not the type of person who can stand idly by and watch a few tarnish the image of so many others merely because they shout and bang their sticks louder.

      Reply

      • Caveshen Rajman

        December 20, 2017 at 12:33

        Think about it like this. You only hear about these people when reading about them on news sites, or on social media where people are sharing what they’re saying in disgust. Ultimately we give them the attention we don’t want them to get. And hey man, I’m 100% with you, it’s a damn movie. There are bigger issues in the world than how a fictional character feels about magic atoms (or for that matter, the fictional character’s gender/race). But that’s exactly it: there are bigger issues in the world than how people feel about a fictional character’s feelings about magic atoms.

        To me it’s a bit like standing at the beach and trying to stop a wave from hitting you, because you are so surprised that each and every time, despite all your efforts, the wave happens. But I digress. The point remains that I’m 100% with you in that it’s a damn movie, and if you can’t deal with changes to a movie (like for example SJ playing Major Nova in GitS lolololol) then you have to learn to hashtag deal with it, not take out your anger on its creators.

        Reply

      • For the Emperor!

        December 20, 2017 at 12:40

        “Is ranting about this vocal minority effective?” – hehe, by ranting you are also a vocal minority, in that most people just ignore them 😉

        PS I get where you are coming from regarding this. One thing to criticize, but the toxicity of these people is just too much!

        Reply

    • Anomandaris

      December 20, 2017 at 13:30

      Luke had next to no training when he fought Vader. Throughout the OT Luke was barely trained at all. He spent what, a month on Dagobah and all of a sudden he’s a Jedi Master? Puhleeze.

      Also the whole argument about Rey being a Mary sue and how it doesn’t make sense that she is so powerful is beyond ridiculous.

      Who the hell was Anakin Skywalker? A complete and total nobody. Just like Rey.

      Also, there has been this tiny little concept running throughout the Star Wars movies. Maybe you’ve heard of it, they’ve only mentioned it about 35 000 times. It’s called BALANCE.

      The force needs balance. Snoke (and others) have repeatedly said that when one side rises the other side will rise to match it. Its literally how the Force has worked in the entire history of Star Wars.

      Ren is extremely powerful in the Force. Thus FOR BALANCE TO BE ACHIEVED THE LIGHT SIDE MUST RISE TO EQUAL THE DARK.

      THIS is pretty much the underlying theme of the entire damn Universe.

      I seriously have to ask if people that are whining have even seen the damn movies.

      The criticism of the most basic and fundamental tenets of the Force highlights how completely retarded all of this is.

      The Force Awakens was called a rip off of New Hope by this same legion of idiots. So they advance the Universe and now the same pack of fools are going all Comic Book Guy whining that “they didn’t stick to established concepts.”

      Want to bet that these same walking piles of Bantha crap would be screeching “it’s a rip off of Empire” if they made the movie like these fools claim it should have been made.

      My opinion: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Going by every metric besides the ridiculous RT. This movie is an absolute beauty.

      Anecdotally, the theater I was in erupted in cheers at least 1/2 dozen times. And had many moments of gasps and oh no’s. I haven’t walked out of a theater with a crowd that energized(the crowd, not talking about me) since Avengers in ’12.

      In summary: the movie was simply amazing. Not perfect but a beautiful entry into the SW universe.

      The only ones who didn’t seem to like it are the losers who have SW’s bedsheets at 40 years old and are such complete morons that they’ve been arguing about who shot first for 20 years. Basically the loser portion of the fan base who somehow believe that they are owed something.

      You aren’t. Sit down and shut up and realize that the Universe is being created for the next gen of fans.

      Reply

      • Caveshen Rajman

        December 20, 2017 at 14:06

        It’s feels a bit like you’re taking out your frustrations at the internet but aiming it at my comment, so I’mma let you rant and hopefully you feel better.

        But to address this: “Also the whole argument about Rey being a Mary sue”

        Just in case you thought that’s what I meant: It wasn’t. Please don’t think I was.

        What I was trying to say about inconsistencies with “who gets to be a Jedi” was that unlike Luke who had a year between Empire and Return before he became *confident* in his abilities (he was useless in Empire), and Anakin who was vetted by the most badass Jedi in history, Rey just kinda tripped and fell into the Force and I’m not buying it ***in the context of the lore the movie is trying to set up*** and believe me, if they said “Force-users are exclusively orphans” I would eat that shit up and not worry about the taste, I promise. I just want it to flow logically in the context of the film instead of the whole “Just go with it” thing.

        Reply

      • For the Emperor!

        December 20, 2017 at 14:16

        “Who the hell was Anakin Skywalker? A complete and total nobody.” Immaculate Force conception, prophesied to bring balance. Not a “nobody”. PS – I have no issue with Rey being a “nobody”, but people in these comments seem to hammer that Anakin was as well, when it is established he was basically the “messiah”

        Reply

        • Caveshen Rajman

          December 20, 2017 at 14:33

          He was Liam Neeson’s messiah, at that. I mean come on now, he was basically Batman.

          Reply

  6. Magu

    December 20, 2017 at 10:37

    You don’t like being a Star Wars fan? Trust me it’s a lot worse not being one. >.> https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b9598887c0917412b0af01bfbf3e18333ab6e70734aa4c26d49c025d60a51db.gif

    Reply

  7. Tom Hocknell

    December 20, 2017 at 10:45

  8. Smuroh

    December 20, 2017 at 10:48

    “Rey turning out to be a complete nobody who just has a really strong
    connection to the Force instead of being yet another fated Skywalker or
    Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter or even a clone of Emperor Palpatine?
    Heresy of the highest order!”

    You know what cracks me up when i hear people complain about that aspect of the story, they seem to forget that Anakin Skywalker was a nobody too that just had a strong connection to the Force.

    The other thing that cracks me up is that everyone complains about the “hyperspace tracking” buuut if they actually paid attention in Rouge One they actually spoke about the tracking in that movie, but nooo its cool to complain so that’s what everyone is going to do.

    Reply

    • Avatar Aang

      December 20, 2017 at 11:04

      Anakin was not a nobody… he was the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy who they believed would bring balance to the Force (and he did). He was also born of a Virgin Mary with no father. Do you know your Star Wars history or are you just a casual viewer?

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        December 20, 2017 at 11:35

        But they chose wrong. Didn’t they…

        Reply

      • Kervyn Cloete

        December 20, 2017 at 11:35

        Luke was a nobody. We only discovered Anakin’s immaculate conception later. Luke was just a lowly farm boy who happened to be a good pilot before he discovered he could tap into the Force.

        By having this VAST universe just revolve around a single family you are limiting it immensely. There have been Force users in the canon that did waaaaaay more powerful things than the Chosen One Anakan or his Skywalker line ever did. So why can’t Rey be one of them.

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          December 20, 2017 at 11:36

          STOP making sense!

          Reply

        • Ryguy

          December 20, 2017 at 12:30

          I see many of you overlooking the fact that this is the Skywalker saga. In that sense, none of them really are “nobody” to start with.
          For example, we (the audience) already knew who boy Anakin was thanks to the OT so we didn’t walk into the theater wondering “who is this kid? Remember those promotional posters with the boy’s shadow being Vader?
          No one ever claimed that the “VAST” universe revolves around the Skywalkers but this saga does however. So many of the plot choices feel unsatisfying.

          About Rey. Knowing what we do now about the Star Wars universe it makes little sense for her to be this powerful with the revelation that she had parents and they were nobody. Additionally, since this was the case, the movie makes no point to slightly explain how this can be unlike episode 1.

          Reply

        • For the Emperor!

          December 20, 2017 at 12:36

          The original movies were a Skywalker “days of our lives thing”, but they did mention with the new trilogy that the Skywalker saga is ending or has ended. The universe is not about them, but the movies were. In future though, we will only hear of them in whispers.

          And: “The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke’s name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars”

          Reply

        • Smuroh

          December 20, 2017 at 12:40

          I agree with you 100%, for me Star Wars is not just about the Skywalker family its about the whole universe and the story as a whole.

          But its all about personal opinion and how a person looks at it, no one is really right or wrong in this, but i wont like the debate going on here is epic and i am loving what everyone has to say, plus its not toxic its really nice to read.

          Reply

        • For the Emperor!

          December 20, 2017 at 12:58

          PS Luke was not a nobody. He was the son of a Jedi who was one of the best pilots ever, and he had Obi Wan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7hzDzxmWvY

          Reply

          • ExarKun777

            July 4, 2018 at 01:03

            Exactly! I’m still surprised of how many people who liked TLJ defends it by trying to trash the OT.

      • Smuroh

        December 20, 2017 at 12:48

        I love the Star Wars story and the universe that surrounds it, for me if i look at it Anakin was a nobody he was pretty much a slave and really good at pod racing who happened to be discovered by chance which set his whole future into motion. I guess we see him as something because we know what he becomes and what he does and maybe that’s why everyone says Rey is a nobody because we have no clue what she will become and that makes it really exciting.

        If we had started the saga off at episode one then we would never have known what Anakin would become or who he was and he would have just been seen as a child in slavery with a really strong connection to the force, I guess that’s the way i am looking at it and not because i don’t know the history, just looking at it from a wider angle.

        Reply

        • For the Emperor!

          December 20, 2017 at 12:52

          Difference in people’s minds, I think, also comes from the fact that there was a Jedi Master and Apprentice and they flat out told us how special Anakin was. So even those who never saw the original trilogy knew he was special and why (midi-somethings). I think, in that context, it is easy to accept that Rey can be strong in the force, but it is difficult to know just why she can “force so good with no training”. But I like her, just would have hoped the story of the parents (even if they are nobody) was better executed.

          Reply

  9. Avatar Aang

    December 20, 2017 at 11:00

    After the “A New Hope” reboot I kept my expectations very low and quite enjoyed this movie. However, I am also perfectly aware of the fact that it is not Star Wars. It seems like people are just starting to catch on to what I had already gathered back in December of 2015.

    The Star Wars saga is entrenched in 40 years of history with the Skywalker/Han Solo/Kenobi story threads and characters becoming icons that are larger than the films themselves. Disney has chosen to carelessly rip apart this pertinent history because they want to make more money and thus not pay royalties to the canon of the series, and their own personal beef with Mr. George Lucas.

    Listen, in the original film trilogy, Luke Skywalker was the ONLY one who still had faith that Darth Vader could be saved and lost an arm and nearly his own life in the process; everyone else, including Leia and Ben Kenobi wanted to destroy him. Now, Disney wants us to believe that the character of Luke Skywalker has come 180 degrees to kill his nephew and student because he had sensed darkness within him? Secondly, Luke is made to be weak throughout the movie both in mind, body, and physical capabilities and we know the icon of Luke is far from that.

    The reason people cared so much about Rey being somebody is quite simply the hype surrounding her character in TFA. How was she able to learn the force so quickly as just another nobody? This is poor storytelling in itself. The entire TFA movie centered around the question of who Rey is and where she came from, and why she was so strong without any knowledge and training of the force. This has nothing to do with fanboys wanting Rey to be a Skywalker, Kenobi, or Solo, but rather the fact that too much importance was placed on her being a somebody, and her connection to Kylo Ren and the Force.

    It was also pointless to kill off so many of the main characters prematurely – Han Solo, Phasma, Luke Skywalker, Snoke, and Leia (she will be written off). Where does the story go from here? People are not as vested in the interests and character development of Rose, Kylo Ren, Rey, Poe, and Finn. These new characters come nowhere near the iconic range reached by the likes of Han Solo, Lando, Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia Organa, etc.

    Snoke was built up to a great extent in TFA and was prematurely killed off. I, personally, was happy to see him go as most people hated him as much as they hated Jar Jar Binks, but this is poor storytelling. Mr. Rian Johnson had no clue what he was doing in establishing a real and competent villain to give our heroes a foe worthy of fighting against.

    The Jedi/Sith lore was completely tarnished in this movie. The rebel forces became the focus, but Star Wars has always been about the Jedi Knights and Sith lore and the balance between darkness and light. This is the fundamental foundation of what Star Wars has and will always be. Disney could still make a great movie and boatloads of money by adhering to simple principles within Star Wars lore, and not trying to take it apart piece by piece in the name of creativity and freedom.

    Lastly, Mr. Rian Johnson has defended his choice of slapstick humour in this film stating that the original trilogy contained humour between the likes of Leia, Han, and Luke. Did Disney put him up to this telling him to infuse the movie with slapstick humour along the lines of their Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yes, the original trilogy most definitely had humour but that was primarily centered around Han Solo and interactions with his friends and supporting characters. The scenes with the Empire and Darth Vader were always made to be dark and serious. In this movie, however, General Hux and the First Order are made out to look like jokers and incompetent fools until the very end. Humour was infused in scenes that should have been dark and emotionally investing for the audience. I loved Mr. Rian Johnson’s Looper and am mind-boggled as to how he could mess this one up so badly. In fact, his Looper has no humour and was much darker than the Last Jedi movie. It would seem that Mr. Rian Johnson really did not understand Star Wars at all.

    That is why this movie has divided critics and audiences so much. As a stand-alone movie, it is fine and I enjoyed it very much. As I was leaving the screening and thinking about the movie, however, I realized that there was really no plot, pointless humour which is unusual for Star Wars and that this was not really a Star Wars film. But, I enjoyed it nevertheless because I knew as much after the hack reboot that was TFA.

    You don’t have to be a die-hard Star Wars fan to criticize poor storytelling. Which is really what this movie was. It rode off the legacy of Luke Skywalker to get people to buy tickets but the movie itself is empty and does not advance in plot or character development (with the exception of Kylo Ren). All in all, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a fun, forgettable watch but it is not Star Wars and is filled with poor storytelling. Enjoy it as a fun movie and throw out the Star Wars lore and legacy from your minds or you will be sorely disappointed.

    P.S. There are over 120,000 audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes with many extensive reviews. I find it rude and inconsiderate to paint a broad stroke of these reviews and individuals as simply trolls, bots, and hardcore fans. People can criticize a movie for poor storytelling and overall disappointment.

    Reply

    • Magu

      December 20, 2017 at 11:03

      • Magu

        December 20, 2017 at 11:07

        Ok I actually did read because I felt bad.

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      December 20, 2017 at 11:19

      Every movie in the franchise has literally rode off the skywalker saga. Time to change things up. Stuff getting stale.

      Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      December 20, 2017 at 11:24

      To address your last point first, nowhere did I say that all negative reviews were trolls or bots. I said that a large amount of them were. It’s that percentage that I take offense to.

      As for some of your other points, the mystery of Snoke and Rey’s parentage was built up by the fans, not The Force Awakens. Nowhere in that movie are these plot points shoved to the forefront. I mean, Snoke appears in hologram form in just one scene and is barely mentioned.

      Fans – and I will include myself in that group – concocted this narrative to try and explain why certain things happened the way they did and then started extrapolating on future possibilities. “The big evil looking hologram guy? He must be the Big Bad of the series and will get explored next.” and when that didn’t happen, in a brilliant plot twist, it caught these fans by surprise because all their speculation has been for naught.

      As for the humour, I mentioned in my review that some of it may be too much. There are scenes where it works wonderfully and suits the moment, and other times where it hasn’t. If you felt the latter more predominantly, that’s fine and your own personal tastes.

      Personally, I’ve enjoyed Star Wars in just about every media format there is, having read countless books and comics and played numerous games, and watched several shows etc. outside of just the movies. Some of these are VERY humurous and others are not. Some focused on the Jedi, some on the Rebels, some even on droids. There were romances and adventures and political thrillers and everything else in between. BUT THEY WERE ALL STILL STAR WARS. There’s no real one way only to tell a Star Wars story. That’s the beauty of this universe.

      (I will respond later to some of your other points, as real life responsibilities beckon for now)

      Reply

      • Avatar Aang

        December 21, 2017 at 11:15

        I wasn’t directly responding to your review when I made my post. It was an amalgamation of everything that I read from reviews and people posting in the comments section.

        Snoke mattered because at the end of ROTJ, balance is restored to the universe and the Empire is soundly defeated. TFA built up Snoke as the character that brought about the First Order, converted Kylo Ren and the other Knights of Ren to the dark side, destroyed the New Republic, AND is a stronger villain than even Darth Vader and Palpatine themselves (stated by Andy Serkis in interviews).

        Ok, sure, I don’t need to know who Snoke is. But, at least can someone tell me how he did all of the above? Six movies established an arc where finally balance was restored in the universe and the Empire was defeated. So, how can audiences invest in this new storyline which seems to be lacking in plot points? Finding out who Snoke is, was one of the ways in which we could have started FILLING IN PLOTHOLES. It’s really that simple. There are plotholes, character inconsistencies, and poor storytelling evident in TLJ. I don’t care who Snoke is, but at least tell me how the First Order came about, and why there is another war when we were left with peace and balance in the ROTJ.

        Actually, Rey’s parentage was most definitely hyped up in TFA. Anakin and Luke’s light saber is calling to her, many characters ask her “who are you with suspense and awe”, as a nobody just beginning to discover the force she was able to defeat a Jedi in training who was of Skywalker/Solo blood, etc. I could care less about Rey’s parentage if they did not make her a Mary Sue and actually explained why the lightsaber called to her and why she was able to use the Force so efficiently with no training the Force Awakens and little training in the Last Jedi.

        Reply

  10. For the Emperor!

    December 20, 2017 at 12:17

    The whole casino scene felt like “busy work” and also a but “out of place and pace”. It broke some of my immersion. It should have been half the time with a lot cut out. Perhaps show their approach, show the guy complaining about their parking, show Finn’s face all amazed and stuff (cutting out what felt like 2 hours of CGI wonderland), Rose tells him who the people are, they get arrested. And cut the chase scene down as well in time to get back to the real action.

    Leia using the force was a cool surprise. She is a Skywalker after all! What I think “grinds” a bit, is that nobody react to it. All it needed was someone saying in their best Keanu impression “whoa” or how ever you spell it, and she commenting “just a little trick I picked up from my brother”.

    Yeah, the whole chase plot…why not tell people? Why not use the smaller ships to light-speed demolish the First Order?

    Loved the way Snoke died (great trick with the sword haha), but not the fact that he died without knowing more. He was built up over 1 and a half movies as this uber bad guy who manhandles Mary Sue as well as Emo boy, with absolutely NO payoff coming from it.

    Rey being nobody could still turn out to be a lie, but that doesn’t bother me. They did mention the Skywalker saga is ending, did they not? So it is fine.

    Luke taking those shots gave me goosebumps! Then you find out it is not him. Bittersweet, but it was still showcasing a different kind of power. Still one of the best scenes EVER in any SW movie, right up there with the first time we see Yoda with a “laser sword” 🙂

    There were some amazing and epic scenes that would make me give most movies a 10/10. But there were also enough that would take the score down. My overall score is a 6/10, maybe 7/10 if I accept I can’t always get my way, and ignore the sudden “love” thing with Rose. Decent enough movie that I enjoyed, but not the type that left me wanting to watch it again ASAP like The Force Awakens and Rogue One and THOR Ragnarok

    Reply

  11. konfab

    December 20, 2017 at 13:42

    I don’t think it is logical to think the Rotten Tomato score is fake.

    Both TFA and Rogue One were both SJW diversity festivals, yet they were still good films and did relatively well on Rotten Tomatoes. Which eliminates that variable.

    I think it is more to do with how it treats the lore. And fans are ruthless about that. You just have to look at Indiana Jones 4. It had one of the “forced diversity” so to speak, yet it was a garbage film because of the plot.

    Also the mix up between the light side and dark side has been explored in the series whilst keeping the lore intact. The best examples of this are KOTOR 1&2. So it isn’t that either.

    Reply

  12. Raptor Rants

    December 20, 2017 at 14:54

    not a single force power was unexpected or not a natural progression of the powers already shown in episodes 4,5,6.

    Not a single character is really out of place or doesn’t belong. People are just hurt that their childhood heroes are gone and a new generation is taking over.

    The movie has its flaws, but being against the nature of Star Wars? Nope. Nit even close.

    This is true Star Wars and it’s amazing. It ignited my original feelings I had when my dad first showed me Star Wars. Amazement, intrigue, a mysteriuos world in which to get lost in.

    It was beautifully scripted and brought to life. In fact it has it all right. Mysterious locations, strange powers, war and the tug of war between good and evil. Something ep 1,2 and 3 were completely lacking.

    One of the best so far.

    Favourite movies for me, in order best to worst.

    7,
    5,
    8,
    4,
    6,
    1,2,3 last and really not great.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      December 21, 2017 at 01:12

      7 was essentially just a remake of 4 which was far superior in almost every facet including the fact that it was original in it’s day. 5 was the WTF! movie in the franchise and 6 was my favourite as it wrapped it up nicely even though it was half of 4 again. I enjoyed 7 and 3 almost equally, bad acting aside in both films but at least Lucas almost redeemed himself with 3… almost.

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        December 21, 2017 at 10:48

        This is what’s so awesome about the series of movies. Everyone has a portion they can enjoy. There is a favorite in there for almost anyone.

        Reply

  13. WhiteRock

    December 20, 2017 at 15:18

    If you don’t like it you can watch Star Trek… 😉

    Reply

  14. Bradford Gauthier

    December 20, 2017 at 20:58

    Usually I never watch spoilers of a movie before going to see it, but the fan blowback of The Last Jedi was so swift and severe that I ended up delving deep into a YouTube hole and watched dozens of spoiler-filled reviews prior to seeing it yesterday evening… It grieves me to say, but the naysayers are right on this film. There are so many reasons be disappointed, from the completely abandoned potential story arcs laid by the Force Awakens (namely Ray’s lineage and Snokes’ back-story), to the dismissive manner in which core characters are treated by the screenwriters. It’s almost as if the director had never seen a Star Wars movie prior, and had zero understanding of what made the films powerful, and the characters and overarching themes timeless. It’s a cliché at this point, but the Finn/Rose story arc was dreadful in every respect. The movie fared pretty well (Superman Laya aside) until this point, but it went off the rails hard and fast with ham-fisted commentaries on wealth, inequality, war profiteering, slavery, and animal cruelty. All this overt messaging would be excusable if the plot was engaging throughout this section, but it was boring, tacky, and simply awful in every respect. Finn’s schtick is wearing a bit thin as it is, he has a penchant for overacting like he’s in some type of Broadway stage performance. Though I enjoyed aspects of the film, much of the movie felt like an empty exercise, exacerbated by the pain of watching Luke Skywalker wallow in misery and self doubt, clearly a hollow shell of the man we all came to know and love… I heard it said that if you LIKE Star Wars, you’ll like the movie, but if you LOVE Star Wars, you’ll HATE it. That sentiment hits the mark, and judging by the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, clearly 45% of viewers have a deep an abiding love for what made Star Wars great originally, and we hold out hope that Disney will be able to capture that magic once again. After all, until The Last Jedi, hope against all odds was the defining characteristic of the Jedi.

    Reply

  15. Bradford Gauthier

    December 20, 2017 at 21:02

    And why are there only Mods commenting on this. You guys are in your own little self-contained information bubble here.

    Reply

  16. petervs

    December 20, 2017 at 21:21

    Ooh my sack, fan boys need to grow up. I thought movie was great.

    Reply

    • ExarKun777

      July 4, 2018 at 01:07

      What if you don’t like the next Star Wars film, or the one Lucasfilm presents in 2025? (to say a future year). Will that convert you in a “fanboy”? Do you have the right to not like something?

      Reply

    • ExarKun777

      July 4, 2018 at 01:07

      What if you don’t like the next Star Wars film, or the one Lucasfilm presents in 2025? (to say a future year). Will that convert you in a “fanboy”? Do you have the right to not like something?

      Reply

  17. Gaijin-

    December 23, 2017 at 07:38

    Bad writing is not art, it is bad writing. And the fact that some people are expressing their indignation in a rather hyperbolic way does not make the writing any better.

    Reply

  18. Ralph Harris

    December 24, 2017 at 03:56

    The clones were just weak imitations of Jango Fett……This is just a weak imitation of a Star Wars film.

    There is no more hope.

    Reply

  19. Dizz

    September 4, 2018 at 16:38

    The movie sucked! End of story.

    Reply

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