The Last Jedi: Fans vs Critics

I watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi four times in the theater. And every time I watched it, the creative and original take on the Star Wars universe that director Rian Johnson created got worse and worse. Despite the unbelievable visuals and loveable cast, this movie made mega-fans like me extremely disappointed.

In the seventh installment of the saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the movie had a huge time jump from the previous movie. In this movie, there were many promising things that people couldn’t wait to get answers on. But people also found that story in The Force Awakens followed a lot of the same beats as Star Wars: A New Hope. So when it was announced that creative director Rían Johnson would be directing the next movie in the trilogy, fans were extremely excited to see his take on Star Wars.

But clearly, Rían didn’t know what made a good Star Wars movie. When creating a sequel (especially to a very well-respected IP like Star Wars), don’t reverse the character development that happened in previous movies. Characters should be expanded upon and new and interesting dynamics should be introduced. This movie did neither. The movie introduces a character that many fans including myself we’re not happy with. The character added almost nothing to the story and actually ruined another great moment for a different character.

Admittedly, there were some good things in this movie. The visuals are the best in any Star Wars movie, and some of the scenes were jaw-dropping and I was awestruck. The costumes and choreography were astounding and it led to some of the best fights in the series.

But even with all of that, great visuals, costumes, and choreography, it could not make up for a lazy and lackluster story filled with plot holes. For the final movie in the trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, they brought back JJ Abrams from The Force Awakens to direct. But the damage was already done, and even with JJ trying to patch up some of the holes created in The Last Jedi and even contradicting some things said in the movie, it was irrecoverable. This movie disappointed many fans and made people skeptical of the upcoming projects.