My personal theory is that the Force is us.  We the viewers demand that these people fight for our amusement.  Whenever one side gets too dominant, some new power must emerge to restore balance.  Thus the cycle churns, endless variations on a theme of perpetual strife.

I liked a lot of the big ideas with TLJ, but I think it fell on its face a lot in the execution.

 

I loved some of the changes Johnson put into the storyline: killing Snoke, revealing Rey's parents were nobodies, Luke as a bitter hermit, etc.

 

I thought the movie dragged on a little bit. And I would have changed a few plot points. I would have rather had Poe fly the ship through the fleet at hyperspace instead of that general whose name I can't recall. Also, they could have not had that escape sequence in the casino. That was cringe-worthy CGI that everyone hated about the prequels.

 

I wanted Leia to be killed in the movie since Carrie Fisher died a year ago. An off-screen death just won't be the same. Though I understand the original intent to kill off one of the three main characters in each of the sequels.

 

Overall, I like that the story took turns you weren't expecting, but I don't think the jokes and execution were done properly. I hope JJ Abrams can take some of the creative freedom Johnson exerted, but use his directing to have the movie feel more like a star wars movie for Episode IX, if that makes sense.

I guess there must have been some people who loved bitter-hermit Luke.  I thought that was an awful way to handle (especially to send off) his character.  The entire title of Return of the Jedi refers to Luke.  He was a believer.  He wanted it back.  Yet when one of his students went bad--which happened to Yoda (Dooku) and Obi-Wan (Anakin/Vader) without breaking their faith in the Light Side of the Force or the Jedi Order--suddenly he goes full-on jaded, cynical hermit?  Who would have died in isolation with the last of the Jedi tomes if Mary Sue hadn't shown up to save him for one last ephemeral (in more ways than one) act of martyrdom?

Obi Wan seemed to take it pretty hard, too. He watched after Luke on Tatooine, but basically became a hermit for a few decades. I think that's a perfectly fine reaction. Everyone builds up Luke as some Jedi Master, but he was still pretty much a kid at the end of the original trilogy. I think it would have been stupid if he came through to save the galaxy again. I would have preferred that he had already been dead when he appeared on the salt planet, but that's a pretty minor change IMO. And it wasn't just "one of his students". It was his nephew, who took some students and apparently killed all of the ones who didn't defect. So that's a pretty big event that I could see him exiling himself for. Also, I think he felt shame that he had failed Leia.

 

Also, there's an entire story about the Jedi not being infallible. They aren't morally or ethically pure like the idea of Jedi is. And perhaps the return of the Jedi was not a positive change. The Last Jedi implies as much.

Rey being a nobody is totally fine by me, but then why tease people with all kinds of inferences in the last movie about her being somehow related to the Skywalkers? Cheap writing, that's why. Also Gramarye you make a good point about her accent - why would she have that accent if she grew up alone on her desert planet? Makes no sense.

 

As far as Luke going all bitter, I have some mixed thoughts on that. I thought the strongest part of the movie was the Luke/Kylo Ren backstory. It was the most well done and realistic "turn to the dark side" I think we've seen in the saga. And I think Luke's reaction of wanting the Jedi to die is actually quite interesting. He didn't need to be so insufferable about it, though. But then again the Skywalkers were always insufferable, that's why we all liked Han.

Were there really that many inferences about her being a Skywalker? I know JJ Abrams built up her past as a big mystery, but no one acted like she was a Skywalker. Han and Leia didn't seem to know her. Han bonded with her, but there was anyone who implied she was a Skywalker. I suppose the light saber calling for her is the biggest one, but that could be for any number of reasons that we don't fully understand.

 

And the entire purpose of this movie, in my opinion, is that the Jedi may be done, but the Force doesn't belong to the Jedi, and it will always seek to provide balance. So while Rey has a strong command of the force, she isn't a Jedi, and never will be. And her past as a child sold into slavery further proves the point that none of this belongs to anyone (not the Jedi, not the First Order, not the Resistance, not the Skywalkers).

 

Rey finding her parents was her goal at the start, but Kylo points out that she knew all along that her parents were nobodies. That's why the mirror-cave thing didn't show her anything: because she already had her answer, and there was nothing the dark side could provide for her. At least that's how I read that scene.

Also, it seems that as there are fewer and fewer Jedi in the universe, the force-sensitive individuals gain greater and greater power, which is interesting. I imagine both Rey and Kylo will have better powers/control in Episode IX than any person before them. Almost like there is a limited amount, and the fewer people that can control the Force, the stronger they are.

The accents have never been consistent.  Leia had several accents, Palpatine and Padme should have sounded more similar, Anakin became African-American.

Were there really that many inferences about her being a Skywalker? I know JJ Abrams built up her past as a big mystery, but no one acted like she was a Skywalker. Han and Leia didn't seem to know her. Han bonded with her, but there was anyone who implied she was a Skywalker. I suppose the light saber calling for her is the biggest one, but that could be for any number of reasons that we don't fully understand.

 

The lightsaber called her and she had visions of a hooded Luke (identifiable by his robotic hand) with his hand on R2, all tied in with her early visions of being left on Jakku. They maintained plausible deniability with it but they definitely wanted to create a bunch of fan speculation about her being a Skywalker. Then in the new movie they did a 180 with it.

Also, it seems that as there are fewer and fewer Jedi in the universe, the force-sensitive individuals gain greater and greater power, which is interesting. I imagine both Rey and Kylo will have better powers/control in Episode IX than any person before them. Almost like there is a limited amount, and the fewer people that can control the Force, the stronger they are.

 

Except that TLJ's final scene could just as easily imply the opposite: That suddenly now just about anyone who is Force-sensitive can, even as a child, do things that used to be the province only of trained Jedi or Sith.  No Younglings in the original Jedi temple were ever shown capable of doing what that stable boy did offhandedly.  Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One was Force-sensitive for his entire battle-tested life and was not capable of such things, though of course he was able to predict enemy fire well enough to walk through a battlefield for at least a long enough time to do what he needed.  I feel like this instinct to democratize the Force in the setting cheapens a lot of the Force-wielders of all the movies, games, and books that came before.

Russian Trolls found to have helped damage the Star Wars franchise:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-was-targeted-by-russian-trolls-study-says-1148475

 

Perhaps.  But there were legitimate problems with that movie.  Why did the bad guys have to chase after the rebel fleet, why couldn't they just warp their way in front?  "Our ships are bigger and slower."  No they're not, you have the advantage of using hyperspace without caring about fuel or worrying that the rebels will track you.  Those limitations only applied to the rebels.  Also, why couldn't Leia call back the bombers herself, if she thought the attack was such a bad idea?  Why was Poe kept in the dark?  Why has nobody tried hyperspace ramming before, and why couldn't it be automated? 

 

Why did people keep saying "Master Codebreaker" for so long, they couldn't give the guy a name?  I mean call him McGuffin or something.  Why did Finn have such horrible dialogue for his big battle?  The original moves were campy but they weren't poorly written.  Couldn't we throw Brienne of Tarth a bone at some point, let her do something cool?  And Hux is portrayed as such a blithering idiot that his rank isn't plausible.  Vader used to murder captains for minor screwups, but this guy cowers and blunders his way to the top of an even bigger empire.  Not buying it.

 

Mind you, I didn't hate the movie.  I liked a lot of the thematic directions it took, they just needed to workshop the script a bit longer.  And make the final cut a bit shorter.

 

I can't wait until episodes Ten, Eleven, and Twelve, when the New New Republic, after a three year reign, is overthrown by a New New Empire with a New New Darth Vader. Jedi Master Rey, who had all of her apprentices killed by one who turned to the dark side, can go into hiding as the latest Last of the Jedi, until one lone voice in the galaxy, a New New Hope, calls out to her to be trained as a Jedi. Then, don't even get me started on the anticipation I have for Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen when we see the New New New Rebellion face off against the New New New New First Second Order with the New New Emperor.

 

 

This is the best review/summary of the latest Star Wars movies I have read