The Last Jedi is Dividing Audiences

zaiageist(63)

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Is The Last Jedi a "true" Star Wars film?

I'm a solid Star Wars fan, not a die-hard (I was when Episode 1 debuted when I was 10), and I've been following the new trilogy pretty closely since it was announced in 2012. So come the 14th when The Last Jedi dropped, I was, of course, very excited. Star Wars films were events that defined their generation - imagine seeing The Empire Strikes Back on opening night; to be part of that cultural phenomenon.

Without getting too mired up in details, I'll just say it straight up: I really liked this one. As with The Force Awakens, it had excellent pacing and action, and I never felt like it got overly hung up on any one scene. The characters are more richly developed since they're no longer needing to take an hour to be introduced, and we can really start to dig in and begin exploring their personalities and histories. In this instalment, Kylo Ren and Rey receive the most focus, whilst Finn is off with newcomer Rose on a side-quest and Poe is... well... not allowed to get into a cockpit. The film introduces some very interesting and contemporary themes not really before explored in Star Wars films, and has added to the detail of the world.

Anyway, as much as I liked the films, there is something that has started rearing its head of late:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_last_jedi/

The Last Jedi is not popular with audiences##

Are 44% of fans really dissatisfied? Or is it part of a brute-force troll campaign to let Rian Johnson know that audiences didn't like his film? Because critics and the box office certainly did. In fact, it's getting rave reviews and it made alot of money, so why is it so divisive among audiences?

The collective argument seems to be that it doesn't feel like a Star Wars film, presumably, one of the original trilogy.

The more I think about it, the more this argument has merit. This review sums it up pretty well: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/new-movies/the-last-jedi-is-the-worst-star-wars-movie-ever/news-story/fd57dd0435d18dccc1efaacab5d28f59

OG Star Wars fans have a certain expectation of what they're going to see in a Star Wars film. They expect to see the following:

Lightsaber duels, crazy intergalactic critters, epic space dogfights, hamfisted conversations about fate and destiny, dialogue that makes little sense, general swashbuckling and devil-may-care heroism, Wilhelm screams and just generally simpleminded approaches towards solving problems.

The Last Jedi contains a number of those things, but also a number of others:

Lots of running around, lots of side-quests, lots of references to the past, both legitimate and comical, some random characters who don't seem to have much effect on the plot, some almost-lightsaber battles, some crazy quantum Force stuff that we've never known about before.

After reading that review I had to agree, and although it didn't make me like the film any less, I have to admit I can't unsee them when I think about it. This didn't feel like a traditional Star Wars film of 1980, but it does feel like one for today, the 21st century. It touches upon relevant modern-day political issues as well addressing a number of contemporary social issues in the filmmaking (women and PoC adorn this film from cover to cover, saving the day and being heroes in a myriad of ways).

What are your thoughts? Did The Last Jedi disappoint you?