WHY I NEED TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE LAST JEDI BEFORE FACING THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

18/12/2019

There has been a lot of Star Wars on this site in the past few months, and I didn't really want to go there again, but... unnnnhhh... those Rise of Skywalker reviews are not good. They're not good at all. My hope that Disney and JJ Abrams would hit a home run appears not to have happened. I can't not talk about this. I've got anxiety. I need to process it.

I need to go into the cinema tomorrow prepared for the possibility that this may be another bad Star Wars movie, even if I'm hanging onto the fact that I've disagreed with reviews before. Notably for The Last Jedi, which critics raved about almost universally. Before I can face The Rise of Skywalker, I need to be honest finally, and own my emotions surrounding The Last Jedi.

I came out of the cinema after that film feeling... confused, bordering on bereft. More so even than the prequels. There was a weird disconnect for me; it was a well-made Star Wars film - I could see that - so why did it leave me feeling so empty and annoyed?

It's a question I've spent two years trying to answer, when I haven't been trying to make the film click for me. It's time to admit that I've failed. Reading the early reactions to The Rise of Skywalker last night, my wife tried to make me feel better by saying "Maybe you'll just get an average film... it's not like you hated The Last Jedi..."

And then she saw the conflict in my face. It was the first time I'd considered that I might actually, truly, hate The Last Jedi.

I'm not that guy though... am I?

I don't hate on films, because what's the point? I don't want to be one of Those People. I don't attack actors online, I don't spread hate, I don't hide away on Reddit slagging things off. I don't just hate for the sake of hating... I mean, let it go. It doesn't matter. That would be pathetic! I love Star Wars. How can I possibly hate a film anyway? It's just a film... it's just a film...

But... maybe - all those things aside - maybe I do love Star Wars, but hate The Last Jedi...

God, I actually do hate The Last Jedi.

Ah, shit...

I literally hate The Last Jedi. And - Jesus! - I don't even hate the Prequels.

REACH OUT WITH YOUR FEELINGS
Here's a thing.

When people talk about The Last Jedi, they talk about it in terms of bold choices, and doing things differently. They're wrong though. Everyone is wrong about that, and every single time I read that Rian Johnson's film took risks I feel like screaming.

For me, The Last Jedi wasn't bold; it was boring and unsatisfying. I've tried so hard to love it. I watched it again only last week, and once again came away with my gut clogged with the same brick of cognitive dissonance.

It just feels to me like a series of scenes reheated from the classic trilogy - throne room temptation/battle scene... AT-AT walkers in the "snow"... a former Jedi master now living as a hermit on some remote planet... the bad guys pursuing the good guys across space for much of the duration...

I forgave the 'rhyming poetry' in The Force Awakens, because that movie served as a necessary reminder of what the world originally loved about Star Wars before the prequels took it all away. Plus at least Abrams found new twists on the original beats, even if it was to just make everything the same - but bigger.

In The Last Jedi, the familiar was done in a way that was less surprising and less visually interesting than anything we'd gotten before. I don't see these bold choices, beyond choices that are just kind of dull and undramatic. Less "Woah!" and more "Oh..."

Is that bold? Is it? Really? What's bold about it?

The throne room scenes - despite the lovely red curtains - lacked the shock of seeing the Emperor for the first time... the AT-AT battle had none of the ingenuity of bringing them down with tow cables... the Jedi master scenes were undermined by the sight of a childhood hero rendered impotent... the slow space chase thing had none of the thrill of the asteroid scenes, or the space slug, or the emotional investment offered by the romance between Han and Leia.

And that's before you even get into the utter pointlessness of Finn's adventure on Casino Planet, or Poe's go-nowhere mutiny, or the most visually dull lightsaber battle in the series' history (a flat, endless, salt lake... really? In which one of the combatants doesn't land a single blow, because he's basically just a hologram?).

Then you get into the other notion that Last Jedi defenders and detractors alike often cite; the idea that it opened up the Force to people beyond the Skywalker bloodline. Which was nonsense; there were once thousands of Jedis, as seen in those justly-maligned prequels. The Star Wars saga focuses on the Skywalkers because it's their story; literally the story of the last Jedi bloodline.

"The Force is strong in my family" is what Star Wars is all about. Some people have it more than others, and it's hereditary. What's so wrong with this idea that you have to go and say "Er, actually, anyone can do it, and you don't have to be special, and you're not, and here's a kid with a broom"...?

Sorry. This is deep nerd stuff. I feel dirty, and know it isn't really important, but you may want to move on.

CRAZY BOLD HERMIT
If The Last Jedi was bold, it was only bold in that it cast aside questions posed by The Force Awakens at the risk of pissing people off. If that was the intention then yes... it's certainly bold.

Here's where I get into dodgy territory, because I don't want to be aligned with the risible "The Fandom Menace" - the Gamergate-like faction of Star Wars fandom that drove poor Kelly-Marie Tran into therapy.

I don't want anything to do with them, and it's why I've shied away from saying too much publicly about The Last Jedi over the past couple of years; I don't want to be lumped in with that quagmire. My issues with The Last Jedi aren't because it's too "woke" - for one thing, I certainly didn't notice it being particularly overtly woke. I would've been all-in to see Finn and Poe being a couple, and for Rose Tico becoming a kick-ass hero.

Nonetheless, owning this... I can't deny how the film made me feel. I'm not one of them, I'm not a Russian bot... I'm just somebody who grew up with Star Wars, for whom those movies have been a constant in my life. They matter to me, and I've spent the past two years struggling to process why The Last Jedi made me feel the way it did.

I'd argue my feelings aside; it's just a film.... what does it matter? Stop being a crybaby. Only bad people dislike that film, remember? You're not a bad person. It doesn't matter... it doesn't matter... it's fine... it doesn't matter...

But it did matter to me, and - seemingly - many others. Denying that, pushing it down, because I wanted to be one of the "goodies" and feared being labelled a Star Wars extremist, got me nowhere.

I've no agenda beyond the personal when I say that I didn't feel heard by Rian Johnson's film. I did feel slighted by it. All the things The Force Awakens had set me up to expect satisfying answers to were dismissed with the most undramatic, underwhelming, reveals.

We never got proper Luke Skywalker moments that I'd been so excited for when the movies were first announced, no real reunion between him and Leia, with the character at the heart of events. Since the all-too-soon passing of Carrie Fisher, and the hope of that disappearing entirely, I actually felt angry about it.

Literally angry; we had one chance to see the characters we'd fallen in love with, on screen, together again for the last time... and now it'll never happen. Star Wars has a wider cultural context, partly as a result of the order the movies were made in, and it's impossible not to view the storytelling choices from within that context.

PROCESS PIT
In the past couple of years I've tried to process why I felt so slighted over a film - mostly to understand my own reactions, but partly to also understand the backlash against Lucasfilm and Johnson.

It might be a controversial thing to say, but I don't believe all of it was simply down to people being trolls (though many were, no doubt). There must be others who felt the same way as me; those who do want a more inclusive Star Wars, who basically just didn't like The Last Jedi.

In dismissing everyone who didn't like it as being part of the risible "Fandom Menace" all that was achieved was to cloud honest debate, get backs up, and to make people like me feel "wrong" for feeling how we did.

The trouble for Lucasfilm is that the poisoned chalice they took on with Star Wars is that they're not just films.

I mean, they are - that's precisely what they should be - but they aren't, whether we, or they, like it or not. To consider them on that level is to dismiss the millions for whom Star Wars has meaning in their lives. It's to downplay the cultural significance of that original trilogy, and the massive impact it had on so many people.

THE MEANING OF MY LIFE
Star Wars was my life growing up. It was a refuge from bullying, and tough times at home. If it never had the same significance for you, then good. Fine. Keep it to yourself. But it was there for me as much as either parent.

I know that's probably way too much importance to place on any film series - and certainly not what George Lucas intended - but it happened anyway. When that "parent" turns around and appears not to listen to what their kid wants, or dismisses their needs, it really bloody hurts.

Nothing hurts more than not being heard, and I didn't feel heard by The Last Jedi. That's ultimately at the heart of this.

It isn't something I've wanted to admit, due to the utter ugliness of the debate. I want to be aligned with the light, I don't want my feelings to be misconstrued or misinterpreted. I'm just trying to be honest.

Upon reflection, I understand the choices Rian Johnson made, and I respect them. It's not his fault that so many of us "manbabies" have this attachment to the Star Wars saga. In fact, it might've been wiser if the Disney-owned Lucasfilm had stayed away from the Star Wars Skywalker saga entirely, and just started with a new story set in that universe. There would've been less baggage.

Perhaps they should've ditched the episodic numbering, and just forged ahead without any characters from the past. Stick to the side stories, like the excellent Rogue One, the underrated Solo, and the brilliant The Mandalorian. But that didn't happen, and I totally get why that didn't happen, but look at where we are now as a result.

Ironic that for a film series where there's light and dark and nothing in-between that it has become equally polarised.

Star Wars, like so much debate in this modern era, has become about extremes. There's no middle ground, and adopting a centrist position - as The Rise of Skywalker appears to have done, perhaps by way of an apology - appeases nobody, and upsets everyone.

What I do know is that I'm going into The Rise of Skywalker with no baggage but my own. If I like it I'll like it for my own reasons. If I hate it, it'll have nothing to do with any wider cultural schism.

And, if I'm honest, if that happens I'll be fine if they don't ever make another Star Wars movie. Stick to the TV shows and theme parks. The alternative has too much riding on it now.

If you love The Last Jedi... good for you. I don't offer this to spark debate, or be told to "get over it", or whatever. Unfortunately, emotions don't work like that; denying them, or trying to get somebody to deny them or feel guilty for them, or telling them that those feelings are wrong, doesn't work. It hasn't worked.

Equally, this isn't about the wider conversation. This is about me, and my relation to Star Wars, and the fact that - like it or not - I'm lumbered with it.

40 Comments

MR MARK PALING

18/12/2019 11:15:35 am

I have to say that on the first pass Return Of The Jedi was a struggle but with 4 viewings under my belt, I not only like it....I have grown to love it. The bond with the characters in particular feels...well...strong.

2pm showing tomorrow for me so we will see.

I feel your pain but the force will be strong

Wapojif

18/12/2019 11:16:46 am

I'm not as insanely invested in this series as a lot of people are. I watched the Last Jedi and enjoyed it as mindless popcorn entertainment. Good fun, but no need to see it again. The same as Force Awakens.

I'll do the same with this new one, then wait for the perpetual stream of outraged YouTubers to make videos about why feminism and SJWs are destroying modern cinema.

Bruce Flagpole

18/12/2019 11:26:53 am

I'm with you 100% on this.
It feels wrong to be a middle-aged man and even consider 'hating' a film like TLJ, but ultimately I do. And like you say, you then get lumped in as some kind of 'anti-SJW' bigot for not liking it, and keep having to question yourself on it.
I too don't see anything clever in the film - it's a mismatch of empire and return, re-ordered, and duller. All of the interesting points from TFA are dropped, or 'subverted' in the worst ways.
Ultimately though it's not about picking apart the film, arguing if this bit or that bit made sense, it's about the overall feeling.
For me, Star Wars was always 'the adventures of Luke Skywalker' and TLJ just completely breaks that story for me.
I quite like the new actors/characters, and if these had been done without the original cast as either remakes or a new story 100s of years later, it would work much better. But by calling them sequels and bringing back the cast Disney tried to have their cake and eat it...and made a really bad cake.

I'm in no rush to see Rise...I'll watch it out of curiosity to see how they finish it, but I don't 'care' about it any more.

Benedikt Müller

18/12/2019 11:38:09 am

Oh Mr Biffo, you've eventually decided to take the red pill.

What I've learned out of the Disney trilogy is that I both hate the films and the so called fan community.
Star Wars meant the world to me until four years ago and then it died and left a scar in my heart. I just couldn't like Force awakens even though I tried as much as you with Last Jedi. And finally after Last Jedi I gave up.
And instead of ranting online I just let it go. I wish that hadn't happened, but to see this massive civil war online was and is disgusting. From both sides.
And the fact that apparently you have to pick one of two opinions and somehow a corresponding political world view.
Either be an arsehole and rant about producers, actors and "sjw". Or be one of those naivelings that love absolutely everything Disney does with SW and call everyone who doesn't "one of them haters".

I don't hate the actors. That's stupid. Actors do their job and play what they've been casted for.
So does everyone involved in film making.

It is entirely possible not to be one of the two factions mentioned above and to just feel unsatisfied with these films.

But I honestly hope you don't end like me and will be able to retain your love for Star Wars. I mean I can understand it. I wish I could.

Reversible Sedgewick

18/12/2019 11:58:01 am

Definitely not down for a row with anyone but I do find myself properly in camp 'The Last Jedi'. Might be my favourite of the whole lot. Born in '81 so I never experienced the first 3 films as 'events' - they were just things that existed already in the world at the time I started retaining memories. There was never a first watch, just mis-ordered chunks of story from it being shown on ITV.

Maybe that's why I didn't feel the need to see Luke do big hero stuff one last time. I found the story of a man wracked with shame and unable to come to terms with it constructively to be interesting. More or less interesting than big hero stuff? Kinda doesn't matter. It's the story we got and I liked it.

I never felt the casino planet trip to be pointless. Maybe it was balanced more towards 'theme' than 'plot', but that's OK. And plot-wise it's still a standard 'heist-gone-wrong' scenario, which directly leads to a chain of very dire consequences later on. I probably find the 'we parked on a worm' interlude in Empre Strikes Back to be comparatively more of a wheelspin.

And for Last Jedi is really a Kyle O'Ren showcase. He's such an odd character in that he's genuinely inconsistent, which I guess is an underrepresented trait in films. He doesn't know whether to worship his legacy or reject it. Talks a big game about letting the past go, but all of his actions show that he can't. Doesn't know if he wants to fight or f***. Messy. Human. Apart from the 'accessory to genocide'-y bits, but hey, that's Star Wars!

Rogue One, on the other hand, is a barely-functional heap of nonsense. Maybe I do want a row about that!

18/12/2019 12:35:58 pm

Just had a 2nd read of the article and realised that my entire first paragraph comes under the pre-specified "Keep it to yourself" request. Apologies for that :(

MENTALIST

18/12/2019 01:27:17 pm

I'm pretty much with you on The Last Jedi.

What I particularly like about it, is the reading it takes on Luke Skywalker. Basically, Luke is a shit Jedi. After all what have we seen him do in the films? Help guide his topedoes down the exhaust pipe - not a particularly unusual feat amongst force users. Fail to lift his x-wing out of a swamp. Lose a lightsaber duel to Darth Vader (and a hand in the process) - part of a trap he was led into by impulsively active on force-visions, against the advice of his mentor.

Then, his major achievement, springing Han Solo from Jabba. Fair enough, there's a reasonable amount of force-powered prowess on display there, but getting the upper hand on a regional gangster is the sort of thing that might have similarly been tied up by various Jedi in an episode of The Clone Wars or Rebels. From there, his major achievement in the movies is resisting the temptation of the Emperor, and awakening enough feeling in his father to actually defeat the Emperor for him as an act of self-sacrifice.

Luke never displays an exceptional singular command of the force, and is plagued by self-doubt. The Luke Skywalker we see in the Last Jedi is absolutely that man. The trouble is, what people think of then they think of him is The Legend of Luke Skywalker - savior of the rebellion, greatest Jedi that ever lived. Even Mark Hamill did, and to be fair, those who may have read a bunch of extended universe stuff might have pseudo-canonical stories to reinforce that impression.

And of course, that is an explicit theme of the film, where in the end, Luke is forced to create his legend anew.

18/12/2019 02:28:55 pm

Enjoyable comment, it did get me thinking. (And that's one of the reasons that I like Last Jedi; it did seem to leave me with plenty to ponder after the film was over).

There's a tension between what you're calling 'The Legend of Luke Skywalker' (the guy who blew up the Death Star) and what I would say his major achievement is - turning off his lightsaber and saying that he won't fight Vader; harnessing the power of a pacifist act. His final act in Last Jedi is kind of a reconciliation, a new pacifist act which can still be a legend for the downtrodden kids in the epilogue scenes.

I think the same tension is present in the Han & Leia scenes in Force Awakens - the differences between the legend and the truth (c.f. Rey & Finn having different ideas about who Solo was), particularly when failure and shame are in the mix.

And the Finn & Poe stories in Last Jedi are all about the same thing - learning when not fighting can be more valuable than fighting.

Maybe for some people it becomes repetitive or heavy handed? But for me it works as coherent.

Johnc

18/12/2019 04:39:42 pm

One thing that I like about The Phantom Menace - might be the only one - was how it seemed to show Luke as a useless Jedi that was conned in to the whole thing by Obi Wan and Yoda.

Mr Biffo

18/12/2019 05:24:01 pm

But Mentalist - you're not pretty much with me! My issues with The Last Jedi, and why I feel strongly about it, are almost entirely to do with that handling of Luke!!

18/12/2019 06:26:08 pm

No, I'm not with you at all, Biffo, I'm with Reversible Sedgwick. I had thought the comment threading ought to have made that more clear.

Panda

18/12/2019 07:29:46 pm

Great comment Sedgewick. I enjoyed TLJ although it had some very obvious flaws but no more so than the originals and far, far less than the prequels. I know Biffo isn’t saying those are better films but there are plenty who do and it’s like a bit of a red rag to me. Those are horrifyingly bad films.

A deconstruction of TLJ rather than a knee jerk set of ad hominems on either side is what’s needed and while someone can give an opinion on a film using something akin to a checklist of what they want and expect from it, I suspect that’s absolutely NOT how you actually make a film and if that’s what the next SW film has become as a result of someone holding a mirror up in the way Johnson has done, it absolutely deserves to be lumped in with the focus group, massively risk averse guff that Scorsese is so afraid of.

From the very little non-spoilers stuff I’ve read, it sounds like you can almost hear the rock mark hitting the paper list in every big scene and decision in the new one.

As romantic as some people are about SW, to me it’s just a very fun fairytale of archetypes and as you’ve suggested for every issue someone calls out TLJ on, I can list three or four in the originals that (should but don’t) offend at least as much.

But the preference for the prequels and the adverse reaction to TLJ jist go to show Star Wars is different things to different people. Despite what I’ve said, I recognise the magic, but maybe children of the 70s filled in one too many gaps of their own, or maybe the films filled a chasm for them that no other film could hope to unless it’s just ‘ticking all those same boxes’.

18/12/2019 07:38:19 pm

Also on the same page regarding Rogue One. Katsina is the most vanilla SW character I can think of, Closely filled by Jin, Peter Cushing is played by Dobby, all the interesting characters like Gaylen get killed off after minutes of screen time... Non-Jedi was a Jedi anyway, gun man was chewie with a real voice.

The worst thing though seems to be how slavish it is to the old. Aesthetically, it’s great but it made me wonder why so much reverence is given to something that you’d get a glimpse of in the OT. The rebel alliance is all there and they look the same!!! Kids worked with what very little they were given 40 years ago and Rogue One doesn’t get to play that card in a culture where we’re overexposed to a non speaking character before we even get to see it on the show.

RichardM

18/12/2019 02:36:20 pm

Rogue One is ace! Even if the story is a bit shoe-horned in, all the rest is glorious - the Star Destroyer over Jedha, the bombing run on the Imperial base, the Battle of Scarif, etc, etc. Yum yum yum.

18/12/2019 03:07:48 pm

Yeah, I can't deny that most of it looks lovely. Some great images. But I find you can see too many rough joins in the story, things which are presented a significant but then just fizzle out. Why is Gin a prisoner at the start? Why does she keep looking at her crystal necklace like it's going to be the key to something? Why is it important that Riz Ahmed (massively underused!) has his sanity sucked out when it just comes back after a few hours? What happens to Morally Dubious British Man; has he been enough of a baddie to get fired from the Rebellion?

And why is the most dramatic music in the entire film when Forest Whitaker has a quick pull on his asthma inhaler? Why are they trying to intimidate us with that?

Sassy robot is good value though. It's nice that they're bringing him back for a TV show.

Random Reviewer

28/12/2019 02:40:26 pm

I think the war movie aesthetic is well done. But it had a dull and uninspiring lead and underdeveloped side characters. The way they rush into the final mission without a plan actually drains all the tension from the scene. FCH summed it up well, saying something like: "In order for me to worry about what might go wrong, I need to know what's supposed to go right."

That's the reason most 'men on a mission' films have a lengthy scene carefully explaining the plan, because it pays off like gangbusters later on in creatingg tension. R1 doesn't have this and so feels dramatically inert, especially since we already know the outcome in advance.

Mr Jonny T

18/12/2019 12:51:39 pm

The thing about Star Wars movies is it's an event, not just a movie. If this The Last Jedi story was in a tv show like Stargate or something, it would have been a two parter in the middle of the season and it would have been forgotten by the end of the season.

I don't dislike the movie, it just wasn't the event it should have been.

Adam

18/12/2019 02:35:38 pm

The problem with TLJ for me is nothing to do with liberties with Star Wars lore, throwing out plot lines from TFA, etc. It's all down to bad storytelling.

Poe not being told about the plan by Holdo for no reason other than to serve the plot, the whole utterly pointless Casino Planet day trip, the ability to fly through space coming out of no where and then serving no further purpose...

Meatballs-me-branch-me-do

18/12/2019 03:21:31 pm

We have freshly ground coffee machines in my office. This makes coffee far nicer than you get from the stupid pods or pouches (which are also available). However, the machine had so many faults and issues. The cleaning program took forever and needed to be run often. The milk, piped in from an adjacent fridge, would often clog or stop working so your cappuccino was just coffee with steam blasted into the top. The grounds container would not always register it was empty or had been replaced when emptied. And so on.

When it was announced a new machine was being installed, there was applause in a meeting. The new machine uses a touch screen! It's all one unit! So we tried it. It takes twice as long to make not as much coffee, so you need to order multiple drinks to fill your mug. On the second day, it was out of order already with no less than five error messages. The supplier's maintenance people don't know how to fix it. I have a newfound appreciation for the old machines, and now will go to other floors to find one rather than use this flashy new pile of inferior junk.

The reason for this Biffo-style long introduction is this is what Disney Star Wars has done. The prequels now, to me, look far better in comparison. Yes, there was Jar Jar. Yes, there was Hayden Christiansen. But the whole point was to show us how different a place the Republic was before the Empire. It was vibrant and ornate and alive. We got to see more of life, not just the misery of Tattooine's settlers under both gangsters and Imperial control.

That looks a hell of a lot better now than TFA's boring retread of New Hope, albeit with the rather contrived scenario of the First Order *cough Imperial Remnant* fighting the "Resistance" while the New Republic, still freshly formed after the massively destructive Galactic Civil War, immediately reverts to bloated bureaucratic inefficiency and refusal to take action.

Aside from the fact this doesn't make any sense (I had no idea who the First Order blew up with Starkiller Base) the rest of it was painfully predictable and also bereft of any sympathetic characters to root for. Rey was intensely dislikeable and combative, and didn't even have the excuse of being an actual princess on an actual secret mission to explain it.

I understand why they thought doing this was a good idea: They were so afeared of the Fandom Menace that they wanted to win them over, and what better (and safe, and boardroom friendly) way of doing that than to give them something you knew they already liked, but a little bit flashier? Unfortunately, they completely missed the point, and having a woke agenda shoehorned in didn't help, either. It didn't feel like the next chapter in the exciting saga, it felt like a cynical corporate reboot... which it is.

The very sad result of all this is that it basically killed Star Wars for me. It doesn't really matter to me now how good Mandalorian or Rogue One allegedly are, or how amazing the theme park stuff looks. It just feels spoiled, and that makes me unhappy.

18/12/2019 05:25:38 pm

For the record, I hate the term "woke agenda". Entertainment SHOULD reflect the world as at actually is, especially escapist entertainment.

Meatballs-me-branch-me-so

18/12/2019 11:39:10 pm

I agree with you that it should reflect the world. Sadly not enough scripts now are subtle about it. Progressive themes are rammed into your face rather than just being part of the overall story and seen as being accepted by the characters as part of it.

While despairing over Star Wars in general I did find this quote from Billy Dee Williams on Solo:

“I think (those choices are) the reason they didn't have the success they could have had, because they were going for something that was topical, instead of an adventure that's far beyond those questions. If you're talking about this huge, incredible story, why lock yourself into this tiny moment between a character like Lando and his robot friend?"

For what it’s worth, I did like how the recent Battletech game let you choose a pronoun when creating your character, even if it didn’t have much bearing on the storyline.

Bilstar

18/12/2019 03:26:37 pm

I think it's ok to dislike something intensely. It's not your fault, they called it Star Wars and (in your view) made it crap. That's on them.

If nobody said it was crap then they've no reason to try harder in the future.

Matt

18/12/2019 03:41:44 pm

The problem all along was making any more movies after Return of the Jedi.
The original trilogy was lightning in a bottle. Many factors came into play at once: A creator who had actual vision and was still passionate about his art, actors who were born for the roles, a visual effects crew who created spectacle the likes of which no one had ever seen before, a composer at the top of his creative and genius game.
Money came into it though and ruined it all. It was impossible to recreate that perfect storm. The more they tried to get the recipe right, the more the final cake tasted off.
I've let it go as I'm exactly your age, Biffo and Star Wars was just as big an influence on my life.
But yes, I've let it go and watch the new ones just as A.N Other action film.
Because you can't recreate genuine passion ad creativity.
For me, Star Wars finished in 1983 with our heroes smiling into camera as they defeated the Empire once and for all. End of the story and how I want to remember them.

LightsOnNo1Home

18/12/2019 04:13:08 pm

Great article. Agree with almost all of it. You mention the "wokeness" and the people harassing cast members over it, and, like you, I don't want to be lumped in with those people either. This makes me nervous about criticising the new films (I didn't like The Force Awakens either) because people tend to jump to the conclusion that I am "one of them".

The difference is, you're thinking about it. I feel a lot of people objecting to the diversity are simply not thinking in much detail about why the film is bad. They're coming out thinking the film was bad, and deciding it must be because of the diversity as its the most obvious source of change, and they don't let their thought process go any deeper. I think Ghostbusters 2016 had the same problem.

Diversity is good, but it's not going to save the film if everything else about it is rotten.

18/12/2019 04:31:09 pm

When I saw TLJ, I too came away feeling a bit...odd about the whole thing. I texted someone that it was okay, probably about 7-ish out of ten. Over the years of bile aimed at it I turned against it a bit more, so I was quite surprised when I re-watched it recently that my initial score was, I thought, still about right. I've got issues with it, sure - Luke character was just awful, the casino planet was a massive waste of time, Leia's space-flight etc. But it was okay.

When I saw the trailer for this new one, I WAS worried. Too many people, too much happening, I thought. I've only watched the trailer twice, it looked so lousy. But I'll wait until i've seen it tomorrow.
Hang in there Mr Biffo, until you've seen it you can't know. There's still fun to be had in the anticipation. Go and enjoy it. And if you don't, you've still got The Mandalorian!

18/12/2019 05:27:45 pm

Unfortunately, I have to disagree about Leia's space-flight. At the time it was one of the parts of the film I actually loved - seeing her demonstrating her innate Force abilities in a moment of crisis. I didn't understand when there was such a backlash against it, but maybe they didn't make it clear what's going on. She was in space, so her clothes were floating, and maybe people just thought it looked odd. Dunno. It's one aspect I did agree with. I thought it was cool.

18/12/2019 10:04:29 pm

Hey, that's fair enough. I have to say I had less of a problem with it when I re-watched it recently, but on first viewing I just thought it was ridiculous. Maybe I was most annoyed about it because it seemed like such a perfect opportunity to give Leia a powerful death scene since Carrie Fisher had just died, but then Leia survived and we ended up with out-takes of her for Part IX instead. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow...

28/12/2019 02:49:24 pm

I'm fine with it in theory, but the way it was presented felt a little too Marry Poppins for me to take seriously.

Omniro

18/12/2019 04:56:57 pm

It seems a lot of people are opening up and being honest about their opinions on TLJ as the new movie approaches. It was awful. A weird, disjointed mess of a film that fundamentally didn't seem to understand the essence of Star Wars. The new characters it introduced were all terrible, the approach it took to old characters bordered on offensive, and the meandering plot didn't lead anywhere interesting.

I agree, Star Wars isn't just a bunch of movies. For many of us who are not religious, it may be the closest thing we have to a religious myth, so you're totally justified in the level of anger you might feel towards TLJ. The fact that the old "you're sexist, racist etc" card gets played just for disliking the movie just makes the whole scenario even more rage inducing.

But hey, the Rotten Tomatoes reviewers don't seem to like Rise of Skywalker, so maybe it'll be great!

John B

18/12/2019 05:40:19 pm

This is the dirst piece I've read that put more or less exactly how I feel about last jedi. When I left the cinema it did feel like a part of my childhood had died, and yet I did not want to talk about it because I did not want to be part of the fandom menace. So I sat on my feeling on this one and frankly it has put me off any new starwars films, I just dont want to be bugged by it again

Kenny Body link

18/12/2019 07:45:36 pm

TLDR: I love Star Wars but the currently trilogy is a bad parody of the original trilogy with little of the originals charms, and undoes the growth we saw the original characters undertake across the original trilogy.

The long version...

I also love Star Wars and it's been an important part of and constant in my life. My earliest memory is seeing previews of Return of the Jedi on TV and crying non-stop until my parents went and rented A New Hope from the local video rental shop. This followed by years of confusion of why the Tatooine scenes I'd seen on TV were different as I was too young to realise that it was two different films! But from that moment, it was ingrained in my very being and I would watch the original trilogy over and over and Tie Fighter is still one of my favourite games!

Then we had the prequels and I was disappointed but on the whole enjoyed having new Star Wars movies in my life. I also appreciate how people who at the time where the age I was when the original trilogy came out that could appreciate it potentially like we did as part of their youth.

Skip to the current trilogy, and I had the same excitement as when the prequel trilogy came out but with the added scepticism that came off the back of the prequels.

On my first viewing of EP7, I left the cinema disappointed. I felt it was a poor parody of EP4 and hated how Han had been transformed from a hero of the Rebellion when we saw him last, back to a smuggler. But not a suave, cool smuggler we saw in EP4, but a bumbling idiot running ridiculous errands. But I watched it twice more while it was on the cinema and it grew on me a little on each viewing.

I went into Rogue One really not expecting anything after the disappointment of EP7 but actually really enjoyed it! In fact, I went as far as saying at the time that it was the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect. But it had that "feel" of a Star Wars movie with a great mix of new and old.

So when EP8 was released I had mixed feelings. I still had the bitter taste of EP7 in my mouth, but with the hope from Rogue One being a good Star Wars movie.

Unfortunately, I left the cinema feeling even more disappointed, confused and probably a little angry than after seeing EP7 for the first time. Again, it was all a bit of a bad parody of EP5 and EP6 - Rebels fleeing their base from the chasing Empire after dealing them a massive blow, budding young Jedi goes to find moody, eccentric old Master before rushing off to save their friends after seeing a vision only to be captured and tempted by the evil overlord puppet-master only for it all the end with the good guys suffering massive defeat and looking like all is lost!

But not only that, they completely (or seemingly?) put an end to any plot threads setup from EP7 while spending most of the movie doing totally irrelevant things. The prime example being the Finn and Rose mission. For the record, I don't hate Rose and actually quite like her and the treatment of Kelly Marie Tran was disgusting and inexcusable.

I did intend to give EP8 the same chance as EP7 and that I'd watch it a few times before giving my final verdict. But I didn't go to see it for a second time while it was on at the cinema. I didn't watch it when it came on Sky Movies. And I didn't watch it on Blu-ray when my wife bought it for me at Christmas.

That is until I had a spare night alone at home a couple of weeks ago. I figured I had nothing better to do and should get in the spirit of things in time for the new movie.

It turns out it's not quite as terrible as I've been convincing myself of for the last two years. In fact, if anything, I now think I prefer it to EP7.

Don't get me wrong, the whole Finn and Rose story line is still ridiculous, as is the petulance of Poe. But I think going into a viewing of it after two years of being totally disappointed in it to the point of ignoring it, made me realise that it's actually not AS bad as I'd let myself believe.

But I think my main gripe is similar to my main issue with EP7 - that they took a hero of the Rebellion and reduced him to a moody old hermit.

Now it's not just me being angry that they'd took MY childhood heroes and destroyed MY image of them. I appreciate that part of the current trilogy was the handing over from the old guard to the new. But for me, a big part of the charm of the original trilogy, was seeing the mixed collection of rag-tag characters who normally wouldn't be seen mixing in the same circles, come together and grow into the heroes who lead the overthrowing of the evil Empire in order to change the galaxy for the good of all.

And THAT is my issue with the currently trilogy. Not only is the galaxy not a better place, but the characters we saw grow across the course of the original trilogy have took a massive backwards step, virtually undoing everything that took place in the original trilogy.

I'm going to see EP9 tomorrow with the same mixture

18/12/2019 07:49:40 pm

The end got cut off..

I'm going to see EP9 tomorrow with the same mixture of hope and scepticism. May the Force be with us!

Retro Resolution

18/12/2019 08:44:16 pm

On Friday Twitter is going to be awash with embittered, partisan, vehement, needlessly vindictive, ill-judged, straw-man infested, vicious diatribes concerning the latest Star Wars film

I'll be receiving CT scan results which literally determine if I live or die.

Perspective...

Penyrolewen

18/12/2019 09:39:36 pm

Shit, man, that’s rough. Sending good vibes your way, got everything crossed for you.

Lummox60N

18/12/2019 09:10:40 pm

I broadly agree with all Biffo's points. ALL OF THEM.
"The Last Jedi" was never "bold", not where anyone invested in the series needed it to be. From the front end with the stupid "Poe on Hold" exchange it just...had everything it needed to be "Star Wars", it was all RIGHT THERE, but because of the flippant approach it didn't seem "real", somehow?
I don't "hate" it, though, I don't think. Mind you, I went to rewatch it tonight to prep for seeing it on Saturday (Pesky work...) but the BluRay has disappeared...I think we watched it maybe twice since it arrived a year and a half ago. The originally trilogy gets many more airings. I think I just feel disappointment.

I'm not looking at reviews. I'm staying away from Twitter.
I'm TRYING to approach TRoS with as open a mind as possible.
And, you know, at my age, getting to sit down in a darkened room for a while in the afternoon, even if the film IS shite, will be a treat. So I guess it's a win/win?

S Hawke

18/12/2019 09:19:09 pm

I'm flabbergasted that people have been pretending to like the Last Jedi even though they secretly hate it, just so they can have a go at the people who are honest about not liking the movie. And flabbergasted isn't a word I use lightly.

18/12/2019 10:06:57 pm

On a side note I just saw Knives Out, written and directed by TLJ's Rian Johnson, and it was fantastic. Highly recommended!

James Walker

19/12/2019 12:27:53 am

When they made out that Luke would consider murdering his sister and best friends kid on a whim killed it for me.
Screw off Disney yer shitheads!

Waynan The Barbarian

19/12/2019 12:42:18 pm

It was hardly a whim. Luke explains that he sensed darkness in him and saw the atrocities Ben would inevitably commit. He goes on to say he felt shame for raising his lightsaber to him but it was too late - Ben had seen his Master over his bed with his weapon in hand.

Rudy Manchego link

19/12/2019 12:36:53 pm

Boy this hits how I feel largely on the head.

I saw TLJ at launch and came away utterly frustated and disappointed. The story made little sense, almost a third of the movie had no impact on plot, the humour didn't work and by god they ruined Luke Skywalker. Oh and that scene with Leia doing a Mary Poppins. *Shudders*.

My take from this was that, OK Star Wars has changed. This is a new direction the franchise is going and I don't like it. In fact, it is not a good film. Since TLJ, Star Wars has been dead to me. Not in an overdramatic way, purely in a I can't get excited about new Star Wars movie again. Solo came out and was so beige a film that I thought I had moved back into my student halls.

I didn't get angry or post hate or anything - just Disney weren't getting my money. I wasn't going to see the next movie. When Rise of Skywalker had its trailer, I had a twinge of hope that it might show that all this was building to something. That at least the trilogy had a point, even if I didn't like it.Then they revealed that the big bad was... well the old big bad. You know, the one that had an arc that was satisfactorly ended in 1983. Sigh.

Even the prequels had a reason to exist. They told a story, there was a narrative thread. a beginning, middle and end. That story was messy, badly scripted and made some horrid choices but you cannot take away that it had a conclusion. These new films have no point to exist clearly, other than money. You managed to get all these actors back together for something that could have been a fond farewell and, well, they were utterly wasted.

Anyway, since I saw the reviews I decided to read the spoiler review and yep, glad I wont be going to see it.

WHY I NEED TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE LAST JEDI BEFORE FACING THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

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