I liked it fine. (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Tuesday, December 31, 2019, 09:34 (1576 days ago) @ cheapLEY
edited by Kermit, Tuesday, December 31, 2019, 09:40

It's also why he was a bad choice for a Star Wars movie, which is premised on universal themes with universal appeal.

That's just subjective man, in case you didn't know opinions were subjective.

Have I not sufficiently personalized my arguments to make it clear this is my opinion? Be that as it may, it is not based solely on personal feelings.

But seriously, why? Star Wars have been that, but that doesn't necessitate that they must always be.

It doesn't, but one can argue that it loses a substantive part of its value by moving away from that. The original Star Wars was essentially a fairy tale. I'd argue that that's always been the series' greatest strength and power. (For the record, I think that, at least until The Last Jedi, the greatest dilution of this power came from the prequels.) One can dismiss this element as kid stuff, but doing so risks sounding ignorant about the importance of myth and fairy tales (see Campbell and Bettelheim).

{I'd also argue that The Last Jedi isn't as subversive to those themes as most want it to be, whether they love or hate the movie.)

There are loads of other problems--the slow chase dynamic, the completely new Force abilities, the grecian formula issue with Luke's beard, useless subplots, and a pattern of aggressively subverting expectations minutes after setting them up.

I think The Last Jedi is legitimately my favorite Star Wars movie, but I agree it has issues and could have been better. There is some poor plotting, but I mostly think the actual writing is brilliant. Why the nitpick on new Force powers, though? I see this complaint a lot, and I just don't get it. You think maybe the (arguably) most powerful Jedi to ever exist might learn and utilize some new things. I also think the notable Force ability was used absolutely brilliantly (and again in The Rise of Skywalker, one of the few things JJ picked up from The Last Jedi and embraced).

I enjoyed the new movie, and I'm glad for you that you got so much out of this trilogy. I've tried only to express why I got less. As I said in a previous thread, I think The Last Jedi will be seen as the most dated movie so far, and this trilogy will seem to be a disjointed mess by future generations who don't view them through the lens of nostalgia.