The year is 2015. The hype for The Force Awakens is in full swing. Everyone's excited, even people who generally don't care for Star Wars. I know what that was like; At that point, everyone around me and everyone online was just talking about this movie. Then it came out, and for about a week, everyone was raving about it. Everyone was saying that it revitalized the Star Wars franchise and how it was just a blast of fun. Then, the hate came in. They kept on saying that Star Wars was ruined by director J.J. "Jar Jar" Abrams because it was uninspired and just a rehash of A New Hope. While there are valid complaints to be had with this movie, I found it to be a very energized film, with just enough differences from A New Hope to keep it interesting, and it introduced Rey and Kylo Ren, who are two of my favorite characters in this franchise to date. Like I said, there are valid complaints with this movie; Starkiller Base does feel uninspired and just another Darth Star and there are a couple scenes that feel a bit forced or silly, but even then, what J.J. Abrams brought to the table here was entertaining, fast paced, and vibrant. Sure, it wasn't overly original, but Return of the Jedi wasn't either, and that movie's still well liked, even if it is generally considered the weakest of the original trilogy. The toxicity got pretty bad a little while after release, but not to the point where it hindered my love for Star Wars; I was very excited for what was coming next, and that was Rogue One. Most people liked it well enough, and there wasn't a lot of hate surrounding it. I liked it a lot, albeit not as much as Force Awakens, but it was still great. However, what came next would be the breaking point for me.
The Last Jedi. These spark a fire fueled by rage in any comment section, website, or basically anywhere on the internet. When this movie came out, it was immediately meant by a storm of hatred towards director Rian Johnson, anyone who worked at Lucasfilm, and anyone who starred in it. In fact, it got so bad that Kelly Marie Tran, who portrayed Rose in the film, left Instagram because she was getting constant racist and rude comments, as well as death threats, and whenever you clicked on any post on Rian Johnson's Twitter account, no matter if it was Star Wars related or not, there would be people telling him to get away from Star Wars and that he needed to retire from directing in general. It got even worse when Solo came out a mere 5 months later and bombed at the box office, leading fans to conclude that the brand was dead. Okay, let's get this out of the way; Just because you didn't like a movie doesn't mean to have to harass anyone and everyone involved in its production. I don't care for musicals, but if I where to see a musical production and then crap on everyone involved on Twitter, that's only going to hurt people and potentially their mental health, and make you look like an idiot in the process. Also, while Solo was a massive box office bomb, it wasn't caused by The Last Jedi, at least not entirely; People simply weren't interested in the film. It was a film that didn't need to be made, and while it was received decently, it was considered inessential by both hardcore Star Wars fans and general viewers. The fact that it also didn't have the star power of Harrison Ford didn't help either, as I'm sure many people wouldn't accept a new Han Solo. Add to that massive production costs due to original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being fired during production and 70 plus percent of the film being reshot, and this movie bombing was inevitable.
With that out of the way, how good or bad is The Last Jedi? Well, I have a controversial opinion; The Last Jedi is actually great. I found the character arcs in this movie extremely compelling, especially Luke's, which was a massive point of division. Luke's not the Luke you saw at end at the original trilogy, but it's been 30 years plus since that film in the timeline, and the reason why he changed makes sense. He failed to bring the evil out from Ben Solo like he did with his father, and that would have a big impact on him, and the scene where he's fighting Kylo at the end of the film is a fantastic resolution to his character arc, and his death scene felt satisfying to me. Rey and Kylo's force connections scenes are great as well. You can feel the tension between these two, as well as the sympathy they have towards each other. Heck, I don't mind the Canto Bight sequence. Sure, the horse escape scene was stupid, but I really like the message and it's only 11 minutes long, and it was never boring to me. Sure, it's the weakest plot in the film, but I enjoyed it well enough.
I also like Poe's arc here. It's actually one of my favorite parts of the movie, as it feels natural and earned. I don't think it's talked about enough. His transformation from "Destroy this, destroy that" to realizing the difference between having to do that and when to think differently is compelling and genuine.
I won't dwell too long on my thoughts on the movie; I liked this a lot, dare I say it's my favorite Disney Star Wars movie. Do I understand some of the complaints? Absolutely. Some of the pacing feels uneven and there are some silly moments, but as a whole, this movie is rich, different, and unexpected. A lot of the hate has to do with the movie not being what people expected, and that's really sad to me. Can they not appreciate the visual effects, the acting, the new ideas, and the surprises? Let me say this; You can absolutely dislike this movie. That's fine, and it sucks if you didn't like it, but don't hate it just because you wanted the vision you saw in your head. Like I said, there are legitimate reasons to not care for this film, just don't go bullying the people involved on social media.
So, where are we now? Well, at the time this is written, it's been almost 2 years since The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker is just about 3 months away, and the fanbase has only gotten worse. I thought there would be a cool down period between Solo and The Rise of Skywalker, but nope. The rumors that Skywalker's a failure because they're still tweaking the movie is bullcrap because that's what J.J. Abrams does with all his movies, people saying this movie's going to bomb because The Last Jedi sucked have no weight because people didn't like Attack of the Clones or The Phantom Menace because Revenge of the Sith made a killing at the box office, and this feels no different to me with the exception that the internet's a thing and people can be vocal. Sure, Solo bombed, but that film was not seen as essential. That's it, really. I think most of these rumors are started by people who want it to fail, and honestly, while I think these rumors have little to no legitimacy, it makes it harder to get hyped for Star Wars going forward. I don't want to be in a fanbase that hates their franchise more than everyone else, and that's all I see everywhere. Like I said at the beginning of this post, there are reasonable Star Wars fans out there, but their voices are drowned out by this blatant toxicity within the fanbase that's only gotten worse with time. So, if you had no clue about this toxicity in the Star Wars fanbase, please continue to stay away from it best you can, and if you are a part of this fanbase and want reasonable discussion, I feel you. Maybe someday it will get better.
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