Every photo of Johnson taken on the set of that garbage movie should be cursed at. There is no way Disney gives him another chance regardless of what the idiots at Lucasfilm say.
I would like to gently push back on the whole “very, very few” thing stated as if it’s uncontested gospel truth. Everybody I know liked The Last Jedi a lot. Most of us just got tired of being shouted down in every space by the people who hated it, who seem motivated beyond anything I’ve ever encountered before to dominate every bit of discourse on the subject. I know I’ve massively scaled back on my participation in the fandom as a result.
Yes! It was easily the best of the new trilogy and widely enjoyed, but the voices of those who disliked it (who are, in my own life, the people who liked TROS, which is very telling to me) are persistently loud with their hatred.
Totally the case. The “very, very few comment” had little basis in reality. Those who disliked it were definitely the most vocal, but I’d feel confident in asserting that it was more liked than disliked. After all, it was the best of the three.
The movie was bad. The 1st and 3rd ones weren’t masterpieces either, but they were better and didn’t bash you over the head with selective political agendas. The plot in the 3rd one also wasn’t great, but it made more sense than TLJ.
The only thing that TLJ really had going for it was the visuals, best of the three.
The Last Jedi was the most inspiring and thought provoking Star Wars movie yet. It deepened into the spiritual inportance of unity between the dark and the light side and expanded on the nature of the Force. Sad that so many love to Hate what they do not understand I wish Rian Johnson does more star wars films.
It also was completely disrespectful of all that came before, rendered the original six films as completely pointless, and completely assassinated Luke Skywalker’s character. TLJ didn’t tackle anything the original 6 did first and better.
It least it gave me a new appreciation for the Original Expanded Universe were the OT cast is treated with the utmost respect, and Luke Skywalker is a still a hero and who successfully revived the Jedi Order.
The philosophy The Last Jedi tackled was actually fairly different from the first 6 films. At least in the beginning and middle of the film. It introduced the idea that balance didn’t come from actually only surrounding yourself with the light and suppressing the dark. That our inadequate conceptions of good and evil are what leads to the re-emergence of another fascistic empire (New Order). All the previous films have the premise that balance in the force is good for the galaxy and that it must be carefully maintained (by the Jedi Order). But TLJ suggests that balance in the force is inherent… and that when darkness rises, the force amplifies the light to achieve this balance. The implications obviously being that the Jedi order’s suppression of their own dark sides led to the strengthening of the dark. (I know this doesn’t mesh well with the expanded universe’s explanations… but it’s still an interesting philosophy for the Canon universe). With this philosophy in hand, Luke’s criticism of the Jedi Order is now him blaming them in part with the cyclical rise and fall of the fascist empires which cause suffering for so many all across the galaxy.
This is further hinted at when Luke says, “This is the lesson. That force does not belong to the jedi. To say that if the jedi die, the light dies is vanity”.
The idea the film is discussing with that line is an idea in psychology
that says repressing our dark side merely serves to amplify it and creates what is called an ego split which forces us to project our ugliness onto a scapegoat and leads to a neverending fight. And seeing as how the universe of Star Wars is doomed to be in a neverending cycle of war… this tracks. It is providing a reason for why those wars keep happening and the reason is because of the Jedi’s repression of the dark side which creates an imbalance.
This is further confirmed when you think about how conquering evil with good hasn’t actually done much for the galaxy. There is still a fascist empire in the form of the First Order. There is suffering everywhere being led by a Supreme dictator in the form of Snoke who was basically just Palpatine… which if we were to ignore Rise of Skywalker (which ruined some of the themes of this movie)… would imply that Snoke may have risen due to Luke’s own rise in power on the lightside… aka as Luke rose in the light, his equal rose in the dark to meet him.
Then there is the character of DJ 2ho demonstrates how even the supposed good guys get caught up in the darker elements of the universe. This is shown on the arms dealers’ ship where it is shown the rich citizens of the planet that practices slavery, human trafficking, and animal abuse made their money selling weapons to the first order and the rebellion. The galaxy economy is essentially run by perpetual war and conflict… and the rebels happily contribute to that economy.
The problem with the Last Jedi comes with its ending… which I suspect comes from Disney getting cold feet and forcing Johnson to make changes because they were afraid all those themes Johnson was discussing would simply be too controversial. So they didn’t follow through on these themes which definitely have an interesting thing to say.
The difference between Genuine Star Wars and fake Disney Wars is that Star Wars under George Lucas dealt with large scale politics. Things that have affected all civilizations throughout mankind’s 6,000 years of recorded human history. The fall of republics to decadence, the rise of despotic empires, rebellions and revolution, etc. These things are cyclical, and timeless, and affect all generations and cultures.
Star Wars under Disney, focuses on the small minded political fashion trends of the moment. Rose Tico’s deeply moronic social justice lectures for instance, demonstrates that fact perfectly.
Of course, the important thing to remember is that whatever political messaging Lucas inserted into his films— even the prequels, when he had more clout—it was NOT the driving force behind the films, and only existed to be discovered and then taken or left depending on how deeply the viewer was inclined to do so. The cart did not pull the horse, and Star Wars functioned primarily on the basis (and strengths) of its plot and characters, which is why it had (emphasis on past tense) such universal appeal for decades. The emphasis was on in-universe storytelling logic, rather than shallow, window-dressing plot points laid atop a blatant and narrow/present-day political narrative.
Palpatine’s false-flag war in the prequels has legitimate narrative value within the overarching plot of the films, and the specific politics and allegories (such as they are, considering the broad-strokes examination of general historical trends which Lucas usually went with) are a secondary consideration. Whereas the Canto Bight sidequest is a pointless detour with no impact on the overall plot of the Disney Trilogy, and serves only as an excuse for social justice lecturing.
THAT’s the difference. In Lucas’ Star Wars, the politics are a mere tangent of the overall story. In Disney’s Star Wars, they are the driving force. Artistic storytelling with a dash of social commentary vs. Leftist corporate propaganda.
“Very, very few”… The Last Jedi was easily the best movie in the entire trilogy as they were actually exploring new philosophies that the series never really touched before which was interesting. The problem with the sequel trilogy was that they didn’t go far enough in that new direction. Disney caved to a loud vocal fanbase… to the detriment of the rest of the fans.
And then we got Rise of Skywalker… and Palpatine… again… yay…
The Last Jedi wasn’t perfect… mostly because even in that movie they were showing some signs of being non-committal to the ideas being introduced (probably interference from Disney anticipating the fan reaction). However, I am fairly certain that in a decade or two, the Last Jedi will be the only movie from the sequel trilogy that actually ages decently well. The other 2 are just same old same old and boring.
‘Star Wars’ Director Rian Johnson Shares “Most Cursed Image of All Time”
That image is still not anywhere near as cursed as Luke throwing away Anakin’s lightsaber, sucking on the soy milk, and spewing some garbage about how the Jedi are failures, and need to end while the galaxy plunges further into darkness because he completely gave up on everything he was, accomplished, and believed in, while getting his rear end hand to him by the spawn of Palpatine who has only known about the Force a week ago, and is suddenly more powerful than Yoda with NO training whatsover.
Exactly !! Says it all. And we’re supposed to accept this garbage as a viable plot line !!
The three icons of the original trilogy – Luke, Leia and Han, were deliberately disavowed, deprecated and destroyed as part of a deliberate attempt to impose political correctness, even at the expense of plot irrelevancy and failure. It goes against EVERYTHING that the original trilogy stood for and represents a slap in the face and contemptuous thumbing of their nose at every moviegoer by the current managers, writers and producers of this mess.
Truth is somewhere in the middle regarding Last Jedi. I think the mistake was the decision to have multiple directors with different visions. I’m interested in seeing a Rian Johnson trilogy or a JJ Trilogy, but instead, Rian Johnson forced many things in Last Jedi, which caused a huge cleanup in aisle 5 for ROSW. I do think that the trilogy would have been a lot more cohesive if Rian Johnson didn’t direct the second one, but having said that, he’s talented, and I am not opposed to him having his own trilogy.
The goal is obvious – the politicization and utter sabotage of everything the original 3 Star Wars movies stood for. The results are obvious – theater going confusion, with a few identifying the excellent special effects with “good” movie.
The vast majority sense something is very wrong. Absurd plot holes, meaningless characters, the deliberate portrayal of Luke as almost a skid row derelict and the elegant Princess Leia, dressed as a garage mechanic, filled with remorse over her lost birdbrain pathetic moron of a son which would NEVER have happened in a Timothy Zahn novel, a REAL writer unlike the pathetic Johnson.
Disney knows something is very wrong, but they too are apparently unable to conceptualize the full extent of the rift, their thinking blinders focusing on statistics, marketing and things which only acquire meaning when you have a good plot and ideas to go along with the sets, effects and actors.
The cash losses and public disgust with Johnson’s political “correctness” will increase until it overcomes the STUPEFICATION of the managers.
The Last Jedi is easily the worst of all Star Wars Films. Some other things not mentioned in the comments that are completely stupid are: 1) the starship is running out of fuel but is just slightly faster than the 1st order pursuing them. 2) The first order instead of blasting open that cave door from one of their massive warships orbiting the planet need to drop down a gun, and drag it for several miles so that it’s close enough to work. 3) the stupid gags with the porgs and Chewbacca. 4) the stupid gag with Po pretending to be on the phone trying to talk to the general. 5) bombs that fall in space out of a trap door ,where there is no gravity, and need to be hauled at point blank range to work. Add things like these to the irreverent treatment of Luke and the convoluted Casino planet arch and you have a big dumb mess of a movie. Rian Johnson should never touch a Star Wars movie again.
8 was my favorite of the three, but I liked 7 as well. I didn’t hate 9 overall, but there were things that bothered me a great deal: the light speed hopping, Rey’s accidental lightning, etc. To me, they represent the problems I had with the whole trilogy. They cranked everybody’s abilities to 11. Han Solo deciding to cut off light speed by feel is just as silly as anything in 9. Apparently, it is like dusting crops?
“very, very few” liked the Last Jedi? Um, 76% of voters rated it over 5 on IMDB. It was a great movie. It’s not wrong to write a plot which is different than expected, but still consistent. In fact it would have been a far worse movie if Luke and others had no problems and no character growth, it would have been pretty dull.
Comments for ‘Star Wars’ Director Rian Johnson Shares “Most Cursed Image of All Time”
Backcountry164
Every photo of Johnson taken on the set of that garbage movie should be cursed at. There is no way Disney gives him another chance regardless of what the idiots at Lucasfilm say.
Melissa
I would like to gently push back on the whole “very, very few” thing stated as if it’s uncontested gospel truth. Everybody I know liked The Last Jedi a lot. Most of us just got tired of being shouted down in every space by the people who hated it, who seem motivated beyond anything I’ve ever encountered before to dominate every bit of discourse on the subject. I know I’ve massively scaled back on my participation in the fandom as a result.
Teresa
Yes! It was easily the best of the new trilogy and widely enjoyed, but the voices of those who disliked it (who are, in my own life, the people who liked TROS, which is very telling to me) are persistently loud with their hatred.
Corey
Totally the case. The “very, very few comment” had little basis in reality. Those who disliked it were definitely the most vocal, but I’d feel confident in asserting that it was more liked than disliked. After all, it was the best of the three.
Boo
The movie was bad. The 1st and 3rd ones weren’t masterpieces either, but they were better and didn’t bash you over the head with selective political agendas. The plot in the 3rd one also wasn’t great, but it made more sense than TLJ.
The only thing that TLJ really had going for it was the visuals, best of the three.
Nikos
The Last Jedi was the most inspiring and thought provoking Star Wars movie yet. It deepened into the spiritual inportance of unity between the dark and the light side and expanded on the nature of the Force. Sad that so many love to Hate what they do not understand I wish Rian Johnson does more star wars films.
Lucas Loyalist
It also was completely disrespectful of all that came before, rendered the original six films as completely pointless, and completely assassinated Luke Skywalker’s character. TLJ didn’t tackle anything the original 6 did first and better.
It least it gave me a new appreciation for the Original Expanded Universe were the OT cast is treated with the utmost respect, and Luke Skywalker is a still a hero and who successfully revived the Jedi Order.
Bobcakin
The philosophy The Last Jedi tackled was actually fairly different from the first 6 films. At least in the beginning and middle of the film. It introduced the idea that balance didn’t come from actually only surrounding yourself with the light and suppressing the dark. That our inadequate conceptions of good and evil are what leads to the re-emergence of another fascistic empire (New Order). All the previous films have the premise that balance in the force is good for the galaxy and that it must be carefully maintained (by the Jedi Order). But TLJ suggests that balance in the force is inherent… and that when darkness rises, the force amplifies the light to achieve this balance. The implications obviously being that the Jedi order’s suppression of their own dark sides led to the strengthening of the dark. (I know this doesn’t mesh well with the expanded universe’s explanations… but it’s still an interesting philosophy for the Canon universe). With this philosophy in hand, Luke’s criticism of the Jedi Order is now him blaming them in part with the cyclical rise and fall of the fascist empires which cause suffering for so many all across the galaxy.
This is further hinted at when Luke says, “This is the lesson. That force does not belong to the jedi. To say that if the jedi die, the light dies is vanity”.
The idea the film is discussing with that line is an idea in psychology
that says repressing our dark side merely serves to amplify it and creates what is called an ego split which forces us to project our ugliness onto a scapegoat and leads to a neverending fight. And seeing as how the universe of Star Wars is doomed to be in a neverending cycle of war… this tracks. It is providing a reason for why those wars keep happening and the reason is because of the Jedi’s repression of the dark side which creates an imbalance.
This is further confirmed when you think about how conquering evil with good hasn’t actually done much for the galaxy. There is still a fascist empire in the form of the First Order. There is suffering everywhere being led by a Supreme dictator in the form of Snoke who was basically just Palpatine… which if we were to ignore Rise of Skywalker (which ruined some of the themes of this movie)… would imply that Snoke may have risen due to Luke’s own rise in power on the lightside… aka as Luke rose in the light, his equal rose in the dark to meet him.
Then there is the character of DJ 2ho demonstrates how even the supposed good guys get caught up in the darker elements of the universe. This is shown on the arms dealers’ ship where it is shown the rich citizens of the planet that practices slavery, human trafficking, and animal abuse made their money selling weapons to the first order and the rebellion. The galaxy economy is essentially run by perpetual war and conflict… and the rebels happily contribute to that economy.
The problem with the Last Jedi comes with its ending… which I suspect comes from Disney getting cold feet and forcing Johnson to make changes because they were afraid all those themes Johnson was discussing would simply be too controversial. So they didn’t follow through on these themes which definitely have an interesting thing to say.
Lucas Loyalist
The difference between Genuine Star Wars and fake Disney Wars is that Star Wars under George Lucas dealt with large scale politics. Things that have affected all civilizations throughout mankind’s 6,000 years of recorded human history. The fall of republics to decadence, the rise of despotic empires, rebellions and revolution, etc. These things are cyclical, and timeless, and affect all generations and cultures.
Star Wars under Disney, focuses on the small minded political fashion trends of the moment. Rose Tico’s deeply moronic social justice lectures for instance, demonstrates that fact perfectly.
Of course, the important thing to remember is that whatever political messaging Lucas inserted into his films— even the prequels, when he had more clout—it was NOT the driving force behind the films, and only existed to be discovered and then taken or left depending on how deeply the viewer was inclined to do so. The cart did not pull the horse, and Star Wars functioned primarily on the basis (and strengths) of its plot and characters, which is why it had (emphasis on past tense) such universal appeal for decades. The emphasis was on in-universe storytelling logic, rather than shallow, window-dressing plot points laid atop a blatant and narrow/present-day political narrative.
Palpatine’s false-flag war in the prequels has legitimate narrative value within the overarching plot of the films, and the specific politics and allegories (such as they are, considering the broad-strokes examination of general historical trends which Lucas usually went with) are a secondary consideration. Whereas the Canto Bight sidequest is a pointless detour with no impact on the overall plot of the Disney Trilogy, and serves only as an excuse for social justice lecturing.
THAT’s the difference. In Lucas’ Star Wars, the politics are a mere tangent of the overall story. In Disney’s Star Wars, they are the driving force. Artistic storytelling with a dash of social commentary vs. Leftist corporate propaganda.
ITMbites
“Very, very few fans enjoyed the film.”
::pats head::
I’m sure you think that’s clever. Run along, child.
Daryl-Rhys
The very very few comment is the kind of biased journalism I would expect from CNN. You should be aiming to do better.
Bobcakin
“Very, very few”… The Last Jedi was easily the best movie in the entire trilogy as they were actually exploring new philosophies that the series never really touched before which was interesting. The problem with the sequel trilogy was that they didn’t go far enough in that new direction. Disney caved to a loud vocal fanbase… to the detriment of the rest of the fans.
And then we got Rise of Skywalker… and Palpatine… again… yay…
The Last Jedi wasn’t perfect… mostly because even in that movie they were showing some signs of being non-committal to the ideas being introduced (probably interference from Disney anticipating the fan reaction). However, I am fairly certain that in a decade or two, the Last Jedi will be the only movie from the sequel trilogy that actually ages decently well. The other 2 are just same old same old and boring.
Lucas Loyalist
‘Star Wars’ Director Rian Johnson Shares “Most Cursed Image of All Time”
That image is still not anywhere near as cursed as Luke throwing away Anakin’s lightsaber, sucking on the soy milk, and spewing some garbage about how the Jedi are failures, and need to end while the galaxy plunges further into darkness because he completely gave up on everything he was, accomplished, and believed in, while getting his rear end hand to him by the spawn of Palpatine who has only known about the Force a week ago, and is suddenly more powerful than Yoda with NO training whatsover.
Citizen_Jimserac
Exactly !! Says it all. And we’re supposed to accept this garbage as a viable plot line !!
The three icons of the original trilogy – Luke, Leia and Han, were deliberately disavowed, deprecated and destroyed as part of a deliberate attempt to impose political correctness, even at the expense of plot irrelevancy and failure. It goes against EVERYTHING that the original trilogy stood for and represents a slap in the face and contemptuous thumbing of their nose at every moviegoer by the current managers, writers and producers of this mess.
Lucas Loyalist
I knew the idea of a Sequel Trilogy was going to be bad, I just didn’t think it would THAT bad.
George Lucas abandoned treatments were probably better, but we’ll never know. At least they wouldn’t have been copies of the previous 6.
But Star Wars films ended chronologically in story with Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, and that’s quite all right with me.
Clint Wolfrom
Truth is somewhere in the middle regarding Last Jedi. I think the mistake was the decision to have multiple directors with different visions. I’m interested in seeing a Rian Johnson trilogy or a JJ Trilogy, but instead, Rian Johnson forced many things in Last Jedi, which caused a huge cleanup in aisle 5 for ROSW. I do think that the trilogy would have been a lot more cohesive if Rian Johnson didn’t direct the second one, but having said that, he’s talented, and I am not opposed to him having his own trilogy.
Citizen_Jimserac
The goal is obvious – the politicization and utter sabotage of everything the original 3 Star Wars movies stood for. The results are obvious – theater going confusion, with a few identifying the excellent special effects with “good” movie.
The vast majority sense something is very wrong. Absurd plot holes, meaningless characters, the deliberate portrayal of Luke as almost a skid row derelict and the elegant Princess Leia, dressed as a garage mechanic, filled with remorse over her lost birdbrain pathetic moron of a son which would NEVER have happened in a Timothy Zahn novel, a REAL writer unlike the pathetic Johnson.
Disney knows something is very wrong, but they too are apparently unable to conceptualize the full extent of the rift, their thinking blinders focusing on statistics, marketing and things which only acquire meaning when you have a good plot and ideas to go along with the sets, effects and actors.
The cash losses and public disgust with Johnson’s political “correctness” will increase until it overcomes the STUPEFICATION of the managers.
Kenr
The Last Jedi is easily the worst of all Star Wars Films. Some other things not mentioned in the comments that are completely stupid are: 1) the starship is running out of fuel but is just slightly faster than the 1st order pursuing them. 2) The first order instead of blasting open that cave door from one of their massive warships orbiting the planet need to drop down a gun, and drag it for several miles so that it’s close enough to work. 3) the stupid gags with the porgs and Chewbacca. 4) the stupid gag with Po pretending to be on the phone trying to talk to the general. 5) bombs that fall in space out of a trap door ,where there is no gravity, and need to be hauled at point blank range to work. Add things like these to the irreverent treatment of Luke and the convoluted Casino planet arch and you have a big dumb mess of a movie. Rian Johnson should never touch a Star Wars movie again.
Jim
Jesus Christ, can this dude just disappear from the mainstream already? TLJ was trash, and I wish everyone would stop talking about it.
Darth Y'all
8 was my favorite of the three, but I liked 7 as well. I didn’t hate 9 overall, but there were things that bothered me a great deal: the light speed hopping, Rey’s accidental lightning, etc. To me, they represent the problems I had with the whole trilogy. They cranked everybody’s abilities to 11. Han Solo deciding to cut off light speed by feel is just as silly as anything in 9. Apparently, it is like dusting crops?
Rico
“very, very few” liked the Last Jedi? Um, 76% of voters rated it over 5 on IMDB. It was a great movie. It’s not wrong to write a plot which is different than expected, but still consistent. In fact it would have been a far worse movie if Luke and others had no problems and no character growth, it would have been pretty dull.
Comments are closed.