Review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) by Zaku2Zaki — 14 Jan 2018

I live in Singapore. Asians usually like scifi. This is an 'meh' scifi movie considering the budget TLJ had but TLJ is definitely a TERRIBLE star wars movie.

Preface: I'm an 80s baby, star wars is sacred. (even in asia.) Shutting myself from the hype train, I waited for the very last day of the cinema showing, so I can walk in to a near empty theater to enjoy the odyssey, the epic that star wars deservedly is.

Again, Preface: I'm an 80s baby. Grew up with the original SW trilogy throughout the 90s, rushed to watch Prequels in the 2000s. Played the video games, read the books and comics, watch the cartoons and animated series, and yes bought toys and merch.

So... about 2hr 30 min after, watching TLJ, I left the theater confused, (I understand why people had to watch TLJ 2 or 3 more times. And not in a good way). I slept it over. Woke up the next day. Thought about TLJ. Became more and more angry as I thought about TLJ. Slept again. Today, 2 days after watching TLJ = MORE ANGRY as I think about TLJ.

Critique of TLJ = Really weak story, plot holes after plot holes after plot holes, weak characters with little development (Sadness here - Rey, Fin, Poe deserved to shine in this episode...WASTED!), characters introduced who are inconsequential, storylines that go nowhere, forced SJW-3rd wave feminist messaging almost every other scene. (There has ALWAYS been strong men AND women in the sw universe but now only women are strong, smart, courageous, wise....okay....), forced out of place/oddly timed humour (Oh my god the phone joke!), brisk pacing for a 2hrs++ movie which remarkably lacks substance or depth ending up with heroes I am uninterested cheering for, villains that are not threatening. Then, how TLJ handled an iconic character which has been celebrated for pass a good 40 years....disrespectful. Excellent visuals and music though, which seems to be what matters these days.

Ultimately you start to have the feeling that the director/writer of TLJ is giving you, star wars fans and the star wars mythos the middle finger all throughout the movie. Self indulgent, self satisfied, talentless hack. Who the f**k gave the greenlight for Rian Johnson to touch the star wars ip? People need to get fired for this. Thank god Rian Johnson was nowhere near Blade Runner 2049. As a fan of star wars for almost 30 years, literally almost all of my life (as of this writing), I'm done with star wars. I'm NOT EVEN INTERESTED IN EPISODE 9. WHO CARES? As an asian observer, if americans dont even care about their own cultural treasures then why should I? Star Wars is dead.