Relax and enjoy the storytelling. You'll be happier.

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2019)

I'm sometimes find it fascinating that fans feel like they own the sole viewpoint on the direction a franchise should go, and when it doesn't happen the way they feel it should, they say the movie is bad. I liked things that happened in TFA, and I liked things in TLJ. I didn't like everything, but who wants to watch a movie with no surprises? I loved this movie. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I love the storytelling enough to forgive some of the flaws. An honest look at the original films reveals all sorts of issues with acting, story, and pacing, not to mention the obvious marketing ploy of the Ewok characters. Yet I love them because I saw them as a child and could get lost in the story. TROS is not a perfect movie, but if you go into it with a bit of child-like wonder (something severely lacking in almost every professional critic), you will love this movie, too. I would advise everyone to remember that critics are paid to find flaws so that they can up the drama, and many regular cinephiles that submit critiques feed on the drama of tearing apart someone else's creative endeavors. This is my second or third review ever, but I just feel like most of the people tearing apart this movie are actually just a rabid vocal minority who feel like everyone should be as critical as they are. It's a story made to entertain. Relax and enjoy it instead of nit picking it because it's not as thought provoking as you think it should be. Let a story be a story. One last word to those who said the film references backwards too much instead of looking to the future. George Lucas based his story on the work of Joseph Campbell and his theory that cultures across the world respond to common mythological characters and motifs. It was the secret of Lucas' success. TROS refers back to all those same motifs because that is what makes Star Wars what it is: an enjoyable story. Relax and enjoy it.