Heartbroken.

Rating: 2/10 (1 April 2018)

Let us all be brutally honest,
Something has gone incredibly wrong in Hollywood. Somehow, somewhere along the way, the people involved with these major studios lost the ability to create something truly magical and timeless. The talented people who used to be involved in these ventures ranging from cinematographers to screenwriters have almost all been replaced, the equipment, techniques and artisanry lost to history. Meanwhile, the new generation seem to be largely comprised of mediocre, though well meaning novices - so desperately undermined by the marketing forces behind these big studio projects that now almost dominate all the best franchises.
I suspect that what made Star Wars great to begin with, was not simply the storytelling recipe that these newcomers exhaustively attempt to recreate, but in my humble opinion, exactly what made any literary classic great - liberated imagination. George Lucas had far more time to polish his ideas to become the amazing characters, story arcs and concepts used in the original movies. To be fair, the Prequels also had some of the same features, but suffered immensely from the emergence of inauthentic CGI, loss of talent and a far more intensive production schedule.
Now these big universes that we love so much have been incorporated into the industrial mass production scheme we see everywhere else from music to washing machines. All that considered, one of the dominating feelings I'm left with after having seen this movie twice in the cinema, is that I feel sorry for Rian Johnson, JJ Abrams and the other people on the project. Clearly they never wanted this movie to turn out so horribly - but creating a coherent and universally loved experience in this day and age is almost impossible.
That said, I don't even see the need to dig into any of the specific deficiencies in the movies, which previous reviewers have discussed at length - and rarely require anything special to recognize. I would hope that in the desperate attempt to rationalize or excuse this massive failure, that the studio and central people involved with avoid blaming the moviegoers or fans. There is a idea circulating that somehow we've built up this expectation in the shape of fan theories and so on that make it impossible to judge the movie fairly. I'll be happy to concede that this could play a role for some people, but overall, the premise is unacceptable and pure nonsense. People know a good story when they hear/see one. This much has not changed in the decades that have passed.
Ironically, part of my argument is undermined by the standalone movie "Rogue One" - I'm extremely curious to know how this movie managed to come so much closer to authenticity than the Saga movies have. I suspect some of it is pure luck and far lower expectations from the industrial side.