It's an ok movie, but we miss George...

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2017)

If you are a devoted Star Wars fan, then you know about the story of George Lucas and how he fought against the entire studio system of his era, in order to realize his vision and create this cinematic phenomenon called Star Wars. Now after two movies without him at the helm, you can't help but appreciate once more his great intellect, his ingenuity and most of all his originality.
I truly love Star Wars, I grew up with it and it's the main reason that I love going to the movies so much. But last Thursday after having watched "The Last Jedi" I got that same feeling walking out of the cinema like when I watched "The Force Awakens".
And that feeling is this: This is not Star Wars!
It sure looks like it, the music is the same, the characters and spaceships are the same, there is the Force and the light sabers, but somehow there is something missing. You can't actually pinpoint it, but it's there missing. It's like when you are eating your favorite food (let's say a burger) but made from another restaurant. Before you eat it, it looks great, but as you taste it, it's not exactly the same. I mean sure you will eat it because you are hungry, but you will not savor it! Same thing goes here with TLJ. It's an ok movie, there is action, great effects, good humor and you get to see some of your most beloved characters on the screen, but it's not the same as you expected it to be.
I firstly thought that was because I am much older now than 1977, but it's not just that. What these movies luck (and I refer to both TFA and TLJ) is the heart and the spirit of their creator, the genius that transformed modern cinema called George Lucas. And this is how I return to the beginning of my text. If you are not willing to take risks, just like he was, stand up to what looks like it goes against popular opinion, you will end up making a more "flat" movie, that it sure is exciting to watch, but more thanks to its great production value and not so much to its originality or cinematic magic. For example killing off characters was something that was done brilliantly to "Game of Thrones", you can borrow it once when you killed Han Solo, don't overdo it! Also characters that withstood the test of time for decades (like Luke Skywalker) are to be treated with respect don't reduce them to caricatures of themselves like it happened in many cases in TLJ.
Come on let's face it, we cannot be naive: Disney spent a fortune to buy the rights to Star Wars, they are simply not allowed to risk losing it all, by taking a chance with leaving a director free to make his own choices. And that is why they didn't want George Lucas, not even as an advisor.
So, if you are going at the cinema to watch TLJ expecting to feel that same magic that you felt when watching Star Wars for the first time, then same like TFA you will be disappointed. But if you are going just to pass a good time watching a genre that you enjoy, then you will end up watching a fun movie with good special effects and some plot twists. It's more than ok for entertainment just not up to Star Wars tradition!