A silly backwards step

Rating: 3/10 (14 December 2017)

As a life long Star Wars fan it was so heartening to have JJ Abrams ditch the lens flare and create a solid entry in the Star Wars universe. It has its faults, but I loved it anyway and it made up for many of the wrongs George Lucas had inflicted on us with Episodes 1-3.
And then Rogue One took a bold step in a different direction, and brought back the bleak Empire Strikes Back tone. Again, not perfect, but watchable, interesting and engaging.
And then Rian Johnson undoes almost all the good work.
Perhaps JJ introduced too many characters, or maybe Johnson just didn't know what to do with them. Or maybe he can't write a good script, or direct to save his life. There were so many moments that were not only stupid (I constantly found myself thinking 'WHY are they doing that??') but didn't make sense in the wider Star Wars universe.
I came out of the cinema feeling like this was closer to Episode 1 than 4-6. Ridiculous humour delivered on terrible beats. Poor pacing. Weak characterisation. Interesting questions and even powerful moments generated from Force Awakens were casually discarded with what seemed like contempt by the 'Director'. I won't spoil anything here, but there was one scene with Leia that really made me think WTF - it made me question Johnson's motives, and I would be interested to know if it was in earlier drafts.
It really wouldn't surprise me to find that Johnson is a bigger fan of Phantom Menace than A New Hope, or Empire, or RotJ. So if you loved Phantom and like the idea of BB-8 being the new Jar Jar Binks then you'll probably love this film as well.
Any positive notes? Well... The first space battle is good. Most of the scenes with Rey are solid. Poe is still a great Han Solo-lite. Mark Hamill did his best, but I can now understand why he said he fundamentally disagreed with Luke's story arc in this film.
I really hope JJ pulls it back with Episode IX. And I hope even more that Disney change their mind and take away the keys from Rian Johnson, and DO NOT let him direct and write three more films!