Rian's passive aggressive love letter to J.J

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2017)

Prior to it's release Rian Johnson was said to be taking Star Wars in an entirely new direction, and he did exactly that, only it was in the opposite direction we'd all hoped for.
Having fully embraced the idea of RJ's "new take" on a franchise destined for change, I, like many lifelong fans, had high hopes for the latest installment. That hope was severely shaken within the opening two minutes, whereby a gradual wave of irony overwhelmed the common 'Star Wars til I die mentality' as Adrian Edmondson (Bottom's Eddie) seemed to be the only character on screen who wasn't descending into an ingratiating host of dated comic relief which didn't relent throughout it's lengthy two hours and thirty three minutes running time.
Despite that initial Han Solo-esque "I have a bad feeling about this" realization, there were so many elements of this movie which were complimentary of the Star Wars universe as we have come to know it. If anything, it was in perfect taste, a homage to The Empire Strikes Back, as the story largely took place in the vast expanse of space, bad guy ships in pursuit of good guy ships, and an aspiring Jedi off in the wilderness training with a reluctant old cynic, only to reconvene for one last show down to close out the show. In those respects, it slipped effortlessly into the themes and formats of a galaxy, far, far away. Yet, it's the daring risks taken on Johnson's part to seemingly turn this once niche property and former cult fan favorite into an atypical popcorn pushing blockbuster for the masses that ruined it's potential and put to waste his efforts to allow certain aspects of this universe to evolve graciously, such as the concept of the force, if not only for 3D effect. I for one commend the manner in which he honors the laws of Star Wars physics, as it's been far too long since the audience were treated to deceased beings transcending matter, and force ghosts randomly popping up for a good old chinwag. That was in perfect supply here, but it wasn't enough to stop the ship from sinking, unfortunately.
It is a wonder how someone of Kathleen Kennedy's genius allowed most of these mistakes to happen during the scripting stage of pre-production, let alone making it onto the big screen at all. Not only was Johnson granted permission to punish Abrams in the same manner J.J punished Lost fans by anticlimactically failing to answer any serious questions posed during years of mysterious story telling, but every previously planted seed that was established in The Force Awakens remained unwatered by Johnson from the outset, and unforgivably so. The clandestine exchange in which Rey hands Luke his own lightsaber on Ahch-To, only to have the mystique of that moment devastated by one swift lob of the Jedi weapon over a cliff's edge, as Skywalker awkwardly and metaphorically tosses away the past over his left shoulder, establishes nothing more than a passive aggressive theme that Rian seems to reiterate until the bitter end, albeit in a confused and contradictory manner. Let the past die? How is that anything but detrimental to this trilogy as a whole, and an insult to former directors and fans around the world, also. The most brutal dose of the director's 'I did it my way' attitude came after Snoke was treated like nothing but a throne warmer and the penultimate showdown between Kylo and Rey in which the former Sith apprentice reminds the Jakku slave orphan that she plays no part in the Skywalker saga, which renders her origins story as redundant as Abrams' previous efforts in the eyes of Rian Johnson himself.

Despite partially honoring the original source material and having created what could've been a decent Star Wars movie, Johnson was seemingly allowed to run away with himself, and that alone rendered this film as one of the hardest sequels to stomach. Now that Fisher is no longer with us, fans are left with a world occupied by only one character that is familially associated to the original saga, which kills off so much enthusiasm for the future of this story, especially when considering he smashes up consoles like he lost a game of FIFA, and punches walls like an emo just because granddad had a better hat.