With the current reception of the Last Jedi, it has become clear; Star Wars fans have truly forgotten what Star Wars has been about.

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2017)

Now, I have seen this only once, which was 3 weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about this film. As I expected from the user review section of this film, it is what I expected; filled with one stars, two stars, three stars, complaining the fact that "Disney ruined Star Wars", or that it is "filled with a mediocre script", or that it was "full of plot holes" and a "mess of a film". But one thing I lacked to see here was any valid criticism, well, true, there are moments where most of the reviews here make valid points, but my true assessment on these reviews? Is that Star Wars fans have truly forgotten what Star Wars is built upon, what it runs on, and what made its 30 year legacy exactly what it is now.
Let's go back two years ago, during the release of the Force Awakens. Like the Last Jedi, it was horribly crucified by fans who reject the film being in the Star Wars canon and complain that the film is just a remake of Episode IV. Fans hated the fact that Star Wars was "ruined" by JJ Abrams because he "re-hashed" a story rather than trying to tell an original one. Fans wanted an original, darker and a different type of Star Wars story rather than what seems to be a re-telling of the film. Now let's go back 18 years ago when the Phantom Menace was released. CGI in film was uprising, and George Lucas wanted to make another Star Wars film telling the origin story of Darth Vader and a prequel trilogy to the original. And what happens next? Along with the Phantom Menace and its follow ups, fans hated it. One of the many reasons the prequels were hated was because it wasn't trying to tell a Star Wars story; it was trying to tell a political story in a Star Wars setting. This is the fault of George Lucas and his ego for wanting to make "whatever film he wants" because he is the creator of Star Wars and his fixation on making a modern Star Wars film with better VFX. It's not surprising that Lucas had stopped reading anything on the internet since 2000 (a year after Phantom Menace was released) because he did the one mistake that made the prequels terrible; by not listening to fans.
After the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney in 2009, Disney felt it was time to expand the Star Wars canon with a sequel trilogy. And unlike Lucas, for a greedy corporation like Disney, they have done a rare occasion where the corporation triumphs over the artist. The corporation here is Disney, whilst the artist here is Lucas.
So, is the Last Jedi the perfect Star Wars film? No. Is it on par with the Empire Strikes Back? It could be. Despite all that, I really, and yes, I mean really LIKED the Last Jedi as a Star Wars fan. From start to finish, and like the Force Awakens, this film is everything what Star Wars had always been about when it was released 30 years ago, hope and the good and evil of the Force. And if you want to complain about plot holes, remember; Obi-Wan Kenobi's big plan was to hide Luke on Anakin's home planet in the care of Anakin's step-brother, with Luke using his real surname and Obi-Wan deploying the secret identity of "Ben Kenobi"?
That is hilarious when you think about how bad of a plan that is. And While Mark Hamill's performance was great in TLJ, it was far from it in episodes IV through VI.
Like Rogue One, the film cleans even cleans up plot holes from previous movies. As Luke points out, how is one guy with a light saber really going to make a difference in a war? It is a little silly to assume this as we have in past films, which rely excessively on one or two heroes to swing a whole war to one side. But the movie shows the importance of symbolism and heroes to inspire support for the war from the population, and that is why the Jedi or the force more broadly matters.
So let's be clear, then: While according to Star Wars lore the Jedi have most often interpreted the idea of "bringing balance to the Force" as requiring the destruction of all Sith (users of the Dark side of the Force), George Lucas himself has repeatedly said otherwise, suggesting instead that "the overriding philosophy of the movies is the balance between good and evil."
Now from here, I'm going to talk about the very criticism that fans have giving this film right now. True, during earlier of this film's release, Mark Hamill criticized Rian Johnson's take on what seems to be an arrogant Luke Skywalker in the movie, and I find it ridiculous over the fact that fans made a petition to scrap the movie and remake it. And now, recently, I find it fair to write a review as of now, weeks after its release, since Mark Hamill expressed remorse over his comments on Rian Johnson's take on Luke. Like Hamill said, Rian made an all time "GREAT" movie.
Now, everything I am going to say is from my perspective as a Star Wars fan for nearly ten years. How long are Star Wars fans going to realize the one thing that has made Star Wars so appealing? What made it appealing to them? Have you ever been asked the question, when was the first time you really started being sucked into the Star Wars universe? And regardless of who you are, the most likely answer would be was when you were a child, between the ages of 4 to 10.
And this is exactly what the sequel trilogy does excellently, even with a greedy corporation like Disney having Star Wars in its bag. TFA and TLJ are films that are meant to attract a new audience, expand its fanbase, while pleasing its fans and at the same time, doing the one thing that Star Wars has done to us in the past, to be appealing to children.
While yes, the Star Wars films throughout the years had darker elements implemented in its stories, including this one, but that has never changed the fact that the most who have wanted to see it were children. Treat Star Wars as an animated Pixar film. How many times Pixar films have taken what seems to be cheesy soap operas but managed to deliver emotional impact or storylines that only the grown ups would understand? (E.g: A montage of Carl and Ellie's marriage life in Up, and Andy finally letting Woody go in Toy Story 3). Remember, when Darth Vader told Luke that he was his father in the Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas intentionally made Luke return to Dagobah in ROTJ because he didn't want children to dismiss Vader's claim as a lie. So what is my point here? My point is that older Star Wars fans, who consists mostly of teenagers and young adults and die hard Star Wars fans do not like to be the sidekicks. They want a Star Wars film that meets their expectations while telling a story that they want to see. And yet, this aggravates me, because Star Wars movies have never meant to please one person in Star Wars fanbase or one group of Star Wars fans; Star Wars movies are made for Star Wars fans of all ages, whether you like it or not. You can never expect what you want from any movie as well, because Star Wars fans, no matter where they are from, need to remember they are not the only Star Wars fans around the world.
If there was one thing about the prequel trilogy that failed, it was that it failed to be appealing to children. Yes it was. How were children going to ever understand what was going on in the prequel trilogy if the whole story was consisted of a political storyline? The original trilogy succeeded in being appealing to children because it was a story about good and evil, and in all three movies, that was one of it's themes and main focus of the entire three movies. The prequels instead tell a story of good and evil while making the political aspect of the film as the main focus. Hence, the mixed reception for the Star Wars prequels. The one thing that the prequels at least succeeded was making a grown up Star Wars story. But was it a good one? No. Even when ROTS had its moments, it was mostly laughable at times. Plus, the development of those films were mostly a mess.
I have seen reviews here stating of "real reasons" why fans reject the Last Jedi. To people who had written these reviews, I humbly disagree. True, Star Wars wanted the immediate answers from unanswered questions left from the Force Awakens. And here in TLJ, we finally get them. So why be angry? Do we really need another Star Wars hero to be connected with some old big timer we used to know? Was a background for Supreme Leader Snoke necessary despite back in the original trilogy, there wasn't much exposition for the Emperor himself until ROTJ? Watch and observe TLJ closely again, and you will see that TLJ clears up plot holes like TFA did when you see it more than twice. But it is evident that, despite their contradictions, a majority of Star Wars fans refused to see any other Star Wars product or film in the canon that is nowhere near the setting of the original trilogy. Why was Rogue One accepted, but this one rejected? Because the story of Rogue One marked the beginning of the battle between the Empire and the Rebellion. Most Star Wars fans have accused critics and audiences for giving TFA and TLJ good reviews because of being by nostalgia, but it is clear that these same people are being hypocritical because they choose to be stuck in nostalgia rather than being blinded by it. To these Star Wars fans, Star Wars only is Star Wars when it's Empire vs Rebellion; not Republic vs Sith, nor First Order vs Resistance.
In my conclusion, here's my final assessment of the Last Jedi; was it a mess of a film? Yes, it was at times. Is it worthy of criticism? YES INDEED. Few of the characters here were underdeveloped and the Finn/Rose story arc felt just felt like a bad subplot to the main storyline of the film. But does it deserve
the hate it is getting now? No, not one bit. Star Wars fans have misunderstood the Star Wars universe for being what it truly is. Because it is clear to most people now, the people who hate Star Wars the most are its fans itself.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi gets an A-