Got the best explanation last night of this movie from a friend of our nephew, who’s in his early 30s. The “Star Wars” franchise decisions have been taken over by the Millennials. Their generation absolutely loved “The Last Jedi”, according to him. Us old farts, to whom Mark Hamill is a contemporary, don’t understand the new direction. Besides, it’s JUST a movie.
I guess so. My major problem, besides all the PC bullcrap, is that ‘TLJ’ did little or nothing to extend the story lines of previous editions, but didn’t work as a stand-alone movie. Mainly because the writers assumed we all knew who the characters were.
My problem with it is that I didn't watch the three new movies made after the first three. I think I saw the film with Jar Jar Binks but it didn't do much for me. The little Darth Vader kid seemed the opposite of some role model. Star Wars never did hold much interest for me. I enjoyed reading Heinlein, Asimov, Norton, Verne, Wells, and even Anne McCaffrey. Drawn out, meaningless space opera with no link to Earth seems worthless to me. I will not be seeing the last Jedi warrior.
Oh, it "extended" the franchise's storylines all right - in about the same way that a hypothetical sequel to "Casablanca" might have extended its storyline by - in the first ten minutes:
- showing us how Rick and Renault, while still disappearing into the fog on the tarmac, suddenly had a bitter argument and instantly parted ways, with Rick returning to New York and Renault continuing on to the garrison in Brazzaville alone;
- showing us how the plane on which Elsa and Laslo were flying to Lisbon suffered engine failure and crashed into the sea, with Laslo drowning and Elsa being rescued by an American ship which takes her to New York, where she miraculously runs into Rick and renews their romance;
- showing us how Signor Ferrari (Sidney Greenstreet) was actually a British secret agent the whole time;
- showing us how Ugarte (Peter Lorre) hadn't really died, but was actually a master American spy who then teams up with Ferrari to hunt down Major Strasser, who actually survived the bullet Rick plugged him with. They are able to "turn" Strasser, and so the three of them then journey to the Free France garrison over at Brazzaville, to "continue the fight."
Yeah, that would have really "tied up" all the loose ends and satisfied the audience plenty!
Regards,