Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

I did not enjoy this movie. I thought there was too much thrown into the mix and it went on for too long. There were a number of moments that felt like the end only to have the movie continue. I kept thinking to myself, "you mean there's more?!" which is something my father used to say. Most importantly, I did not feel emotionally connected to the movie. It just didn't hook me. I didn't care about the characters.

The well known actors (Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro) who appeared in the movie added nothing to it for me. Neither or them was bad or awful but casting well known actors was more distracting than anything else.

The other thing that I found distracting was General Leia Organa. Carrie Fisher passed almost a year before the movie was released. General Organa faced more than one moment when it looked like her death was imminent. I thought they would kill her off in this movie and each time the General faced a near death moment I wondered if this was how she was going to go. Very distracting.

I don't like to compare movies too much but in a way I can't help but compare this to Tron: Legacy. I really like the original Tron film. I had high hopes for the sequel. I love the music but I found the sequel to be a huge disappointment. Similarly I enjoyed the Force Awakens. I interpreted the final scene in Episode VII to be a statement to the older fans, who grew up watching the original trilogy of movies. I thought that final scene meant that the next film was going to be about pulling them in more and including Luke in a meaningful way. Instead I feel like what I got was the director giving the middle finger to the older fans: Forget the past and move on. I don't have a problem with creating something new but openly advocating forgetting the past is not something that I am cool with.