How You Can Tell The Magic Of Star Wars Is Gone

The Fandom Hasn't Been On The Same Page Since The Day Before The Last Jedi

Maybe a saga as malleable as Star Wars needs a movie like The Last Jedi. I'd argue it does... but it should've been a Rogue One-esque spin-off, not the middle chapter in a trilogy that needed to maintain momentum.

Regardless, The Last Jedi is the schism that's fractured the fanbase. It's Admiral Holdo tearing through an entire fleet of us watching to see what was going to happen. Some are left alive, others scattered not knowing what to do, and some are gone forever.

It is VERY interesting to note that Empire Strikes Back received similarly mixed reactions from both critics and fans back in 1980. Fanzines and print media were split right down the middle on Lucas' "dark middle chapter", and it's only over time that people have come to love the movie as one of the best in the trilogy.

I say this, but it was in a different climate. Fans knew that dangling plot threads were ultimately coming from a single creative mind - or at least, one that would be involved in the next movie. They had nothing of the scattered Disney approach, the failed one-offs or the rotating door of directors hammering home the notion that "those at the top" don't have a throughline vision.

Part of why Empire recovered came from viewing it as part of the trilogy; cherishing its darker moments because they were sandwiched by light. Maybe The Last Jedi can pull this off too, but when there isn't a master string-puller at the helm, it's one hell of an ask.