In reading through much discussion about TLJ from both sides of the fence, I'm noticing a couple of key points that keep coming up -
1. There are roughly 9 people who hated or disliked TLJ per about 1 or 2 who claims to like/love it.
2. I've yet to hear any real, legitimate, and/or thought provoking arguments as to what makes this film good. Defenders claim it's "different than Empire and full of twists/deep characters." Wat..? And while I AT LEAST credit Rian Johnson for not completely rehashing Empire ala TFA with ANH.. first of all, different doesn't automatically mean better. The plot has to make coherent sense and explain its logic, which it rarely does within the confines of its own parameters, let alone those set in the OT or even TFA. Second, twists usually need to amount to more than merely killing off x major character for shock value or having the twist being "eh, this seemingly major/impactful thing is actually nothing." And third - emo angst, Mary Sue's, awkward Marvel-esque humor, and random characters serving no purpose and/or backstory doesn't equate to complex or interesting characters in my book. I dunno, maybe it's me..? And additionally, Johnson throws the "ingenuity" out the window by closing the film with a scene that looks EXACTLY like the opening scene of Empire anyway. I suppose this is to remind the viewer that yes, they are in fact watching STAR WARS, despite 90% of the movie being an almost ANTITHESIS of Star Wars in many ways, and showing a clear distain for the old lore (even much of TFA lore!) and their fans.. But no, I guess the ground in this world is made of salt or something so, it's different -_-
3. I HAVE heard coherent, well thought out, and intelligent points as to why TLJ falls completely flat. At first I tried to take this with a grain of salt, as some of this stuff could maybe be seen as nitpicking, and you can certainly find a myriad of flaws in the prequels, and even the OT. But at the end of the day those people who enjoy the movie from what I've read/heard have given little to no real arguments as to why these people who hate the movie are wrong, aside from discrediting and downright personal attacks like "quit being stuck in the past, you old foggie" (but like.. you're watching/defending a STAR WARS sequel.. Aren't YOU also stuck in the past? Do you REALLY think you'd have half the interest or would be passionately defending this movie if it was called "Space Strife: The Last Warriors?" If you're so keen on breaking from the past, why not just watch an entirely new Sci Fi series?) or "it's just fanboy rage" (umm, but YOU are the one who likes this movie.. Doesn't that make YOU the fanboy?) or my favorite (ugh) "you just have X political agenda hence why you don't like this film." Give me a break - this film is so blatantly pushing its own political agenda it's actually funny, thus people who like the film are the ones with a "political agenda" if anything.
Usually when one side of the fence is resorting to 90% discrediting the person/personal attacks while the other group consists of 90% logical arguments - the former side tends to represent the losing side of the argument..
If you like it - cool, no one's stopping you (and I don't mean to put you down for it, despite some of this maybe coming off as such), but stop discrediting those who ARE voicing their displeasure of it, and at least counter them with your own arguments as to why the movie is good, which I've seen very little of thus far. I quite like Revenge of the Sith, but at the same time, I recognize its MANY faults and I would never try and make my case for why it's so amazing and especially why people are so wrong in disliking it. Just shrug it off as a guilty pleasure and move on. Trust me kids, I was there in 2005 when EP3 came out (I was a teenager).. I get it, you want to get verification as to why you're drawn to something so flawed but sometimes there's just very little there :P
Last edited by DarthMetalliCube - on 26 December 2017
"We hold these truths to be self-evident - all men and women created by the, go-you know.. you know the thing!" - Joe Biden
