d21lewis said:
Basically this. I stopped arguing with people over this film long ago. I was there on opening day, truly excited because of the reviews saying "The best Star Wars of them all". I was looking forward to being surprised, seeing where the franchise would go and what would happen to the characters. I remained hopeful throughout the film until I finally told myself "This just isn't good." I walked out of the theater feeling kinda empty. Like "What the hell did I just watch? Where is this story going? Is there even a story at all?" The more I thought about it, the more I disliked the film. None of that feeling of "I can't wait to see what happens next!" remained. TLJ killed that for me. Watching videos and having discussions helped me articulate exactly what it was that didn't feel right about this film. They supported my opinion instead of manipulating them--though I've yet to see one that I totally agree with in every aspect... But as far as trying to tell someone else why the film sucks? I'm done with that. They want to like/love it. That's on them. They don't want to hear reasons. Our opinion is as worthless to them as theirs is to me. We like what we like. And, of course, I'll be right there when the new one launches hoping I get the feeling of satisfaction that comes from a good story with good villains, character development, conflict, heroes, and depth. Plus some shooty shooty bang bang and laser swords. |
A similar situation happened to me. I was excited to watch the film after seeing the trailer. During the first quarter of the film, I was like, "When is this going to get interesting?" I mean, it was nice to look at, but the plot dull. Then, the part with Kylo and Rey talking to each other happened, and I said, "Alright, this is getting interesting." Hated the Canto Bight crap. Then, during the throne room fight scene and when Kylo asked Rey to join him, I thought it was getting good, again. Only to have the movie start getting dumb, again, afterwards.
My buddy was going later that day to watch it. I actually told him it was ok, but had some humor that fails to land. Then, I got to thinking about the film more and more, and the ok dropped to a this movie wasn't really good. I asked my buddy what he thought when he came over to my house later, and he said he didn't like it and that it was kinda boring. We spent an hour or two talking about it. What parts were awful. What should have been done to fix it. And after that talk, I realized something. Other than it being a good looking film, there really was nothing that redeemed it. There was no part that I can point to and say I really liked. There was some ideas, that if handled right, I would have liked, but nothing within the film. I didn't like the film, at all.
Watching those vids is very entertaining. There are also a ton of things that I missed, or didn't really think about, that made me dislike the film even more. It didn't help that Disney was fine with Rian and crew going around and trashing anybody with legit criticisms as women hating man babies.
I guess where we really differ is that I'm just done with the franchise going forward. I'm not giving them anymore of my money. The De-Specialized Versions of the OG trilogy are all I need.
