“Star Wars” fans will never stop debating what director Rian Johnson did to ‘The Last Jedi,’ it’ll just be part of the norm for them, up there with did “Han shoot first?” and why Chewie was snubbed of a medal. The fact that JJ Abrams’ recent ‘Rise of Skywalker’ was a letdown for many has only infuriated the ‘Last Jedi’ haters even more — if anything, discussion about ‘Last Jedi’ has actually gone up. It doesn’t help that previous and current cast members have also been saying negative things about the second chapter of the Disney trilogy, from Mark Hamill to JJ Abrams,, not to mention George Lucas’ complete radio silence, darts have been fired at Johnson the last 3 years. And now, even the editors of the last three SW films have thoughts on the film’s legacy.
A discussion on the Light the Fuse podcast (via Digital Spy), with ‘Rise of Skywalker’ editor Maryann Brandon and ‘Force Awakens’ editor Mary Jo Markey discussed Rian Johnson’s ‘Last Jedi.’. If Brandon was more low-key with her thoughts about the film, well, suffice to say, Markey was flat-out critical of the Rian Johnson approach:
“It was a different take on the ‘Star Wars’ saga,” Brandon said. “To Rian’s credit, he stuck to what he wanted to do, and he wanted to deconstruct the film and go a different direction, and I know it’s controversial, but isn’t that good?”
Markey added, “It’s very strange to have the second film so consciously undo the storytelling of the first film. I’m sorry, that’s what it felt like. I don’t even feel like that’s true about the third film. It took where the second film ended and tried to tell a story, I didn’t feel like it was consciously trying to… it didn’t feel that way.”
I won’t repeat what I’ve been saying for three years about this conversation, so I’ll just post what I wrote back in 2018:
“Yes, Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” riled up many long-time “Star Wars” fans and quickly became the most divisive movie in franchise history. There’s no arguing that. You may say the film was “bold,” but there’s no discounting the fact that those who did the complaining were longtime fans who, in all essence, were purists when it came to the franchise and were allergic to any kind of change emerging in the characters and storylines. The main complaint was, of course, the way Johnson treated Luke Skywalker and how his all-encompassing statement that the “Jedi was dead” could not have been uttered by the same guy who told Yoda in 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back” that “I won’t fail you, I’m not afraid.” Alas, this deviation from the original spirit of the character rubbed many people the wrong way. Others were also complaining about the new characters who, coincidentally or not, were female (Laura Dern’s Admiral Holdo and Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico), which even led to a fan deciding to edit his own 46 minute version of the "The Last Jedi" without any women in it.”
“For many, the joys of Star Wars come from the comfort of familiarity, the mythology Lucas created. “The Last Jedi” erases all that. The primary intent of the film was to reinvent the franchise. Of course, these purists wanted things to stay the same, but watching “The Last Jedi” you can sense director Rian Jonson trying to, as Kylo Ren says, “let the past die.” It’s a theme that resonates throughout the film. The little moments that make up this backlash are not “little” to fans of Lucas’ original films. For example, Rey handing off Anakin’s blue lightsaber to Luke, who then goes on to toss it over his shoulder and brush off Rey? That’s a nono for them. Luke doesn’t even believe in himself anymore. The mythology, his legend, was in fact a sham according to this new movie.”