I can’t believe I read the whole thing.
Now I have indigestion.And I have so much indigestion that I hit submit before I put in my first comment on this board in years.
And I had to edit it.
And I’m not sure how I feel about the film. Even after 3 viewings. Even after trying to digest the various points of view in this thread and elsewhere.
Admiral Motti had a similar issue.
I’ve seen it twice and I share your confusion. I’m pretty down on the movie and yet I enjoyed it - even more the second time. Contrary to Wook’s good advice do I need to pay to see it a third time? Maybe. There’s a fundamental level of discomfort that is more substantial than mere nostalgia.
My base level of discomfort comes from the fact, that the ST doesn’t attempt to connect to the rest of the saga. It simply resets the galaxy to a pre-ROTJ state, without even attempting provide any overarching story thread. It just feels tagged on.
It resets the characters to that pre-ROTJ state too. I have to say I didn’t mind it in the case of Han and Leia, because I felt they were infinitely more interesting as post-divorce ‘scoundrel’ and ‘rebel leader’ respectively than they ever would have been as comfy Coruscant retirees. But resetting Luke to a pre-ROTJ state sits uneasily with me.