I’m a SW/TESB only fan, so as I suspected, I didn’t like TLJ (in fact, I disliked it more than TFA and R1). However, I have different reasons to dislike TLJ. Just like Jar-Jar Binks and the Ewoks weren’t the biggest problems of TPM and RotJ, the “big” issues fans have with TLJ are, at best, minor problems that could have been easily fixed. Even Rey’s Force powers (which I also complained when TFA was released, although her gender was never an issue for me, as I also hate the cartoonish Jedi from the prequells) aren’t a problem here (in fact, her skills are more believable in TLJ, although all the Force users of TLJ are way too powerful. And yes, I include Luke and Yoda here).
The biggest problem with TLJ is that is a giant mess of a movie for several reasons, including (wall of text incoming):
-The casino planet scenes (which made me remember the prequels) was a huge low point. “Comedy” scenes included.
-The lack of character development, or even proper introductions, for most of the cast; see Rose, who needs to explain Finn and the audience what kind of character she is because the movie won’t allow her to be defined by her own personality and actions. Think about Amilyn Holdo. If you haven’t read Gray’s “Leia: Princess of Alderaan”, what kind of information about Holdo you got from TLJ? Almost nothing other than being Leia’s friend and a military leader. Her scene with Leia and her sacrifice hints at an interesting character, but she’s only there… doing stuff in the background… I guess. She had as much development as Piett ever had (and Piett was just an Imperial officer doing his job, merely someone who follows Vader’s orders). This overflow of characters means some of them disappears and reappears when the script demands so, or they remain the whole time but they doen’t have an impact in the plot at all. Here’s an example: the betrayal from Del Toro’s character has less impact and consequences that Boba Fett’s presence in TESB, because the final battle from TLJ is just a temporal, annoying obstacle (yes, some Resistance people die, and Luke dies too, but honestly if TLJ’s ending were different, that last thing would have happened too as soon as Luke faced Kylo Ren in IX); whereas without Boba Fett, the last third of TESB would have been completely different. Replace Del Toro with the Imperial probe droid from the beginning of Empire and you’ll have the same movie (heck, why does the FO need such a character to find out the Resistance’s plans? Even if the planet was unknown and uncharted, didn’t they realize the planet they can see from their own windows could be a perfect hiding place?). And yet Del Toro was given more screen time and dialogue than Boba, hinting at a bigger, more important character than the one we got (and yes, I used Boba Fett as an example because Boba is a very minor character with an extremely huge fanbase for no reason; that such a slightly disappointing character with little screen time and dialogue in Empire is way more relevant that Del Toro’s character shows Johnson’s writing skills). And the same can be said about Finn or Rose or even Rey. I don’t know who posted this TFA/R1 review on this forum before, but the criticisms made in this video applies to TLJ as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsIQa7sH5_Y
-The extremely improbable story that doesn’t make any damn sense and feels like it was written by a five year old kid (and then X appears, and then a battle, and then Y happens, and then betrayal, and then an action scene, and then another plot twist, and then Z appears, and then another surprise, and then A dies, and then…). I strongly suspect they can’t no longer make simple Star Wars movies with simple stories like SW (kid goes to a larger than life story, enjoyable stuff happens, the end) or Empire (Vader wants Luke, Luke is training, Leia and Han are in love, the end) because it would be “too boring” and “slow” now. Now you need like five or six stories happening on a 24-hour period, crossing and splitting from each other several times in the movie. TFA was a poor rehash of SW and it was poorly written, but at least it had a relatively simple “Star Wars-y” story. TLJ is a bunch of stuff put together and thrown to the audience. When the movie says Kylo Ren is gonna kill Snoke (the supposely big bad of the sequel trilogy and a character who was given importance in TFA and the earlier scenes of TLJ), I felt like absolutely anything, ANYTHING, could happen. Like, as I said, a story written by a five year old. I don’t expect extremely predictable stories, I like surprises too, but no plot twist every five minutes please.
-No sense of pacing at all. The first battle scene feels like it belong to the middle of the movie. The action is way out of control. But honestly, this is a problem since the prequels. There were parts in TPM (like the podracing scenes) that were too intense for me, but it has gotten way worse over the years. I don’t expect OT-like effects but I don’t understand why every explosion must happen that close to the camera, or why the camera must be moving every two seconds (even when a character is still), or why there must be bazillion CGI particles in every space scene. The OT prefers static cameras and moving starfields and ships (because that’s the best they could do in the eighties). When RotJ has space scenes with the camera tracking/following the fighters, at least it has good reasons to do it (to give the battle of Endor a 3D feeling, because it’s the last movie of the trilogy, because it’s a way bigger event than the battle of Yavin IV and Hoth). When the post-1983 movies do the same, it’s because it’s simple routine. I think this is a mistake, I think an action movie should give more visual information when the scene really demands it.
-The villains aren’t that great. Another problem since RotJ: only in SW and Empire the villains are in (almost) full control of the situation. In this aspect, TLJ is nowhere as bad as TFA, R1 or the prequels, but it’s still a far cry from the Vader who didn’t succeed because he couldn’t predict Artoo would be told about the sabotage of the Falcon by the main computer of Cloud City, or the Tarkin and Vader who allowed the heroes to escape the Death Star. Honestly, I just don’t like Kylo Ren and Hux. And I don’t like this “a villain can be redeemed” crap.
-The comedy is really bad. A few of the comedy bits are better than TFA/R1, but they’re still based on “bizarre stuff happening” and “people delivering punchlines that any other character could deliver too”. SW/TESB weren’t like that, the comedy in those movies came from the characters being themselves and the audience realizing the tropes behind those characters.
Short story: I think TLJ is watchable, but I don’t find it rewatchable.
