The recent Solo trailer as well as something else that I won't reveal on here yet has resulted in me refocusing on the Star Wars franchise, which also means refocusing on my disdain and disappointment in The Last Jedi. Since The Last Jedi came out, many people, including myself, have had time to fully process the film and really decide where they stand. I too have moved on, not just my stance on The Last Jedi, but on the future of the Star Wars franchise as a whole.
Before I get to where I am right now in regards to Star Wars, the reason I keep coming back to The Last Jedi and Star Wars all the time in Off Topic is because I love this franchise, and like many others this franchise means way more to me than just some entertaining scifi series. Star Wars, at least the original trilogy, is timeless, able to suck people in and make them become enchanted with it despite being born years after the original trilogy was released. My first exposure to Star Wars was likely in 1991 or 1992, when I watched the original trilogy on VHS after my dad had purchased the recent VHS release of the trilogy around this time. I would watch these movies over and over again, never tiring of them. This has not changed, and has even expanded to the prequels, well mostly. I have also played many of the video games, bought thousands of dollars in merchandise, and read many of the books over the years. I adore this franchise and will for the rest of my life. However, the TLJ is the only thing I've encountered in this franchise which may end that, at least me being able to celebrate anything released after Disney acquired the franchise.
As I mentioned above, many of us have been able to process how we really feel about The Last Jedi now that it is going on 2-months of being out. Many videos explaining both why this movie is terrible and why it is great have come out, but no video or videos has even come close to explaining this movie as objectively as the following three which are part of a series. Combined, it is around a 6-hour analysis of the entire film, plus supporting content to back up other assertions. 6-hours is a lot of time, but I promise it is totally worth it if you want by far the most in depth analysis of The Last Jedi. They are linked below:
part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw7pcCj0ORkpart 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gRC4L6lNocpart 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFnMMzqjYGwAs I said, these videos are very well done and a highly objective analysis of the plot, writing, scenes, and direction of The Last Jedi. In summary of all three videos; The Last Jedi is by far the worst, most poorly written, most disasterous film in the Star Wars franchise and even in its own right is a terrible movie all together. While this is essentially how I felt less than a week after viewing The Last Jedi, these videos bring up many points I never thought about and also helped me hone in on exactly why I despise this movie and why it left such a terrible taste in my mouth. The Last Jedi has ruined The Force Awakens, but even worse has attempted to even ruin the original trilogy via character assassination of its most important and beloved characters.
My stance on The Last Jedi was that I would always hate it, but I'd see how things panned out in episode IX, hoping that it might frame The Last Jedi in a different ways, adding relevance and explaining things that The Last Jedi failed to do, as well as redeeming the whole storyline of the sequel trilogy, while also giving The Force Awakens relevance again. I now realize that The Last Jedi is so broken and so far gone in terms of a "story" as well as how badly it has damaged the Star Wars franchise that other than JJ Abrams and Disney flat out retconing The Last Jedi, nothing can save Star Wars from this point on. It has literally destroyed the franchise.
Before people decide to state how I'm being overly dramatic about this, I'd recommend you watch these videos and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. And just to provide a brief context, no, this has nothing to do with Rey's parents, Snoke, Luke dying at the end, or anything related to what happens in The Last Jedi, but rather what it does to the entire mythos and world of Star Wars, which creates massive problems for the whole franchise, both past and future. The only way Star Wars can go forward at this point and be the series that we all love is to write off The Last Jedi, which I am 99.99% certain Disney will not do.
With all that said, unless The Last Jedi is completely retconned I will be refusing to acknowledge or accept any Star Wars material or content created post Lucas Films being sold off to Disney. This includes Rogue One as well, which was a pretty good movie and didn't do anything to damage the Star Wars universe, but sadly I'd rather have the consistency of the old EU than to have that as a reminder of "what could have happened." And while I was thinking about seeing Solo in the theater, I honestly have no intention of seeing it now, and will only watch it for free or if I find the DVD/Blu Ray used someday; I do not want to give Disney one cent until they have made the decision to fix the mess that The Last Jedi left behind, which I honestly will not be holding my breath for. I will also not be seeing episode IX in theaters opening day or even probably opening week. Unless I read, from actual fans, that this movie fixes everything The Last Jedi broke I will remain firm on not giving Disney any of my money.
I may have thought it to be ridiculous originally, but now I am sold on the severe damage The Last Jedi has inflicted on all of Star Wars. I am severely saddened by this and while I do have the consolation of a much more developed and quality EU to fall back on, as well as the first six films, it still is a real shame. Here's hoping hell freezes and Disney actually can admit they fucked up Star Wars with the last installment in the series and will actually try and fix it rather than pretend like they're actually trying to make quality movies.