A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

It’s a phrase that millions of people have come to love. One that evokes excitement and anticipation. And tomorrow, or tonight for some of you extra eager fans, those words will grace the silver screen for the (supposed) last time. That’s right, The Skywalker Saga is coming to its grand conclusion, and fans everywhere are anxiously waiting to see what J.J. Abrams has planned for its final chapter. And if the last two installments are any indicator of what’s to come, then well, let’s just say that anxiety is more than warranted.

Star Wars has never been perfect. The originals had plenty of cornball moments (e.i the R&B singing alien in Jabba’s palace) and the prequels were a glorious mess filled with continuity errors, but none of the movies have been as divisive for the fandom as this last trilogy. But why is that? Are the new movies really that bad? Personally, I don’t love them. Not because of the misogyny and racism that caused some people to freak out at the idea of a female protagonist and a black Stormtrooper, and not because Rian Johnson decided to subvert expectations with The Last Jedi, but I will get address that in a moment. It’s because they’re boring. So so boring. 

I remember seeing The Force Awakens in theaters. I had no major issues, you know, aside from the murder of my favorite character of all time, but that was more of a personal loss. But I also didn’t care. There was nothing that had me in the car on the way home thinking, “OMG I need to know what happens next!” Mainly because I felt like I had just watched A New Hope redux. The cute marketable droid carrying a crucial message, the miserable sand planet, the seasoned veteran taking the eager bright-eyed orphan under his wing, the murder of said seasoned veteran. They even had a giant enemy base with a major design flaw! The best thing about the world of Star Wars is that the possibilities are endless. There are countless stories they could have told, and I think they played it way too safe and dug deep into nostalgia and fan service. 

For the record, this beef that some people have with the idea of fan service makes zero sense to me. How did the idea that an aspect of a film will make the fans happy become a bad thing? Just because something is servicing the people that enjoy it doesn’t mean that it can’t weave seamlessly into the plot. The only time fan service becomes a problem is when it compromises the story being told. I just had to get that off my chest. 

As some of you may remember, the release of The Last Jedi caused everyone to collectively lose their minds. Well not everyone. Myself and others were stuck somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t calling for Rian Johnson’s head on a platter, but I definitely wasn’t out pricing Porg kitchenware. The Last Jedi wasn’t great, but it wasn’t completely unwatchable either. Leia using the Force was satisfying because she is a Skywalker and it was nice to see her really utilize her abilities for something other than communication. Luke’s scene with Yoda at the Jedi tree and his reunion with his sister were very well done. The confrontation in Snoke’s throne room felt reminiscent of the epic fight scenes of the prequels. But all of those scenes combined made up less than 20% of the movie. The rest of it left me feeling, for lack of a better word, “eh”. Which is the last thing anyone wants to feel when they’re watching a Star Wars movie. Not that Johnson really gave me a choice. With the galaxy’s longest/slowest chase scene, an unnecessary filler side plot that completely wastes Finn as a character, and the angsty Rey and Kylo Ren scenes that left Reylo shippers with heart palpitations. Don’t even get me started on the Holdo/Poe conflict. Poe was dead wrong, but when Holdo saw how much of an issue he was gonna be, she should have either put him in a cell or told him the plan.

Speaking of being on the same page, let’s look at the complete tonal shift from Force Awakens to Last Jedi. On the one hand, Abrams took everything you loved about A New Hope and basically said “REMIX!” but not a real remix, one of those remixes where the song is exactly the same and they just add a feature in where the hook used to be. And on the other hand, Rian Johnson said “Oh you like Star Wars? Well, guess what?! All the sacrifices made to find Luke were in vain because he’s over it! You wanna know more about Snoke? Welp, now he’s dead! Sucks for you. Rey’s parents, you say? Guess what? They don’t matter, you giant dumb dork!” And while I find it hilarious how polar opposite their visions were for films in the same franchise, I can’t help but wonder if maybe there should have been some compromise between the two, so the narratives were cohesive. Just a thought.

But love, hate, or be bored to tears by them, the new movies are what they are and they aren’t gonna change. I’ve come to grips with the fact that my favorite film franchise is not without its many flaws. Flaws that existed long before both the sequel trilogy and the prequels. But for better or worse I love Star Wars, so I fully plan on being in a theater watching The Rise of Skywalker this weekend. Even if this movie is complete garbage, they’re going to get their $12.50 out of me. I’d be lying if I said that a little part of me doesn’t hold on to hope that it’ll be good. Despite my skepticism, I’m still trying to give these movies the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t think any of us know what to expect from The Rise of Skywalker and the trailers haven’t offered much help. But based on interviews with J.J. Abrams, who will direct the final film, it seems like they are going to try to undo/bypass the issues that fans had with The Last Jedi, but I think that would be a mistake. TLJ is canon, so we can’t just pretend it never happened. Fingers crossed, they combined the fan service of Force Awakens and the trope subversions of The Last Jedi and made the surprising, emotional and fulfilling finale that this epic space opera deserves. After all, it is the sendoff to one of the most beloved stories of past and present generations (with one of the most unforgiving fanbases). No pressure though.