12/14/2017 9:00 AM
Thoughts 10 hours before seeing "The Last Jedi" -
"The Force Awakens" had a huge task ahead of itself two years ago. Not only did it have to recapture the Star Wars magic of the original trilogy, but it had to bring in a fresh story that felt familiar but new. Monetarily, it succeeded in spades, but after the wonder wore off, the criticism really began.
First and foremost, the original trilogy is far from perfect, but using it as our baseline, it was what we wanted as an audience. We were actually given what we wanted - so much in fact that "The Force Awakens" felt very close to "A New Hope" where many claimed it to be just a rehash. I saw the similarities, but at its core, "The Force Awakens" was about Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn, and Poe and the movie just so happens to have Han, Leia, and Luke in it.
Remember those guys? Han, Leia, and Luke? Yeah, it's the ones we care about. And what did we get? Han was killed, Luke was in it at the end for two minutes and says nothing, and Leia was pretty much sidelined as she hadn't acted in years and was very rusty.
So the focus was thrust upon the new characters and they did a decent job of keeping us intrigued, but it wasn't the story we wanted. We wanted to see what our original trilogy heroes and what they have been up to all these years since "Return of the Jedi." Yoda told Luke to pass on what he had learned. Leia and Han were together and peace appeared to have been restored to the galaxy. So what happened next -- a huge time gap happened.
Unfortunately, due to real life, the actors who play the ironic original trilogy characters aren't young anymore and they represent the old generation. Disney decided that it was time for a new one. Disney even removed the number VII from all marketing materials and VIII isn't present anywhere that I've seen. This is a continuation of the Skywalker story, but it's almost as if they aren't even acknowledging it publicly.
So fast forward to present day and "The Last Jedi" is mere hours from being experienced for the first time. With everything in the back of my mind, I need to check myself. This story will be about Rey, Finn, Kylo, Poe, and new comer Rose. This story will happen to have Luke and Leia in it. Will Han even be mentioned or lamented? As I sit with my thoughts I am worried. I'm worried that we won't get what we wanted again. I'm sure there will be similarities with "The Last Jedi" when compared to "Empire" and "Jedi" which one can clearly do using footage from the trailers, but is this going to be a story I will care about? Once the wonder wears off and the dust settles, how will I feel?
