I realized pretty soon into Star Wars: The Last Jedi that it was going to be an incredibly divisive movie, at least amongst fans. At times it feels as if Rian Johnson has written his script with the intention of doing the complete opposite of what you’d expect from a Star Wars movie, or any big franchise blockbuster for that matter. It’s certainly worlds away from the cosy, nostalgia dripping fan service of The Force Awakens.
So, predictably, the internet peanut gallery is in a right tizz. The worst is one Facebook commenter saying that the next thing Johnson should draft is his suicide note. Ouch! Perhaps supporting this is the disparity between The Last Jedi‘s Tomatometer rating (93% at the time of writing) and the audience score, which sits at a lowly 57%.
This means that it’s got the exact opposite problem to the winter’s biggest bomb, Warner Bros.’ Justice League. That leaden superhero disaster is certified Rotten at 40%, while audiences are apparently 80% positive about the movie. Naturally, you’ve got to take these figures with a huge pinch of salt, and I’d suspect that Justice League is being boosted by DCEU diehards desperate to claw back some semblance of recognition and that Star Wars fans annoyed that the film isn’t what they imagined are taking it out in the only way they know how.
Still, the 43% who down-voted The Last Jedi are just plain wrong, as the film gives the static Star Wars universe a real philosophical kick in the ass, mixing in a load of complexity alongside high adventure. Above all that, though, it’s early days for The Last Jedi yet. It may have been released earlier in the week internationally, but hasn’t even finished its first day of domestic screenings.
As such, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how audiences continue to react to Star Wars: The Last Jedi throughout the weekend, and no doubt Disney will be doing the same in order to judge precisely what their future plans are for this most fascinating of fictional universes.
