I was willing to let the complete disaster that was The Last Jedi go. I even wrote two different reviews of it. One with my mind on and the other with it off. I figured The Last Jedi was a dumb kids' movie that was not aimed at making anyone with a brain happy. And I was completely fine with that.
That is until Solo flopped.
I am not going to do a scientific survey to figure out if the fact that The Last Jedi was a complete train-wreck is the cause behind the "failure" of Solo. That is the beauty of the internet. I am a guy with a keyboard and an opinion. I don't need science or facts. I can make a completely uneducated and unsubstantiated argument, send it out into the interweb and move on with my day.
A couple of days ago, several sources reported that due to the "failure" of Solo, Disney was scrapping the other Star Wars spinoffs... including the Boba Fett movie.
They're killing the Boba Fett movie?
Are they freaking crazy?
Although he was only on screen for less than 20 minutes total in the original trilogy, Boba Fett has become one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars universe. Every Star Wars geek I know was looking forward to the Boba Fett movie.
I think Disney is making a HUGE mistake and a knee jerk reaction to the fallout from releasing the worst non-prequel Star Wars film ever: The Last Jedi.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that The Last Jedi is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The fact that it is better than the prequels is nothing to be proud of.
Because of expensive re-shoots and an enormous ad campaign, Solo is going to lose money. But there is no way that is the movie's fault. The movie is very entertaining. Although, it is not ground breaking, it is incredibly fun. There are far worse movies that have earned far more money. I believe Solo is being punished because of the tremendous dumpster fire that was The Last Jedi. I think that movie (not Solo) is what turned people away from the franchise. People with brains stayed away from the theater as a way to avoid being duped like they were by The Last Jedi. Once they watch Solo on DVD or stream it, they will see that it was much better than The Last Jedi. Perhaps it will be entertaining enough to win them back. Even if they still have their doubts, an excellent Boba Fett movie would fix those in a hurry.
This movie was a ton of fun. It does not deserve to be tied to the downfall of all planned spinoffs.
Disney should be using the Boba Fett movie as a way to make amends for The Last Jedi rather than punishing fans for the decisions of the creates of that monstrosity.
I still have not been able to bring myself to write a full on rant lambasting the utter catastrophe that The Last Jedi is, here is a quick sample of my thoughts as to why it may have turned so many fans off that they chose to miss out on a movie that was actually fun and made sense.
Hi I'm Luke Skywalker. The last time you saw me I was a huge hero. Now I am an annoying, grumpy, coward who tried to kill his young nephew and hides out on a planet while those I love are trying to fight evil.
1.They made Luke a complete douche.
The Force Awakens was a love letter to Han Solo. The Last Jedi should have done the same for Luke. Instead of reminding the audience how heroic Luke was, they made him an asshole and a coward. While Luke's friends continued to fight to protect the galaxy, Luke (the most powerful ally they have) hid on an island like a little freaking wussy. He could feel the suffering his sister was experiencing, yet he stayed hidden. He also tried to kill his own nephew (resulting in creating a super villain who killed the real hero of Star Wars). When someone who was brave enough to stand up to evil arrived and asked for help, Luke was a total prick to her. What a douchebag!
2.The events that take place during forty-five minutes of the movie never needed to occur.
Every second spent on the casino planet is completely useless and stupid. All the purple-haired Leia replacement had to do was tell Poe that she had a plan to fly by a planet and jettison escape pods filled with the fleet's survivors. If she shared that little bit of info with him, he would have never encouraged Rose and Finn to go on some stupid mission to find a slicer wearing a rose and BB-8 would have never had to stop an attacker by shooting coins at him. (Huh?)
3.Finn and Rose were thrown in jail because of a parking violation.
How in the hell did that make it past any producers/studio execs?
They allowed that to be shown in theaters and then they are surprised when the next movie in the series is not a huge success?
Why would the audience trust a team that allowed that nonsense?
4.Leia somehow magically survives and floats through outer space.
Ummmmmmmmmm. Leia somehow magically survives and floats through outer space.
Enough said.
5.A complete lack of understanding of physics.
Bombers play a huge role in the beginning of the movie. But there is one huge problem with that. The bombers are in space. By definition, bombers drop bombs. Typically a bomb door opens and bombs fall onto a target. There is a problem with that. Dropping and falling rely on GRAVITY. Do you know what doesn't exist in space?
Gravity!!!!!!
The entire scene involving Rose's sister dramatically kicking the rack of bombs in order to dislodge them and send them falling onto the enemy ship is utter and complete nonsense!
Oh and how the heck is Paige breathing with that bomb door open?
Heck I am the biggest Star Wars geek I know. Even though I haven't listed all of my complaints, even I am starting to doubt why the hell I like Star Wars (Ok that's not true. I love it in spite of its flaws.)
Come on Disney! After making us suffer through The Last Jedi you owe us fanboys a great Boba Fett movie (and my $15 back).
Hello friend Han.
We mice are sorry to hear about Bobba Fett. We would have enjoyed this movie.
We mice agree that purple haired lady should have told Poe the plan.
However, we mice reckon Leia could survive a brief period in space due to her Jedi abilities, particularly if she was within the ships shields. It is our understanding that Jedi space survival is previously noted in Star Wars Cannon.
Similarly bomber atmosphere is again protected from the vacuum of space by the ship's deflector shields. Think Death Star - there is no door in the tractor beam docking bay.
All objects create their own gravity. The bigger the object - the greater the gravitational pull. A massive First Order Dreadnought creates a huge gravitation pull. The resistance heavy bomber was an effective, low cost weapon in the fight against the mega ships of the First Order - using their own gravity against them.
Just the thoughts of two simple mice.
Excellent points you little scoundrels. I can give you guys the deflector shields and its effect on gravity. And Jedis can do all sorts of stuff we never knew about (like projecting themselves thousands of miles away).
But the parking violations alone were enough to cause a permanent face palm.
Although I do have to say I appreciate your positivity and willingness to see the good.
The Last Jedi is the last Star Wars movie I'll see at the cinema.
Every man was an indecisive coward or a volatile fool.
Every woman was wise, poised, noble and brave.
It was a planet-sized social justice sermon with just the lightest sprinkling of a Star Wars movie on top.
I'm out.
I think Poe and Finn would have been fine if the writers wrote a movie that made any sense. I liked them both in the first movie.
Maybe this is just proof that there can't be a good Star Wars movie without Han!
You really should see the Solo movie. It was simple and fun... you know like a Star Wars movie.
TFA was my favourite, across the board.
The pacing, the characters, the action sequences; I loved it.
TLJ wasn't written to entertain, it was written to educate.
The only part I enjoyed was Rey and Kylo co-operating to fight those red royal guard guys.
That was a fantastic scene.
I'll see Solo; but I won't buy tickets for my 8 yo and I; I'll torrent it.
Thank you for articulating so well why TLJ was an utter dumpster fire, as you so eloquently put it.
Disney has poisoned the Star Wars well. It will take drastic steps to fix this.
They should begin by removing Kathleen Kennedy from having anything to do with the Star Wars IP. No equivocations, no excuses about lapses in judgement, just remove her entirely from the team(s) working on Star Wars completely.
Next, restore a competent writing team and director. Rian Johnson needs to be ejected immediately. Disney's prior stated plan to have him helm three additional Star Wars films needs to be ejected. Aside from any possible directing talent he may (dubiously) have, his dismissive and insulting reactions to legitimate fan complaints should disqualify him completely from any connection to Star Wars.
I am also a lifelong Star Wars fan. The original trilogy helped shape me as a kid, and despite many saying its just a space opera, I felt it had a deeply spiritual message.
Episode 1 broke my heart with how terrible it was, and how much opportunity was lost in telling what could have been an engaging, compelling story. The Last Jedi did the same.
Solo is the first motion picture Star Wars release I did not see in the theater, and won't. It suffered (potentially unjustifiably per your article) from the damage inflicted by TLJ. I hate to say this, but if only from a business standpoint alone, I hope the senior leadership team at Disney will do a hard rethink, and change the direction they have chosen. We expect better from Star Wars than preachy SJW rhetoric and crapping on 40+ years of knowing beloved characters, technology, and story.
I really enjoyed The Force Awakens as a reboot and bridge between old and new fans. Rogue One did its job of explaining how the Death Star could possibly be destroyed. So they were off to a fine start.
Then they lost their damn minds with TLJ!
Abrams respected Star Wars and its fans. Clearly Johnson did not. Luckily Abrams is back for IX.
Solo was written by Jonathan Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote my favorite Empire Strikes Back) so you know they love and respect Star Wars.
I really think you are missing out by not seeing Solo on the big screen. I promise it is infinitely better than TLJ.
Agreed on The Force Awakens. That was a genuinely enjoyable film.
My main criticism on that one was Rey's immediate and unexplainable proficiency with a light saber, engaging & defeating Kylo Ren, who had significantly more time (years?) to train and prepare. Aside from that, the film was reasonably well paced, used practical effects wherever possible, and "felt" like a Star Wars film. Again, there were definitely some missed opportunities, but that's just my point of view.
I'm partially enthused that Abrams is back for Episode IX, as he did a competent job for Episode VII. That said, as long as Kathleen Kennedy (the primary driving force apparently behind all the political SJW nonsense injected into recent Star Wars) is still in charge of Star Wars, I am dubious at best. Star Wars no longer gets an unrestricted free pass, as the property has squandered much of its abundant good will.
Will consider your words about Solo. It is a shame to undeservedly punish a good film for the ills of its brethren, and the financial message to Disney has apparently been received loud & clear so a further boycott of Solo may be unnecessary. Will have to cogitate on this a bit.
Oh my....this sounds like how I feel about "the shape of water"
Oh I know how much you love that movie lol.
That good criticism, only that they will hear you and maybe they will change something in the production so that the consumer has more satisfaction, besides I never saw this movie but how you describe it looks very exciting.
I was a much bigger fan of Solo and Rogue One than the Force Awakens/ Last Jedi. It seemed like a lot was re hashed and everything else was disappointing. I wonder if it is easier be entertaining when they are restricted with the ending like in rogue one and solo, due to it being a back story. Maybe too much freedom is a bad thing at this point.
That is a very interesting point. The two stand alone movies had some ready made goals. All the creative team had to do was meet those goals, make sure there was enough action, and have some fun.
They may have over-complicated things a bit in the bigger trilogy. I still have a soft spot for The Force Awakens. Obviously Han is my favorite and it seemed like a love letter/goodbye to him. Plus I think it did a great job of building a bridge between my daughter and I (my son was hooked at age 1). But she is a new fan and that reboot appealed to both she and I for very different reasons.
By the way, thank you for all you have done to promote quality content here. Back in the day, I was part of a team that tried to encourage and retain quality content producers. It was in the pre-delegation days and your vote really helped a lot of people. I know you are still doing that now with communities like cervantes. So thank you!
Are you still running a witness? I cleared all of my witness votes a while back and I still haven't fixed them all.
You have to wonder what they were thinking, but at least they didn't have trade negotiations. I agree Solo was a really fun movie that didn't really have any slack in it.
what about jedi???????
What about them? I've not been that impressed by them to be honest. They let Darth Vader beat them. I'm sure @LordVader has a few choice words about them, but I've not seem him lately.
Man I can't find an image but there is a Simpsons episode about the prequels. In in an AT-AT breaks through the wall of the senate. Then it puts on giant reading glasses and starts reading a charter. Summed them up perfectly!
May the parliamentary debate be with you :)
Lol! Ok, my heart is warmed that I'm not the only person who watched Leia floating thru space & coming back to life, completely perplexed. 😜
Oh there are many of us lol.
lolx ur not alive alone in world :d :d.....
I am also annoyed by the lack of respect for Physics. It seems like the target audience really is children under 12.
You have a very interesting blog. I am now following you.
thanks!
I didn't care much for Solo. It had nothing to do with Last Jedi, for me. But even with that said, I agree, that is no reason to kill off the other movies. I would have gone to see the BF movie. If it was a good project, it should stand on its own merit.
I hear you. It wasn't great but it was fun.
I truly hope they reconsider Boba Fett.
I have yet to see The Last Jedi... And now I'm very glad I went with the 'small screen release' strategy.
I have seen it twice. I was fine with it the second time but I never wanted to watch it again. Then when I heard they were scrapping other spin offs I got pissed all over again (I was furious after watching it the first time).
Ehhhh.... I have to watch it don't I? I think I do...
sigh
I'm already cringing.
Turn off your brain completely. If you can watch it with a kid that might help tremendously. My son is actually really smart but he still has the imagination of a child so he was able to tell me "Dad you are just over thinking it." It helped.
hm... I have five of those under ten years old. If I watch it with all of them, I'll probably be distracted enough not to nitpick into seething hatred :D
"4.Leia somehow magically survives and floats through outer space." - I almost got up and walked out. Had I not been with my kids, I would have. And, yes, the disappointment has kept me from spending the money to see Solo.
You should give Solo a try. It is not a great movie by any stretch... but it is fun and I was never angry during the movie. That is saying a lot after I spent much of TLJ angry LOL.
I read a two book series about Boba Fett years ago. I wonder if the movies would use that story?
Also, I know there was a large group of people who vowed not to see "Solo" ...a kind of protest... as a way to get Disney's attention.
Well the protest worked. Sadly instead of figuring out that they need to write good movies... they are quitting.
Did you read the one where he survives the Sarlac pit? I loved that book! (Not kidding).
Did you see Solo? Did you like it?
Yes. Boba Fett survives Sarlac. I think it was two books...
But, yeah, there is some disconnect between the old Star Wars and the new people making them. Like they do not comprehend what made them magical... I don't know.
My wife's first Star Wars film was episode 7. We've watched the others since and she is interested. I'd like to see it too. So I will see it eventually.
Maybe their new planned frequency of these films is overkill, kind of like the NFL trying to take over every night of the week? Prequels and spinoffs are tricky business in general.
I think the universe is so vast that there was plenty of good content and characters to feature... if they used the right creative teams.
As far as the NFL goes, maybe you are right. Their being concussed would explain why they included the casino planet...
It definitely divided the fanbase and broke many hearts. Personally I don't have as many complaints as you but I agree Solo paid the consequences and was punished. Even I think that the failure of The Last Jedi was one of the main causes of Solo's flop, the executioners of that punishment were the fans. I don't understand their logic. If you have two children and one of them misbehaves, would you punish the other? That's inmature to me. I love star wars and I didn't punished a movie with other writers, director and cast due to the failure of a different movie. Solo deserved a chance and I gave it a chance. I want my Obi wam movie!!! hahahaha
I agree 100%. I get wanting to send the studio a message that they need to write better movies, but at the cost of seeing a fun Han Solo origin story? I couldn't do it.
OMG!!! Thank you for mentioning the whole Casino fiasco!!! The parking ticket arrest and subsequent confinement pissed me off to no end. My paretner thought I was crazy the way I complained. Then she thought I was out of my mind when I questioned his the bombs fell. Not to mention how scetchy that “force” moment was. However, I could have lived with all of that if Skywalker hasn’t become a whining, sniveling cranky ass good for nothing. I mean COME ON!!! This was the hero!!! I fully expected an Apallo training Rocky to fight Mr. T moment. Instead I got Grumpy odd men. And those two old buggers had more passion than Luke did!! Due to unforeseen circumstances I have yet to see Solo but I will hold nothing against it. It is a shame that Lucas gave the future of this franchise away. The story is getting lost.
"Grumpy odd men" indeed! LOL
They had a good thing going. Force Awakens was a love letter and goodbye to Han. TLJ should have been the same for Luke. Instead by the end of the movie I was like "good riddance".
When we were young, Star Wars movies are really the new futuristic ideas. After so many years as adults with technology improvement and lots of super special effects by many other movies, the content and ideas behind it may not be as interesting as the past experience. I have recently brought my younger son and wife to watch Mr incredible 2 which only came out after so many years. I really did not enjoy it as much as Mr incredible 1 as there wasn't much exciting new content or jokes in it. It is always hard to bring in new ideas for additional episodes even for avengers as well.
Before going into greater depths regarding the film , one must keep in mind that George Lucas had the films of the great director Akira Kurosawa in mind when he created the Jedi or the Sith . More importantly , his films were inspired a lot by Zen Philosophy
I agree. I think Lucas did a fine job of following Kurosawa's lead in the original trilogy. I always saw the Force as being closer to Taoism but I get what you mean.
Last Jedi better than the prequels? The fight between Maul and Kenobi/Qui-Gon is literally the only good thing in Episode 1 and that scene alone completely shits over 2 1/2 hours of Disney´s Last Retard. Just pick a random excerpt of 3 seconds of the prequel´s score and this music alone is a million times more worth than the entire Last Monkey movie.
They have shown that they can´t create good original characters. Rey is lame. Finn is a clown. Rose is mentally challenged. Poe is okay I give you that. Kylo is a cringy would-be Vader, Phasma is a meme and Snoke is a retard. I don´t want to see their version of Boba.
it is very best movie ever
I have not seen that movie "The Last Jedi" I hope to see it soon.
Should have went with the Obi Wan Movie, I guess
Great criticism, you are right because Disney movies tend to place things as subliminal messages and there lose the notion to do so, it is also good to know that all the films of this production are like that.
@calitoo
I wish I knew how you earn so much at this. I started the same time you did, and I'm about to be homeless.
Just wanted to let you know that I followed you because of your username alone. You're awesome!
And yeah, you gave Star Wars much more of a chance than I did. I was not nearly as enamored with TFA. It felt like a cash grab, relying entirely on nostalgia for star wars, with little in the way of actual story or development. After telling my brother I had no interest in TLJ, he blew me off and went to go see it. I got a text a little later.
"Dude, you were right..."
At least my gut is working...
HAHAHA man I didn't realize how bad it was until I read this. See I'm nowhere near a Star Wars fanboy, but I do enjoy the movies so I was able to look past all these shortcomings I guess.
Would it almost be better for Disney to sell the rights to someone else to produce the movie instead of potentially making another dud?