Yesterday I wasn’t feeling too hot, so after school, I came home and laid on the bed, watching a documentary called The Director and the Jedi. The film is about the making of the 8th Star Wars film called The Last Jedi. It was written and directed by Rian Johnson, who had mainly made independent films prior to that, including Brick and the odd, time-travel movie, Looper.

As some of you are sure to point out, The Last Jedi is widely loathed amongst Star Wars fandom, as it was considered to be poorly-written and to have destroyed the continuity of the Star Wars movies. Upon first viewing, I actually liked the movie. I thought it was intelligent, thoughtful, and an interesting way to move the series forward. There were some clunky bits, but as a whole, I thought it was well done. Subsequent viewings made me reevaluate my opinion. The clunky bits stood out even more, and the good bits didn’t seem to be as good as I thought they were.

But now, I am reevaluating my opinion yet again. When I think back to the movie, I think about some very compelling visuals and a thoughtful approach to the movie. Rian Johnson is loathed for the film, but he made the movie with a tremendous amount of respect for the material and I think he genuinely tried to push the story forward. It was a difficult job.