What happened to Star Wars: Last Jedi?

I’m dumbfounded. This film saw a 69% drop in its second week Box Office. It’s still on the way to becoming the biggest box office hit of the year, but it’s success will be paled by the success of its predecessor, The Force Awakens.Â There’s almost a 200 million dollar difference between the second week totals of Force Awakens and Last Jedi.Â What could have gone wrong?!? As I said in my review (which I stand by) it is an incredibly well made film. It’s still in line to be the biggest box office hit of the year. The pacing, the direction, the action and SFX are all remarkable! So why the big drop?

Dave Cullen offers some insight on his YouTube show The Vandalization of Star WarsÂ He feels that the way the film was politicized (just like in his show The Vadalization of Star Trek) which brings some of the reasoning behind this drop. Hollywood is increasingly pushing left-wing views onto the public. All white men in this film are either Nazi’s or, if they are rebels, they’re extremely reckless (Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron) They’re also buffoons who shouldn’t hold any strong positions of power (yet do) While every hero, or at least non-white males, have their heads together. In fact, we seeÂ Daisy Ridley’s Rey able to take on Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren (The force Awakens) with absolutely no training at all, (Snoke even chides Ren in The Last Jedi about this very fact.) she is also able to successfully pilot the Millennium Falcon, again, with no training whatsoever. She is able to do things that she shouldn’t be able to do. Why? Cullen theorizes it’s because of the feminization of Hollywood. Leftist politics are strong in La la land. Now, I have nothing against people who take a liberal stand on political issues, and I certainly have nothing against a strong female lead. In fact, the baddest ass in my Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter universe is a female, Kate Bryant, Kunoichi (female Ninja.) But Kate spent almost 20 years studying under her sensei, Mitsuaki. She has the training. Rey has no training. I also loved Sigourney Weaver in the Alien films and Linda Hamilton in The Terminator films. Hamilton edges Weaver in my view because Weaver’s Ripley was trained as a marine to deal with such things, while Hamilton’s Sarah Conner was just an average girl trying to get by as a waitress when she was thrust into the adventure of a life time (but even she had to learn from Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese.)

Ah! You say, the force was with her! Well, the force was with Luke too, but he still needed training from both Ben Kenobi as well as Yoda before he could take on Darth Vader, and when he did,Â he lost, not only the battle, but his hand as well! Now this is good character development, Luke shouldn’t have taken on Darth Vader when he did. He was striking out in anger and he wasn’t ready.Â The Jedi are based on Samurai warriors and they are trained not to strike out in anger! Rey was not ready to take on Kylo Ren but fought him to a stand still, how? It’s a good question not answered in the films. The character of Rey is not developed,Â she’s simply able to do things she shouldn’t be able to do. This is not good character development.

Now we come to the rationale why I (and Cullen) believe is the chief reason why the film is underperforming…The way the beloved original characters have been treated. Cullen, like myself,Â was eager to see Han and Luke in action together again. We only got them in action together in A New Hope. After Han saves Luke in Empire Strikes Back they were separated. After Han was brought out of the Carbon pop-sickle he was frozen in from Return of the Jedi, they were separated again! The only time that Han and Luke were together was in A New Hope. I liked The Force Awakens but was disappointed in the fact that Han and Luke did not go into action together. Fans of the original films were upset when Han was not brought back in Last Jedi (they brought back Obi-Wan in Empire and Return, they also brought back Spock in Star Trek 3, it can be done, it should be done! My advice to whomever produces the next Star Wars film, respect the source material! BRING BACK HAN, LUKE AND LEIA! How to bring back General Leia? there is unused footage from the previous two films ofÂ Carrie Fisher that the Fisher estate has givenÂ their blessing for the producers to use,Â but the powers that be at Disney have announced that they won’t use it and Leia will not be in the next film.)Â Then you will get the box office numbers you seek!

One more point.Â A lot of people, including Mark Hamill,Â himself,Â have criticized how the character of Luke was portrayed.Â I,Â however,Â think that this is good character development.Â Here we see Luke,Â having lost his faith in the force,Â much like Job had lost his faith in God in the Bible.Â This is a man embittered by the events that led to the disintegration of his favorite pupil,Â Ben Solo into the dark sides Kylo Ren. What good is the force now?Â But by the end of the film,Â he does the right thing and helps the rebels to escape. He regains his faith thanks to Yoda.Â This is great stuff!

Footnote: Things that make ya go hmmm! Have you noticed that both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises under-performed without the direct involvement of J.J.Â Abrams?

Author Profile

Kevin Given

Kevin Given has studied with â€œ Longridge Writers Group â€ and â€œ Writerâ€™s Boot Camp â€ a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the â€œ Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter â€ franchise which includes novels and comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of â€œ Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter â€ # 1 and â€œ Files of Karl Vincent â€ # 1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series â€œ Dracula Rising â€ (working title) and developing â€œ Foul Blood â€ into comic book form. Don't forget to check out the YouTube show " Comics: Let's Talk " hosted by Kevin Given