The Last Jedi has been an extremely polarizing film among Star Wars fans despite its huge success at the box office, and that polarization was reflected in the Killing Time community’s rating of Episode VIII. While the #1 response was a 10, the #2 response was a 1. Every number got votes, and the ranges were so wild, that I thought it might be more instructive to break out….math. We’ve run polls after each Disney Star Wars film giving the KT community a chance to offer their rating on each. I went back into the archives, and instead of percentages, I calculated the weighted average for each film. Here’s what I found:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – 6.197
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 8.614
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 7.585
My review of Episode VIII was very mixed, but not too far off in score from the community average. I have spent a month mulling over Episode VIII. I have to say I feel less charitable toward the film the more I think about the ramifications for the Saga going forward. Star Wars fans nitpick. We do. But The Last Jedi has huge problems just as a film in terms of pacing, and while technically near-perfect, the impact that Rian Johnson’s choices have for the future of the franchise are deeply unsettling, as are the number of inexplicable plot holes that riddle the film. If I didn’t know Johnson was such a fan, I would think he hadn’t seen a Star Wars film before, because there are things in this film that just are NOT Star Wars. But it also has brilliant moments. It’s a maddening film, and-to be honest-I’ve not gone through it as much as I would normally because it’s so frustrating to me. I don’t know what it’s legacy will be, but in terms of ranking it, I’d only put it ahead of Episode I & II.
The next poll will be our biggest of the year: our SIXTH annual reader’s choice for Best Film of the Year (which has been won the last two years by Star Wars films).