It’s no secret that Star Wars: The Last Jedi floored critics with its spectacular visuals and heartfelt story. In fact, in his own review, Matt Donato of WGTC heaped praise on the film for its bold storytelling. And he wasn’t the only one.
As the online consensus began to take shape, Rian Johnson’s sequel was officially certified ‘fresh’ over on Rotten Tomatoes, who later confirmed The Last Jedi to be the highest-rated Star Wars movie ever made (after Empire Strikes Back) at 93 percent. But for RT users, it’s a completely different story.
After more than 113,000 ratings, The Last Jedi‘s ‘audience score’ is hovering precariously at 56 percent, and that number continues to plummet with each passing day. To put things into perspective, both The Force Awakens and Rogue One sustained solid scores at 89 percent and 87 percent, respectively, making this a rather strange anomaly. Could it be that Star Wars fans are divided over the Rian Johnson follow-up? It certainly seems that way, and one individual has even gone so far as to create a petition asking Lucasfilm to remove the pic from canon.
Henry Walsh from Atlanta, Georgia believes that Johnson has ruined the franchise and that The Last Jedi erased 30 years of lore. As such, he thinks it should be wiped from canon.
“Episode VIII was a travesty,” the petition reads. “It completely destroyed the legacy of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi. It destroyed the very reasons most of us, as fans, liked Star Wars. This can be fixed. Just as you wiped out 30 years of stories, we ask you to wipe out one more, the Last Jedi. Remove it from canon, push back Episode IX and re-make Episode VIII properly to redeem Luke Skywalker’s legacy, integrity, and character.”
Pretty harsh, eh? While The Last Jedi certainly did make some very controversial storytelling decisions that pissed off a lot of fans, calling for it to be wiped from canon is a bit extreme. Then again, I suppose some people really feel betrayed by the events that took place in the movie and we all know how passionate Star Wars fans can be. Still, it’s not like this petition will actually do anything, except maybe have Lucasfilm thinking twice before they decide to be bold again.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is currently playing across screens near and far, and despite strong backlash from fans, it’s already made a pretty penny at the box office and looks set to continue raking it in over the next few weeks.