Do You Have 'Star Wars' Fatigue?

I'm not sure about you, but I'm getting tired of Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, I adore the franchise just as much as anybody; I've been invested in the movies and lore since I was nine. I saw Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in theaters and watched it on repeat several times when I got the DVD for Christmas that year.

People had theorized about a possible Episode 7 for years and were pleasantly surprised when the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released. I saw it on opening night and I'll never forget the sounds of applause and cheering when the opening text appeared! I enjoyed it, despite its many similarities to A New Hope. A year later, Rogue One was released in theaters. I already knew the film's outcome based on the previous exposition ( from A New Hope) so there wasn't much tension. There were cool set-pieces here and there, but I couldn't connect with the protagonists. At least Darth Vader's hallway scene made up for the film's shortcomings.

In December 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi came to theaters. It was a massive let-down. It was plagued with inconsistencies, gaping plot-holes, and awkward-ass humor among other negatives. It pisses me off the more I think about it, so let's continue on to Solo: A Star Wars Story.

First off, no one wanted this film. Han Solo isn't the most interesting character. Not interesting enough to center an entire 2-hour film around him, at least. I begrudgingly still saw it. I gotta say, Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, performed well as Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, respectively. I still had the same issue that I had with Rogue One; it was boring...!! There wasn't any tension because I knew what was likely going to happen based on the previous exposition ( again, from A New Hope). I was surprised by a guest appearance that totally came out of left field. It was pretty neat, but not enough to make up for the entire movie.

TL;DR

To recap, we've had 4 consecutive Star Wars movies in the last 4 years. There are plans for an Obi-Wan Star Wars Story and a Boba Fett spin-off, with Episode 9 scheduled to release next year. Rian Johnson, director of The Last Jedi, wants to create his own Star Wars trilogy and there's talk of a Star Wars tv show...Overkill, much?!

At this point, Star Wars has become mainstream and over-saturated. These newer films feel rushed and seem to lack creativity. Say what you will about the prequel trilogy, but at least those films covered new ground and didn't rely so heavily on the original trilogy. If the proper care went into weaving a coherent narrative and layered characters then I wouldn't be complaining. Instead, its become increasingly apparent that Disney only cares about making bank at the box office and selling toys.

I plan on seeing Episode 9, only to see how the sequel trilogy concludes. James Mangold (Logan) was hired to direct the Boba Fett movie so I'm cautiously optimistic about seeing that. I'm intrigued by the Obi-Wan movie, but it would be disappointing if Ewan McGregor didn't return for the role. Beyond that, I think I'm done with Star Wars for a while. I fear that the quality of the movies will further decrease and that won't change if we keep going to the theaters in droves. The state of the Star Wars franchise as of late is a testament to that age old expression: You can never have too much of a good thing.