In a Marvel Universe Far, Far Away…

Now that both the Star Wars and Marvel franchises are housed under the umbrella with mouse ears, we can expect to see a bit more crossover in characters. Most of the castings are new, but there are a few that were decided long before the two franchises answered to Disney, so it’s interesting to go back and see which actors managed to find a foot in both worlds. With Solo: A Star Wars Story adding three characters to the overall total and several more movies (on both sides) on the way, we can only expect this list to keep on growing.

The Last Jedi: Split Story but Visually Excellent

Trying to direct a Star Wars film must be like trying to work in the government – everyone has a lot of opinions about how you do your job, and no matter what you decide, you’re going to make a lot of people angry with you. Rian Johnson’s latest addition to the galaxy far, far away tap-dances across the line of a fan’s love and hate, with some fans extolling its wonderful qualities and others bashing it for bits and pieces that didn’t flow as well. After the predecessor to this film, The Force Awakens (2015), drew attention for being too much like A New Hope (1977), it does seem as though Johnson’s approach was meant to be as original as it could be, and that didn’t sit right with everyone. Is The Last Jedi as poor a film as some of its loudest critics claim it to be? I don’t believe so – while I’ve always enjoyed Star Wars, I’ve never been a HUGE fan, so all I wanted was to enjoy myself and the newest chapter of the story. In that respect, I was not disappointed. If you are a really big fan of the franchise (we’re talking huge fanboy here), then you might love Star Wars so much that you can overlook anything this movie throws at you, or you can be irritated because it’s not the interpretation you’ve imagined. If you are not as big a fan of the series as a whole and don’t have nostalgia behind you, then this movie might stretch out long and become frustrating because you are more likely to notice its problems. But if you go in only looking for a good time, you should at least find that.