re: Rian Johnson says Empire Strikes Back would have been criticized if it came out today

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When Solo has a $75 million opening weekend, that's when they'll finally have to admit they're fricked. While Deadpool 2 is getting some initial bad rumors, I'll gladly pay for that one its second weekend in hopes it outgrosses Solo. I will not be seeing it in theaters.

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The biggest climb that Disney faces now is that they are running off the old fans by pretty much telling them to frick off and making movies bad enough to not gather new fans at the same pace they are losing old.

Star Wars was THE franchise in the late 70s and 80s. Fans were hardcore and grew up loving it and were very loyal to the brand. Now, the new Star Wars is one in a handful of franchises and kids have the attention span of a nat while not being loyal to any one brand like then.

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"Empire" would have gotten roasted.

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``The Empire Strikes Back'' is the best of three Star Wars films, and the most thought-provoking. After the space opera cheerfulness of the original film, this one plunges into darkness and even despair, and surrenders more completely to the underlying mystery of the story. It is because of the emotions stirred in ``Empire'' that the entire series takes on a mythic quality that resonates back to the first and ahead to the third. This is the heart.

4 out of 4 stars...Roger Ebert

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Ppl, especially on social media, love to bitch

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Yeah but before social media there was this thing called the playground where people also loved to argue about everything.

And nobody was bitching about Empire Strikes Back.

There was some argument about Temple of Doom or who was better Marino or Montana but EVERYONE loved Empire Strikes Back back in the day. If you owned it you would loan it out to your friends.

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The biggest climb that Disney faces now is that they are running off the old fans by pretty much telling them to frick off and making movies bad enough to not gather new fans at the same pace they are losing old.

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The irony is that this was supposed to be the trilogy that lured the old fans back in, and largely did with TFA because it felt like an actual Star Wars movie as opposed to the convoluted CGI mess of the prequels.

Unbelievable how they won back so many people with The Force Awakens only to chase them away with The Last Jedi.

At least with the prequels Lucas wasn't ruining the story arcs of the core characters from the OT.

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Um...that a Sith whipped up on a would-be Jedi who had a few months of training? A lot more believable than a scavenger driving the Falcon and beating Kylo Ren head to head the same week.

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Luke did the same thing. Kylo Ren is weak. Dumbass couldn’t even sense he was fighting an illusion of Luke.

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He's correct. It was criticized back then.

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I was 12 when Empire came out, and there were things I didn't expect (and didn't like).

Didn't like Vader dad AT ALL, because Vader was such a potent villain that I wanted Luke to one day defeat... the Emperor wasn't a factor in Star Wars, so Vader was the Big Bad.

Didn't like the ending, since Han was my favorite. I hated that he got beat and frozen, then taken back to Jabba.
And regarding the ending, I really didn't like the utter cliffhanger aspect of it. Remember, this was 1980, the next movie was 3 years from now. I had to wait 3 years for my hero to get rescued.

But those were criticisms from an impatient child... that was going to effect my fantasizing about the continued adventures of Han and Chewie (since he might be dead).

In the context of the entire trilogy, Empire was great. It showed the might of the Empire, introduced the Emperor, and deepened the story to a level that would create the greater SW mythos.

I get that Ep 8, as the middle movie, is supposed to be the darkest one, leaving the heroes defeated and desperate (as Empire did). And it does do that. But I can't see the path to victory, or even the final resolve (Empire showed Luke with his new hand, standing with Leia, overlooking the Galaxy from afar, as Lando and Chewie departed in search of Han's whereabouts). There is no similar analog in TLJ, no greater power to be faced (we see that Luke had to defeat not Vader, but the Emperor; he had to redeem Vader). Snoke's gone, Kylo is now in charge- this is like if Vader had killed the Emperor during Empire. How do you then redeem him?

That statement by Rian shows just how dumb he really is. Of course Luke lost to Vader he had very little training and Vader was the badass across all galaxies.

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For the first couple of months, they brushed off any criticism by either pointing to the box office or claiming the hate was limited to a few misogynists. But lately it seems Rian is giving a weekly "explanation" and enlisting everybody from JJ Abrams to Mark Hamill to Santa Claus to help him sell it.

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Thought the same

Solo will bomb

Rian Johnson can suck a fat dickkkkk

I saw Empire in the theater when I was about 8-9. I remember feeling confused and bewildered by what I had just seen

Because it was fricking fantastic and bold and blew my little mind

This Rian dude is a goddamn idiot who actually made a train wreck of a worse Star Wars than 1 or 2

I feel sorry for JJ trying to piece this disaster back together