Could The Last Jedi’s title bode well for Star Wars’ spirit of invention? – WBNews

Generally speaking, terribly titled Star Wars episodes mostly end up being terrible Star Wars movies. The Phantom Menace was presumably only so named because Trouble in the Galactic Senate would have alerted fans to the looming, nightmarish shift away from knockabout space fun towards Trade Federation blockades and endless Jedi councils in the first of George Lucas’s space opera prequels. Likewise, Attack of the Clones seemed to speak to its sequel’s endless conveyor belt of meaningless CGI aliens, planets and cityscapes as much as to the creation of the first proto-stormtrooper army. JJ Abrams’s tamely monikered The Force Awakens hinted heavily towards the rather generic, if thrillingly realized, take on Star Wars presented in 2015’s Jedi party starter. Now the title of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII has been unveiled, and it couldn’t be more vanilla if it tried. “The Last Jedi” might easily have been created by the famed Star Wars rumor generator widget that briefly captured imaginations before the announcement of Episode VII’s title. Generic in the extreme, it seems to tell us nothing about the plot of the new installment beyond extreme basics. Or at least, that’s the initial reaction. Because it might actually tell us quite a bit, especially if Luke Skywalker turns out to be the title character. Star Wars UK (@StarWarsUK) It’s official. STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is the next chapter of the Skywalker saga. This December. #TheLastJedi https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/23/star-wars-the-last-jedi-title-mark-hamill/https://t.co/1vn4J3oZBq pic.twitter.com/QCk52vOuAl January 23, 2017 At the beginning of Johnson’s movie, there’s little doubt…more detail