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Take ESB then. Irvin Kershner didn't even want to make it initially, because he thought there's no point trying to top Star Wars. When he was convinced to do it by his agent he approached the story and the film trying to figure out what can be done and where it can grow. He said "I knew I wanted humour in it but I couldn't have gags. I knew I wanted a love story but I couldn't have smooching and a lot of kissing". So I'm all for unique ideas and visions but understand what you're dealing with first. One of the main reasons Alien Covenant didn't work is because Ridley seemingly forgot what made Alien great or doesn't understand it anymore.
Yes, looking at ESB makes it easier for me to cope with TLJ. Still, TLJ is way less good craftsmanship than ESB is. And you know what I attribute that too, mostly?
Kersh turned 60 when he made ESB. ALL of the newer movies were made by comparably YOUNG directors, with JJA being the one with the largest body of work under his belt.
I dare say that we see so many flawed larger projects because of the directors being rather unexperienced due to "young" age.
Early work by Rian Johnson AND Steven Yedlin, the DP on TLJ:
Review of "Brick" from 2006. Interestingly enough, some of the flaws that the critic points out are very similar to what I feel is not right in TLJ:
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