Does the Star Wars Franchise Already Need a Reboot?

There's been a rumor floating around for weeks now that Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas's hand-picked successor for head of Lucasfilm, is out at Disney. Whether she is stepping down or is being removed is all part of the scuttlebutt, but the speculation is rampant.

While some are saying "they wouldn't fire her just because of Solo!", those people ignore the bigger picture. Whereas Kevin Feige's Marvel Universe has had a nearly perfect score (taking the first two middling Thor films aside), the Star Wars films have only had one slam dunk with both critics and audiences, and that was The Force Awakens. The other three have all faced some sort of blowback.

Anyone will tell you that fundamentals are what drive consistent performance, and with this franchise, they are just not there.

A Beloved Franchise Goes Rogue

Twelve months ago, I entered a movie theater with anxious, but cautious, anticipation for the first installment in a new era of Star Wars films. JJ Abrams rewarded this anticipation with an exceptional piece of entertainment that also just so happens to be an excellent Star Wars flick.

Fast forward to this week, when I sat down for the first foray into a new realm of Star Wars entertainment, one the diverges from the episodic format of all the prior films, though still telling a story familiar to anyone who knows the universe even remotely. Reports of reshoots heightened the similarly cautious optimism that I felt and made me worry this may not live up to the example set the year before.

Was I wrong to worry?