I thought the silence was an amazing choice of effect. It is so striking because the franchise has led us to expect explosive noise at these moments. But, I am surprised that cinemas felt it required a warning...
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’: AMC Warns Moviegoers About Silent Scene – Variety: "As many aspects of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” provoke strong fan reactions, a few AMC theaters were forced to respond to one of Rian Johnson’s directorial choices. The sci-fi epic contains a scene where the sound completely cuts out for 10 seconds to underscore the action of a certain sequence. The lack of audio has reportedly been a point of confusion among moviegoers who believed the silence was due to a technological failure rather than an intentional choice."
I am not really sure what this says of the moviegoers. Perhaps in a small way it demonstrates how tricky it can be to do something different with a franchise most of the population has now grown up with. I think article in Vox is a good summary of how many ways the movie was able to tell the same story in a different way.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: the backlash explained - Vox: "The theme of The Last Jedi, then, is about being tested, about having everything you value thrown into question and figuring out for yourself the right thing to do. You can’t make the world perfectly safe for your metaphorical children. You will fail them, and they will fail you."
Personally, it worked for me. I enjoyed the tension that I felt watching the movie. Characters I thought I knew, or assumed I would know, seemed to show more doubt than I wanted them to. I enjoyed it because I feel uncertainty myself in defining the lead characters in terms of dark and light, and in knowing what comes next.
I don't feel I need to over think it.
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