Star Wars Sequel Trilogy - Deconstruction and Reconstruction
Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 3:36 pm
So many of you may not know this, but I'm not really a fan of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. I know, I've been super subtle about it, the way I am about all poor creative decisions in the media and fandoms I'm invested in. One day perhaps I will learn to not be so restrained in what I'm feeling.
Jokes aside, I mostly see the Sequel Trilogy as a waste of potential. There are generally good ideas buried in that mess, but they managed to piss them away, along with fan goodwill. The irony is that the Sequels try too hard to be exactly like the original films while also trying to subvert them hard. The Force Awakens tried too hard to be a "win back the crowd" film by essentially mirroring the first Star Wars film to the point of almost parody. It basically renders the original trilogy pointless because its cycled the galaxy back to the starting point of A New Hope, with the Resistance vs the First Order, the Death Star 3 - "Bigger, Longer and Uncut", etc. In fact, if I listed plot elements simply as they are, you'd be forgiven not knowing which film I'm talking about.
For instance, an important member of the heroes is captured during a raid by Stormtroopers, lead by a helmeted man in black wielding a red lightsaber. The captured hero fortunately managed to implant vital information inside an astromech droid, which escapes to wander the desert planet in search for aid. The captured hero is then taken to the villains base, where they are tortured for information by the helmeted man in black. The hero is then freed from captivity by someone wearing Stormtrooper armor, and they make a daring escape out the hanger bay in a ship, the ex-Stormtrooper managing the turrets and sharing some banter as they make a daring, action filled escape from the base, TIE Fighters in pursuit.
The Last Jedi is no better in mirroring the plot of Empire Strikes Back, but it's made much worse by the inclusion of Rian Johnson. However badly J.J. Abrams handled the first film, I at least get the impression that J.J. likes Star Wars, had a general idea on where he wanted the franchise to go, worked to lay out plans for a trilogy that would have felt like one connected story. Rian Johnson, however, does not. Johnson has said point blank that a movie that pleases everyone is boring, and that it's much more fun for him to create a film where half the people love it and half the people hate it. And there's him bragging about how he subverted expectations.
It still boggles my mind that Disney put Star Wars, the most profitable and popular Science Fiction franchise in history, so popular that normies around the world accepted it and made it into a phenomena, and gave it to Rian Johnson, an indie-film creator with barely a handful of films to his name. They let a guy with no love for the franchise or respect for its fans basically undermine all the good will that had been built up over the course of 40 years. The fanbase was as broken as Anakin's lightsaber by the end of the film, to the point that it caused Solo's performance to suffer and has left it up in the air as to the fate of Rise of the Skywalker.
And like I said, the sad thing is that there was potential in the new films. Finn is a fantastic concept, a Stormtrooper who has a conscience but not a backbone. He starts out as someone who runs from danger because he initially has no cause to fight for but himself, and ends up someone who runs towards danger to defend his friends, who he's come to value more than himself. Poe is great as a New Republic hero, basically being a more cocky version of Wedge Antilles from the novels, whom movie audiences never really got to know. And Rey would have worked fine as the new iconic Jedi for the trilogy if they'd given her a personality and a character arc. And everyone wanted to see familiar faces like Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, 3PO and R2.
Unfortunately, they managed to basically mishandle every character there. Finn gets his character arc derailed for the sake of comedy and "go nowhere" plot line about the evils of capitalism, animal cruelty and the 1%. Poe gets his character arc derailed in order for him to learn that he needs to be less heroic, less competent and take less initiative in order to be subservient to the older women in his life that know better. Rey gets no real personality beyond "vaguely compassionate and strong" while also having the skillset of "best at everything". She reads like a text book Mary Sue: she's good at everything save for moments where she isn't to endear her to the audience, everyone loves her, and the story is twisted to revolve around her. Luke, Han and Leia are all basically broken versions of themselves from the earlier movies, to the point that their deaths feel less like tragedies and more like mercy killings.
Which is not to say I haven't enjoyed a lot of Disney Star Wars outside of the Sequel Trilogy. I love Rogue One and the Mandalorian. Solo honestly gets a bad rap, and I like it just fine. Rebels was pretty solid, though it didn't match the best of the Clone Wars. But the Sequel Trilogy on a whole I have no love for, and will be happy to ignore. I honestly am thinking of selling my copy of The Force Awakens.
Now, most of you are probably thinking "Will this guy just shut up already?" Which is perfectly understandable. But some of you might be thinking, "That's all well and good Ares, but if you're going to complain about it like that, how would YOU handle a Sequel Trilogy to Star Wars?" For those hypothetical few, I'm glad you asked! See my next post for the answer.
Jokes aside, I mostly see the Sequel Trilogy as a waste of potential. There are generally good ideas buried in that mess, but they managed to piss them away, along with fan goodwill. The irony is that the Sequels try too hard to be exactly like the original films while also trying to subvert them hard. The Force Awakens tried too hard to be a "win back the crowd" film by essentially mirroring the first Star Wars film to the point of almost parody. It basically renders the original trilogy pointless because its cycled the galaxy back to the starting point of A New Hope, with the Resistance vs the First Order, the Death Star 3 - "Bigger, Longer and Uncut", etc. In fact, if I listed plot elements simply as they are, you'd be forgiven not knowing which film I'm talking about.
For instance, an important member of the heroes is captured during a raid by Stormtroopers, lead by a helmeted man in black wielding a red lightsaber. The captured hero fortunately managed to implant vital information inside an astromech droid, which escapes to wander the desert planet in search for aid. The captured hero is then taken to the villains base, where they are tortured for information by the helmeted man in black. The hero is then freed from captivity by someone wearing Stormtrooper armor, and they make a daring escape out the hanger bay in a ship, the ex-Stormtrooper managing the turrets and sharing some banter as they make a daring, action filled escape from the base, TIE Fighters in pursuit.
The Last Jedi is no better in mirroring the plot of Empire Strikes Back, but it's made much worse by the inclusion of Rian Johnson. However badly J.J. Abrams handled the first film, I at least get the impression that J.J. likes Star Wars, had a general idea on where he wanted the franchise to go, worked to lay out plans for a trilogy that would have felt like one connected story. Rian Johnson, however, does not. Johnson has said point blank that a movie that pleases everyone is boring, and that it's much more fun for him to create a film where half the people love it and half the people hate it. And there's him bragging about how he subverted expectations.
It still boggles my mind that Disney put Star Wars, the most profitable and popular Science Fiction franchise in history, so popular that normies around the world accepted it and made it into a phenomena, and gave it to Rian Johnson, an indie-film creator with barely a handful of films to his name. They let a guy with no love for the franchise or respect for its fans basically undermine all the good will that had been built up over the course of 40 years. The fanbase was as broken as Anakin's lightsaber by the end of the film, to the point that it caused Solo's performance to suffer and has left it up in the air as to the fate of Rise of the Skywalker.
And like I said, the sad thing is that there was potential in the new films. Finn is a fantastic concept, a Stormtrooper who has a conscience but not a backbone. He starts out as someone who runs from danger because he initially has no cause to fight for but himself, and ends up someone who runs towards danger to defend his friends, who he's come to value more than himself. Poe is great as a New Republic hero, basically being a more cocky version of Wedge Antilles from the novels, whom movie audiences never really got to know. And Rey would have worked fine as the new iconic Jedi for the trilogy if they'd given her a personality and a character arc. And everyone wanted to see familiar faces like Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, 3PO and R2.
Unfortunately, they managed to basically mishandle every character there. Finn gets his character arc derailed for the sake of comedy and "go nowhere" plot line about the evils of capitalism, animal cruelty and the 1%. Poe gets his character arc derailed in order for him to learn that he needs to be less heroic, less competent and take less initiative in order to be subservient to the older women in his life that know better. Rey gets no real personality beyond "vaguely compassionate and strong" while also having the skillset of "best at everything". She reads like a text book Mary Sue: she's good at everything save for moments where she isn't to endear her to the audience, everyone loves her, and the story is twisted to revolve around her. Luke, Han and Leia are all basically broken versions of themselves from the earlier movies, to the point that their deaths feel less like tragedies and more like mercy killings.
Which is not to say I haven't enjoyed a lot of Disney Star Wars outside of the Sequel Trilogy. I love Rogue One and the Mandalorian. Solo honestly gets a bad rap, and I like it just fine. Rebels was pretty solid, though it didn't match the best of the Clone Wars. But the Sequel Trilogy on a whole I have no love for, and will be happy to ignore. I honestly am thinking of selling my copy of The Force Awakens.
Now, most of you are probably thinking "Will this guy just shut up already?" Which is perfectly understandable. But some of you might be thinking, "That's all well and good Ares, but if you're going to complain about it like that, how would YOU handle a Sequel Trilogy to Star Wars?" For those hypothetical few, I'm glad you asked! See my next post for the answer.