This part gets into personal aesthetics I had to separate from my review of its qualities as a film. So without further adieu
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So, that movie certainly happened:
“Don’t be a hero, be a leader.” Rian Johnson’s theme for the movie goes. “Change is scary but change is good.” and “The master surpasses the student because they have to go own to become their own person.” All of these could have been good in a star wars film. However how they end the movie Rian’s subversive ideas for the film seem to be subverted by the fact this is a Disney corporate tentpole movie and we will be having Star Wars movies to the heat death of the Universe so the movie had to end things in a way that fits Disney’s larger agenda for the brand. So the Movie gives you an illusion that its being dangerous and subversive of the large corporate master when in reality it only deeps the corporate vision of Disney for Star Wars. And the film is lesser for it. My last exposure to Rian Johnson ((not counting Breaking Bad which its hard to bring into this conversation because its a long form TV show)) I think I don’t like the same sort of stories Rian likes. And its fine to like something different. Based on this movie and those other data points ((I will try to see Brick to round out my perspective on his work as a film maker)) I have 0 interest in seeing his new Trilogy. Which the movie was Meta winking to me about. “Change is scary but change is good” is the movie meta winking at me to give me a promise that this new vision for star wars will take the movie a fun place and I just have to trust it.
The movie wants to reject the idea of heros and legends but the problem is that Star Wars IS mythology. ((With Disney Star Wars 3 movies in, the Prequel Trilogy, and the Original trilogy all in the can I feel confident I can say with full assurance that where Star wars after return of the Jedi has gone wrong is its abandoning Joseph Campbell)). The Heroes Journey has the Hero transcend these things and Luke plays that out to perfection. But the movie does not want to give us the Myths of Kylo Ren or any of the other new characters. And thats why these future Star Wars properties are all going to have a problem. Disney of all movie studios has forgotten its in the Myth and Fantasy business.
They toned down the “Do you remember it” moments in the movie. And their were less “I clapped when I saw it” moments in the movie.While good the movie replaces those with lots of worldbuilding that isn’t very good to my tastes. They set up a plot element about War Profiteering….And it could have been interesting but I feel like the studio said “We need to have Rey, Poe, and our new character to sell things in Asia Rose do something.” And instead of having them do something in service to the larger story they made a story for them that served no purpose……except it did. The Republic gets set back to Square 0. Now the Story of Star Wars doesn’t have to change. Its not plucky Resistance vs oppressive empire. And while I liked The Force Awakens and it was the movie it needed to be (no more no less) J.J. Abrams isnt going to alter that one Iota.
So Disney doesn’t WANT the story of Star Wars to change. They want it to be in stasis because they think either thats what the fans want or its most marketable/cultural gesalt. And this is an error in the thinking that goes to not understanding its own Ur Document: The Original Star Wars movies.
A New Hope was made as a love letter to the old republic movie serials. These movie serials told a story based on his relationship (as a Child) with World War II and Korea and his relationship (as a young Adult) with Vietnam. In the 1990s our relationship with War changed. Thats why the War elements of the prequels dont work and since those elements drive the thing thats supposed to be interesting in that movie (The Rise and Fall of Anakin) the whole project is a mess. While War wasn’t needed for The Force Awakens it was the easiest way to do what the studio needed it to do. Rogue 1 was a war movie (for some reason…..its a movie that didn’t need to be made) and Solo a Solo story is going to be about smuggling in a time of war and oppression. But those movies don’t address our current relationship to war.
Inadvertently Star Wars (a modern American allegorical mythology) becomes a forever war at a time when America is stuck in a forever war. And we don’t like that we are in a forever war. But thats the status quo of the series Disney wants to sell.
The movie wants you to be leaders and not heroes but it doesn’t know how to show that difference. Poe is right. He needed to do the Pyrrhic victory of attacking the Dreadnought. But Leia acts stupidly and in a way that a military commander wouldn’t in that situation so the plot can happen. I know Adam Driver served in the military but I don’t think anyone involved in the scripting has had a military background more recent then 30 years ago and it shows.
The movie (rightly) has Leia as a tiring leader of the resistance who wants to teach Poe to be a great leader. But Poe still wants to be a hero. Instead of making a story for him where he learns the difference Poe acts stupid, Leia acts stupid and ADMIRAL HOLDO is VERY stupid. Not because their characters are stupid but because the plot and script doesn't know how to do this thing ((which I think was worthy)) effectively given the other constraints the script had to produce in. So because these characters act stupid Poe starts to learn how to lead…..wooo?
Finn is in this movie. And for a movie that is checking off Racial Representation because it knows that sells best to a broader audience its actually kind of shameful that “The Black Guy” has no meaningful plot or character arc in this movie. He is LARGELY the same person he was in the prior movie and has experienced no real growth. NOW kudos John Boyega is a very likeable actor. And DOUBLE Kudos Finn is a likeable and relatable character. And its shameful he gets attached to Rose and Captain Phasma as his major plot elements in this film.
Daisy Ridley is bad in this movie. She isn’t as strong as any of the 4 new characters introduced in the prior movie and the 5 main characters put in with this movie. She isnt strong enough of an actress to do what this movie is asking her to do. She is the “Protagonist” of these films (sorta) but really it should have been Finn. A lot of the plot beats they have for her would have all worked out better as the focal point of the film. “But we need a girl to be the Jedi this time.” said a Disney executive in the script meetings. And……a better actress in this part would have made that work out fine. But its clear that this movie doesn’t know what it should focus on it has the wrong main character. And if the movie was less of a borg like McDisney film it wouldn’t be harmed by that as much as it is
Rose didn’t have to be an awful character. While she has a thin resume as well she is a better actress then Daisy Ridley but this script gives her nothing. She is part of the films attempt to subvert the idea of heroism ((but we have to end affirming the idea because its a disney movie)) and to subvert the prior subversion of the Finn/Rey romance by having a female character whose interesting part of the movie is driven by her romance. And her romance with Finn could have worked but she had 0 Chemistry with John Boyega. And she doesn’t have the acting skills/experience of Adam driver to work around that.
Maz and Captain Phasma were in this movie because Disney executives while trying to not make a mythological story ((because the monomyth is in #currentyear a problematic idea)) want the movie to add to the broader Star Wars mythology. This is the sort of cultural vandalism that large international media conglomerates are doing these days (( And doing it while telling a story about the evils of large corporations is particularly hilarious)) . And when they create something of clear mythological significance (Snoak) they just kill it ((Also Tr-80r)). Its like Neelix in Star Trek Voyager and previously in Star Wars Jar Jar. They made a character they wanted to be a fan favorite and when it wasn’t they keep trying to force meme it to make it work…..Oh and it doesn’t.
Finn wasn’t wrong to Suicide mission, but the movie doesn’t give us a compelling reason for Finn to not die. So Finn gets his character arc averted so Rose can have one….wooo? And hers is about loving a man…..woooo? And this could work if they had chemistry or if the love element was built or invested in anywhere else in the movie.
After a good nights sleep i realize what I saw as the Core of the movie [The Stuff involving Rey-Luke-Leia-Kylo-General Hux-Snoke-Chewie-R2-and Yoda] isnt the sort of thing a large multi billion dollar conglomerate would want to make into a movie. We need a rampage of horse creatures in space monaco so it has a fun adventure romp in it ….a studio note says…..no its a studio project designed to sell to a broad mass audience. But thats not the movie Rian Johnson wanted to make ((I am not sure the core I like is what he wanted to make either FWIW)). And thats kind of sad.
Its afraid to tell a Star Wars story without war. Its afraid to embrace the Mythological significance of the first three films. Its all put togther so perfectly in the end of Jedi. Whats happening on the moon of Endor isn’t important. Whats happening in the giant space battle isn’t important. The fate of the Galaxy is in one room. A son is fighting to preserve his own soul and save his father’s soul. His father is trying to corrupt his son so he can destroy the man who corrupted him. And the Emperor is so delightfully evil if Luke or Vader wins they are broken and destroyed so he wins. That is Star Wars at Myth at its best and thats why those movies developed such a dedicated Fandom. Disney is afraid to try to take that idea and sell it to a global mass audience. And that means after the end of the Skywalker Saga I am done with star wars as Film or TV……..I can play TTRPG Star Wars and tell a better Star Wars story then what Disney is going to give me. I can play games from the Xbox 360 and previous generation of games and get better star wars stories.