The Force Awakens and its follow-ups had so few memorable characters, it’s a wonder Disney – and Oscar Isaac – are still talking about potential spin-offs
The Force Awakens and its follow-ups had so few memorable characters, it’s a wonder Disney – and Oscar Isaac – are still talking about potential spin-offs
I was the world’s biggest Star Wars fan in the '90s. I read all the books and comics, I had the little spaceships. When I left the theater in 1997 after seeing the Star Wars Special Edition, it was like a punch to the gut. So many stupid changes. I hoped for more with Empire, but Luke screamed after his noble sacrifice, which really irritated me. By the time of Jedi, I was already expecting the worst, and boy, they delivered with that awful musical number.
But somewhere deep in my heart I held out hope for Phantom Menace. And that finally killed Star Wars for me. Later I sold or gave away all that stuff. I only kept the original Timothy Zahn trilogy, because I first read those before I even saw the movies.
So by the time we got the sequels I had zero investment. Force Awakens was… fine. A rehash with no original ideas. But I get it. Remind people why they like Star Wars.
I liked Last Jedi a little more than most, despite the clear trilogy pacing screw ups and go-nowhere B plots (casino planet, etc.). I actually really liked Luke’s arc. It was something new and unexpected, but many Star Wars fans want the same warmed-over meal instead of something more dynamic. Same goes for the “anyone can be Force sensitive.” Same goes for “the sacred texts!” And Luke demonstrated total mastery over the Force, holding to his Jedi beliefs, before he died. It was bold, not the typical corporate safe plots with all sharp edges filed down. It could have led in an interesting direction. Killing Snoke was surprising, but I had to imagine there was a plan there. This was a billion dollar franchise. Surely someone had a conversation before they approved the script.
Well, no. They didn’t. I had assumed it was setting up Kylo Ren as the primary antagonist for the next movie. But Rise of Skywalker ended up being one of the worst movies I’ve seen in my life. Not worst Star Wars movie: worst movie period.
How do you make a good Star Wars 9 after 8? Well you sure don’t bring Palpatine back in the 9th inning with zero foreshadowing. And you definitely don’t materialize 10 million Star Destroyers out of thin air.
The original trilogy was great. The prequels were flawed and silly, but at least there was a singular flawed and silly creative force behind them trying to say something. The sequels on the whole just sucked.
They could have made it really interesting if Kylo Ren and Rey had joined forces, either for good or bad, and wound up facing off against Poe and Finn. But no.
What I really believed at the time, and thought might be possible with some of the boldness shown in Last Jedi as well as the talk about letting the past die (and the title), was that they were setting up Kylo and Rey to join together and find a “middle way” in the Buddhist sense—not Jedi or Sith, but something new and truly balanced. Like he would become the antagonist, but Rey would bring him back and together they would discover this new approach. That would fulfill the chosen one prophecy more deeply, tying into the prequels, as well as give more meaning to burning “the sacred texts!” It would end the entire series on a hopeful note of breaking the cycle.
Then they could have all the movies and TV shows they wanted after that by setting them 10,000 years in the past or as side stories or whatever.