Sorry for not getting back to this earlier. I have several issues with the films which do and don’t quite align with your thoughts. These are.
Kennedy was given full creative control of these films. And she botched it, big time. It seems clear that the story for the 3 films was not written before shooting began. The result is a disjointed mess. Thirdly Rey is the very definition of a Mary Sue character. Faultless, all powerful, never loses and no development needed. This leads the character to being a very bland one and as the lead that is real problem. Every opportunity to explore interesting facets of her character were ignored. This seems to be a clear direction within Disney at the moment and the films are crap as a result.
From this complete lack of possible character development the stories end up directionless and need stupid coincidences and in the case of Star Wars convenient and new Jedi powers to make things work. Trouble is it doesn’t.
So in summary Kennedy was responsible. She allowed or followed a direction that required Rey to be a Mary Sue and as an additional result of poor planning the story was completely screwed.
I see Wonder Woman 1984 has also just bombed for many of the same issues as above. It is most certainly related to poor writing but there is something else driving this. In this case I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why that is.
We watched It’s a Wonderful Life again (every New Year) last night. I wonder how long till the culture assassins come for it too? The only character (with a speaking part) that’s not white is the servant.
I’d say it’s a perfect representation of a town like that at that time and so perfectly cast.
I wouldn’t be so quick to blame feminism for Rey being a shit character. Disney spent a lot of money on Star Wars, and I think the creative elements felt enormous pressure to service the commercial elements. Hence short cutting the hero’s journey and making Rey a fully formed character with loads of powers right out the box, so they could sell shit loads of toys.
Shame, cos the character with the really interesting potential in the story was Finn. A stormtrooper that rejects his brainwashing and joins the rebellion.
To be honest, those films should never have been made. The story was done, and I can see why it pisses the fans off. Bringing back a new empire, palpatine etc. just makes the victories and struggles of the original trilogy people invested in pointless. Darth Vader being redeemed and sacrificing himself to save Luke and kill the Emperor is pointless, because there he is knocking about in the new films. The final victory for the rebels at the end of the third film is only ever going to be temporary with the first order about to take over.
It’s like the new Terminator film (which I haven’t seen) killing off a major character who’s survival was the whole point of the first two films and the point of investment from the audiences point of view. Make the new films and take the story off in new directions, but don’t piss on the films people loved in the process.
Disney did the same thing with the Han Solo film. A film that absolutely did not need to be made. Han Solo is a criminal when we meet him in Star Wars, and that’s the whole point. We don’t know if we can trust him. It makes him coming back and joint the Death Star attack such a great moment. Making a prequel film that shows he had a heart of gold before finding his place in the rebellion cheapens that.
So Star Wars was always on a hiding to nothing. The films could not be made without pissing on the original’s definitive ending. And Disney sunk so much money into buying Lucasfilm that the story was always going to come second to a quick return on their investment.
Rogue One and The Mandalorian show that there are great stories that can be told around the original Star Wars films, if Disney is willing to play the longer game and build new characters and stories, rather than just rehashing the old characters. And understand what made the originals precious to people and don’t piss on it.
The commercial angle is an interesting one. One I certainly hadn’t considered. But if that was the case why did they build Finn up and then discard him later? To be honest that almost puts a more sinister twist to it.
Overall though there was a decision to make Rey as she was and then further decisions to ignore all the potential that was put into the films at the beginning. Rey being left behind, Finn as you say, Snoke, and Ben Solo’s decent towards the dark side. Basically they hit corner flag despite being 2 yards out and straight in front.
One further angle I feel they missed is that they failed to recognise that a big part if their audience was, in the main 30 years older. It’s like the Ewok line in the extreme. They needed a smarter film to account for that.
Should the film shave been made? Difficult one. 25 years ago, yes without doubt but with a story line around the fragmented Empire and the struggle to rebuild
@Kopstar thanks, no I wasnt. But there is a point about the perjorative use of woman going back centuries, or is @Arminius up for a dunking; in terms of biscuits.
Basically The Mandalorian. They knocked that one out of the park. And it’s basically what you said, the lawlessness that follows the fall of the empire, the new republic trying to impose order, and the remnants of the empire trying to rebuild.
But I think the Skywalker story was over as soon as Darth Vader chucks the Emperor over the railings. That’s the conclusion. It’s the father redeeming the son, and the son being saved by the father. The end of the empire and the start of the new republic.
Everything that came after in the three sequel films unravels those story. Bringing back Palpatine was a travesty. That’s the whole point of six films completely pissed on.
just gone through the whole nine movies with my little ones…
brought back alot of memories…i actually liked the 3rd movie with anakins turning more than i remember…yes, some real cheese, and could have been done alot better, but his journey to the darkside is pretty cool…
the last three, really, really, REALLY could have been so much better, like GOT, just seems like actual sabotage to me, as a lot of the stuff doesnt even need to happen…like when you are meant to think Chewie died, but aparently he was on a DIFFERENT ship that was just out of shot…urgh…and Rey with the Jedi mind trick…so many variables on how she could have escaped while continuing the story arc…
i honestly dont think the audience are as stupid as they are being treated…my ten year old was picking holes through it…
however…those last three movies could easily have contained a similar arc without palpatine, but with Kylo Ren and his Journey from dark to light and not missed an actual beat…
as for the commercial slant…im tipping Rey dolls would have sold in similar numbers had she been more vunerable…
dunno…they flirted with some really good subject matter and just backed away when they could have gone for gold…
and porgs…fucking hell…i suppose at least they are not Jar Jar Binks…
That’s pretty much it really. If a 10 year old can pick holes in it, you honestly have to ask what were they doing? It’s a complete screw up and for me that’s been driven by something outside.
The first 3 films, the prequels are actually a really good story but again I feel they missed trick forgetting that their core audience was a lot older. For me they should have been a lot darker to actually reflect Anakins decent. What we got was a dark film trying to be happy.
Disney trilogy utterly destroys one of our childhood heros and bombs. Mandalorian brings him back ££££££. Guess they’ll be going forward via the Vale of the Force.
Luda learns through interaction with humans, it looks like the incels, bigots and horny teens got their hands on it first, as usual. But the company seems to have learned a lesson, noting: “We plan to open the biased dialogue detection model” for general use, as well as to help further research into “Korean Al dialogue, Al products, and Al ethics development.”
Doesn’t this happen almost every time there’s an experiment into having AI interact on social media platforms? They turn into a seething vitriolic bigoted cunt?
