When I was young, my family would take a yearly visit to Myrtle Beach, SC every year. We live at the very bottom of Pennsylvania, about 3 or 4 miles from the Mason-Dixon line, so getting there took about 8 hours (give or take with traffic).
I was probably about 6 or 7 and my brother 3. What were we to do during that tenuous, long lasting trek down to the shore? My parents had the solution. One of those portable DVD players with a screen for the car. They would throw a movie on and shut us up for at least 2 hours. What movie? Star Wars: A New Hope.
Thus began my love affair with the Star Wars saga. I watched the original trilogy countless times, immersing myself in the world of Star Wars, pretending to have lightsaber duels with my little brother or imagining being in one of the epic space battles against the foreboding Death Star. I was hooked, and just in time too. The prequel trilogy was coming out and I was ready for more of my beloved characters.
I'll be the first to admit that the prequels did not quite hit the same mark (looking at you Jar Jar). But credit where can credit is due. Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi was a delight to behold, and Hayden Christansen's tragic portrayal of Anakin Skywalker truly cements Darth Vader as one of the greatest fiction characters of all time. All told, if I had to rewatch the entire trilogy and start over again, the prequels would lay sufficient groundwork for the original trilogy to stand on (and to be honest, I'm being rather critical here as well).
Which leaves me questioning why Disney and LucasFilms dumped gasoline on the series, threw it in a garbage can, and tossed a lit cigarette in for good measure. I mean what was the point of the final trilogy of the Star Wars saga? To “subvert expectation”? To “usher in a new era of Star Wars that throws off the shackles of societal norms”? I mean for real guys, what was the plan here?
To be 100% fair here, The Force Awakens was not bad. I wouldn't call it great either, effectively being a rip off of A New Hope with new characters. But it was a Star Wars movie and it had all the stuff I liked. Lightsaber duels, large scale space battles, the force; not original in the slightest, but still entertaining to watch.
And then Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi came in for the kill. Remember Luke Skywalker? The hero of the OT and one of the most powerful Jedi ever to exist? Not anymore. Now he was a broken shadow of a man living as a hermit on a remote planet because he failed the Jedi order. His betrayal of Ben Solo was the best thing about his story line, and they didn’t even let Ben/Kylo directly kill him. Instead they had Luke die from too much force projection…really? Oh and Supreme Leader Snoke? Remember how he was foreboding and mysterious? Remember how we were all chomping at the bit to find out his backstory? Just kidding, Johnson killed him before we could get to any of that.
So now we come around to the Rise of Skywalker. And for the first time ever, I actually don't even care about this film. I don't care if it does well. I don't care if it flops. I truly don't care what happens. And do you know why? Because the people making this movie don't even care about it.
Allow me to clarify. I am sure that every actor in this movie was excited to be there. To act in a Star Wars film? An honor and a privilege for any actor anywhere. I’m talking about Disney and LucasFilms. They don't care about this movie, at least not in the sense that it is an engaging film for it's viewers, and a tribute to a saga that has defined the space opera genre.
It shows through their complete lack of character development for their new additions to the cast, hoping to rely on fan service to keep viewers around. Why is Rey so strong? With zero training from any Jedi, she was able to repel Kylo Ren’s mind probe, and handily defeat Ren in a lightsaber duel at the end of The Force Awakens.
I bring this up not because the new movies must follow the same exact formula as the OT, but because they fail to see why people enjoy that story. It is devastating to see our heroes fall, but all the sweeter when they rise up and beat the adversary who defeated them previously. Its inherently compelling. We want to see them win. But if they don’t struggle to get there, then there are no stakes. None of these characters have any kind of compelling story that I want to engage in. Finn? After his shift in allegiance at the beginning of The Force Awakens, I had hopes for his character. I would have loved to have explored the ramifications of being a Storm Trooper who defected, and what kind of life he would have lived up to this point. None of that. Poe? Literally made useless by Admiral Holdo in The Last Jedi, and basically had no major character development for himself in The Force Awakens.
This last trilogy in the Star Wars saga is a money grab. A cheap attempt to draw in long time fans of the series, and also usher in a new generation of fans. And ultimately, it will work. The Rise of Skywalker will likely gross $200 million at least on its opening weekend. All told, the movie will likely make them a billion dollars. It breaks my heart a bit actually. To see a series that I treasured through most of my childhood reduced to this. The film is already receiving bad reviews from premiere screenings, with Rotten Tomatoes critics giving it a 58% at the time of writing. Now we wait until Christmas Day, when it launches to the masses.
At a bare minimum, The Mandalorian is so far a fun and fresh Star Wars saga that is fairing well and is compelling to watch. I have high hopes that Jon Favreau will create a hit new series with it. But as for the Star Wars film saga? It seems we will end one of the most successful and entertaining franchises of all time on a resounding “Meh”.
