General Thoughts on the Star Wars Disney Sequel Trilogy

[Winter]

I just wanted to cover my general thoughts on TDST just to try and get it all out of my system cause at this point even I'm tried of my OCD keeping me on this series and I want to focus on more positive things because, as Link8909 pointed out, things have gotten a lot less fun around here and I can't help but feel partly responsible for that. So, here's my general thoughts on TDST film by film.

The Force Awakens: For all my issues with this film I will admit that I DID enjoy it a lot when it came out. I laughed, cheered and gasped with the rest of the audience in the theater and went to see the film at least 3 more times. It was fun, well acted, well directed and I was exited to see where the series would go next.

However, it IS to similar to A New Hope for my liking. Indeed, when I went and did my TFA vs. Heir to the Empire it was painfully obvious that one was working to be a proper continuation to the Original Trilogy while the other was just copying Lucas' homework to save on time. But as I said in that review, the bits that were fun were still a lot of fun and given that Star Wars does tend to repeat a lot of ideas I was willing to let TFA be A New Hope 2.0

It didn't change much but it was still great to see Star Wars on the big screen again after 7 years and in the end all I really want from a movie is to just have fun.

The Last Jedi: When I first saw TLJ I didn't dislike it, but I didn't much care for it either. I'm always up for a series changing things up, (I'm actually looking forward to WandaVision which, from everything I've heard and seen really isn't what would be considered a "Normal" story in the MCU and I'm REALLY exited for Raya and the Last Dragon which doesn't look like a usual Disney Princess movie and I love most of those films) but something about the way TLJ did it was just... off.

I think part of the problem is that Rian Johnson altered the characters to better fit his style instead of altering his style to fit the characters.

Uncharted 4 is the least tradiational Uncharted game in the series and a big chunk of that is because Neil Drunkman helmed the game and he brought his usual slow burn, heavier focus on Drama, style to the game. However, he didn't altered Nate, Elena and Sully he just put more focus on their character and given how well the game was received, it was clearly was something most gamers were okay with too.

Johnson is someone who often writes characters to be unlikable idiots on both the side of the heroes and villains. That's not an exaggeration, every film he has made so far have all had heroes and villains acting like utter morons who are someone you would usually want to punch for being such an utter twat.

Looper, the main character is a self-centered @$$hole and drug addict who kills people for living and his nemesis is him from the future who's trying to find a kill a child to save his wife from death even though doing what he's doing will ensure that his younger self will never meet her. Knives Out is about an idiot detective and a con-artist who are both equally incompetent and are, to date, the most likeable characters Johnson has ever written.

Johnson also likes to make things overall pointless with his characters either learning little to nothing, senselessly sacrificing themselves or going on just like they were at the start with no real difference.

Please note that none of this is bad as both Looper and Knives Out were both huge hits with critics and viewers alike and I can think of a few stories that follow the same idea (King Lear anyone?). However, I feel it's poorly done here as Poe and Finn were both overall likable and competent characters in the first film and Rey had a lot of potential to undergo a truly engaging arc.

But Poe was made into a hot head, Finn spends the whole film being told that what's character arc should be and Rey's arc in the film is a circle. She starts the film as someone who sees Luke as this great hero, hates Kylo Ren for killing one of the Original Trio and knows little to nothing about her past and ends the film as someone who sees Luke as this great hero, hates Kylo Ren for killing one of the Original Trio and knows little to nothing about her past.

And Luke... I don't actually hate this Trilogy, at least, I don't have all of it. It has some good ideas (many of them are based on Lucas' old draft for Episode 7 or are borrowed from Legends) and I for the most part the characters are, at worst, okay. But there are parts of this Trilogy I truly do hate and how Luke is written throughout this Trilogy and especially TLJ is something I'm not overly found of.

I'm reminded of how Kirk was written in Star Trek Into Darkness. With the 09 film it did feel like Kirk was in there but had yet to go through all the trials and tribulations that shapes him into the character we know in the Original Series. But Into Darkness, this didn't feel like Kirk, this felt like, as Chuck said, Frat Boy McGee #1 Jack @$$ of Star Fleet.

He's borrowing Kirk's name but has nothing really in common with Kirk, both OG Kirk and the rest of Kelvin Timeline Kirk.

Same thing with Luke in The Last Jedi. Everything that made Luke LUKE has been stripped away and replaced with someone who is only recognizable as Luke because he's played by Mark Hamill and Hamill has gone back and forth on how he feels about how Luke was written in TLJ and TDST as a whole.

There's also Reylo and ho boy do I really not care for this. I've said it before and I'll say it again I HATE how Rey goes from hating Kylo to being basically in love with him and is willing to attack Luke to defend the honor of a mass murder. At least Luke was told Anakin was a good person by the man who killed him, most of Rey's time with Kylo has been spent with him trying to hurt/kill her and those close to her and yet she over looks all that for no reason besides him saying that he's the victim in all this.

And on top of all that the film is yet another retread only this time of The Empire Strikes Back instead of A New Hope. It hits all the same plot and character beats. Stern Chase, a group of the main characters going to a different planet where they find a charismatic rogue who ultimately betrays them, Jedi training (where the trainee goes to a place filled with The Dark Side to confront themselves), the reveal of the protagonist's parents by the Darth Vader Clone Big Bad done in a way meant to be deliberately shocking, a cliffhanger ending where the heroes are in a weak situation but still have hope, etc.

The only difference is Empire didn't try to resolve the whole Trilogy in act two and that, I think, is what really screwed the series over, the fact that Johnson decided to resolve most if not all of the major plot points and character arcs. The film goes out of it's way to high light why Kylo is a bad leader and he UTTERLY fails on his first day of the job of being Emperor and everything else he does throughout the film.

It's well directed and well acted and the effects are good but in terms of how well the film handles it's ideas She-Ra Season 4 had similar if not outright identical ideas to TLJ and I LOVE that season even if it's depressing as Hell (seriously watching that season is like watching two friends your close with fight. It's gets REALLY uncomfortable and it's AMAZINGLY written).

So, I'm not against TLJ's ideas I just don't think they were well done and She-Ra, a reboot of a 20 minute toy commercial, felt more like Star Wars then Star Wars did. I get that it has it's fans but I'm just not one of them. Sorry.

Rise of Skywalker: This is, to date, the only film in the Skywalker Saga that I haven't seen in theaters and in fact, when it came out, I stayed at home watching the first season of The Witcher instead of watching the supposed finale to the Skywalker Saga. And I have absolutely no regrets.

I've seen it since and, yeah, skipping this was the right call and I honestly would never have watched it if not for the fact that I will be, at some point in the future, comparing it to/reviewing it with The Last Command of the Thrawn Trilogy. Other then that I would never have watched/talked about it.

It's not a bad movie. Honestly I wouldn't call any film in TDST bad and even the moments I dislike or hate aren't bad in and of themselves they're just ideas/story decisions I didn't personally care for. But I do think this film isn't that good.

Again I have to point to She-Ra with it's fifth season which had a similar story to ROS but is seen by many as a great season/finale that left everyone wanting more. ROS, by contrast, is a film that no one really seems to want anything to do with. Even the Star Wars Holiday Special largely ignored ROS and many of its major story points in favor of just going back to the Lucas Era.

Also, funnily enough, this is the film that borrowed the LEAST from the Original Trilogy both in terms of plot and character arcs. Rey's goal in this film is nothing like Luke's, Poe and Finn don't confess their love for each other (though let's be honesty they totally should have) and there is no point when the heroes have to save another hero from a Crime Lord. Sure, they have to save Chewie but every Star Wars film has a rescue mission so I can overlook that.

Sadly, it does still has just enough in common with Return of the Jedi to be annoying. There's still a plot where the heroes destroy a planet buster, there's still a villain who redeems himself but dies at the end saving the hero and there's still a fight in a throne room at the end of the film. It even rips off Return of the Jedi's Extended Edition ending where we see the rest of the galaxy celebrating the downfall of the evil Empire, as if to show that this Trilogy TRULY was just a carbon copy of TOT.

But back to She-Ra, that series, for me at least, showed me what was missing in TLJ & ROS and I wish TDST could have been more like a show with a Catgirl and an America Magical Girl who nearly get the Universe destroyed because of their inability to tell each other how they feel.

However, as I have also said before, I still love this series. I'm still exited to see what follows, I'm still exited for the 50th Anniversary of Star Wars. I still want to know what happens to Grogu and Din, I want to know what the big Story Event the Star Wars shows are building up to. And if Disney does continue with the story of Rey, Finn and Poe, I'll give it the benefit of doubt and maybe even check it out.

If I can still be interested in what Mass Effect after the ending of ME3 then I can still do the same thing with my favorite series. I didn't stop loving The Thrawn Trilogy because Legacy of the Force was garbage I just ignored it and stock to stories I love.

I still own the Prequels, the Clone Wars, The Original Trilogy and The Thrawn Trilogy and can watch/read them whenever I want. And for all my issues I'm glad that TDST has it's fans and have talked with many who have enjoyed it that are willing to live and let live.

Star Wars is, in the end, a tale of redemption and seeing the best in people.