Let us all be absolutely honest here. There was never a super solid plan. There was at no point in this franchise a unifying creative vision; and with “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” we see just how wrong things can go when you don’t have an ending in mind. Even when you have incredibly talented people working on your films they end up fighting against each other for control over the direction of the franchise if no one provides that direction for them.
“The Force Awakens” (2015) was typical J.J. Abrams fare. It was a shoddy foundation that introduced a lot but left any real exploration of these ideas to someone else. This is the mystery box at its most dangerous. Using tantalizing questions to keep an audience engaged only works for so long, without a compelling core conflict, or themes upon which to build interesting characters, there won’t be much gas in the tank when you eventually hand the keys over to the next director.
Rian Johnson had a lot to work with for “The Last Jedi” (2017), unfortunately he didn’t seem very interested in building on what Abrams handed to him. “The Last Jedi” made a show out of taking the various mystery boxes and stamping them out in truly remarkable fashion. Rey’s parentage? Nobody, mere drunkards. Snoke? Dead. Who was he? No explanation given. Phasma? She was important right? Nope. Killed off in brilliantly unceremonious fashion. Johnson chose not to expand on Abrams’ film in order to establish his own and determine the direction the franchise would go in. At one point in time he was meant to write the treatment that Colin Trevorrow would make into the script for “The Rise of Skywalker.” He made it clear on Twitter that this was no longer the case in 2017. Which means all the drastic changes Johnson made to the plot of the sequel trilogy would need to be navigated by Trevorrow without input from Johnson.
[blockquote align=”right”]“The truth is that I was getting [“The Force Awakens”] up and running, I was nothing but grateful that a director and writer I admire as much as Rian was coming in to do that. Not expecting to come back to this, it was just fun to watch what was happening and get to respond to it. When I was called to come on to this movie, of course I wish we had that time that we didn’t.” – J.J. Abrams [/blockquote]
But then Trevorrow was fired and J.J was brought back on. The man responsible for setting up so many of the core concepts of this franchise returned to finish the job after many of those concepts had been thrown out one film before. So what’s the solution? Well, as we see in the film, Abrams wasn’t sure, but there sure was a lot of backtracking involved. All of this, with Palpatine and Kylo and the rest may have been what J.J. had in mind this whole time, doubtful, but it could have been. None of that matters when you were only originally slated to helm one of three films. Trevorrow has come clean about what his vision for this final film would have been and it’s entirely different from what we got. This shows us the malleability of the sequel trilogies’ plot. It could have ended in any number of ways because there was no ending set in stone. They were building the bridge as they were crossing it.
Where any normal trilogy would have three films that build on each other thematically and narratively, or at least narratively, this trilogy is comprised of three parts that want nothing to do with the one that came before. Each has a completely different idea of what this trilogy is about and neither get more than one film to expand upon what they introduce. J.J. Abrams, spends a good portion of this film running away from “The Last Jedi,” which spent a good portion of its energy running away from “The Force Awakens,” which borrowed its plot points from “Episode IV: A New Hope.”
So yeah, the movie was bad but, that shouldn’t be a surprise. It didn’t pull its badness out of thin air, this was the natural conclusion of this hellish relay race of ideas. If anything we should be sympathetic to the wasted potential of the sequel trilogy. Pour three out to the movies that could have been.
The funny thing is that technically “The Rise of Skywalker” is pretty solid. The directing is good, the editing is serviceable, the music is grand as always, the issue is purely with the story being told. Everyone is united in their disappointment in the conclusion of this saga.
There are many issues with the way this film ends the trilogy; but I’m going to focus on one that I feel makes the biggest case for the waste of time this entire trilogy would eventually become. Exhibit A: Rey’s last name.
SPOILERS AHEAD – Please don’t read further if you haven’t seen the film.
Emperor Palpatine was brought into this franchise in order to be Rey’s grandfather. Rey’s last name is Palpatine. This is important for obvious reasons. The one constant in this franchise has been the question of who Rey’s parents are: if Rey comes from an important bloodline. Well now we know she does, so what does this mean? This is the question that affects Rey the most. It’s her main internal and external want in the beginning of “The Force Awakens” and her need for family is arguably why she connects so strongly to Han and even to Luke, though their relationship was testy. This reveal should be of profound importance to her. Not the type of thing that could be so easily shaken off.
Rey ends up defeating Palpatine, thus becoming the last living member of her lineage. A Jedi stands as the last Palpatine.
[blockquote align=“left”]“Normally I’d say nothing, but not a single thing in here was ever in any screenplay Derek and I wrote. Not one thing.” – Colin Trevorrow[/blockquote]
She could choose, after three films searching and wondering, to own her name. This is what she fought so hard to uncover, people have literally died to aid her in this journey. Even if she didn’t like the eventual answer, it would show so much strength to carry on the legacy of Palpatine by reforming such a name into one that represents the light, the ability of people to change, as Anakin Skywalker did, first into Darth Vader and then again by saving Luke, or how Kylo Ren changed from good to evil and back again… this is not what she does.
Instead she tosses the name aside and takes the easy route, she just says her name is Skywalker. Thus making the core theme of “The Last Jedi” entirely moot, twice over.
The idea that The Force could reside in anyone, even a random slave child, was a big part of “The Last Jedi.”
Rey not belonging to a powerful lineage was meant to be meaningful to Rey because…it means Rey has to earn her place in the Jedi legacy through her own actions; unlike Kylo, who has the reputation of Han and Leia, as well as Luke and Anakin, to shoulder.
It gives her the moral challenge of deciding what that legacy will be for herself, without having to worry about what it means for past generations. She has no past.
Now she does have a past and she has a decision to make based around the name Palpatine. She can own the name and work to change its meaning or give it up and adopt a new identity, one that’s easier to work with. She chooses the latter, lazier, choice. This is not a choice that makes the past two films worth watching: “The Rise of Skywalker” is a massive three-movie-long cop out and it gets a massive ‘F’ from me.
