I just saw The Rise of Skywalker and I was underwhelmed to say the least. I could go on about the various issue I have with plot and character, but I feel like most of those complaints have been made by other people already and I don't have much new to say. I'll admit there is a part of me that feels like my thoughts were swayed by the social media shit storm that led up to the release. But, there is something I haven't been hearing that really stands out to me about this new trilogy and the fighting that has been going on between different Star Wars camps. The Star Wars movie franchise is becoming a relic. The sad part is some people would rather it remain a relic instead of continuing on as the fresh exciting entity that made it so popular in the first place.
The biggest knock I had on The Force Awakens, and why it lands at the bottom of my Star Wars movie rankings, is because it was essentially a remake of A New Hope. It is almost plot point for plot point the same movie with J.J. Abrams stealing most of Lucas' visuals along the way. It was a new movie with mostly new characters in the same situations and settings as the first Star Wars movie. The favorite retort to my complaint is that Star Wars main drive is the hero's journey as outlined by Joseph Campbell, so of course if you are going to make a Star Wars movie it is going to be the same story. I call bullshit on that. Joseph Campbell used thousands of years of story telling to come up with his idea of the hero's journey. He boiled the stories down to their smallest essence to find what they had in common, but if you look at the surface of many of these stories they look completely different. The story of Theseus appears nothing like Beowulf or Lord Of The Rings, yet all three of these use the plot structure Campbell outlined.
What made Star Wars so special was at the same time it leaned on the structure that was as old as time, it introduced us to a world we had never seen before. Campbell may have analyzed the words, but George Lucas provided the images. Luke gazing over the Tatooine horizon with its three moons, the underbelly of an Empire battleship flying over the camera, Luke standing watching Darth Vader cut down Obi-Wan. These were images that others went on to steal. Try to watch Fellowship of the Ring without being constantly reminded of A New Hope. Frodo witnessing Gandolf's demise at the hands of the Balrog is certainly part of the hero's journey but did it have to look exactly like Star Wars? Frodo stopping to watch like Luke, screaming after his endangered mentor, Strider grabbing him like Han, the group getting to safety as Frodo/Luke sits in stunned disbelief. George Lucas and Star Wars painted the images the became the basis for our collective unconscious.
But that is gone. J.J. Abrams has made Star Wars a follower, a reflection of what has already been done, or worse, of the latest trends, not a setter of these things. At least The Force Awakens stole from its parent movies, The Rise of Skywalker takes from the sci-fi, fantasy, comic book movies of today. The reveal that Lando has gathered a slew of ships from around the galaxy to help take down Palpatine's fleet was eerily recommencement of Avengers: End Game when everyone shows up through time holes to save the day. Granted, Lando's army appears as one big reveal where as the Avenger's help comes in multiple groups, but the imagery is the same and the moment felt stolen. There were also many moments that felt like they were out of Game of Thrones.
The part that is unfortunate to me is that this is what a huge faction of Star Wars fans wanted. Rian Johnson tried to make something that was in the true spirit of what Lucas created, a movie that felt like Star Wars but was creating story and images that were new, and he got killed by many fanatics, fanatics that just wanted to see A New Hope made over and over. If you want to relive the magic of the first trilogy, watch the first trilogy. The last thing I want is to see the same story and stolen images sold to me as something new. In that way J.J. Abrams, a man I was once a huge fan of, has let me down yet again.
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