Let me take a step back and point
out something that was both a great direction for Star Wars to go, and the
biggest insult to the fan base. Some of
the best scenes involved Kylo and Rey talking to each other while she's on the
island. Neither one seems completely in
control, and they're both trying to work out their places in the galactic
events happening around them. It's
unique, it's emotional, and it all makes sense.
And when Kylo says to Rey, "Let
the past die, kill it if you have to," it's such a curious thing. First we have to acknowledge that he's not
really saying it to her. It's not really
particularly appropriate under the circumstances. They're talking about her family history, and
while it's completely appropriate for him to say she needs to let that go, to
say she should "let it die" and she should "kill it" is
such overkill... No pun intended. The
appropriate response to that would be, "overdramatize much there,
Kylo?" So no, he's not really
talking to Rey there.
He's talking to the audience. He's telling us to let the past die, to
"kill it if we have to." Or is
he telling that to JJ. Again, this was a
conversation they should have had before JJ began writing The Force Awakens.
At any rate, this is a very curious
thing to say. I admire it, because I
think there is too much clinging to the past.
We live in an era when people would rather recite or remake movies from
the past rather than create something new.
There's constant rehashing of the '80s while they miss the very thing
that made the '80s great; the fact that movies were original. While there were some remakes and
adaptations, most of the most classic movies that we admire today were original
screenplays. But now we either have
mostly retreads, reboots, long-ago sequels, or movies that constantly refer to
the past and pander to an older audience.
So yeah, we could all use a dose of
letting go of the past. But there are
two very important things to consider.
First, if Rian Johnson really feels
that way, why is he doing a sequel to a 40 year old movie franchise? Why isn't he taking as big a risk as Lucas
and creating something entirely fresh and new?
It's a little hard to take a speech about killing the past from someone
who's keeping the past alive.
Second, if we all wanted to kill the
past, we wouldn't be in the theater watching this sequel to a 40 year old
movie. The very fact that we came means
we're interested in continuing something from the past. It can certainly go in new directions, and we
hope it will. But to kill it off
entirely... well then you don't have a movie!
It would have been very nice if
Johnson and Abrams had discussed all of this before writing their movies
because they come from such extreme ends of the spectrum that they probably
would have compromised in the middle, right where it should be; utilizing
elements of the past, while having a new vision of the future. Too bad they didn't because now we have this
constant tug of war rather than two great movies.
So anyway, at last Kylo Ren and Rey
face Snoke. Along the way the movie sets
up an expectation that this will be like Return of the Jedi. though you get the
idea that something's going to go wrong with it. Like Rose, Rey is basically a fan girl of
Luke Skywalker, and she wants to reenact his dramatic turning of the ultimate
evil person to good right in front of the Emperor... Or whatever the hell Snoke
is supposed to be, but Kylo knows about this, too, and is going to have his
guard up.
It's not entirely a bad idea, but this is
where Rian Johnson was clearly wrestling with himself. He wanted to do something original and
different, but he kept relying on the original series to set up scenes. It's a bit hypocritical.
That being said, I have to give it
up to Snoke. He's truly terrifying. Not only is Andy Serkis's performance
gripping, but his powers just come across as even more terrifying than the
Emperor. He lifts people in the air and
tosses them around with only his mind.
He strikes lightning at... well, lightning speed. And it has a powerful impact, throwing anyone
near it across the room. It truly feels
like he can do some terrible damage to people.
I'm really looking forward to
learning more about this guy, and I'm figuring now will be the time that we
learn who he is, and what the First Order is all about. I don't need a whole complete back story. I definitely don't need an entire movie about
him. I just want to know who the hell
the bad guys are so I can understand what I'm supposed to be fearing and why.
But then he's cut in half before we
find out any of that.
I've seen excuses for this claiming
that it's okay because he's not the real villain, Kylo is. Snoke, and some of the others, were just
tools for them along the way. And that's
where their lack of vision is so disappointing.
You see, one of the best quotes of
all time in storytelling is that there are no small parts, only small
actors. This should be remembered by
everyone who writes a story. No
character should be nothing but a tool.
That might be their eventual purpose, they might be there for the
primary reason of boosting another character's story, but they should ALWAYS be
a complete character.
For example, in Infinity War,
there's a magical sidekick to Thanos whose primary purpose is to build up his
boss's plan. But the writers STILL gave
him his own motivations, his own reason for being involved in this overall story. The writers for that film didn't use the
excuse that he's just a tool to build up another character. So when he's blown out the side of a ship, it
has an emotional impact.
And that's really what it comes down
to; emotional impact. It's okay that Snoke
dies before the end, and it's okay that Kylo goes on to be the main bad
guy. But I need to give a shit.
Think about how you felt when you
saw King Joffrey killed in Game of Thrones.
Was it joy? Surprise? Horror?
All of the above? Whatever you
felt, you felt SOMETHING. But if you
claim to have felt something for Snoke's death, I'm calling bullshit, because
there is nothing to feel.
Everything Snoke did in both films
was in regard to someone else.
Everything he said was about someone else. He belittle Kylo and told him to do
better. He sent orders to Hux. He referred to Han Solo, pronouncing each
syllable like it was the most important letter in the alphabet. He spoke of Rey, and wanted to find
Luke. But he never revealed anything
about himself, or how and why he's built up this First Order we're supposed to
fear.
To be fair, the Emperor didn't
explain how he created the Empire, but there are two things to consider
here. First, the basic concept of the
original Star Wars didn't need the explanation.
It was first, and they just said the galaxy was run by a dictatorship. And if these movies were all alone, the same
would be true here. But they have listed
on them episodes 7 and 8, meaning they're part of a series, so they must answer
to what came before. And what was
established before was that the Empire was taken down. Therefore you must explain how it grew up
again to understand it, and its leader.
The moment that lightsaber ripped
through him, all those answers were forever destroyed. We would never learn who the hell these guys
were and why we should fear them. So
much for Hitchcock's advice that your movie is only as good as your villain.
The fight scene that comes next has
one thing I have to say in its favor.
It's well shot from a camera point of view. It matches the great cinematography and
effects that play throughout this film.
However, when you watch the fight coordination closely, you'll notice
the stunt people purposely having to miss Rey because she doesn't get out of
the way in time, and Kylo once inexplicably stabs the floor between two enemies
and nothing happens except they politely allow him to pull his lightsaber back up. Rey, of course, masterfully wields her
lightsaber despite still having never been trained in it. Again, she's good with a staff, but as I said
earlier, that doesn't really translate effectively.
To be honest, though, that didn't
bother me so much. The next part really
killed things; what's truly the litany of insults toward the fans.
First, Kylo tells Rey that she comes
from nothing. This isn't really so bad
at first glance. In fact, I'm glad she's
not a Skywalker. I found the fan
theories unendingly annoying. She's a
Kenobi. She's a Skywalker. She's a Palpatine. How about something more original? It's a fucking galaxy! Not everyone has to be related!
However, saying her family was
nobodies who died on Jaku causes even bigger problems. For one thing, we saw glimpses of her
watching her parents fly away in a ship.
How did that happen if they were nobodies who stayed on Jaku? Most importantly, though, why make such a big
thing of it in the first film if it's going to turn out to be irrelevant? It'd be like me saying, "Guess who I'm
writing about next! Guess who! You'll never guess! Oh, take a guess." Then I said, "No one!" You'd feel like I wasted your time, and I
did.
This goes back once again to JJ
Abrams, who set up this whole concept, then left the mess for someone else to
clean up and take the blame. Rian
Johnson's part was simply not coming up with something better to excuse Abrams'
incompetence.
But then they could have done
something that might have made up for most of the problems; that could have
truly been unpredictable and taken the story in a whole new direction, as Rian
Johnson claimed he wanted. Kylo tells
Rey to go with him. How cool would that
have been? How interesting would it be
to have a third faction rather than just good versus evil?
But
nope. By having Rey choose to go back
with the rebels, Rian fell back into the very formula he pretended to be
shrugging off.
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