The Force Awakens and its follow-ups had so few memorable characters, it’s a wonder Disney – and Oscar Isaac – are still talking about potential spin-offs
The Force Awakens and its follow-ups had so few memorable characters, it’s a wonder Disney – and Oscar Isaac – are still talking about potential spin-offs
Star Wars was really just fun action adventure movies. But because we watched them as kids they feel like really important movies. Also they made crazy amounts of money so they are very important to the film industry.
JJ Abrams made some fun action adventure movies. But we’re adults so they don’t feel very important. And they aren’t important movies. In between two fun action adventure movie there’s a pretentious movie trying to be Star Wars Citizen Kane that failed at being either of those things.
Also the ST is ultimately about death. Part 1: death of Han Solo. Part 2: death of Luke Skywalker. Part 3: death of Princess Leia. Rise of Skywalker has a theme around the grieving process because of what the trilogy ended up being. Disney cheaped out on paying actors and the real life death of Carrie Fisher meant it ended up being an action adventure funeral. Nobody likes funerals, and prefer to forget about them in favour of remembering people in the best moments of their lives.
Personally I’d like to see Poe, Finn, and Rey in a new movie. Sure it’s like they’re people we met at a funeral, but they’re fun characters. There’s too much looking backwards in Star Wars and too much acting like Star Wars is supposed to be important. Too many monologues about politics that I’m supposed to take seriously while the toys I played with as a kid fly around on the screen. That’s kinda weird. Can we please have some fun action adventure movies that move the story forward? Seems only JJ Abrams can make fun movies, but they don’t seem to want to do that any more because of whinging on the internet against anything fun.
I’d take your statement about Star Wars sequels being about death a bit further - they’re about learning about the past and moving forwards (sometimes that means destroying the past to be able to move forwards).
My cousin was actually deeply affected by the sequels because the theme of the wiser, older generation passing on knowledge to a younger generation that was resistant to becoming the next leaders.
I thought the scene between Yoda and Luke in the Last Jedi perfectly captured the theme of the movies. I’ll copy paste the quotes from IMDB: