![]() DISCLAIMER: Many Bothaans died to bring you this information. Exactly two weeks ago I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Since that day, I've wrestled with what I could say that would even matter. I know that nothing that I say in this blog post will change your feelings about The Last Jedi so I write this more for me than anybody else. I have to share how I truly feel: I left the movie frustrated, disappointed, and, honestly, angry. As an English teacher, I'm constantly working with students to improve their expression and storytelling. I'm constantly reading stories with different pacing, narrative devices, character development, and points of view. After working at my craft for the last 12 years, I can say that I know what works in a story and what doesn't and, from what I watched in Episode VIII, The Last Jedi is a poorly made story. Incredibly, Rian Johnson somehow found a way to make a bad Star Wars movie. Now, I know what you're thinking: "The movie wasn't bad." It was entertaining (and it WAS entertaining. I did enjoy it as a standalone film). The movie had action and drama and unexpected moments, but these aren't enough for a Star Wars movie. Going into The Last Jedi, I told everybody this would be the best Star Wars movie ever. My mistake. I thought that it would solidly connect to The Force Awakens. I thought that it would continue to develop the new and old characters from the previous movies. I believed that it would give worthy endings to some of the characters that inevitably would die. I surmised that it would explain some of most compelling moments in previous movies. I thought that it would entertain and have great visual effects. I believed that it would give us closure with the Jedi. I wanted it to answer the big questions audiences had after The Force Awakens. I thought that it would be even better than The Force Awakens and Rogue One. I thought that it would rival Empire Strikes Back. I wanted to love this movie AND I was aware that most of the things I thought should happen (ABOVE) probably wouldn't. Instead, I got The Last Jedi. An underwhelming, disconnected, underutilized, and, ultimately, average movie. Most critics have pointed to the dumb jokes, the blue milk beast, focus on Rose and Finn's pointless trip to Canto Bight, the space horses, and slow-moving space chase as the major issues in the movie. These are just minor problems. There are more pressing issues here. First, great stories develop many of the characters, both static and dynamic, and discard few as cannon fodder. Last Jedi does the opposite. The story spends little time on the character Episode VII made us wait to see (i.e. Luke) and when we did see him, he was a shadow of his former self. This is not ROTJ Luke, nor is it Mark Hamill's Luke. We get why Luke changed but we don't really see him as the Master Jedi he needed to be. Force projecting himself across the galaxy displays him as an illusionist, nothing more. We didn't come to the movie to see cheap parlor tricks, especially if the character performing the tricks will die as a result. What a sad ending for Mark Hamill and, even though he's taken back how disappointed he was with the new Luke Skywalker, I can't help but feel cheated. Phasma is similarly underutilized. I read Phasma by Delilah Dawson in preparation for The Last Jedi but, ironically, it seems like Disney and Lucasfilm aren't really trying to connect the Star Wars universe together as much as they claimed. Phasma gets a few minutes of screentime, just like The Force Awakens, and spends that time being challenged by a former First Order soldier who never even liked to fight. Then, after supposedly killing him, he rises from the hole he'd fallen into and kills her. The scenes with Phasma made no sense. Why even include her in the story? Bryan Young, author and moderator of most of the Star Wars panels at Comic Con, commented on Twitter that Phasma is the Boba Fett character in this series. My response? Why? Just use ordinary stormtroopers if you're going to discard her that easily. Snoke, who I believed needed (at least) a little bit of explaining for us to care about him as a villain, is disregarded even more. In order for an audience to care about a story, the story needs to have a worthy villain/problem. The Last Jedi doesn't make me care about Snoke at all. He's just some random alien who knows how to use the Force and can even easily fend off the Chosen One (Rey), yet he's easily manipulated by Kylo and killed off. Episode VIII even tries to make me believe that Kylo will become the new big bad in Episode IX. There's no way Snoke doesn't come back (ala Voldemort) in the last movie. If I'm forced to work with untrained Kylo as the bad guy, I'll be really embarassed for Lucasfilm. In contrast, the movie spends 45 minutes on Rose Tico and Finn going to Canto Bight. Many have commented that they loved seeing good guys fail in The Last Jedi because, according to Yoda, "the greatest teacher, failure is," which I can agree with. However, their side journey is pointless and, honestly, detracts from the characters that we ultimately do care about in the story: Luke, Rey, Kylo, and Snoke. Rian Johnson's decision to spend time helping us connect with Rose is admirable, but confusing, at best, and sends the wrong message, especially when Rose awkwardly endangers the entire Resistance by crashing her ski speeder into Finn's so that he can't die a fitting death as a martyr for the rebellion and so that he CAN kiss her. Finn should have died. He'd left the First Order, fought for The Resistance, saved Rey from Kylo Ren, and became beloved as a character. If Finn had flown into the battering ram laser cannon the First Order was using to attack the abandoned base on Crait, he would have become one of the best characters in the Star Wars saga. His character arc was finished, just like Poe's arc was finished in The Force Awakens before Lucasfilm decided to keep him alive. Just like Poe. Just kill off the characters. Especially Leia. Carrie Fisher, the actress who played Princess Leia, passed away a year ago on December 27, 2016. Most people believed that The Last Jedi would be her final act. Then, shortly before the release of Episode VIII, rumors swirled that Rian Johnson had elected to keep the movie as-is, which was strange considering there are at least two moments in the movie where she could have died and one where she SHOULD have died. The Mary Poppins scene in space was almost comical and I've seen multiple people on Twitter say that the audience LAUGHED when it happened. I get that Johnson was showing Leia's Force abilities, but this felt misplaced and misguided and could have lent itself to her dying. When the Tie Fighter's blast her out of the ship, I found myself thinking, "Wow. This is it." Instead she force throws herself, all the while unconscious, back into the ship. Her survival was a weird choice. In contrast, Lucasfilm KILLS off two characters that we needed in Episode IX: Luke and Snoke. The audience had been waiting to see Luke at the apex of his Jedi power. We wanted to see him handle Kylo and then face off against the baddest baddie in the universe: Snoke. Luke's death was sad, but he didn't get the heroic sendoff he deserved. He didn't really fight Kylo Ren and he didn't really die honorably. He was just force projecting himself across the universe instead of going to Crait and saving his sister and the Chosen One from his nephew. He died just stalling so that the Resistance could get away. When Yoda fades away in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is distraught. When Luke dies on Ach-To, nobody even notices (besides the Blue-milk beast, the nuns, and the porgs). Such an unfitting end to the most iconic character in the saga. Snoke could have become just as iconic a character in the saga, but he's murdered before Act I is over by Kylo. So many questions swirled around who he was, how he knew Kylo, how he'd seen "the rise and fall of the Empire," how he'd become the leader of the First Order, how Han and Leia knew him, how he was so disfigured, and how he was so powerful in the Force. I was grateful going into The Last Jedi that at least a few of these questions would be answered. There had to be answers to these questions, right? Nope. Rian Johnson literally doesn't give any answers and, unless Snoke comes back to life, ala Voldemort and Darth Plagueis, there's no way fans should be okay with what happened to Snoke in the movie. The Last Jedi is also missing a few key components of the story that we need in order to fill in the blanks; namely, The Knights of Ren, a flashback to Kylo's attack on the Jedi temple, and Rey or Kylo's tutelage under Luke and Snoke. Watching the movie, I couldn't help but wonder if Rian Johnson even watched The Force Awakens or even cared about the movies that came before it at all. I'm sure he did with how much care he put into the visual effects, but the storyline just doesn't connect or make sense. Going into the movie, another rumor was that it would really help connect the nine movie saga. If anything, The Last Jedi doesn't really connect to the original trilogy or the prequels at all. There's no mention of The Clone Wars, Palpatine, Anakin, Padme, the Death Star, Qui-Gon, Maul, Obi-Wan, the rebels sacrifice at Scarif, or even Jar-Jar. I'm not stupid and know that a director has to cut a lot and one can't fit even 1/3 of these things in a movie, but instead of the random jokes and Canto Bight, connecting the universe would have been nicer. More importantly, the movie discards the importance of the Jedi even as its saying that the Jedi will continue. Luke's character is tossed aside as little relevant, Rey's parentage is tossed aside as inconsequential, and the idea at the end of the movie with the Newsie using the force to collect the broom is the idea that "being of royal lineage or a special family or bloodline doesn't matter." The movie almost feels anti-Christian in the sense that the Jedi do nothing in the movie (Rey doesn't really show that she's grown any in the days we see her) and the vibe is that the really important characters in the story are the forgotten characters, like Finn, Rose, Poe, Holdo, and Hux. All non-Jedi. The Last Jedi seemed to tell me that there aren't great people out there with special abilities that can help us in life (i.e. God). Just ordinary people. Sad. We go to movies for the extraordinary. We want to see Rey change and become the most powerful Jedi who ever lived. We want her to face her fears. We want her to meet Kylo in battle. We want Luke to overcome his lifelong fear of failure. We want him to leave Ach-To and face Snoke in the throne room. We want Kylo to face his demons and either turn completely to the Dark Side or follow his grandfather's footsteps and overcome them and join the Light Side. We don't see any of this in The Last Jedi and won't see almost any of it in Episode IX because many of these characters are dead. In The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams set up certain questions to be answered and plot points to connect. We needed to know who Rey's parents were. We wanted to know where Snoke came from. We wanted to know if the Chosen One prophecy was being revisited again. We wanted to know how Kylo became so disenchanted with his parents and in love with his grandfather. Rian Johnson literally gave us NONE of the answers we wanted or needed. The answers he did give us were underwhelming, at best. Why? What was the Lucasfilm storygroup thinking? Why didn't they give us one or two answers? Were they worried that theorists had spoiled the story so they wanted to tell a different story? Did they give Rian Johnson too much creative freedom? Honestly, there were parts of The Last Jedi that I loved, including the fight in the Throne Room with the Praetorian Guard after Snoke's assassination, Kylo fighting Luke's force projection on Crait, the stunning visual effects, and even Reylo, which I thought would never work. The movie has some really good scenes that I can't wait to get on Blu-Ray. Scenes that are iconic. I liked the Porgs. I didn't mind the depravity of Luke's life on Ach-To. I LOVE Rey. She's a great character. However, The Last Jedi felt like Rian Johnson made up whatever storyline he wanted without paying ANY attention to what had been written before. There is no real connection to the prequels, no attention to detail with the original trilogy, and The Last Jedi gives us no real reason to watch Episode IX. Unless... Unless Snoke is still alive. Unless we see Anakin's, Luke's, or Obi-Wan's Force Ghosts. Unless the movie ties ALL of the movies together. If JJ Abrams can tie everything together or place a few morsels of hope in Episode IX, then he can redeem Episodes 7 8, and 9. I used to believe these things were inevitable. I don't know anymore. I hope that Lucasfilm learns from this failure because even though it's a good movie, it should have been a great movie. It had every right to be. Hopefully the failure of Episode VIII will teach the Lucasfilm group the importance of sticking with one director and one vision so that they can get Episode IX correct. If we start off Episode IX at Leia's grave and Snoke alive in some shape or form, things could get good really fast and then Rian Johnson is forgiven. Because, in the words of Force Ghost Yoda, "The greatest teacher, failure is."
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![]() If you have been living in a bubble (like I have), you may have missed that the second trailer for The Last Jedi will air during halftime of Monday Night Football tonight. You might be asking, "Why watch?" The first reason is that our first trailer for The Last Jedi was a teaser trailer. It didn't really tell us much about the story (which is actually a good thing since I hate it when trailers spoil the story). The second reason is that it sounds like the trailer is going to tell us a LOT about the story. Rian Johnson, the director, stated "I am legitimately torn. If you want to come in clean, absolutely avoid it." So...spoilery. However, he also said, "But it's goooooood." So...watch it. Can't wait for tonight. P.S. You have to see the similarities between The Last Jedi trailer and The Force Awakens Today the Thor: Ragnarok International Trailer was released. Thoughts: I wonder how much of a role Dr. Strange is going to take on in the movie. It looks like he may be more integral than first thought. I still love Cate Blanchett as Mistress Death. She's going to be awesome, especially if she becomes Thanos's love interest. Finally, will Thor die by the end of this movie or will he continue on to Infinity War? Can't wait for November 3rd. May the Force Be with You.
![]() This morning on Twitter, reputable Twitter user @crazyclown124 asked Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill if the rumors were true that the next Star Wars VIII trailer would drop on October 9th during halftime of the Cowboys-Cardinals game on Monday Night Football. Hamill actually responded, hinting that it might just happen. Exciting to say the least. Do we need another The Last Jedi trailer, though? I've talked at length with my students about how bad a movie will be if you see the movie trailer and it essentially gives away the entire plot of the story. The Twittersphere has been inundated with posts about Lucasfilm's brilliance in not releasing another trailer to give away more plot points. Even though I would LOVE another trailer, I worry that it might give away too much, including the shocking reveal that supposedly will show up in this story similar to the "I am your Father" reveal in Empire. Do we need another trailer or can we be content waiting another 85ish days? I, for one, can if it means the movie will be that much better. I guess we'll have to wait until October 9th to see. May the Force be with you. ![]() There's multiple theories going around Youtube about Rey losing a limb in The Last Jedi, which makes sense considering the movies parallel each other and both Luke and Anakin (The Chosen One Archetype) lose arms in The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones, respectively. So, will Rey lose a limb in Star Wars 8 and will it be by lightsaber? Lucasfilm and Disney have already shown a penchant for paying homage and showing parallelism in The Force Awakens so why not now? The Force Awakens is basically A New Hope with a different cast of characters (which, hopefully, is purposeful and I believe that it is). Droids given important information. Droids discovered by The Chosen One on a desert planet. Person takes droid to more knowledgeable sage. Sage sends person on quest. Droids reveals crucial information. Weapon of Mass Destruction revealed. Weapon of Mass Destruction attacked and destroyed in spite of overwhelming odds. You get the point. So Rey WILL lose a limb. How? Will she lose it to Kylo Ren's lightsaber? Will she lose it to Snoke? Will Snoke have a lightsaber? In Empire, Vader cuts off his own son's hand, whereas in AOTC, Dooku cuts off Anakin's hand. If Disney follows suit, then a dark force user will cut off the Chosen One's hand. Kylo, then. It would really add to the drama if Kylo ends up being the one to cut off her hand, yet she convinces him, ala Luke convincing Vader to come back to the light. Especially if they fall in love. Can't wait to find out. May the Force be with you. Star Wars Series #12: JJ Abrams announced as the new director of Episode IV and Release Date Changed9/12/2017 Today, Lucasfilm announced that JJ Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode IV and changed the release date to December 20, 2019. Both announcements are unexpected, but will have significant impact on the trilogy. Rian Johnson was originally approached to direct Episode IV when Colin Trevorrow was let go, but decided against directing the final chapter of the saga. Johnson's work on The Last Jedi has been lauded as masterful by Kathleen Kennedy, the braintrust at Lucasfilm, as well as the various actors in the film. Johnson would have been a masterful choice considering he also knew the direction he was taking The Last Jedi and would have been able to seamlessly transition the two films. I was rooting for Johnson for his reputation from The Last Jedi as well as his down-to-Earth personality. I'm content with Abrams, especially knowing what he brings to the table, but he must approach the final installment as redemption. Although a wonderful movie, The Force Awakens has fallen under scrutiny for its lack of originality, as well as some of its character development (or lack thereof). I'm excited about Abrams directing if he addresses the issues pundits had with TFA by creating a work that stands completely on its own. His job will be a difficult one. JJ Abrams's The Force Awakens mimicked other iterations too completely and had some head-scratching moments, like when Poe survives the crash on Jakku, but never comes back for BB8 or when Rey hugs Leia instead of Chewbacca, who had a much more emotional connection in the story. Abrams will have to fix these issues, as well as create an emotionally fulfilling final chapter to the Skywalker saga. Episode IV must tie up loose ends and make sense, while still remaining action-packed and interesting. He must figure out all of these things while making sure the acting and visual effects are great. I'm skeptical, but not as skeptical as I was with Trevorrow at the head. Maybe this is why Rian Johnson declined the opportunity to direct Episode IV. Here's to hoping that Johnson's directing in The Last Jedi basically forces Abrams to make good decisions in Episode IV. Star Wars: Episode IV was originally slated to be released in May of 2019. Star Wars Series #11: How Leia failed they galaxy and why Ben Solo turned to the Dark Side9/10/2017 ![]() The night I walked out of the theater after watching Star Wars: Episode VII, one of the many questions I had was "Why wasn't Leia a more prominent figure in the galaxy after what she'd done in Episodes IV, V, and VI?" Watching her in The Force Awakens, I couldn't help but think that she seemed more broken than ever before, even after all she'd been through. Today, I finally got me answer. My favorite Star Wars author since Disney purchased Lucasfilm has been Claudia Gray, the author of the New York Times bestselling series A Thousand Pieces of You. She has written Star Wars: Lost Stars, Star Wars: Bloodline, and Leia: Princess of Alderaan. I've read Lost Stars (it's my favorite novel of any of the new canon) and been meaning to read Bloodline for awhile now. Today, I finished it and loved it. It is heavy on dialogue and politics, but what it lacks in action, it makes up for in drama. There is no moment more drama-filled than the vote for the First Senator to be elected to lead the senate almost 20 years after the Battle on Endor. Having been a popular leader since that time because of her acts of heroism as a leader of the rebellion, the galaxy is in need of uniting politically and the Populists make Leia as their choice. Right when the vote is about to be cast, one of Leia's friends in the Senate, Ransolm Casterfo, betrays the truth of her father to the Senate. Leia is shocked, believing that nobody besides her inner circle (Han and Luke) knew that Vader had been her and Luke's father. Casterfo, still disbelieving, asks Leia if, in fact, Vader was her father. Courageously, Leia doesn't deny the truth in spite of what might happen as a result. The Senate, unwisely fearful of the Second Coming of a tyrant, show their disapproval and denounce her as a candidate immediately. In the aftermath, Leia goes back to her room and sends a message to her young son, Ben Solo, who she'd been waiting to tell at the right time and place. I absolutely loved this moment because it both shows how human Leia is, as well as how strong she is a character. She probably made a mistake not telling the rest of the galaxy that Vader was her father and could have even feigned ignorance if she had been totally forthcoming almost immediately after Endor. In fact, I could probably write an entire post on her reasons for why she DIDN'T tell anybody about Vader. Even more interesting is the idea that Han and Leia never told Ben because they wanted to protect him. He would have been ridiculed in school and in public, especially as a child, and probably didn't need to know because he wouldn't have understood. Having said that, finding out that your grandfather was a genocidal maniac and a Sith Lord as a still-developing teenager probably didn't improve Ben's chances of rising up above his past and becoming the Chosen One of his generation. He probably grew sullen and brooding because he felt his parents hadn't been honest about his grandfather's legacy (or lack thereof). It's possible this moment birthed the Kylo Ren we see in The Force Awakens. Yet, Leia is fearless in the moment of (possibly) one of her greatest trials and tells the honest truth about her past even though she understands the consequences. Returning to her quarters, she is vilified by her retainers and disrespected by her political allies. She is in pain, having to relive old wounds and I would have totally let it slide if she had lashed out at her attackers. Instead, she shows them respect and love and immediately goes to work trying to communicate with the people that need to know the most. What are the implications for The Last Jedi? We know why Leia isn't a strong leader in the galaxy. We understand why Leia hasn't found happiness in her own life and who she is as The Force Awakens begins. We now know why Ben is so broken as a youth and why he doesn't have a good relationship with his parents. We also know why Ben idolizes his grandfather so much, seeing as he'd never been taught about him when he was younger. Most importantly, we see a possible redemption arc for Kylo Ren as he'd probably never been whole after finding out this truth about his grandfather. ![]() Today, Lucasfilm announced they've let go of Star Wars Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow. I'm concerned, but not because I think that Episode IX will suffer as a result. Lucasfilm has now had issues with EVERY director since the new films have come out except for Rian Johnson. JJ Abrams didn't have issues with Lucasfilm, but The Force Awakens had some real issues; Gareth Edwards basically just went along with what he was told by the end of Rogue One and the first anthology film had to go through extensive reshoots in order to survive the editing process; the directors for the upcoming Han Solo anthology movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were recently let go because they had conflicting ideas about the film, thinking that it was going to be a comedy; and now Trevorrow. Ron Howard, who hasn't really directed anything of note in the last 25 years, is now filming the Han Solo anthology. The question now is why is Lucasfilm not using Rian Johnson, the director for the upcoming Star Wars movie The Last Jedi, to direct ALL of the movies, especially considering how much the cast loves and respects him and how positive the prescreenings have been. It just makes sense. Here's to hoping Rian Johnson gets the gig (and that Ron Howard pulls a rabbit out of his hat). May the Force be with you. Today the second trailer for Star Wars Rebels Season 4 dropped at a Star Wars Rebels Con panel in Canada. Watch it (if you haven't already) so we can talk about it. There were some pretty interesting moments in Star Wars Rebels Season 4, Trailer 2:
It's obvious that Ezra will play a large role in the fourth and final season, especially since I think that we'll see the Rebels try to liberate Lothal. At Star Wars Celebration, Taylor Gray, who voices Ezra Bridger, says that Ezra will have a profound experience in Season 4 that will change his life. Will he turn to the Dark Side? Will he fall in love with Sabine? I believe that Ezra's profound experience will impact how we see the original trilogy and, perhaps, the new trilogy. I can't say how, but I believe that it will be another seminal moment in the Star Wars canon. Here's why: I can't get away from the first line of Rebels Season 4 Trailer 1, where Hera says Rebels is the "story of a boy who was lost and a girl who was broken." That line has changed the way I watch and think about the show and I wonder if the line is a misdirection or a clue pointing to the true purpose of the story. Recently, I watched a Youtube video arguing why Rebels is a terrible show and doesn't add anything to the Star Wars saga. If Rebels is about to show us its relevance to the rest of the Star Wars story, it would be a misdirection of epic proportions since many don't see merit in the show right now. I still believe that this story could be Rey's parents origin story, but even if it's not, I believe we'll see something huge this Season that will blow our minds. I can't wait. Season 4 premiers October 16 on Disney XD. May the Force Be with You. NOTE: Language in the video below. ![]() I grew up buying X-men and Silver Surfer comic books from our local gas station, Circle K, whenever I could get my hands on them. I loved the stories and happened to like the genre right when seminal stories like The Infinity War and The Age of Apocalypse story arcs released. I particularly enjoyed the alternate reality Age of Apocalypse storyline. It was enthralled by the character arcs of the X-men's new leader, Magneto, as well as Rogue, Blink, Sabretooth, Wild Child, and Sunfire. That story was an amazing adventure so when Fox rebooted the story in 2009, I was excited to see the new storyline, especially after Blink showed up in Xmen: Days of Future Past and I found out that the third movie would be titled The Age of Apocalypse. My enthusiasm should have been tempered by the knowledge that movies are never as good as the books. Age of Apocalypse was NOTHING like the comics and the story alone was an absolute atrocity. It was a cross between a bad version of Stargate and a toilet bowl. I was underwhelmed and actually fell asleep during the movie. Now comes word that Fox is going to produce a Dark Phoenix arc. Did't we already suffer through one of those already? There shouldn't be another Xmen movie...maybe ever. Hollywood just slaughters the story with poor screenwriting and bad character development. After Xmen First Class and Days of Future Past, I was hopeful that we were behind that, but we're not. Fox should stop now and give up the rights to the Xmen and the Fantastic Four over to Marvel like they did with Spiderman. They won't, though. May the Force be with You |
AuthorThree-time Spartan Beast. Utah Jazz fan. Cougar. Aggie. Pioneer. Colt. Teacher. Auror. Earthbender. Ranger. Jedi. Hero of the Lance. Guardian of the Galaxy. Archives
December 2017
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