SPOILER ALERTS** For those of you fortunate enough not to see it yet.
Where do I start?
A long time ago before Dec. 18, 2015, I bought into all the hoopla and excitement of the Star Wars franchise returning and getting back on track after the recent trilogy debacle of Episodes 1, 2 and 3 we are still trying to forget. Thinking back now I should have known we were headed into unsafe waters considering we had a Star Trek director at the helm. Really?? Luckily he didn't have Capt. Kirk flying the Falcon.
Look, some of you are gonna love this movie just because they got the visuals and action right. No argument there because they did. The film got back to the gritty realistic future we were introduced to starting with Ep. 4. And they were smart enough to realize they needed connections to the original trilogy to make it work hence the old cast. Hey, I loved seeing the Millennium Falcon soaring again just as much as anybody. Problem is they got those aspects right but in doing so someone forgot to make the story timeless like the originals. Instead some people got lazy with using their imagination instead of coming up with something fresh. And if you really get past all your emotions of the film, I'm pretty sure we just got done watching a re-telling of Ep. 4.
Desert again? Didn't we do that already? Twice if you count Ep. 1. I mean come on already! Do you have to remind us of Tattonine in order to get us to buy in from the very start? The imagery of the broken hulls of ships sticking out of the sand was great. But if they were trying to make me think of Ep. 4 they succeeded because all I could think of was Luke's planet. They did it again when they arrived at the rebel base and Rey sees all that "green". Remind anybody of Endor? And holy hell they had to remind us of Hoth with a snow covered "Deathstar"!!! So we have three environments from the original trilogy to help us "mindless fans" better accept another installment of the franchise. Does this reflect good imagination or just a lazy way of " borrowing" from the past?? They continued this with certain scenes that were rehashed; Rey enters a vision state and sees Kylo Ren near a dark tree just like when Luke leaves Yoda to find Vader in a dark tree; another Cantina scene full of far-out aliens and let's not fail to mention planets being destroyed by another ball of joy. I can't help shaking my head.
Did we really need another "Deathstar"?? No imagination J.J. I mean you could have given the Empire credit at least for making it invincible after the third try! But no. All the Rebels had to do was deactivate the Shield again and be offered up a round target on the surface to shoot at. Why even go there at all? Here's a thought...How about a super-sized Star Destroyer that could freeze or fry an atmosphere long enough to kill everybody? You know thinking back we never did see a Star Destroyer actually destroy a star... Just continuing to get us "mindless fans" to buy in huh? I mean covering the "Deathstar" with mountains and snow to look like a planet may seem like an ingenious idea but when you think about it does it really have any other purpose but to make us think of Hoth? Surely it wasn't to camouflage the weapon. I mean you wake up one morning, look up, see a new planet in the sky above yours and you're not gonna wonder what's up?? Good grief J.J. and Disney.
Then you killed Han Solo. You lost me as soon as you gave into to Mr. Ford's wishes and killed off an iconic character. Maybe J.J. you thought it was a clever twist or more likely Mr. Ford would only reprise the role if you agreed to finish Han off. And the way it was done was so nonchalant and even then you messed the details up. I mean you way too early introduced Kylo as his son but who the hell is Ben Solo?? If you had read any of the novels you would have known Leia and Han had three children and none were named Ben. What happened to the Star Wars czar? On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm and Disney removed all Expanded Universe works from the canon but what was so wrong with it? A lot better story telling in those novels then what we saw on the big screen this go round I do believe. Look, just admit it, you messed up big time killing Han Solo. You would have been far better off borrowing from what Fast and Furious did with Paul Walker's character. What was wrong with letting Han and Leia get back together, retire and soar away in the Falcon??
Based on the pattern I've seen, it all points to the reasoning of some of the choices you made in your story. In yours and Disney's minds you came to the same conclusion that you needed aspects from the original trilogy to continue on in future films to ensure fans would remain interested. You proved this at the very end with Luke's brief appearance to carry him over to the next film. And you got the droids C3PO and R2-D2 that never die, that in actuality are supposed to be telling this story lest you forget. And you maybe decide that since Mr. Ford is the oldest you gotta let him go first and you'll still have a long living Wookie to carry on even after Luke and Leia are gone too. But the real reason you couldn't even give Han Solo an honorable death is not because him going out in a blaze of glory would have included Chewie but Disney would have lost another eternal tie to the originals by way of the Millennium Falcon. It all came down to marketing for future installments and maintaining ties with the originals cause the business side knew the new stories would never be able to stand on their own.
In closing, I will say nice try. Could have been worse I suppose. But then again it could have been better. In reality we have to understand this franchise has become a merchandising business and is no longer concerned with getting the details right or making sure the fans are getting a story that reflects what once was a pure sci-fi of hope and victory. Mr. Ford, I'll have to disagree with you when you kept telling all the late night shows that, "No one would be disappointed." I think quite a few of us have come away disappointed and as Lando Calrissian said, "They told me they fixed it! I trusted them to fix it! It's not my fault!".
Look, some of you are gonna love this movie just because they got the visuals and action right. No argument there because they did. The film got back to the gritty realistic future we were introduced to starting with Ep. 4. And they were smart enough to realize they needed connections to the original trilogy to make it work hence the old cast. Hey, I loved seeing the Millennium Falcon soaring again just as much as anybody. Problem is they got those aspects right but in doing so someone forgot to make the story timeless like the originals. Instead some people got lazy with using their imagination instead of coming up with something fresh. And if you really get past all your emotions of the film, I'm pretty sure we just got done watching a re-telling of Ep. 4.
Desert again? Didn't we do that already? Twice if you count Ep. 1. I mean come on already! Do you have to remind us of Tattonine in order to get us to buy in from the very start? The imagery of the broken hulls of ships sticking out of the sand was great. But if they were trying to make me think of Ep. 4 they succeeded because all I could think of was Luke's planet. They did it again when they arrived at the rebel base and Rey sees all that "green". Remind anybody of Endor? And holy hell they had to remind us of Hoth with a snow covered "Deathstar"!!! So we have three environments from the original trilogy to help us "mindless fans" better accept another installment of the franchise. Does this reflect good imagination or just a lazy way of " borrowing" from the past?? They continued this with certain scenes that were rehashed; Rey enters a vision state and sees Kylo Ren near a dark tree just like when Luke leaves Yoda to find Vader in a dark tree; another Cantina scene full of far-out aliens and let's not fail to mention planets being destroyed by another ball of joy. I can't help shaking my head.
Did we really need another "Deathstar"?? No imagination J.J. I mean you could have given the Empire credit at least for making it invincible after the third try! But no. All the Rebels had to do was deactivate the Shield again and be offered up a round target on the surface to shoot at. Why even go there at all? Here's a thought...How about a super-sized Star Destroyer that could freeze or fry an atmosphere long enough to kill everybody? You know thinking back we never did see a Star Destroyer actually destroy a star... Just continuing to get us "mindless fans" to buy in huh? I mean covering the "Deathstar" with mountains and snow to look like a planet may seem like an ingenious idea but when you think about it does it really have any other purpose but to make us think of Hoth? Surely it wasn't to camouflage the weapon. I mean you wake up one morning, look up, see a new planet in the sky above yours and you're not gonna wonder what's up?? Good grief J.J. and Disney.
Then you killed Han Solo. You lost me as soon as you gave into to Mr. Ford's wishes and killed off an iconic character. Maybe J.J. you thought it was a clever twist or more likely Mr. Ford would only reprise the role if you agreed to finish Han off. And the way it was done was so nonchalant and even then you messed the details up. I mean you way too early introduced Kylo as his son but who the hell is Ben Solo?? If you had read any of the novels you would have known Leia and Han had three children and none were named Ben. What happened to the Star Wars czar? On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm and Disney removed all Expanded Universe works from the canon but what was so wrong with it? A lot better story telling in those novels then what we saw on the big screen this go round I do believe. Look, just admit it, you messed up big time killing Han Solo. You would have been far better off borrowing from what Fast and Furious did with Paul Walker's character. What was wrong with letting Han and Leia get back together, retire and soar away in the Falcon??
Based on the pattern I've seen, it all points to the reasoning of some of the choices you made in your story. In yours and Disney's minds you came to the same conclusion that you needed aspects from the original trilogy to continue on in future films to ensure fans would remain interested. You proved this at the very end with Luke's brief appearance to carry him over to the next film. And you got the droids C3PO and R2-D2 that never die, that in actuality are supposed to be telling this story lest you forget. And you maybe decide that since Mr. Ford is the oldest you gotta let him go first and you'll still have a long living Wookie to carry on even after Luke and Leia are gone too. But the real reason you couldn't even give Han Solo an honorable death is not because him going out in a blaze of glory would have included Chewie but Disney would have lost another eternal tie to the originals by way of the Millennium Falcon. It all came down to marketing for future installments and maintaining ties with the originals cause the business side knew the new stories would never be able to stand on their own.
In closing, I will say nice try. Could have been worse I suppose. But then again it could have been better. In reality we have to understand this franchise has become a merchandising business and is no longer concerned with getting the details right or making sure the fans are getting a story that reflects what once was a pure sci-fi of hope and victory. Mr. Ford, I'll have to disagree with you when you kept telling all the late night shows that, "No one would be disappointed." I think quite a few of us have come away disappointed and as Lando Calrissian said, "They told me they fixed it! I trusted them to fix it! It's not my fault!".
Long live Han Solo.
