When I first saw that Chris Terrio had given an interview âexplainingâ TROS, I wasnât going to read it.
But then, I thought, hey! Letâs see what the corporate spin is on this disaster!
1. ââŚitâs about taking the ideas that came from âVIIIâ and trying to complicate them and develop them and to have some new surprises.â
UmmâŚthe ideas from VIII were plenty complex. They didnât need to be âcomplicatedâ, they needed to be explored. And if you were trying for new surprises, you failed utterly. Everything about this movie was completely predictable to anyone whoâd seen the other eight movies. Okay, moving on.
2. re: Rey Palpatine. Terrio argues that this reveal is in dialogue with âThe Last Jediâ rather than just a ret-con of it.  What dialogue? The idea that the Force isnât tied to bloodlines, that people can be strong no matter their ancestry, was a major theme of TLJ, and it was echoed even at the end, with Broom Boy. Saying that Rey actually did get her powers from her genetic heritage is directly opposed to that theme, not in dialogue with it. Unless, of course, that dialogue is nothing more than a taunt of âIn your face, Johnson!â So that statement is some bullcrap. Next one.
3. Terrio added that anyone who thinks he and Abrams ignored the direction of âThe Last Jediâ or countered it rather than developed and deepened itâŚare ânot understanding how writers think.â Thatâs an interesting statement, since what Iâve seen from this fandom is an enormous amount of creativity and intelligence, including fanfiction that is far superior to many works of published fiction. There are also innumerable meta that explore the story structure of the ST and of the three-trilogy body of work as a whole, written by people who know what theyâre talking about. I agree that somebody doesnât understand how writers think, but I donât think itâs the fans.
4. âWe wanted to show all the characters growing in some way.â One of my biggest problems with this movie was the static nature of the characters. They had basically no arcs whatsoever, except for Ben, whose arc has been building from Episode VII and who regresses immensely before making the final push to become Ben Solo again. So you failed at that, dude. Big time.
5. â Luke stopping Rey from tossing a saber awayâŚ.That moment for us was about Luke having learned something and ⌠he will not let Rey make the same mistake that he did.â Unpopular opinion incoming â I actually agree with this statement. Thatâs how I read the whole Luke interaction when I saw TROS. In TLJ, he was still too into his own head, still a bit of the whiny farm boy from Episodes IV and V; here, he actually seems to finally be wise. My issue with this particular Luke segment is simply that it was rushed too quickly (which was no different than the rest of the movie).
6.  â As J.J. said, that it would almost be weird for Palpatine not to be in some way in this movie.â No, it wouldnât, because he was canonically dead.Threats to peace can come from anywhere, and there were any number of big bads in the EU that could have been used here, if you donât want to go with an original character.
7. âWe probably could have written a whole movie that was just a lead up to Kylo Ren going to get the wayfindersâŚWhere he now is the king, and he had to sort of earn the throne. And now, how will he perform as Supreme Leader?â Innumberable amounts of people would have paid such good money, multiple times, to watch that story, if it were done well (and probably if it were done in a mediocre way, to tell the truth). You left something really interesting in the Idea Trash Can.
8. âI think Rey has to keep asking herself who she is and keep declaring who she is in the course of this movie, and that changes. At the beginning of the movie, Rey is a different person than she is at the end,â Actually, sheâs not (see point #4 above). You may have intended for her to wrestle with her Palpatinian heritage, but then you never gave her time to do so (never even wrote it into the script, apparently). She struck me as frustratingly indifferent about it, to be honest. So, thatâs another big fail for you.
9. âI donât think we think of it as sheâs going to live there,â Terrio said. âWe thought of it as just paying her respects and sort of undoing the original sin at the end of the third movie, which is the separation of the twins.â Then thatâs another big fail, because everyone Iâve talked to about that ending believes she is going back to live there. That was the message we got from the way it was written, shot, and edited. It says the exact opposite of what youâre claiming it says. So either a) youâre spouting bullcrap because you realize it was a horrible ending; or b) J.J. Abrams is an utterly incompetent filmmaker.
10. re: Rey Skywalker âIn the end, we thought that the final victory of the Light and the final act of self-affirmation for Rey was to declare that despite her blood she is a Skywalker. At that moment, the Skywalkers truly win the family saga.â Um, you people had a whole-ass actual Skywalker with a complex backstory and a tremendous fan following â remember him? Yeah, the guy who sacrificed his life to save the woman he loved, the woman who was essentially his parentsâ âreplacement childâ for him. He died and then was never mentioned again, and there is no indication that even his soulmate ever mourned his passing. That is not a win for the Skywalker family, not by any stretch of the imagination.
11. re: the Force Ghosts at the end. âSpiritually, itâs not a crazy idea that all the Jedi would be standing with them, but it mightâve been a bit of a visual shock to see all these new characters on Tatooine who werenât part of the story of Leia, Luke and Rey.â The Ben Solo erasure is breathtakingly astounding. I just canât even with this. AN ENTIRE MAJOR CHARACTER FROM THE FRANCHISEâS MAJOR FAMILY DIES AND IS COMPLETELY IGNORED. It is absolutely shitty storytelling. But then again, Iâm probably way off base here, since I âdonât understand how writers think.â
12. re: the specific Force Ghosts they chose. âBut, the twins never got to Tatooine together. So, the idea of seeing the twins together after the sabers are laid to rest felt like it was something that was very moving to me and J.J.â First of all, the twins were on Tatooine together in Episode VI, so jot that down. (Seriously, did these people even watch any of the other movies? Sure doesnât seem like it, from the amount of canon that got exploded or ignored.) Second, Iâm glad it was a moving idea for you and J.J.; how nice that you were able to share those feelings with each other. However, this movie isnât about you. Itâs about the story. And within the context of the story, it made no sense for Rey to go bury the sabers on Tatootine in the first place, no matter how great you all thought that Force Ghost thing felt. That, in short, is what was wrong with the entire movie â it wasnât about the actual story, at all. It was about making pretty set pieces and cool-looking battles. It was a shallow veneer that hid a hollow core.
Ugh. Enough. Had to have my say but am going to go write some more positive fanfiction now. Because what we need in the world is hope, not melancholy, and we sure didnât get it from TROS.
titsay
gummygunk
2087
prguitarman
