#sequel trig

this movie is nothing like what i have come to expect from Star Wars. sure, it had characters with the same names as star wars characters, but they weren’t the same. it was obvious exactly what they were doing (or trying to do and failing) almost the entire movie. as far as general criticisms go, my problems with TLJ are this: it tried to be something it wasnt, it focused too much on a pleasing the audience and making content for new merchandise, and it forgot where it came from.

Speaking in reference to episodes 4-7, Star Wars is funny. But it has a very distinct kind of comedy that TLJ does not achieve. Star Wars is funny within in the context of the film, and what I mean by that is that it’s not quips and one-liners in the thrill of it all. Star Wars is comedy comes directly out of the scene in a way that makes it flow so seamlessly that we get iconic insults and lines like “stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder” and “into the garbage chute, flyboy.” TLJ tries so hard to get laughs it ends up feeling like a Marvel reject–the so-called “comedy” pulls you right out of the experience and falls flat. Few times does it hit the mark.

I think it’s obvious to everyone that the inclusion of the Porgs was a 100% money-grab. They do absolutely nothing to add to the plot and, honestly, their presence detracts from the experience. Some may call them the new Ewoks, but at least the Ewoks did something to aid the rebellion; the Porgs do nothing but scream. If they had served any real purpose, like the salt foxes do in aiding the remaining Resistance fighters in finding an exit and Rey in saving them, I might give the Porgs a pass, but they don’t. Also, and maybe I’m the only one who thought this, but to me it seemed obvious that the writers were doing their damnedest to capitalize on how much audiences loved BB-8 in TFA because BB-8 ends up doing way more of the saving and has much more screen time than I think any of the other droids have in a single movie. But at least BB-8 serves a purpose.

All these problems boil down to the fact that TLJ just forgot about Star Wars. I could go into much more detail on my opinions on this, but I’ll save it and just say that TLJ absolutely sacrifices established character depth for plot. I say this partly because Luke is my favorite character of any media on this earth, and I feel that they warped his character to make Kylo seem more justified. And while Luke has definitely gone through a lot of things that we have not seen, I do not believe he would consider murdering Ben for one second. He never wanted to kill Vader, and he never tried, and Vader had done arguably more horrific things for a much longer period of time than Kylo. And that’s not even mentioning the inner struggle Ben experienced in TFA and, arguably, in TLJ as well, that audiences never really got to see in Vader during the original trilogy. If Luke could have seen the light in Vader at 20 years old, he definitely would have seen the light in Ben as a more experienced Jedi and, through training him and being his uncle, having intimately known Ben. Luke intending to murder Ben, even instinctively, is not something I will ever understand, and the way they portray it in TLJ also leaves two plot holes surrounding Kylo’s origins and the downfall of the Jedi Temple: 1) what of the Knights of Ren flashback vision Rey saw in TFA? and 2) how did Snoke get close enough to Ben during his training to turn him to the light? I know Star Wars isn’t known for amazing continuity (looking at you, prequel trilogy), but you’d think Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson might have been able to avoid any inconsistencies between TLJ and TFA, considering the two films came out only two years apart as opposed to the 16 years between ROTJ and TPM.