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Originally Posted by DiracSpike
A fresh direction would have been Rey turning to the dark side by joining Kylo Ren, but that would never happen because Rey has never once been challenged or experienced failure during either of these two movies, which makes it hard to relate to her.She’s mastered everything she’s ever tried, there’s no struggle in her character.Its boring.
The sad truth is Star Wars has fallen prey to the main Hollywood money making scheme these days which is the method of soft rebooting beloved franchises. It’s essentially a remake, the exact same things happen, but they set it in the future and keep referencing the original movies to make it feel like a sequel.It happened to Jurassic Park, to Ghostbusters, and it’s happening now to Star Wars.I was really pumped for TFA, I didn’t read any spoilers or watch the trailers because I was excited about what would happen, but my heart dropped as soon as I read that opening crawl.They just reset everything to the beginning, there was nothing new there.I don’t blame Disney for doing it, they needed a minimal risk movie to put their movie on the right track (financially, not story-telling wise) and it obviously worked because the movie was well received and made a tonne of money.There were a few new additions that were creative but that’s the trick of the soft reboot, at the core the story is stale because it’s a clever way around not straight-up remaking a movie.I was in the minority of people who didn‘t like TFA because I’d seen what was essentially the same movie 20 years earlier on VHS tape, and I’ve seen a much better, less convoluted version of this last movie before as well.Say what you will about the prequels, and lots of people have, they were stories that we hadn’t seen before that didn’t rely on cheap nostalgia and virtual shot-by-shot retakes like these last two movies.It’s ironic that the main piece of originality in TFA, the vision Rey has in the cantina and the mystery box associated with it, was completely stepped in on this movie like it didn’t matter.More so than a bunch of nerds being upset that their Snoke theories were a waste of time, I think most people who turned on this movie because did so because it snuffed out the one bit of mystery and intrigue from the remade A New Hope.As a result the cracks are starting to show around this new trilogy, the Rotten Tomatoes score and the 42% decrease from the first Tuesday numbers between this movie and TFA are indicative of that.
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Great post, couldn't agree more about the hollow character development. Rey has no relatable qualities at this point (neither do any of the other characters), she has just been anointed the most powerful Jedi we've ever seen and has undergone no trials or tribulations to do it. Truly a hero for the millennial generation.
The other points you make about the story are spot on as well. As someone who absolutely hated the prequels, at least they attempted to tell a fleshed out story with some level of character development and realized arcs. The execution was terrible, but as far as having a story to work with, they are actually in better shape than the latest film. I thought even though it was a rehash, The Force Awakens gave the series something to work with. The latest movie just ignored trashed all of that. At this point, can anyone actually tell me a compelling point to releasing a third upcoming movie? What motivation do any of the characters even have to continue their quests?