Writing Movie Wrongs

WRONGS WRITING MOVIE moviewrongs.com

by: JIM WEST

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Directed by J.J. Abrams | Written by J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio

Like it or not we have arrived to the ending of a saga that started back in 1977 when George Lucas delivered what would become one of the largest franchises in all of history. When Disney acquired Star Wars from Lucas it was of course a guarantee that we would see films cranked out regularly. This final trilogy set is a mixed bag for most fans. I fall on the side of ‘not a fan’ of this trilogy. Poor writing, retconning of Star Wars canon and then retconning the retcon is just horrible. No real single theme or even a villain that is in a word, whiney and underdeveloped as a character. I get the angle of Rey and being a female protagonist is great to showcase gender equality in the force. Wonderful, but with no many plot holes and just simply poor writing on display here it is hard to pinpoint the path of least resistance to fix a mess of a film such as this.

Here come the spoilers. As the previous two films established, Rey is strong with the force and nobody know who her parents were. A hint was given when Luke sensed the power within her in The Last Jedi. A lot of reversals form that film were done by the writers to try to smooth out the mess made of the franchise. In the end toy sales are going to be fine, and this film will not NOT do well at the box office. IT is simply just not a great film. Bringing back Palpatine was sort of a wonderful way to bowtie the previous two trilogies together, but seriously how did he keep himself alive this long? I think an explanation with a flashback showcasing his powers with the dark side in achieving life after death would be very important here. Furthermore, I would have written in a descendant of Obi Wan in this film to plant a seed of more powerful

Jedi’s existing alongside Rey. Also that would be a neat way to tie into the upcoming Obi Wan series. Yet here we have Kylo and Rey tracking down these beacons to find Palpatine who threatens the galaxy. First off I would not have leaked Palpatine being back. I would have held that under tight wraps. I would also not have had him revealed so early on. Have Kylo get to the throne room, but cut away when they meet to keep who he met a secret till the end of the film. Show him being manipulated with voices in his head and him trying to keep his thoughts secret from Palpatine and internally struggling with this. Adam Driver is a solid enough an actor to have portrayed this struggle in his head and resisting the urges of the voice to kill Rey. Second I would have Rey in the forest when she was training be visited by Luke’s force ghost. Finally at the end of the film have multiple force ghosts teaching her the ways of the force as she takes up the title Rey Skywalker. This would have brought back a HUGE missed opportunity for the film to bring back every force ghost to include Yoda, Anakin, Qui Gon, Obi Wan, to Luke and Leia. Such a big missed opportunity here to give the fans a great scene and bring it all back together. I wont go into other details as this film was just simply all over the place figuratively and literally. A mess of a two hour and twenty two minutes of film. One thing is for certain, Disney has much more planned for Star Wars and hopefully we can get better writing in future films.

OVERSIZED BOYFRIEND JACKET