Posted by We are just a few weeks out from the release of “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” and I, like many, hope that J.J. Abrams fixed a lot of what I believed to be mistakes made by Rian Johnson in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Here are five of the most prominent blunders that I hope will be corrected in the upcoming film.
1 – Rey’s Lame Parents Reveal
I think everyone, including myself, expected Rey to somehow be connected to either the Skywalker bloodline, or the Kenobi’s based on how her story was mysteriously laid out “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The groundwork was laid for a massive reveal that would explain why she was so inclined as a Jedi, but Rian Johnson decided to instead make all of it lead to nothing.
What we get in ‘The Last Jedi’ is an extremely short explanation, by Kylo Ren of all people, that says Rey’s parents were drunkards who discarded her along the way making her genealogy extremely unimportant.
This would be fine, except for the fact the J.J. Abrams seemed to have hinted at something much more significant that was tied to the greater Star Wars universe in “TFA”. When the reveal was sabotaged by the director’s bold take, millions of fans left the theaters disappointed.
2 – Luke’s Pointless Disappearance
Luke Skywalker, a man that is arguably the main protagonist of the entire Skywalker saga, disappears for absolutely no reason at the end of “The Last Jedi.” We never even get to see him confront his scorned nephew Kylo Ren after years of building up to that point.
Instead, we see Ren angrily battle a hologram of Skywalker, and he pretty much gets owned by it. Luke buys the Resistance some time to escape and is then seen on the planet Ahch-To in a meditation stance orchestrating this confrontation that pretty much saves his sister and their friends. Once the fight is over, he disappears into the force like Obi-Wan does in the original film. The approach stopped us from seeing a in-the-flesh reunion between him and Leia, and a true confrontation between him and Ren who he allegedly tried to kill while training him to become a Jedi.
And while it was cool to see how powerful Luke had become, we got cheated out of another appearance from him with the pointless disappearance. He wasn’t defeated by Ren like Obi-Wan was by Vader, so why was he essentially killed off? Hopefully Abrams found a way to bring him back in “Rise of Skywalker.”
3 – Finn’s Lack of Importance to the Plot
Finn was set up to be a main character in “The Force Awakens,” but his story in the “The Last Jedi” had absolutely no impact on the overall plot. He went to some casino world to find some master code breaker that ends up just betraying him and his companion Rose Tico to the First Order.
The whole plan is based on the belief that this code breaker will help them escape the First Order who has been able to track them in light speed. Its failure makes the whole attempt pointless, and since it didn’t include any of the other main characters, it was extremely boring to watch and kept us from seeing what happened with Rey and Ren for too long.
John Boyega has a pretty charismatic personality in real-life and I hope Abrams tapped into it more for the upcoming film. His character should be important to the integral plot, and they should allow him to provide some sort of diversity to the cast apart from just his race. He really doesn’t need to be this guy who takes himself super seriously like Rey and company. We’ve seen hints of his jokey side, but we need more in the next film.
4 – Poe Should Fill Han Solo’s Shoes
I’m a fan of Oscar Isaac, and when I found out he was going to be in these Star Wars films, I was excited. I believed he would kind of fill the shoes of the Han Solo-type character which was painstakingly absent from the prequel trilogy. And since we had the actual Han in the first film, I figured Poe would come into his own in the second one.
He definitely showed a bit of his outlaw side in “TLJ” with the whole mutiny arc, but his separation from Rey really didn’t make his actions all that impactful on the overall plot. I’d like to see more of Poe’s rebellious side, but I don’t want him to be on the sidelines. He needs to be a part of the main story and take on some of the big baddies like Ren and his Knights who were also absent in “TLJ” after being hyped up in “TFA.”
He also needs to provide a different dimension as a character. It feels like he’s been holding back for awhile and they need to let Poe Dameron loose in “ROS.”
5 – Supreme Leader Snoke’s Origin Not Being Discussed
Without a proper origin story and humanizing of the character, Snoke was reduced to a Saturday morning cartoon villain by Rian Johnson. The already underwhelming CGI knockoff of the emperor made his live action appearance in “TLJ,” that was unfortunately short-lived after he was killed by Ren, rather disappointing.
There have been rumors of a back story coming in this third film for Snoke, but with the emperor actually making a return, will anyone care at this point? I for one hope that they somehow tie him to the Empire and make his character important in the mythos of the first six movies. It’s also possible that he might have just been a red herring that was meant to stall viewers until the Emperor’s actual return. Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to give us some kind of an origin for this character in “ROS.”
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