These Are Not the Movies We Were Looking For
“I have a really bad feeling about this.” This tagline has become synonymous with Star Wars. It has been spoken by multiple characters in every movie, television episode, and video game since 1977. Unfortunately, this is also a sentiment shared by the most devout Star Wars fans regarding the new installments to the movie saga. Despite being one of the most financially successful movie franchises of all time, the new Star Wars movies fail to live up to their legacy due to casting follies and week character development, the abandonment of original concepts, and predictable storylines.
Star Wars is ranked as the second highest grossing movie franchise of all time with $8.49 billion in worldwide sales, according to Statista. But the numerous casting errors and ludicrous character development flaws of Lucasfilm’s prequel trilogy earns them a lousy 60% average fan rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The purpose of the prequel trilogy was to be the legendary tale of young Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi training and transition to becoming Darth Vader. Despite this being such an iconic character in the Star Wars universe, a decision was made to cast sub-par actor Hayden Christensen to play Anakin Skywalker. Christensen’s performance as Anakin was a lesson in overacting. His over the top rage outbursts and incessant whining made a mockery of the character. Additionally, the story of Anakin Skywalker is supposed to be an emotional conflict as he struggles with his transformation to the dark side. However, the only transformation in Christensen’s performance between movies is his haircut. Another poor decision that tarnished the legacy of Star Wars was the introduction of pointless characters such as Jar Jar Binks. This character was introduced into the saga, likely as a means of adding comedic value to the movie and to appeal to a younger audience. The flaw with this character is that outside of his humor, Jar Jar added little to the movie’s plot and could have been replaced by almost any other character. In comparison, Lucasfilm’s original trilogy contained subtle humor delivered by characters that also played important roles in the plot. For example, R2D2 and C3PO’s banter and bickering provided most of the humor in Episodes IV through VI. And, unlike Jar Jar, each of them played distinct roles in plot development and the outcome of the saga.
In 2012 when George Lucas, the “father of Star Wars”, sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion there was a considerable amount of skepticism from fans. How could the creative force behind Mickey Mouse possibly do justice to the legacy of Star Wars? Optimists argued that since Lucas, himself, did not direct Episode V or VI and both of those movies were fantastic, therefore VII, VIII, and IX will also be great. The problem with this logic is that although Lucas did not direct those episodes himself, it was still his vision and influence that was the driving force behind the movies. This is where the Disney interpretations fall short. An interview with Mark Hamill from 1983 revealed that Lucas had originally intended Episode VII to be the story of an aging Luke Skywalker training a new generation of Jedi. However, when Lucas of fered his assistance to the creative team at Disney, they turned him down. While Episodes I, II, and III received their share of deserved criticism from fans, at least Lucas was spearheading the production. By abandoning Lucas’s vision and ignoring his input, Disney turned a superior movie franchise legacy into a desperate attempt at pandering to fans and they fell square on their face.
As the Disney team tries to chase the success of the original Star Wars films, they find themselves faced with a challenge: please the fan base by creating a masterpiece that they have been waiting for since the disappointment of the prequel trilogies. However, what Disney has delivered thus far have been repetitive, predictable plot lines and carbon copies of the original trilogy. For example, in Episode VII the main character is an orphan named Rey who lives alone on Jakku, a desert planet. She befriends a droid and an AWOL stormtrooper, and after a scrape with the First Order, she leaves her planet and meets Han Solo and Chewbacca. On the run from the First Order, the group stops in a cantina looking for help. This cantina is filled with sleazy, undesirable characters of all sorts, and it is here that they are spotted by a spy, reported to the First Order and must fight their way out. This is nearly an identical plot sequence to Lucas’s Episode IV: the main character Luke Skywalker orphaned by his parents, lives on the desert planet of Tatooine with his “aunt” and “uncle”. His uncle purchases the droids that lead him to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan and Luke travel to the Mos Eisley Cantina in search of assistance -Han Solo and Chewbacca. While at the cantina, filled with “scum and villainy”, they are reported to the Empire by a spy and must fight their way off the planet. Even the final battle in both these movies is fought between the rebel/resistance forces and a gigantic, spherical battle station; the only way to destroy said battle station is to exploit a weakness in the exhaust port. The writers of Episode VII recognize and mock this similarity as Han Solo states, “There’s always an exhaust port”.
Episode VIII is not exempt from predictability and a rehashed plot structure either. In Episode VIII, Rey begins her training with Luke, the last remaining Jedi, who is unwilling to train her at first. Meanwhile the resistance is under attack by the First Order and has sent scouts to find help in a wealthy city. When they find “help” they are double crossed and handed over to the First Order. Rey leaves her training with Luke, incomplete, and returns to help her friends. Sound familiar? It should. In Episode V Luke travels to Dagobah to train under Yoda, the last remaining Jedi, who is at first apprehensive about training him; meanwhile his friends are on the run from the Empire and seek temporary asylum at Cloud City, an upper-class city filled with wealthy citizens. The person they look to for “help” ultimately betrays them and hands them over to the Empire. Luke senses this and leaves his training, incomplete, to help his friends. And these are only a handful of examples of the stark similarities between Lucas’s Star Wars and the knockoffs that Disney created as they seem to be chasing the success of George Lucas rather than creating their own legacy.
Although the Star Wars franchise continues to be successful at the box office, the new installments to the saga continue to disappoint the fan base. Plot and storylines feel unimaginative and main characters feel forced or insignificant. Perhaps the biggest problem with the new releases is the apparent lack of Lucas’s vision and influence. With at least a half dozen new movies rumored to be in planning, Disney shows no sign of slowing production and the fans will certainly be there to point out their shortcomings. The smart decision for Disney would be to dig into the untold Star Wars universe and characters found only in the comics and graphic novels; or perhaps create new characters and storylines. Either way, the Star Wars universe provides endless possibilities for Disney to revive this franchise. But one thing is certain, if they continue to try and chase the success of George Lucas’s Star Wars, they will continue to fall short.
