8 Filmmakers Who RUINED Their Movies By Explaining Them
2. JJ Abrams And Chris Terrio - Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is not a good film. None of its components really come together well and it stands out as a pretty appalling exercise in pandering to toxic fandom. Exacerbating these issues even further is the fact the film had one of the most disastrous press tours in recent memory, with the cast and crew taking time to undermine Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi ahead of its release, before deflecting blame for Episode IX's lukewarm critical response in the weeks following.
Director JJ Abrams and writer Chris Terrio deserve particular blame for this one, but for two separate reasons. For Abrams, it comes down to him teasing and hyping up what was, ultimately, a paltry attempt at providing genuine LGBT* representation in Star Wars. Two minor characters kiss for a nano-second in the ending - which was then edited out of some international markets - while the director himself explained his thought process behind the scene as him not wanting it to be "too loud of a deal."
Yikes.
Abrams' comments, thought obviously not an excuse, can be chalked up to general ignorance, but there's something particularly fascinating about the way Terrio seems incapable of not digging a hole whenever asked about the film. In multiple interviews, The Rise of Skywalker writer has deflected criticism of the film's most controversial moments as being the fault of others. Episode IX's hectic pacing? Oh, that's George Lucas' fault for wanting the saga to be concluded as a trilogy. Bringing back Palpatine? Well, that was producer Kathleen Kennedy's request, and Rian Johnson killed off Snoke, so! Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico getting a paltry one minute and thirty seconds screen time? That's down to ILM's recreation of Carrie Fisher's Leia not being convincing enough, duh.
The list goes on, but Terrio never pauses to take ownership of the film's biggest problems, making an already frustrating film even worse than it already was.
[EP]