8 Filmmakers Who RUINED Their Movies By Explaining Them

2. JJ Abrams And Chris Terrio - Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Rise Of Skywalker Poster
Lucasfilm

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]

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.