The EXACT Moment Star Wars Lost Its Way

Disney Could've Never Stuck The Landing

Any sole creative decision can't be respected by a larger corporate entity. Not when it relates to the fundamentals of a brand in such a way as The Last Jedi does Star Wars.

The only person who could continue the themes explored in that scene between Kylo and Rey was Rian Johnson, but by sheer fact of how unplanned the Sequel Trilogy was, Johnson's mandate was "one and done", leaving scores of narrative threads for someone with equal confidence to tackle.

The problem? After Johnson himself wrote a much less nuanced good vs. bad finale, Disney too buckled under the pressure.

Rather than trust in what Johnson set in motion, perhaps getting him to write another instalment and prove the naysayers wrong, they did what all large corporations do when faced with an angry mob of fans:

They went on the defensive.

J.J. Abrams was drafted in, Palpatine was resurrected, Rey was given parentage. Poe got lots more to do, Luke came back as a Force Ghost, and oh look, an X-Wing being lifted out of some water.

Rise of Skywalker coldly and systematically repaired the Star Wars brand in front of our eyes, and the process was hideous. It was insulting to everything Rian Johnson put together, and insulting to the fans for genuinely caring about what was unfolding beforehand.

With creativity by committee and corporately-mandated, box-ticking plot points, this theme park ride of a film might have given fast food sugar highs, but nothing could satisfy longterm.

Cont.