Quote:
Originally Posted by Elrazor
Probably a lukewarm take that it's relatively better than Empire when compared to the preceding movie, but I think it's a fair point.
I agree that it has some interesting ideas, but it just does them badly. For example, the jaded Luke is definitely a better idea that I first gave it credit for, but I still can't get past him wanting to murder his nephew when his whole character arc in the OT was about redeeming his father.
Yeah that's always been my take, I give RJ zero credit for "trying to do" interesting things when they all fall completely flat. Luke's downfall is just the worst example of a half-baked idea with a "tell me don't show me" explanation and a 5-second flashback that's supposed to satisfy the audience. It's silly.
Which brings up one of the big issues with these movies and how they handled the original cast, there's just no way you're going to both make them main characters in the story and also satisfyingly fill everyone in on what the hell they've been doing for 30 years, especially when a ton has changed. Which they deal with by handwaving it away with little explanation ("So yeah Leia was running the republic and some stuff happened and now she's in some splinter group called the resistance. Han decided to go back to smuggling for some reason I dunno why. Anyway let's move on there's a lot of movie we gotta get done").
Looking back, there would have been maybe two ways to properly incorporate those characters:
--Do the unthinkable and just re-cast the big three with younger actors, and set the movies a much more reasonable 5-10 years after ROTJ.
--Put all three in predictable positions that don't require much explanation (Luke is training young Jedi, Leia is a senator, Han is a New Republic general running covert missions or something) and give them minor roles, with the new characters interacting with them for a scene or two here or there as the plot unfolds. At some point during the trilogy, give them each their shining moment where they do something crucial to the plot that satisfies the fans (Han could still die in Ep 7 as Ford no doubt insisted on), but overall give them relatively little screen time. Basically use the characters but make it clear the torch is being passed to the new ones.
Last edited by GMan42; 02-13-2023 at 01:04 PM.