The Last Jedi How do folks feel about Rian Johnson as a Star Wars storyteller?

[Mjölnir]

Finn's adventures have been the weakest parts of these films so I have no desire to see more of him. Personally I would have killed him off in his suicide run in TLJ.

I agree that's been the weakest but I think Boyega has had better performances than Ridley, and I think that an ex-Stormtrooper is more interesting as a concept than a Luke copy, so I think there's potential in Finn. It's just been wasted potential and he's often been relegated to being the fumbling goof, so Rey can keep shining all the time.

 

[Gladius Nova]

That's a shame. Characters helping the helpless is about as Star Wars as it gets to me.

The entire execution of that scene just felt so out of place...and just plain "corny". From the moment they stepped foot inside the casino, they ruined the entire "mood" of the film for me. Just my opinion.

And when Luke milked the monster cow thing and drank it...I was like "WTF was that all about!!?" lol It just looked "odd" for a SW film.

 

[Nathan]

I enjoyed The Last Jedi a lot more than I thought I would. So I'd definitely watch him handle an entire Trilogy.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

He did better with Looper than he did for TLJ IMO. The latter had huge flaws in plot and character.

That said, I think he can do well with a new SW trilogy not related to anything before. Like Looper, he can make his own characters and develop them from the ground up. Without passing anyone off after waiting 30 years to see certain characters again.

So, despite my huge problems with TLJ. I am looking forward to his new trilogy.

 

[danoyse]

Rian has been a delight on Twitter today.

 

[flickchick85]

He made a top 3 Star Wars movie and I hope he continues to work within the universe.

 

[Prettyricky]

Please keep rian away from a trilogy entirely made up in star wars. This movie was terribly un even with no real focus on a main plot. You need someone who fully embraces star wars mythos as opposed to looking to rip it all down just to be different. I like JJ visual look of star wars but take it farther in the mythos.

 

[dhandler01]

”I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves.”

I am not sure quoting the prequels will have the effect on this conversation you think it will

 

[danoyse]

I am not sure quoting the prequels will have the effect on this conversation you think it will

But since suddenly some folks seem to have a gentler opinion about the prequels since the release of TLJ (and I suspect many of them aren’t old enough to remember how much fans hated those movies when they first came out), it’s still worth throwing out there.

 

[dhandler01]

I enjoyed the prequels when I watched them...then a few days later logic took over and I hated them. TFA I loved when I saw and you couldnt pay me to watch it again...sometimes getting caught in the hype will do that.

That said I enjoyed all of them more than TLJ. I wanted to like it, tried to talk myself into liking it...but just couldnt. I totally get why others love it and dont begrudge them that but it was a complete and total miss to me. I get what it is trying to do and I applaud it for going a different way, I just didnt connect.

 

[Frodo]

To fair, there are a whole generation of SW fans who were raised or came of age with the prequel films and they like them.

They've been lost in this whole debate since its mainly been between fans of the OT trilogy and fans of the new Trilogy.

I was already a young man when the prequels were released, so I don't look on them with any fondness the way alot of those people who grew up with them do. Then again , I'm not a fan of these new ones either.

Johnson has convinced me however that, " the past needs to die" and that the saga films "need to end".

The idea of moving on and doing something fresh is right imo. The main difference is that you're not gonna able to do that by being part 10,11,12 of a franchise that began in 1977.

You do that by making a break and telling new, separate stories, spin offs, and trilogies which aren't sequels to episode 9, but are instead their own thing, set in the same universe.

 

[danoyse]

To fair, there are a whole generation of SW fans who were raised or came of age with the prequel films and they like them.

They've been lost in this whole debate since its mainly been between fans of the OT trilogy and fans of the new Trilogy.

I was already a young man when the prequels were released, so I don't look on them with any fondness the way alot of those people who grew up with them do. Then again , I'm not a fan of these new ones either.

Johnson has convinced me however that, " the past needs to die" and that the saga films "need to end".

The idea of moving on and doing something fresh is right imo. The main difference is that you're not gonna able to do that by being part 10,11,12 of a franchise that began in 1977.

You do that by making a break and telling new, separate stories, spin offs, and trilogies which aren't sequels to episode 9, but are instead their own thing, set in the same universe.

I was 3, 6, and 9 the years that the original movies came out, and I always assumed this new trilogy was about passing the torch to a new generation. It’s been amazing to have the original cast back, but Harrison has wanted Han to be killed off since ROTJ (and he got exactly that), Carrie is gone, and while I think Mark will be part of this for as long as he can...but, Disney didn’t buy Lucasfilm to keep making movies rooted in the past. It’s supposed to move on.

 

[2kt09]

but, Disney didn’t buy Lucasfilm to keep making movies rooted in the past. It’s supposed to move on.

I'm sure you get the joke here.

 

[Frodo]

I was 3, 6, and 9 the years that the original movies came out, and I always assumed this new trilogy was about passing the torch to a new generation. It’s been amazing to have the original cast back, but Harrison has wanted Han to be killed off since ROTJ (and he got exactly that), Carrie is gone, and while I think Mark will be part of this for as long as he can...but, Disney didn’t buy Lucasfilm to keep making movies rooted in the past. It’s supposed to move on.

The best way for it to move on is to end the saga series. As long as they make Episode 10,11-12 etc , it will still be rooted in the past.

If Lucasfilm wants to move on and start fresh and have new ideas, they've got to cut the cord and starts something new.

I'm all for that, and frankly, if people are tired of the same paradigms and same story beats and want something new and fresh from SW, they should be advocating for something new and not something that's still part 10,11, or 12.

They're already part of the way there with spin off films. They just need to go all the way and start new trilogies which are episode 1,2,3 of other stories as opposed to using the OT,PT, and NT as crutches.

 

[MaceB]

I think that he was tasked with a specific mission: to start the break away from nostalgia and to take the place to exciting new places. I think Johnson and Disney decided that the best way to do that was through a shocking film that intentionally broke convention.

It was a gamble. They should have known that. I assume they must have. And not everyone liked it. That's also pretty predictable. TLJ was a "eat your peas" type situation in order to get to the other side: an original Star Wars film.

 

[Mjölnir]

I think that he was tasked with a specific mission: to start the break away from nostalgia and to take the place to exciting new places. I think Johnson and Disney decided that the best way to do that was through a shocking film that intentionally broke convention.

It was a gamble. They should have known that. I assume they must have. And not everyone liked it. That's also pretty predictable. TLJ was a "eat your peas" type situation in order to get to the other side: an original Star Wars film.

I don't think that was his mission. If it was I don't think we'd have not only story beats but direct scenes copied from the OT (with some changes thrown in). We literally have a resistance base on a white planet being attacked by huge four-legged walkers. If they really wanted to break new ground they would avoid things like that.

 

[writer0327]

I don't think that was his mission. If it was I don't think we'd have not only story beats but direct scenes copied from the OT (with some changes thrown in). We literally have a resistance base on a white planet being attacked by huge four-legged walkers. If they really wanted to break new ground they would avoid things like that.

I took it as breaking new narrative ground while keeping some elements of the SW universe intact. They told a completely different story than what we've seen from SW in the past.

Most SW films have been strictly space adventures interspersed with elements of family drama. This seemed to be the opposite: a personal, internal drama with some space action going on in the background.

 

[MaceB]

Outside of the narrative pieces, Johnson played with the cinematography and the storytelling more than the other SW directors before him. i.e. the opening flight to the planet, the iron shot, the three perspective storyline, etc.

I hope this gives other filmmakers the opportunity to break even more ground moving forward.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

He is a wonderful, gifted storyteller. The proof is in the delicious pudding that is last Jedi.

 

[Iceman]

I agree that's been the weakest but I think Boyega has had better performances than Ridley, and I think that an ex-Stormtrooper is more interesting as a concept than a Luke copy, so I think there's potential in Finn. It's just been wasted potential and he's often been relegated to being the fumbling goof, so Rey can keep shining all the time.

The ex-stormtrooper angle should have been a good one but he seems like just a regular guy caught up in a Star Wars film. It's like they forgot that part of him while sending him on zany escapades for the sake of it.

 

[Brother Jack]

Outside of the narrative pieces, Johnson played with the cinematography and the storytelling more than the other SW directors before him. i.e. the opening flight to the planet, the iron shot, the three perspective storyline, etc.

I hope this gives other filmmakers the opportunity to break even more ground moving forward.

For as divisive as this film is, I hope one thing everyone can agree on is that visually it's stunning. Maybe the best shot Star Wars film ever.

The ex-stormtrooper angle should have been a good one but he seems like just a regular guy caught up in a Star Wars film. It's like they forgot that part of him while sending him on zany escapades for the sake of it.

That was the point of the character, at least in TFA. He was the closest thing to an audience surrogate, and a hero whose heroism is less about his great skills and destiny and more about his moral fiber. Having said that, I don't think they went quite far enough with his defection as a Stormtrooper. He goes into blasting his former comrades away too fast and thoughtlessly.

 

[batman1]

He isn't the best.

 

[Adhesive Boy]

That was the point of the character, at least in TFA. He was the closest thing to an audience surrogate, and a hero whose heroism is less about his great skills and destiny and more about his moral fiber. Having said that, I don't think they went quite far enough with his defection as a Stormtrooper. He goes into blasting his former comrades away too fast and thoughtlessly.

A soldier that's pretty much indoctrinated by the First Order since he was a kid isn't really someone that you'd be able to relate to. He just isn't written in a way that plays on what he's been through at all.

 

[Iceman]

For as divisive as this film is, I hope one thing everyone can agree on is that visually it's stunning. Maybe the best shot Star Wars film ever.



That was the point of the character, at least in TFA. He was the closest thing to an audience surrogate, and a hero whose heroism is less about his great skills and destiny and more about his moral fiber. Having said that, I don't think they went quite far enough with his defection as a Stormtrooper. He goes into blasting his former comrades away too fast and thoughtlessly.

A lot of films have this audience surrogate character. But I thought the ex-Stormtrooper idea was a very interesting one that should have been explored much further and had much more of an impact on his character. This would have been easier to achieve if the audience surrogate was a separate character.

 

[Mjölnir]

The ex-stormtrooper angle should have been a good one but he seems like just a regular guy caught up in a Star Wars film. It's like they forgot that part of him while sending him on zany escapades for the sake of it.

Yes, they had that interesting thing in his background and then just treat him as any random guy. There's so much to build on with him having lived his life with a certain structure but there's nothing there.