Quick addition - Ree-ayn also destroyed the idea of the afterlife "Strike me down with anger and I'll always be with you" is a psychological, not mystic, statement, like "Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Ruin's movie is about destroying religion and its notions of good and bad - its nihilistic. Also here are some vids on Thomas Covenant: ua-cam.com/video/gUx_eUc5yWI/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/wIx_XvGA_L4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/KUYaoemZn_Q/v-deo.html
I disagree. TLJ is a highly spiritual film. In my opinion, it can be compared to protestantism versus catholicism/orthodoxy. Luke's character arc in TLJ is similar to... well, let's just say a certain area of the world today: They have rejected organized religion for many years, but have slowly realized that it left a vacuum in which something worse has taken its place. So they re-embrace it as a necessary shield against an invading force, and promote it in the next generation.
Did you ever talk about how Ruin Johnson destroyed Princess/General Leia? I cannot see why people are saying that TLJ is a Feminist Propaganda piece... the only decent, realistic women in the movie was the bridge officer who helped Poe and Poe's second in command (who died in the hangar bay explosion). Rey - A Rey Johnson with anger problems. Throughout the movie she is full of anger. Luke and she had a fight, with sticks. Luke defeats Rey, who then force pulls the lightsaber to her, ignites it, and then gives Luke the speech about how pathetic he is. She then heads off to the man who kidnapped her, tortured her, and killed her "father figure" in the first movie because "he's good". There isn't a relationship between the two of them. I can understand why Luke wouldn't want to kill his father since family and friends mean more to Luke than his own life. For Rey, there is no other reason to go other than to allow Snoke to die and get her to the Resistance so she could save them. Vice Admiral Holdo - A military leader deliberately written to incite mutiny. She takes command and doesn't tell anyone about her plan. She publicly ridicules a subordinate who politely asked, away from ears, that question. She doesn't give anyone orders, in a "battle". She reveals her plan, but she would need subordinates to actually coordinate which vessels take what supplies and who. If they knew of this before hand, they would be able to quickly get the supplies/people aboard and away increasing the likelihood of success. At the end, she and Leia talk about how good Poe is, like they didn't try to demean him and embarrass him in front of everyone. Rose - She is infatuated with Finn and loves horses. She's incredibly inconsistent. She is mourning the sister she loves and just lost then completely forgets about her when Finn arrives. She was a slave, but decides freeing horses is better... then her last line is completely wrong. Not one of these women would any feminist appreciate... they are stereotypical bad portrayals of women in power... :/
Cannot believe what I just reed. Wasn't expecting this coming from you. Strike my with anger.. how it's destroying religion when it's explaining religion making useful in life. Making religion ridicule doesn't make it more powerful but in fact the opposite. Will do response video on that and this particular review. All of them. Because you have good touch 90% I agree to the problem is and this stroke me down into dissapointment it seems that not only have bad memory but also stil sitting in that school. Religion covered with beautiful wsentences meaningless useless in practice it's covert nihilism. It's like someone who cannot build close relationship with other human being so he is making this pixie manic girl and so is she about him. There is nothing real in space between but it sounds so romantic. I must agree that if any word could describe TLJ better is nihilism it's so strong that get out of screen into real life. But one of biggest plot points in christianity for example is death and being reborn. Building temple, destroying temple as ultimate way to create something new. You kinda forgot about TFA setups absolutely forgot to apply logic to them try to figure out wast possible to make anything out of them anything? Watched it recently but you forgot that TFA left poops inside those boxes, Ruin JONSON to be honest made some poops either but left many unanswered questions if answered would turn them into something good mature. But most of all just opened boxes. PS quick religious note Vishnu vs Shiva battle hologram involved as written in Hindu.. how about this? It's piece taken out from very serious religion and suprise suprise it leading into somewhere stunning in very practical way. Practical means not nihilistic, religion is nihilism cause let people focus on death more often than they should. Will respond to all that in video maybe month later I'm bussy now abut I promise. I think it's great to start because made very good reviews. I'm writing from mobile so.. sorry if it's hard to read
The Last Jedi: "Star Wars is dumb and you should feel bad for even caring" Disney Executives: "Why isn't Star Wars resonating with audiences anymore? Must be the fault of those toxic fans or something"
It still blows my mind, that at no point did anyone intentionally plan the scene with Han, Luke and Leiah back together again. Nobody. Not one. It shows such a disconnect for the love fans have for these characters.
JJ wanted to have a scene with Han, Luke, & Leia. He actually wrote treatments for 8 and 9 that work ignored. But his Episode 9 treatment opened with a flashback to Luke, Han, Leia, & Ben Solo defending the Jedi Academy from Snoke and his forces. But it was Kennedy who wanted to avoid having the "big three" on screen together.
The problem with both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is that they're too aware of and focused on the outside world. Neither director thought of these movies within their own universe and narrative. What would be logically consistent for the characters and story. The only difference is one wanted to push the nostalgia button and the other wanted to deconstruct the whole franchise.
Good point. There is a saying in Hollywood. Give them what they want but different. Too many people misunderstand this statement. The force awakens gives most fans and the general audience what they want but is just a remake of the SW 1977 plot points. Fun but stale. The last Jedi trys to subvert expectations but in the process brakes previously accepted cannon. Different but does not work for established franchise. The job that the director of a pre-existing franchise has is to honor the continuity of the story and the franchise wile also bringing new life and a bit of freshness to the audience. I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Since Ruin Johnson is filled with hatred he couldn't have that be the reason someone becomes a bad guy. He sees himself as a a good guy, a hero, a hero that finds joy inflicting pain on others. A lot of the current hollywood/comic book creative types are like this now. They fundamentally do not understand heroism, honor, loyalty. They just want to see the world burn and they think that is heroic because they hate the world. They are the Grinch with no redemption arc.
Great post FCOL. And yes indeed that IS exactly what Roundhead Ruin is, a hateful spiteful little manlet that, quite frankly, DESERVES to be beaten up(and I'd happily volunteer for THAT duty that'd be FUN) and fired and also publicly humiliated - like he did to Mark Hammil. And your right. These people do not even understand the CONCEPT of heroism, honor, loyalty, integrity, toughness, goodness, badness, so on. This makes me unable to relate to ANY of these pricks. SJWs DO NOT ACT HUMAN. I have never in my life met anyone more dishonorable, more of a constant LIAR, more of sack of shit as a person, and someone I absolutely do not want to be around for even a second, than SJWs and feminists. And we saw what they did to star wars. I will NEVER forgive them for what they have done; and thus disney needs to fire them ALL to even get me to look in their direction again. I am boycotting plan 9 ruse of soywalker. These PRICKS will not be rewarded. They will suffer for what they have done, to the franchise and to us.
Tossing the lightsaber encapsulates Johnson’s entire attitude to Star Wars. It’s as if he had some deep seated psychological need to actively destroy the mythos of Star Wars which is completely tied in to the journey of Luke becoming a Jedi. For all his flaws, George Lucas created something deeply resonant within the culture that has not stopped resonating with people for almost half a century now- a huge achievement. Rian Johnson set out to undermine that, not to reveal anything new, not to teach us anything but just to destroy for the sake of his own blatant insecurity. He’s a petty cultural vandal and it’s absolutely no wonder why he is despised.
Yes that is exactly correct. For all the pomp and smugness of elites who hold to it, it is a primitive philosophy below cavemen. It can be summed up as, "me smash all"
TLJ Is a horrible, _horrible_ movie that only looks worse and worse in the rearview mirror. I felt the franchise actually died with TFA, but TLJ was something else. Disney SW is a carbuncle on the canon that's unfortunately always going to be there, it can never be repaired (unless Disney repudiated these movies or called them a fork off the canon or something like that). Re. Finn: I'm the _complete_ opposite of PC, but even I found it shocking the way Finn, as a Black guy, was treated like a clown in TLJ (and even to some extent in TFA). I can imagine the actor must get more and more pissed off about it the more he reflects on it. Boyega's actually quite a capable actor ( _Attack the Block_ is a fun movie, where he really shines), and the writing could have really milked his transformation from a Stormtrooper to a hero, he could easily have carried off both humour _and_ gravitas. But no, he's just the butt of humour throughout, and his one potential moment of glory is stolen from him by Rosie for the sake of a laughably meaningless (in context) line.
@@aralornwolf3140 The Last Jedi is just an exercise in nihilism and the author's inability to get over there pathetic insignificance using characters as mouthpieces to forced their ideologies onto others. This script never would have been accepted! I know Kathleen Kennedy is not the brightest person in the world when it comes to art that much is obvious, but have the decency to put a product that is acceptable let alone watchable.
@@kylelundgren5133 , *Sigh* Posters have no movement, sound, and don't tell stories...That's what I was talking about. TLJ looks excellent... If you could take individual scenes and make them into posters, out of context of the garbage writing they can be used for something else.
@@aralornwolf3140 Aralorn Wolf... More like Aralorn "Rat". A rat in a wolf's clothing. :) Or should I say, sheep? Rat. ;) And posters do portray certain messages, that can move people towards a certain direction or ideology... A poster(picture) can also tell a story too, so yeah... A poster of TLJ is trash.
I've always tried to make this point to people on how bad Disney dropped the ball. TLJ didn't just ruin the sequel trilogy's continuity, that trash retroactively went back and made the original trilogy worse and degraded those character's story-lines as well. He didn't just want to stick it to JJ, he wanted to destroy the entire franchise and the mythos behind it.
That part with Rian Pooping Johnson was so accurate. Also feel sorry for Anakin, firts the jedi council didn;t grand him a title of master, than force decided that he is not a chosen one, and itš actually Ray. Poor guy
Frankly, the Mystery Box is the worst narrative device. It's basically filler for the gaps between the stitched together pieces of Abrams' Frankenstein films. And there were moments like Han namedropping Snoke which suggested to me that there really wasn't a mystery to who he was, it's just the momentum of the film didn't give them time to mull over the details. Wanting to dunk on Abrams is well and good, but Johnson was a smug prick for not caring about the collateral damage.
Good analysis. I'd like to add in something that was pointed out in a video back at the time - Johnson has virtually everybody be incompetent and therefore make unnatural choices. Nobody acts like a real person. Under George Lucas almost everybody, both good and bad, made competent decisions based on the information available to them. It may turn out that they have an incomplete picture of things, so foiling their plans, but they weren't stupid. It says a lot about Rian Johnson that he wanted the project in the first place, apparently with destruction as his sole aim. Most normal people would have avoided involvement in an IP that they despise.
Johnson seems like someone with a classic nerd verses jock complex. Like The Last Jedi is his revenge on people who bullied him in high school or something.
I dunno. I can see the appeal of being paid a lot of money to destroy the IP that he obviously hates. What an ego boost! And a lot of the professional critics loved the film too. Win-win-win! The only losers are the fans (and maybe Disney).
You make a great point on the force being available to anyone. Everyone is special. I've coached soccer at clubs where they gave trophies to everyone. Everyone is special. Rewarding the last winner.
That's a basic tenet of humanistic psychology introduced in the early 1900's. It's a cancer that's spread all throughout Western thought. They reversed accomplishment and self esteem, having reversed cause and effect, thinking that self-esteem causes accomplishment rather than accomplishment causes self-esteem. Self-esteem causing accomplishment is probably what leads to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is where people think themselves much more competent than they actually are, because the tools needed to be competent in a particular field are the same tools needed to identify competence in that field. Without the basic tools needed to identify what competence actually looks like, one becomes overly confident in their own competence.
Yes JJ and Rian doesn't understand the dark side. Rian's explanation is just that there's darkness in him, when it's not how this works. In TFA, JJ has the crappy dialogue that there was just "too much Vader in him."
Rest in peace Star Wars Legends you are actually made by mostly competent writers unlike Star Wars Canon pass the original and prequel trilogies. Fantasy is slowly dying (like a rock is ground to sand in the sea) by nostalg beating frauds and sociopathic nihilist that care about their own self worth in selfishness Above All Else.
I thought it was ok the first time I saw it, but something did feel off. over time it really sunk in how awful it was, and suddenly I realized I no urge to watch either of the sequels. The most astonishing thing is how someone like Rian Johnson can try to take the moral high ground, by claiming that morality isn’t a thing?
He doesn't make that claim. He's merely examining the pros and cons of organized religion; Luke initially rejects it, but realizes the incredible destruction he;s brought on by rejecting it. Something always fills the void left by the absence of organized religion.
@@IndyDefense no it's about tearing down Heroes. About ridiculing the idea of a hero except for the female characters. Honestly Rian Johnson has no legs to stand on when it comes to his morals or lack thereof. This D grade movie does show a very odd culture that is very deprived of spirituality and ritual they go to such lengths us to worship their ideologies diets or there are politics as a religion and glorifying materialism.
@@kylelundgren5133 The movie doesn't actually glorify anyone. Its female characters either fail spectacularly (Leia), make stupid decisions (Holdo, Rose) or have no agency and simply follow men around (Rey). As for heroes, I've read that the story was meant to echo the stories of King Arthur's later years, where he is overwhelmed by his nephew and goes to live out the rest of his days on an island.
The female characters in The Last Jedi are the ones to get ridiculed the least if not at all by Ryan Johnson. As I said before Johnson's screenwriting is atrocious every little bit is just a very thinly veiled Barbed insults directed at JJ Abrams. If Johnson really wanted to subvert expectations all you had to do is write a good movie although I don't think he's capable that.
Rian Johnson said in interviews upon the release of The Last Jedi that he didn't have much to work with storywise. He chose to be spiteful instead of creative. Thanks for your concise analysis that reaffirms that!
gRIFF THERIDE Didn’t have much? What about where the FO came from? Or Snoke? Or what the New Republic was up to after it lost its capital? Or why the New Republic let the FO rise in the first place? Or what would happen to Fin after being put in a coma? Or how Maz got Anakin’s lightsaber? There was so much he could’ve done and he ignored it all
@@Lazurath101 You're absolutely right! He had all those things and more to work with. Rian said he didn't have explanations/payoffs to all the loose threads set up by episode 7. Sorry for the confusion
Before my son came home from basic training we were going to watch it together. He watched it with some friends before coming home, he told me it the film ruins Star Wars and that he doesn't want to have to watch it again.
@JRPGFan20000 I completely changed my original comment on further reflection as it would probably be an insult to Comic Store Guy to compare him to Ruin. But, right you are! At least he's an entertaining character.
So, South Park was right about Mr. Hankey being real too? 😁 You remembered me the jokes about Tim Pool being a sentinent beanie attached to a human host, joining now, sentinent turd Ruin Johnson.
I don't mind the idea of Kylo wanting to leave both the Sith and Jedi to fight amongst themselves. I think it would have been an interesting direction. I just hate everything around it.
I think postmodern/nihilistic takes are really fashionable with Hollywood elite, but everyone else does not really get it. I could see how The Force Awakens could have been mistaken for a good corporate idea, but I think this movie really shows how out of touch some of the bigwigs really are. You will see different actors, especially younger ones, reference "postmodern takes on consumerism," then those same ones are surprised and indignant when fans get mad over that take on Star Wars. I just noticed that in interviews with Gwendoline Christie, for example.
Yes the people that own big companies are vary out of touch with their customers. I also have heard that the people in Hollywood are all smiles and give gifts just to get in the door. With no one willing to rock the boat. This creates the perfect storm of people in charge of the projects not knowing the best way forward and people joining the project just because its looks good on a resume. Only now people are starting to take notice and talk. Hollywood is going through a lot of growing pains right now. I also think that nihilism and making films cynically runs counter to storytelling. How can you have heros and leaders if you dont believe in those concepts. There is a good reason they are called heroes or why we call actors and actresses leeds. I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Honestly Godzilla King of the Monsters was like the Anti-Last Jedi KotM was a film made by a director who loves Godzilla and wanted to deliver a classic feel to a franchise that otherwise gets no love. Everything in that film was made with respect to the source material. The fans and audience love KotM but critics loathe it for having “too much monsters.” But Mike Doughty remains humble and happy that most hardcore fans enjoyed what he brought. Last Jedi was made with no love or respect to anything that came before Disney bought it out. The writing tried to be cleaver but ended up frustrating and bad. Critics love it while fans and audience despise it to death. Rian Johnson acts like a man child and basically treats the fans with contempt. I don’t know what kind of ass backwards world we live in now. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
When I hear what Rian said about his own process for TLJ, he was trying to write a story that focused on the younger key characters (Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo) and give them _some_ kind of meaningful development -- the destruction of JJ's "mystery boxes" strikes me more as incidental than intentional. Rian STARTED with the question of "why is Luke exiled on that island?", picked the *wrong answer,* and followed his own (nihilistic) judgment on where that led. For example, Rian decided that Luke's being on that island was indeed "the right thing" for Luke to be doing -- which isn't necessarily a wrong answer, BUT he didn't provide the right reasons for it. If Luke told us that the Force itself guided him to this island but even he didn't know why, we could accept that -- because a 'no answer' is better than a BAD answer.
The change from the Force being a choice between good and evil to "it happens" and knowledge/skill to "they just have it" is determinism typical of leftists.
As an ethnic Jew I can tell you that this primarily has its roots in Judiasm. They have thought in terms of biological determinism since the Ancient Hebrews were called the chosen people. It is still a prominent mindset to this day among those who embrace perpetual revolution which frankly has been endemic to culture since the French Revolution.
I just thought its approach to the Force is this “Hooray, everybody is a winner” thing millenials are brought up with. Of course to appeal to millenials.
The one thing I didn't mind in TLJ was the attempt to add a bit more grey between the dark side and the light side. That could have been cool, and not necessarily against previous SW lore.
That and trying to go the route of anyone can tap into the force to some extent, and certain people just happen to be naturals, rather than having every force user be related like they're inbred/belong to a muslim family tree.
Everything that has been said about The Last Jedi in the past 2 years by countless fans (myself included) perfectly encapsulated - "Rian Johnson opened up all the mystery boxes and pooped in them". David always knows how to say things just right.
TLJ was an ironic metaphor for the lack of direction. Ruin Johnson's boring fleet chase theme was the nightmare in which you try to run but can only move in slow motion.
I would add, Bob Iger clearly had, and still has, the idea that slapping the Star Wars name on any piece of crap will sell it to the stupid fans. Ruin Johnson is just the crass, brutish manifestation of that attitude. He is mocking the fans and everything the fans cherish in Star Wars. Somehow Kennedy couldn't see that. Perhaps because she's a fourth wave feminist who likewise mocks the heroic ideals underpinning Star Wars.
Rian's room temperature IQ strongly suggests that accusations of him being cerebral must be in reference to the shape of his head. Rian is cerebral like the DMV is efficient.
As someone who lost a friend in college to suicide and took his younger brothers to see the Star Wars Trilogy as an escape and reprieve from sadness I felt personally attacked by Rian Johnson watching Last Jedi. First and last time I’ve ever watched any film feeling this way. The entire movie felt cynical and hateful not only to the material but to people like me who loved it and attached meaning to it far behind simply a trilogy of movies. I left the theater the first time shell shocked and stunned. This later turned to rage and sadness. I’m a Sith now ... 😂
I watched TFA and realised that the story was an empty shell which made no sense. So I never had any interest in seeing TLJ and have even less in seeing the latest one.
I didn't watch TFA until I caught it on a airplane. My friend had warned me that is was just New Hope redone. I found it to be mediocre and like you had no interest in TLJ and wont go anywhere near RoS.
What if Rian Johnson is the hero we don't want, but who we need? What if he thought the entire setup for the new trilogy was silly and insulting to George Lucas. So he decides to sabotage it so Disney will think twice before doing something like this again?
This is a super interesting point. I bet Kathleen Kennedy hates JJ Abraham as well. to be fair I don't think JJ Abrahams is a good story teller. quite the opposite. he is a lame fanboy so in a twisted way ruin johnson making a movie dissing JJ Abrahams and his vision is a bit like something Tom Greene would come up with. this was personal on some level, why ruin johnson felt that way, who knows I feel this is a guy with almost sociopathic tendencies. how did a guy like this ever get in on star Wars.
I don't think KK and Disney care about the product as they know that many people are desperate to be good little consumers and throw their money away on the brand.
Spot on! TLJ could not have been made by a fan. It is a troll job, all the way. In addition, I'm certain that Johnson believes he is a better director than JJ, and better than the SW franchise. An honorable man would have refused the work - an arrogant, nihilistic troll takes the paycheck and keeps the con job going, delighting in screwing with the fans and destroying the legacy of the franchise. The other thing you didn't touch on was how he played Kathleen Kennedy, gaining her confidence by agreeing with her SJW ideals. I'm unsure if this was real, or part of the con but it doesn't matter - Johnson knew what he had to do to game the system. She didn't bother to look over his shoulder because dear Rian "thinks the right way" and that's more important than good writing, etc. I agree 1000% with you: RJ hated SW, hated what he was handed from TFA, and resented those in charge and played them like a fiddle so he could make the most epic middle finger in movie form, ever.
He probably *is* a better director than JJ. JJ seems pretty limited in his range. So far as I can tell, Johnson achieved what he wanted to with TLJ, and even got excellent critical reviews for the film.
I did not know that about the director. I also hated the movie, but I couldn't put my finger on it. That brings a good deal of focus. I might just have to watch it again to see that in action. Second thought. How in the world could anyone think Star Wars is not about the spiritual side of things. Even if you take it as a Joseph Campbell style heroes journey without any truth, you cannot push off the old beliefs like that. Once you take any preexisting narrative you are obliged to the world you find yourself in. It is like you said, not what I the author would do, but would the character do that. I find this is hard for people to do in both D&D & in writing. Third & last bit. I was watching Tim Keller talking about anger just before this, & you guys are eye to eye there. That is spot on. Great stuff, this got my mind in gear.
I felt similar thinking about Justice League having two directors. Zack Snyder, whether you like him or not, was trying to tell a story with many religious undertones and epic themes. Joss Whedon on the other hand is a self identified absurdist and atheist, which I think reflects itself in his humour and writing. Smashing these two together created a lot of the tonal dissonance in Justice League
Brilliant essay! From this, I'm now seeing KK and Iger as even more incompetent than before. Here we have two egotistical filmmakers who played KK like a fiddle, tricking her into giving them the keys to the kingdom so that they could battle each other with hundreds of millions of dollars. And KK didnt have a clue what was going on. Probably still doesn't.
You know, something really weird just happened today especially with "The Last Jedi". When it was in theaters, I went to see it with my family. So today I am watching that movie's re-cut did by Yvan Ortega on my computer. My father comes into the computer room and says: "What Starwars is that?" I'm like: "You're joking right? you came with me to theaters to watch it, I even asked you what you thought of it on our way out !" His answer: "Yeah so your sister tells me, but I honestly don't remember anything at all about this movie" -- he was absolutely, genuinely serious about it, and not pulling my leg about it. Now this is quite disturbing, but he hasn't forgotten anything else that I know of, so I don't think it's senility or Alzheimer's or something... Talk about shutting down after seeing Rian Johnson destroying his favorite character and lore setting. I kindof envy him to be honest. Very disturbing tho.
Honestly Ree-an was probably jealous of Luke Skywalker or something as a kid and wanted to drag him through the mud the instant he could. He probably melted all of his friends' action figures too at a sleepover.
You perfectly summed up the rot at the very core of this film. It really did feel like a spiteful hate letter. Rian's nihilistic postmodern views are not compatible with the true mythology that sits at the heart of SW. Idk how you managed to force yourself to watch it again though!
TLJ was more than Rian's hate letter to J.J. it was his hate letter to George as well. It was his unbridled hubris of saying to George "your universe sucks and I can do it better than you" because remember he was supposed to have his own completely new trilogy set in a new galaxy. Rian had delusions of replacing George Lucas. What an idiot.
Well my fanfic of the new star wars had kylo dying of a heart attack between movies. Rey gets zapped by an imperial weapon that strips her of her force powers and is forced to take a job dancing in a Hutt palace. Fin runs off with Rose Tiko so she cannot screw things up for the rebellion anymore than she already has. For this Fin is regarded as the greatest hero of the rebellion.
I remember the film so well that I’m not sure I need to watch it again after 2 years. I sort of don’t like that about my mind sometimes. Guess remembering TFA and TLJ after not watching them in years is my own Vietnam flashback of sorts. Though, I personally don’t see the films as traumatic in the sense that I have PTSD because of them, more of a wasted opportunity to make good films as a movie fan. And as a Star Wars fan. And that’s the sad part. They could have been good. Instead, they are what they are.
Dope video bro most don't go in-depth about the speculation of Ruin Johnson's thought process for this travesty without saying the same shallow observations or summing it all up to his "subversive" technique. You're completely right about everything imo and think he should never touch another legacy if he can't help but have his personal philosophies bleed through the material, inverting and distorting our beloved franchise. Your books look pretty good and have great titles, so I think I'll take a look.
Yes! You're the first person who I've heard say it was dream-like, I thought that too! Not just with the effects but the acting, dialogue and how the scenes were handled generally seemed surreal and... wrong! I've also thought that with a couple of other films, main examples being Spiderman: Far From Home and Get Out (Thought I enjoyed the latter much more on the second viewing)
Never thought this would be the case, but: while I still dislike TLJ as a whole, conceptually I am starting to appreciate (or maybe understand) Rian's contempt toward JJ's mystery boxes, which have begun to infect most of Hollywood's products. Not that I'm watching a single one of them, but I do have my own contempt for that hackish writing style when there's no setup or payoff.
I just got back from watching Rise of Skywalker and i have to say, it was really bad. definitely the worst of this trilogy. My biggest issue with it was the writing, it felt like a fan film. I was bored watching it. It lacked emotion and meaningful characters
The thing with the Light saber could have been done in a way that wasn't dumb. For Example, Luke Holds the light saber, the thing that holds so much history for him, and his father before him. Something that has cause the galaxy so much happiness and grief, his emotions run wild within him tears filling his eye. He looks at it and back at the girl who brought it to him, then back to the light saber. his arm drops, the camera zooms into the light saber at his side as he lets it go, like the past behind him. the camera follows the Light saber to the ground where it hits and makes a deep impression into the ground, added by the sound of a loud Thunk. Without looking at it or Ray he says "I am done" he walks past Ray keeping his eyes forward. Leave both the past (light saber) and the future (Ray) behind.
Very good analysis. Nothing much to add TBO. I would however be interested in extrapolating your interpretation - Rian Johnson hating SW and what JJ handed to him, what previous film makers handed to him, and it felt spiteful etc. - to encompass whether Corporate Disney itself or Kennedy in particular also shared this malevolent attitude toward this IP. Surely they must have been aware (a major assumption) what Johnson was up to or were they firmly ensconced in a political, ideological mindset that their frame of reference was warped to the extent they were unable to distinguish their ideology from what Johnson was doing?
TLJ does a good job capturing a lot of the current year view of power structures. Why is purple hair in charge? Bureaucratic seniority. Why is general Hux in charge? Bureaucratic seniority. What is the lesson to Poe? Shut up, stop thinking, start blindly obeying the arbitrary hierarchy he is within like a first order storm trooper.
Eoin Chadwick General Hux was actually intimidating in TFA so it made sense for him to be high up in the chain of command in TLJ. It’s just that RJ decided to play slapstick humour with him so it ends up feeling like he’s just a goofy punching bag instead of an actual general
@@Lazurath101 Agree, TFA does a much better job with Hux in that its aping the OST where the generals are clearly senior leadership. I quite like the jockeying between Hux and Kylo in TFA as well, they both have this young and hungry vibe going which suits the situation. By TLJ time they should have highlighted some specific skill Hux has that leads to him being in charge instead of someone with seniority.
You're so right about Johnson using the film as his mouthpiece. For example, I thought it was jarring when Kylo Ren tells Rey that her parents were "nobodies", to which she agrees. The word "nobody" in that context of course means people who aren't famous or influential, which should be the last thing that a traumatized orphan would be concerned about. Rather, it's more as if Johnson is breaking the fourth wall, telling the audience directly not to care. But without being funny or satirical, it's just atrocious writing.
You keep saying his name wrong. It's Rabid Roundhead Ruin Johnson, the World's Smallest, Balding Man-Baby. To deny him his well-earned honorifics would be the utmost form of disrespect.
Makes a lot of sense, but what would be the reasoning behind it from a career standpoint. Either Rian *has* to know Kathleen will be on his side for this, or he's willing to put his career on the line just to spite JJ.
Indeed, the Last Jedi is horrible but it is _not_ what ruined everything. The trilogy was already damaged beyond repair by the Force Awakens. So, even though the Last Jedi is horrible it was enjoyable to see someone shit on J.J. Abrams after Abrams shit on George Lucas, the original and only true creator of Star Wars.
Your story reminds me of when we were learning sex ed in primary school. We wrote questions and put them into a hat where the teacher would pull them out. Of-course 80% of the questions were quite funny hehe
A lot of interesting thoughts, that I mostly agree with. But isn't the using the force without training thing in most of Disney Star Wars? Rey certainly didn't train in Force Awakens and then there is "Baby Gizmoda" in The Mandalorian.
I didn't see the Mandalorian yet, but as far as Disney is concerned, I guess you're right. Probably about making the Force inclusive. Star Wars Rebels has training, though.
There isn't enough context about the baby yoda yet, we don't know if it has training or not. The baby is supposedly 50 years old or so, and a lot can be learned in 50 years, even if they physically develop slower than most species. Since Dave Filoni is still involved in the Mandalorian, I hold out hope that baby yoda had some training as a youngling as a part of a force sensitive species, maybe cultural training of some sort that is connected to their natural development as individuals. The movies on the other hand are garbage, and heavily influenced by the tenets of humanistic psychology.
You always have so thought provoking takes on things... I never thought that Ruin Johnson might just be deliberately pooping on the whole Star Wars franchise. :P I dont really know his movies too well but no doubt he is very good director. And he also probably knows perfectly well what Star Wars fans want but... well you get poop instead. What a shame.
Spite and hate come from somewhere.... You had mentioned that everything he brought up, everything that is in star wars, was methodically countered. I don't see it as a personal attack at jj or an impersonal attack at the audience. I see it as a guy who is unable to aspire to anything positive, to anything that anyone else says is (which is itself a wonder that he makes films). If there is any doubt it isn't, then it's not. It doubles back on this type, when, at the end of the day, he--or she-- ends up saying nothing is. It's not enough to be clever. People have to find what is for themselves, whatever that is, and run with it. Rian Johnson just wasn't honest, or self aware, with himself that there was nothing in Star Wars that he wanted. Or that, even worse, there's nothing he'll accept on anyone else's terms, and that smallness doesn't breathe life into a world that already is, let alone a shared world.
Intriguing idea. I also think that nihilism and making films cynically runs counter to storytelling. How can you have heros and leaders if you dont believe in those concepts. There is a good reason they are called heroes or why we call actors and actresses leeds. I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Sorry I am going through your videos somewhat late. Just wanna say I appreciate your analysis when it has become such a scarse thing in common discussion, nowadays. Your videos on Star Wars are trully a breath of fresh air. I would very much enjoy having a thoughtful conversation on the topic, I believe. I focus more on the mythological themes and structures of Star Wars in my own thought, but I have no channel (don't really intend to), nor do I plan to put out content on youtube. Pray tell me, do you get samples of writing and give your take on what you've read?
Quick addition - Ree-ayn also destroyed the idea of the afterlife
"Strike me down with anger and I'll always be with you" is a psychological, not mystic, statement, like "Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Ruin's movie is about destroying religion and its notions of good and bad - its nihilistic.
Also here are some vids on Thomas Covenant:
ua-cam.com/video/gUx_eUc5yWI/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/wIx_XvGA_L4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/KUYaoemZn_Q/v-deo.html
David Stewart agreeed
David Stewart You hit the nail on the head.
I disagree. TLJ is a highly spiritual film. In my opinion, it can be compared to protestantism versus catholicism/orthodoxy. Luke's character arc in TLJ is similar to... well, let's just say a certain area of the world today: They have rejected organized religion for many years, but have slowly realized that it left a vacuum in which something worse has taken its place. So they re-embrace it as a necessary shield against an invading force, and promote it in the next generation.
Did you ever talk about how Ruin Johnson destroyed Princess/General Leia?
I cannot see why people are saying that TLJ is a Feminist Propaganda piece... the only decent, realistic women in the movie was the bridge officer who helped Poe and Poe's second in command (who died in the hangar bay explosion).
Rey - A Rey Johnson with anger problems. Throughout the movie she is full of anger. Luke and she had a fight, with sticks. Luke defeats Rey, who then force pulls the lightsaber to her, ignites it, and then gives Luke the speech about how pathetic he is. She then heads off to the man who kidnapped her, tortured her, and killed her "father figure" in the first movie because "he's good". There isn't a relationship between the two of them. I can understand why Luke wouldn't want to kill his father since family and friends mean more to Luke than his own life. For Rey, there is no other reason to go other than to allow Snoke to die and get her to the Resistance so she could save them.
Vice Admiral Holdo - A military leader deliberately written to incite mutiny. She takes command and doesn't tell anyone about her plan. She publicly ridicules a subordinate who politely asked, away from ears, that question. She doesn't give anyone orders, in a "battle". She reveals her plan, but she would need subordinates to actually coordinate which vessels take what supplies and who. If they knew of this before hand, they would be able to quickly get the supplies/people aboard and away increasing the likelihood of success. At the end, she and Leia talk about how good Poe is, like they didn't try to demean him and embarrass him in front of everyone.
Rose - She is infatuated with Finn and loves horses. She's incredibly inconsistent. She is mourning the sister she loves and just lost then completely forgets about her when Finn arrives. She was a slave, but decides freeing horses is better... then her last line is completely wrong.
Not one of these women would any feminist appreciate... they are stereotypical bad portrayals of women in power... :/
Cannot believe what I just reed. Wasn't expecting this coming from you. Strike my with anger.. how it's destroying religion when it's explaining religion making useful in life. Making religion ridicule doesn't make it more powerful but in fact the opposite. Will do response video on that and this particular review. All of them. Because you have good touch 90% I agree to the problem is and this stroke me down into dissapointment it seems that not only have bad memory but also stil sitting in that school. Religion covered with beautiful wsentences meaningless useless in practice it's covert nihilism. It's like someone who cannot build close relationship with other human being so he is making this pixie manic girl and so is she about him. There is nothing real in space between but it sounds so romantic. I must agree that if any word could describe TLJ better is nihilism it's so strong that get out of screen into real life. But one of biggest plot points in christianity for example is death and being reborn. Building temple, destroying temple as ultimate way to create something new. You kinda forgot about TFA setups absolutely forgot to apply logic to them try to figure out wast possible to make anything out of them anything? Watched it recently but you forgot that TFA left poops inside those boxes, Ruin JONSON to be honest made some poops either but left many unanswered questions if answered would turn them into something good mature. But most of all just opened boxes. PS quick religious note Vishnu vs Shiva battle hologram involved as written in Hindu.. how about this? It's piece taken out from very serious religion and suprise suprise it leading into somewhere stunning in very practical way. Practical means not nihilistic, religion is nihilism cause let people focus on death more often than they should. Will respond to all that in video maybe month later I'm bussy now abut I promise. I think it's great to start because made very good reviews. I'm writing from mobile so.. sorry if it's hard to read
The Last Jedi: "Star Wars is dumb and you should feel bad for even caring"
Disney Executives: "Why isn't Star Wars resonating with audiences anymore? Must be the fault of those toxic fans or something"
That's one of the most succinct descriptions of the movie I've seen.
@@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher thank you
It still blows my mind, that at no point did anyone intentionally plan the scene with Han, Luke and Leiah back together again. Nobody. Not one. It shows such a disconnect for the love fans have for these characters.
I can't believe the trilogy wasn't PLANNED OUT?!?! How stupid can you be????
I can write essays on the problems with the new trilogy but I can't see how anyone, even the fans of the new series, let this through.
JJ wanted to have a scene with Han, Luke, & Leia. He actually wrote treatments for 8 and 9 that work ignored. But his Episode 9 treatment opened with a flashback to Luke, Han, Leia, & Ben Solo defending the Jedi Academy from Snoke and his forces. But it was Kennedy who wanted to avoid having the "big three" on screen together.
The problem with both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is that they're too aware of and focused on the outside world. Neither director thought of these movies within their own universe and narrative. What would be logically consistent for the characters and story. The only difference is one wanted to push the nostalgia button and the other wanted to deconstruct the whole franchise.
Good point.
There is a saying in Hollywood.
Give them what they want but different.
Too many people misunderstand this statement.
The force awakens gives most fans and the general audience what they want but is just a remake of the SW 1977 plot points. Fun but stale.
The last Jedi trys to subvert expectations but in the process brakes previously accepted cannon. Different but does not work for established franchise.
The job that the director of a pre-existing franchise has is to honor the continuity of the story and the franchise wile also bringing new life and a bit of freshness to the audience.
I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Since Ruin Johnson is filled with hatred he couldn't have that be the reason someone becomes a bad guy. He sees himself as a a good guy, a hero, a hero that finds joy inflicting pain on others. A lot of the current hollywood/comic book creative types are like this now. They fundamentally do not understand heroism, honor, loyalty. They just want to see the world burn and they think that is heroic because they hate the world. They are the Grinch with no redemption arc.
Have to agree
Great post FCOL. And yes indeed that IS exactly what Roundhead Ruin is, a hateful spiteful little manlet that, quite frankly, DESERVES to be beaten up(and I'd happily volunteer for THAT duty that'd be FUN) and fired and also publicly humiliated - like he did to Mark Hammil.
And your right. These people do not even understand the CONCEPT of heroism, honor, loyalty, integrity, toughness, goodness, badness, so on. This makes me unable to relate to ANY of these pricks. SJWs DO NOT ACT HUMAN. I have never in my life met anyone more dishonorable, more of a constant LIAR, more of sack of shit as a person, and someone I absolutely do not want to be around for even a second, than SJWs and feminists. And we saw what they did to star wars. I will NEVER forgive them for what they have done; and thus disney needs to fire them ALL to even get me to look in their direction again. I am boycotting plan 9 ruse of soywalker. These PRICKS will not be rewarded. They will suffer for what they have done, to the franchise and to us.
Emperor Nero says hi!
A very insightful comment there.
If they hate the world so much,they can just leave it!I won’t miss ‘em.
If George had made a microbiotic force yogurt trilogy it would be better than what Disney made.
That's kind of what he originally planned for the sequel trilogy.
George was a fool he could´ve gotten away with midichlorians if he had Darth Plagueis a scientific sith lord introducing them, not jedi mystics.
I want see what George had planned in book form
@@jamesritter1113 Disney bought it, I think one of the motives is to keep it hide from the public, so no one knows what were the original plans.
@@itsasecrettoeverybody Many star wars fans died to bring us these plans
Tossing the lightsaber encapsulates Johnson’s entire attitude to Star Wars. It’s as if he had some deep seated psychological need to actively destroy the mythos of Star Wars which is completely tied in to the journey of Luke becoming a Jedi. For all his flaws, George Lucas created something deeply resonant within the culture that has not stopped resonating with people for almost half a century now- a huge achievement. Rian Johnson set out to undermine that, not to reveal anything new, not to teach us anything but just to destroy for the sake of his own blatant insecurity. He’s a petty cultural vandal and it’s absolutely no wonder why he is despised.
"I took another look at The Last Jedi 2 years later"
F
Isn’t pooping in the box the definition of nihilistic post modernism? It seems entirely in keeping with that philosophy.
Rian Johnson is Karl Hungus
Yes that is exactly correct. For all the pomp and smugness of elites who hold to it, it is a primitive philosophy below cavemen. It can be summed up as, "me smash all"
Ree-ahn was making a tribute to Artist's Shit by Piero Manzoni.
'There is no objective metric of quality therefor my poop in a box is equivalent to your masterpiece.'
TLJ as a hate letter to JJ Abrams. Apropos. It fits nicely.
And also to the fandom.
@@MrDexterCain The Force Awakens was worse.
"Rian pooped in all the boxes." - DS
Oh, the mystery box has finally arrived at my door, but why's it in a bag and burning?
LOL!
TLJ Is a horrible, _horrible_ movie that only looks worse and worse in the rearview mirror. I felt the franchise actually died with TFA, but TLJ was something else. Disney SW is a carbuncle on the canon that's unfortunately always going to be there, it can never be repaired (unless Disney repudiated these movies or called them a fork off the canon or something like that).
Re. Finn: I'm the _complete_ opposite of PC, but even I found it shocking the way Finn, as a Black guy, was treated like a clown in TLJ (and even to some extent in TFA). I can imagine the actor must get more and more pissed off about it the more he reflects on it. Boyega's actually quite a capable actor ( _Attack the Block_ is a fun movie, where he really shines), and the writing could have really milked his transformation from a Stormtrooper to a hero, he could easily have carried off both humour _and_ gravitas. But no, he's just the butt of humour throughout, and his one potential moment of glory is stolen from him by Rosie for the sake of a laughably meaningless (in context) line.
I disagree. The Last Jedi looks great... as a poster... of what the ST should have been...
@@aralornwolf3140 The Last Jedi is just an exercise in nihilism and the author's inability to get over there pathetic insignificance using characters as mouthpieces to forced their ideologies onto others. This script never would have been accepted! I know Kathleen Kennedy is not the brightest person in the world when it comes to art that much is obvious, but have the decency to put a product that is acceptable let alone watchable.
@@kylelundgren5133 ,
*Sigh* Posters have no movement, sound, and don't tell stories...That's what I was talking about. TLJ looks excellent... If you could take individual scenes and make them into posters, out of context of the garbage writing they can be used for something else.
@@aralornwolf3140 Aralorn Wolf... More like Aralorn "Rat". A rat in a wolf's clothing. :) Or should I say, sheep? Rat. ;) And posters do portray certain messages, that can move people towards a certain direction or ideology... A poster(picture) can also tell a story too, so yeah... A poster of TLJ is trash.
I've always tried to make this point to people on how bad Disney dropped the ball. TLJ didn't just ruin the sequel trilogy's continuity, that trash retroactively went back and made the original trilogy worse and degraded those character's story-lines as well. He didn't just want to stick it to JJ, he wanted to destroy the entire franchise and the mythos behind it.
That part with Rian Pooping Johnson was so accurate. Also feel sorry for Anakin, firts the jedi council didn;t grand him a title of master, than force decided that he is not a chosen one, and itš actually Ray. Poor guy
Frankly, the Mystery Box is the worst narrative device. It's basically filler for the gaps between the stitched together pieces of Abrams' Frankenstein films.
And there were moments like Han namedropping Snoke which suggested to me that there really wasn't a mystery to who he was, it's just the momentum of the film didn't give them time to mull over the details.
Wanting to dunk on Abrams is well and good, but Johnson was a smug prick for not caring about the collateral damage.
This clarified my nascent suspicions; the real story of the "sequel" trilogy is in the meta, not on the screen.
Thank you for explaining this so well, I agree. This is a perfect analogy. Rian Johnson is a self important selfish little jerkoff elitist.
Good analysis. I'd like to add in something that was pointed out in a video back at the time - Johnson has virtually everybody be incompetent and therefore make unnatural choices. Nobody acts like a real person. Under George Lucas almost everybody, both good and bad, made competent decisions based on the information available to them. It may turn out that they have an incomplete picture of things, so foiling their plans, but they weren't stupid.
It says a lot about Rian Johnson that he wanted the project in the first place, apparently with destruction as his sole aim. Most normal people would have avoided involvement in an IP that they despise.
Vary good point. I agree it does reveal Rian Johnson's world view.
I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Johnson seems like someone with a classic nerd verses jock complex. Like The Last Jedi is his revenge on people who bullied him in high school or something.
I dunno. I can see the appeal of being paid a lot of money to destroy the IP that he obviously hates. What an ego boost! And a lot of the professional critics loved the film too. Win-win-win! The only losers are the fans (and maybe Disney).
You make a great point on the force being available to anyone. Everyone is special. I've coached soccer at clubs where they gave trophies to everyone. Everyone is special. Rewarding the last winner.
That's a basic tenet of humanistic psychology introduced in the early 1900's. It's a cancer that's spread all throughout Western thought. They reversed accomplishment and self esteem, having reversed cause and effect, thinking that self-esteem causes accomplishment rather than accomplishment causes self-esteem. Self-esteem causing accomplishment is probably what leads to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is where people think themselves much more competent than they actually are, because the tools needed to be competent in a particular field are the same tools needed to identify competence in that field. Without the basic tools needed to identify what competence actually looks like, one becomes overly confident in their own competence.
Yes JJ and Rian doesn't understand the dark side. Rian's explanation is just that there's darkness in him, when it's not how this works. In TFA, JJ has the crappy dialogue that there was just "too much Vader in him."
They should just admit they wanted to rip Darth Caedus at this point.
@@sebas8225 He was built up to be powerful though. He wasn't powerful "just because"
Rest in peace Star Wars Legends you are actually made by mostly competent writers unlike Star Wars Canon pass the original and prequel trilogies. Fantasy is slowly dying (like a rock is ground to sand in the sea) by nostalg beating frauds and sociopathic nihilist that care about their own self worth in selfishness Above All Else.
@@KBWrecker I think that was his point. Kylo is just a bootleg Jacen who ganked Darth Revan's outfit.
I thought it was ok the first time I saw it, but something did feel off. over time it really sunk in how awful it was, and suddenly I realized I no urge to watch either of the sequels.
The most astonishing thing is how someone like Rian Johnson can try to take the moral high ground, by claiming that morality isn’t a thing?
He doesn't make that claim. He's merely examining the pros and cons of organized religion; Luke initially rejects it, but realizes the incredible destruction he;s brought on by rejecting it. Something always fills the void left by the absence of organized religion.
@@IndyDefense no it's about tearing down Heroes. About ridiculing the idea of a hero except for the female characters. Honestly Rian Johnson has no legs to stand on when it comes to his morals or lack thereof. This D grade movie does show a very odd culture that is very deprived of spirituality and ritual they go to such lengths us to worship their ideologies diets or there are politics as a religion and glorifying materialism.
@@kylelundgren5133 The movie doesn't actually glorify anyone. Its female characters either fail spectacularly (Leia), make stupid decisions (Holdo, Rose) or have no agency and simply follow men around (Rey). As for heroes, I've read that the story was meant to echo the stories of King Arthur's later years, where he is overwhelmed by his nephew and goes to live out the rest of his days on an island.
The female characters in The Last Jedi are the ones to get ridiculed the least if not at all by Ryan Johnson. As I said before Johnson's screenwriting is atrocious every little bit is just a very thinly veiled Barbed insults directed at JJ Abrams. If Johnson really wanted to subvert expectations all you had to do is write a good movie although I don't think he's capable that.
Rian Johnson said in interviews upon the release of The Last Jedi that he didn't have much to work with storywise. He chose to be spiteful instead of creative. Thanks for your concise analysis that reaffirms that!
gRIFF THERIDE Didn’t have much? What about where the FO came from? Or Snoke? Or what the New Republic was up to after it lost its capital? Or why the New Republic let the FO rise in the first place? Or what would happen to Fin after being put in a coma? Or how Maz got Anakin’s lightsaber? There was so much he could’ve done and he ignored it all
@@Lazurath101 You're absolutely right! He had all those things and more to work with. Rian said he didn't have explanations/payoffs to all the loose threads set up by episode 7. Sorry for the confusion
i actually laughed out loud when i saw Kylo ren putting back his mask in the rise of the skywalker trailer
I am glad I have never seen this movie.
And you should never do! Save this life time XD
Before my son came home from basic training we were going to watch it together. He watched it with some friends before coming home, he told me it the film ruins Star Wars and that he doesn't want to have to watch it again.
lucky bastard
>>You stand in a cleanly swept street.
"I have not seen any street like this since..."
>>Memories of Darth Broomboy play through your mind.
Agree with all of it.
Rian Johnson didn't take a poop in all the mystery boxes-- he IS poop that somehow became self-aware.
@JRPGFan20000 I completely changed my original comment on further reflection as it would probably be an insult to Comic Store Guy to compare him to Ruin. But, right you are! At least he's an entertaining character.
Hahahahaha hahahahaha Hahahahaha hahahahaha Hahahahaha hahahahaha
So, South Park was right about Mr. Hankey being real too? 😁
You remembered me the jokes about Tim Pool being a sentinent beanie attached to a human host, joining now, sentinent turd Ruin Johnson.
All I want for Christmas is for Rise of Skywalker to bomb *WORSE* than solo.
I don't mind the idea of Kylo wanting to leave both the Sith and Jedi to fight amongst themselves. I think it would have been an interesting direction. I just hate everything around it.
Opening the mystery box and pooping in it...pretty accurate. The same can be said of Game of Thrones season 8, every single mystery box was pooped in.
I think postmodern/nihilistic takes are really fashionable with Hollywood elite, but everyone else does not really get it.
I could see how The Force Awakens could have been mistaken for a good corporate idea, but I think this movie really shows how out of touch some of the bigwigs really are.
You will see different actors, especially younger ones, reference "postmodern takes on consumerism," then those same ones are surprised and indignant when fans get mad over that take on Star Wars. I just noticed that in interviews with Gwendoline Christie, for example.
Yes the people that own big companies are vary out of touch with their customers.
I also have heard that the people in Hollywood are all smiles and give gifts just to get in the door. With no one willing to rock the boat.
This creates the perfect storm of people in charge of the projects not knowing the best way forward and people joining the project just because its looks good on a resume. Only now people are starting to take notice and talk.
Hollywood is going through a lot of growing pains right now.
I also think that nihilism and making films cynically runs counter to storytelling. How can you have heros and leaders if you dont believe in those concepts. There is a good reason they are called heroes or why we call actors and actresses leeds.
I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Honestly
Godzilla King of the Monsters was like the Anti-Last Jedi
KotM was a film made by a director who loves Godzilla and wanted to deliver a classic feel to a franchise that otherwise gets no love. Everything in that film was made with respect to the source material. The fans and audience love KotM but critics loathe it for having “too much monsters.” But Mike Doughty remains humble and happy that most hardcore fans enjoyed what he brought.
Last Jedi was made with no love or respect to anything that came before Disney bought it out. The writing tried to be cleaver but ended up frustrating and bad.
Critics love it while fans and audience despise it to death. Rian Johnson acts like a man child and basically treats the fans with contempt.
I don’t know what kind of ass backwards world we live in now. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
Rian Johnson is like a pizza delivery guy who poops on the pizza - and can't be fired for some reason.
He has a future in politics
I know there are contracts but I wish someone like Mark Hamel would of just said no I am breaking this contract.
When I hear what Rian said about his own process for TLJ, he was trying to write a story that focused on the younger key characters (Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo) and give them _some_ kind of meaningful development -- the destruction of JJ's "mystery boxes" strikes me more as incidental than intentional. Rian STARTED with the question of "why is Luke exiled on that island?", picked the *wrong answer,* and followed his own (nihilistic) judgment on where that led.
For example, Rian decided that Luke's being on that island was indeed "the right thing" for Luke to be doing -- which isn't necessarily a wrong answer, BUT he didn't provide the right reasons for it. If Luke told us that the Force itself guided him to this island but even he didn't know why, we could accept that -- because a 'no answer' is better than a BAD answer.
The change from the Force being a choice between good and evil to "it happens" and knowledge/skill to "they just have it" is determinism typical of leftists.
As an ethnic Jew I can tell you that this primarily has its roots in Judiasm. They have thought in terms of biological determinism since the Ancient Hebrews were called the chosen people. It is still a prominent mindset to this day among those who embrace perpetual revolution which frankly has been endemic to culture since the French Revolution.
I’m a leftist and I seriously disagree with RJ’s understanding of the Force, so it’s not all of us. I’ll concede some are like that though
I just thought its approach to the Force is this “Hooray, everybody is a winner” thing millenials are brought up with. Of course to appeal to millenials.
The one thing I didn't mind in TLJ was the attempt to add a bit more grey between the dark side and the light side. That could have been cool, and not necessarily against previous SW lore.
That and trying to go the route of anyone can tap into the force to some extent, and certain people just happen to be naturals, rather than having every force user be related like they're inbred/belong to a muslim family tree.
So the true plot of the Disney trilogy turned out to be a pissing match between amateur writers...SMH...
At the end I was expecting you to say that "Rian Johnson *hates* himself". It seemed like that's where you were going. That would've been perfect.
Everything that has been said about The Last Jedi in the past 2 years by countless fans (myself included) perfectly encapsulated - "Rian Johnson opened up all the mystery boxes and pooped in them". David always knows how to say things just right.
Very true! It's just a "nuff said" lol
TLJ was an ironic metaphor for the lack of direction. Ruin Johnson's boring fleet chase theme was the nightmare in which you try to run but can only move in slow motion.
I would add, Bob Iger clearly had, and still has, the idea that slapping the Star Wars name on any piece of crap will sell it to the stupid fans.
Ruin Johnson is just the crass, brutish manifestation of that attitude. He is mocking the fans and everything the fans cherish in Star Wars. Somehow Kennedy couldn't see that. Perhaps because she's a fourth wave feminist who likewise mocks the heroic ideals underpinning Star Wars.
It makes more sense when you realize that these December movies are really sequels to the Star Wars Holiday Special
I just don’t understand why TLJ fans call Rian “cerebral”, I really don’t.
You're correct, but TLJ fans think that rejection of tradition is good, and the mark of someone who is a true intellectual.
Rian's room temperature IQ strongly suggests that accusations of him being cerebral must be in reference to the shape of his head. Rian is cerebral like the DMV is efficient.
As someone who lost a friend in college to suicide and took his younger brothers to see the Star Wars Trilogy as an escape and reprieve from sadness I felt personally attacked by Rian Johnson watching Last Jedi. First and last time I’ve ever watched any film feeling this way. The entire movie felt cynical and hateful not only to the material but to people like me who loved it and attached meaning to it far behind simply a trilogy of movies. I left the theater the first time shell shocked and stunned. This later turned to rage and sadness. I’m a Sith now ... 😂
I watched TFA and realised that the story was an empty shell which made no sense. So I never had any interest in seeing TLJ and have even less in seeing the latest one.
I didn't watch TFA until I caught it on a airplane. My friend had warned me that is was just New Hope redone. I found it to be mediocre and like you had no interest in TLJ and wont go anywhere near RoS.
Luke trying to kill Kylo and failing is a re-do of the Greedo trying to kill Han and failing fiasco.
What if Rian Johnson is the hero we don't want, but who we need? What if he thought the entire setup for the new trilogy was silly and insulting to George Lucas. So he decides to sabotage it so Disney will think twice before doing something like this again?
this is the best analysis i have seen on the last jedi.
you are so right about everything and i never realized some of these things.
This is a super interesting point. I bet Kathleen Kennedy hates JJ Abraham as well. to be fair I don't think JJ Abrahams is a good story teller. quite the opposite. he is a lame fanboy so in a twisted way ruin johnson making a movie dissing JJ Abrahams and his vision is a bit like something Tom Greene would come up with. this was personal on some level, why ruin johnson felt that way, who knows I feel this is a guy with almost sociopathic tendencies. how did a guy like this ever get in on star Wars.
I don't think KK and Disney care about the product as they know that many people are desperate to be good little consumers and throw their money away on the brand.
RJ has a humiliation kink. It's that simple.
Spot on! TLJ could not have been made by a fan. It is a troll job, all the way. In addition, I'm certain that Johnson believes he is a better director than JJ, and better than the SW franchise. An honorable man would have refused the work - an arrogant, nihilistic troll takes the paycheck and keeps the con job going, delighting in screwing with the fans and destroying the legacy of the franchise.
The other thing you didn't touch on was how he played Kathleen Kennedy, gaining her confidence by agreeing with her SJW ideals. I'm unsure if this was real, or part of the con but it doesn't matter - Johnson knew what he had to do to game the system. She didn't bother to look over his shoulder because dear Rian "thinks the right way" and that's more important than good writing, etc.
I agree 1000% with you: RJ hated SW, hated what he was handed from TFA, and resented those in charge and played them like a fiddle so he could make the most epic middle finger in movie form, ever.
He probably *is* a better director than JJ. JJ seems pretty limited in his range. So far as I can tell, Johnson achieved what he wanted to with TLJ, and even got excellent critical reviews for the film.
@@jrd33 and TLJ looked good, even if It didn't like the messages and treatment of the franchise. And his other films like Looper are good.
I did not know that about the director. I also hated the movie, but I couldn't put my finger on it. That brings a good deal of focus.
I might just have to watch it again to see that in action.
Second thought. How in the world could anyone think Star Wars is not about the spiritual side of things. Even if you take it as a Joseph Campbell style heroes journey without any truth, you cannot push off the old beliefs like that. Once you take any preexisting narrative you are obliged to the world you find yourself in. It is like you said, not what I the author would do, but would the character do that. I find this is hard for people to do in both D&D & in writing.
Third & last bit. I was watching Tim Keller talking about anger just before this, & you guys are eye to eye there. That is spot on.
Great stuff, this got my mind in gear.
I felt similar thinking about Justice League having two directors. Zack Snyder, whether you like him or not, was trying to tell a story with many religious undertones and epic themes. Joss Whedon on the other hand is a self identified absurdist and atheist, which I think reflects itself in his humour and writing. Smashing these two together created a lot of the tonal dissonance in Justice League
@Revan with a script by Timothy Zhan
That’s why people are so eager to watch the Snyder cut. It would have continued the theme carried from MOS and BVS.
I'm almost tempted to re-watch the Disney trilogy to see how I feel about it (first two)
But I also have almost no desire to see them.
It shattered the fantasy
Rian pooping in a mystery box.
Great summary, David!
Brilliant essay!
From this, I'm now seeing KK and Iger as even more incompetent than before.
Here we have two egotistical filmmakers who played KK like a fiddle, tricking her into giving them the keys to the kingdom so that they could battle each other with hundreds of millions of dollars. And KK didnt have a clue what was going on. Probably still doesn't.
You know, something really weird just happened today especially with "The Last Jedi". When it was in theaters, I went to see it with my family.
So today I am watching that movie's re-cut did by Yvan Ortega on my computer. My father comes into the computer room and says: "What Starwars is that?"
I'm like: "You're joking right? you came with me to theaters to watch it, I even asked you what you thought of it on our way out !"
His answer: "Yeah so your sister tells me, but I honestly don't remember anything at all about this movie" -- he was absolutely, genuinely serious about it, and not pulling my leg about it.
Now this is quite disturbing, but he hasn't forgotten anything else that I know of, so I don't think it's senility or Alzheimer's or something... Talk about shutting down after seeing Rian Johnson destroying his favorite character and lore setting. I kindof envy him to be honest. Very disturbing tho.
Honestly Ree-an was probably jealous of Luke Skywalker or something as a kid and wanted to drag him through the mud the instant he could. He probably melted all of his friends' action figures too at a sleepover.
I agree with you. It is clear Johnson, Kiri Hart and Kathleen Kennedy hate Luke Skywalker.
You perfectly summed up the rot at the very core of this film. It really did feel like a spiteful hate letter. Rian's nihilistic postmodern views are not compatible with the true mythology that sits at the heart of SW. Idk how you managed to force yourself to watch it again though!
TLJ was more than Rian's hate letter to J.J. it was his hate letter to George as well. It was his unbridled hubris of saying to George "your universe sucks and I can do it better than you" because remember he was supposed to have his own completely new trilogy set in a new galaxy. Rian had delusions of replacing George Lucas. What an idiot.
Well my fanfic of the new star wars had kylo dying of a heart attack between movies.
Rey gets zapped by an imperial weapon that strips her of her force powers and is forced to take a job dancing in a Hutt palace.
Fin runs off with Rose Tiko so she cannot screw things up for the rebellion anymore than she already has. For this Fin is regarded as the greatest hero of the rebellion.
Talk about taking one for the team 😁
There was a lot of bad humor in the force awakens too
I remember the film so well that I’m not sure I need to watch it again after 2 years. I sort of don’t like that about my mind sometimes. Guess remembering TFA and TLJ after not watching them in years is my own Vietnam flashback of sorts. Though, I personally don’t see the films as traumatic in the sense that I have PTSD because of them, more of a wasted opportunity to make good films as a movie fan. And as a Star Wars fan. And that’s the sad part. They could have been good. Instead, they are what they are.
I watched TROS to be horrified enough to wake up from the nightmare that is the sequel trilogy
So we can all agree: Johnson loves to Poop...a lot....lol
He's a scat man
If the scat man can do it, so can you
Hard not to when it is all he is full of.
There's lots of poop in boxes but they all float in the diarrhea sea of Canto Bight.
Dope video bro most don't go in-depth about the speculation of Ruin Johnson's thought process for this travesty without saying the same shallow observations or summing it all up to his "subversive" technique. You're completely right about everything imo and think he should never touch another legacy if he can't help but have his personal philosophies bleed through the material, inverting and distorting our beloved franchise. Your books look pretty good and have great titles, so I think I'll take a look.
Thanks!
Honestly I wanted to write Abrams a hate letter after watching TFA so I can't necessarily blame Johnson.
Thank God I’m not the only one who sees this being the ultimate troll exercise. Excellent work
TLJ is very meta where the dialogs are more directly towards the audience.
The real mystery is how this movie got past all the execs and decision makers .
He got it through inserting SJW propaganda all over it.
Loving your Star Wars week David
Wow You always have such thought provoking ideas.
Yes! You're the first person who I've heard say it was dream-like, I thought that too! Not just with the effects but the acting, dialogue and how the scenes were handled generally seemed surreal and... wrong! I've also thought that with a couple of other films, main examples being Spiderman: Far From Home and Get Out (Thought I enjoyed the latter much more on the second viewing)
This is so well presented. Love this analysis. Thanks
Never thought this would be the case, but: while I still dislike TLJ as a whole, conceptually I am starting to appreciate (or maybe understand) Rian's contempt toward JJ's mystery boxes, which have begun to infect most of Hollywood's products. Not that I'm watching a single one of them, but I do have my own contempt for that hackish writing style when there's no setup or payoff.
I just got back from watching Rise of Skywalker and i have to say, it was really bad. definitely the worst of this trilogy. My biggest issue with it was the writing, it felt like a fan film. I was bored watching it. It lacked emotion and meaningful characters
Kubrick The only thing I liked about ROS was Chewie getting a medal, and that’s just cheap throwback nostalgia
This video aged well…I’m still crushed, deflated, heartbroken from my one viewing of TLJ on December 14th, 2017….The nightmare continues….
I feel physically ill, and I'm not ruling out that I'm thinking of these movies as a cause.
The horse has been long dead but damn if I'll miss a good beating.
The thing with the Light saber could have been done in a way that wasn't dumb.
For Example,
Luke Holds the light saber, the thing that holds so much history for him, and his father before him.
Something that has cause the galaxy so much happiness and grief, his emotions run wild within him tears filling his eye.
He looks at it and back at the girl who brought it to him, then back to the light saber.
his arm drops, the camera zooms into the light saber at his side as he lets it go, like the past behind him.
the camera follows the Light saber to the ground where it hits and makes a deep impression into the ground, added by the sound of a loud Thunk.
Without looking at it or Ray he says "I am done" he walks past Ray keeping his eyes forward. Leave both the past (light saber) and the future (Ray) behind.
Very good analysis. Nothing much to add TBO. I would however be interested in extrapolating your interpretation - Rian Johnson hating SW and what JJ handed to him, what previous film makers handed to him, and it felt spiteful etc. - to encompass whether Corporate Disney itself or Kennedy in particular also shared this malevolent attitude toward this IP. Surely they must have been aware (a major assumption) what Johnson was up to or were they firmly ensconced in a political, ideological mindset that their frame of reference was warped to the extent they were unable to distinguish their ideology from what Johnson was doing?
TLJ does a good job capturing a lot of the current year view of power structures.
Why is purple hair in charge? Bureaucratic seniority.
Why is general Hux in charge? Bureaucratic seniority.
What is the lesson to Poe? Shut up, stop thinking, start blindly obeying the arbitrary hierarchy he is within like a first order storm trooper.
Eoin Chadwick General Hux was actually intimidating in TFA so it made sense for him to be high up in the chain of command in TLJ. It’s just that RJ decided to play slapstick humour with him so it ends up feeling like he’s just a goofy punching bag instead of an actual general
@@Lazurath101 Agree, TFA does a much better job with Hux in that its aping the OST where the generals are clearly senior leadership. I quite like the jockeying between Hux and Kylo in TFA as well, they both have this young and hungry vibe going which suits the situation. By TLJ time they should have highlighted some specific skill Hux has that leads to him being in charge instead of someone with seniority.
Need an Thrawn trilogy done with the right talent to wash the shit out of this disaster.
You're so right about Johnson using the film as his mouthpiece. For example, I thought it was jarring when Kylo Ren tells Rey that her parents were "nobodies", to which she agrees. The word "nobody" in that context of course means people who aren't famous or influential, which should be the last thing that a traumatized orphan would be concerned about. Rather, it's more as if Johnson is breaking the fourth wall, telling the audience directly not to care. But without being funny or satirical, it's just atrocious writing.
You keep saying his name wrong. It's Rabid Roundhead Ruin Johnson, the World's Smallest, Balding Man-Baby.
To deny him his well-earned honorifics would be the utmost form of disrespect.
Anthony James Rian Knobhead Johnson
Riann Johnson really did poop in the box.
Makes a lot of sense, but what would be the reasoning behind it from a career standpoint.
Either Rian *has* to know Kathleen will be on his side for this, or he's willing to put his career on the line just to spite JJ.
Nice Malazan reference, although the Chain of Dogs in space would have been a much better story than what we got.
Indeed, the Last Jedi is horrible but it is _not_ what ruined everything. The trilogy was already damaged beyond repair by the Force Awakens. So, even though the Last Jedi is horrible it was enjoyable to see someone shit on J.J. Abrams after Abrams shit on George Lucas, the original and only true creator of Star Wars.
Your story reminds me of when we were learning sex ed in primary school. We wrote questions and put them into a hat where the teacher would pull them out. Of-course 80% of the questions were quite funny hehe
Now you know what's in JJ's mystery box.
@@MichaelWilliams-eq4kt =D
A lot of interesting thoughts, that I mostly agree with. But isn't the using the force without training thing in most of Disney Star Wars? Rey certainly didn't train in Force Awakens and then there is "Baby Gizmoda" in The Mandalorian.
I didn't see the Mandalorian yet, but as far as Disney is concerned, I guess you're right. Probably about making the Force inclusive. Star Wars Rebels has training, though.
There isn't enough context about the baby yoda yet, we don't know if it has training or not. The baby is supposedly 50 years old or so, and a lot can be learned in 50 years, even if they physically develop slower than most species. Since Dave Filoni is still involved in the Mandalorian, I hold out hope that baby yoda had some training as a youngling as a part of a force sensitive species, maybe cultural training of some sort that is connected to their natural development as individuals.
The movies on the other hand are garbage, and heavily influenced by the tenets of humanistic psychology.
Disney hates Luke Skywalker
You always have so thought provoking takes on things... I never thought that Ruin Johnson might just be deliberately pooping on the whole Star Wars franchise. :P I dont really know his movies too well but no doubt he is very good director. And he also probably knows perfectly well what Star Wars fans want but... well you get poop instead. What a shame.
Excellent, great job.
Spite and hate come from somewhere....
You had mentioned that everything he brought up, everything that is in star wars, was methodically countered. I don't see it as a personal attack at jj or an impersonal attack at the audience. I see it as a guy who is unable to aspire to anything positive, to anything that anyone else says is (which is itself a wonder that he makes films). If there is any doubt it isn't, then it's not.
It doubles back on this type, when, at the end of the day, he--or she-- ends up saying nothing is.
It's not enough to be clever. People have to find what is for themselves, whatever that is, and run with it. Rian Johnson just wasn't honest, or self aware, with himself that there was nothing in Star Wars that he wanted. Or that, even worse, there's nothing he'll accept on anyone else's terms, and that smallness doesn't breathe life into a world that already is, let alone a shared world.
Maybe his making films is his way of fighting that smallness, just as long as he feels he comes up with everything himself.
Intriguing idea. I also think that nihilism and making films cynically runs counter to storytelling. How can you have heros and leaders if you dont believe in those concepts. There is a good reason they are called heroes or why we call actors and actresses leeds.
I also posted some insights in a reply to Lantern Jaw. Feal free to read it.
Sorry I am going through your videos somewhat late. Just wanna say I appreciate your analysis when it has become such a scarse thing in common discussion, nowadays. Your videos on Star Wars are trully a breath of fresh air. I would very much enjoy having a thoughtful conversation on the topic, I believe. I focus more on the mythological themes and structures of Star Wars in my own thought, but I have no channel (don't really intend to), nor do I plan to put out content on youtube.
Pray tell me, do you get samples of writing and give your take on what you've read?
So Rian acts like a 13-year old boy?
Shocking... that's many more years than I would have given him.