Money-Hungry Disney At Work

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2017)

I think that there is a very clear message that Disney wanted to put through with this film; they want money. And if that means sacrificing the quality of arguably the biggest franchise in the world in order to add Porgs or crystal foxes and unnecessary, poorly timed sitcom-esque jokes to satiate the taste buds of a younger audience craving for the next action sequence to happen, that's what they're going to do, and it's proven in the second film of the new Star Wars trilogy. But, seeing how Disney is now going through the process of purchasing Twentieth Century Fox, and becoming one step closer to monopolizing the entertainment business, they also know that they need to spend some money to make money. And I think the money shines the strongest in how this film looks. All of the sets are beautiful and crafted to the minutest detail. Every inch of the environment on the screen has something interesting to look at, helping to add to the fact that Star Wars takes place in its own universe and that other things happen outside of the plot given to us. Going off of how things look, the special effects were brilliant as well. Every explosion, laser beam, and alien in the film looks real. This made all three of the climaxes incredible. Aesthetically, barring the almost ubiquitous product-placement feel of Porgs, this film was almost flawless. And Rian Johnson really makes the mystical environments shine with thoughtful camerawork and interesting visuals. To top it off for positive comments, the returning characters, Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Luke (Mark Hamill), and Leia (Carrie Fisher (RIP)) all gave good performances and I enjoyed the new characters as well, especially Rose (Kelly Marie Tran). I can also appreciate that Disney is bringing tasteful diversity to this movie in all of the new characters. Perhaps I'm being cynical because I think it might be in order to drive more cattle, I mean people, to see it because they feel it's a "progressive movie" they need to support, but I will try and push that out of my head.
But, all this money did not happen to buy a succinct, appropriate, and organized script, structure the film sensibly, and remove all the unnecessary scenes. This is just some speculation, but I am guessing that the production of this film was a little rushed in order to hit that Christmas 2017 deadline and get that wave of extended families who make going to the movies an entire event. I speculate this because of the money point, but more the fact that this movie was more than just a little messy. The tone, thematic elements, and just the generally cool things that happen is way unbalanced, and the whole 2.5 hour film feels very back heavy, probably from the fact this movie has three climaxes, of which the first was the best and the other two felt tacked on, making me check my watch multiple times waiting for the real end and question why they were even included. I think the way the film was structured helped contribute to this detriment the most. The way storylines were ordered felt like it was a 2.5 hour long sitcom episode where we have the main characters on the cruiser and everyone splits up and we follow each pair individually on their side quests. But, as time progresses in one storyline, it does not progress in another, so we essentially watch like three things that should be happening at the same time happen in chronological order so it gives the feel that time is passing at normal speed, but it really isn't. It surprises me that all of the events of this movie happen in only a day or two because the pacing makes it feel like a week has passed. This gives the illusion that the movie is actually a lot longer than it really is, and that's always a problem. I grabbed my coat at the end of the first climax and was ready to leave, but I was really confused when it kept going. Why not just throw all that other stuff into the next movie? It tied up really nicely at that point. Anyways, all the storylines converge in the end in a cool way, but the thematic message from each individual story does not come together in a cohesive light and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth as you exit the theater (not to mention that the themes are trite already). I feel that if Disney had given the writers and director another year or two to really iron out the problems in the script, this would have been a worthy step in the series. But even with the sloppy plot, it's only half a misstep because it looks so gosh darn cool.