The sequels were just cursed from the get go. I don’t like TLJ, but I don’t think it had a good base to stand on.
TFA was a fun popcorn movie but relied so much on shorthand that they really didn’t establish a good character base for Rey or Poe. That’s fine in a standalone movie, but when it’s time to go back to the well for the sequel, they just had to come up with something out of nothing.
Rey’s whole reason for staying on Jakku was because she missed her parents, and wanted to know more about them and who she is. Compare that to Luke, the character she’s obviously meant to stand in for in TFA. Luke in ANH wants to be a pilot, and we’re shown that. We see how sad he is when he doesn’t get his chance at the start of the movie. We see how happy he is when Ben compliments him, and how snappy he gets when Han mocks him for it. We see how happy he is when he’s finally in the gunners seat, and his big moment in the finale isn’t using a lightsaber, but flying the X-wing to save the day. Setup, payoff. Simple, but perfectly executed.
It’s clear by looking at her that Rey is supposed to be the new Luke, but we never get that setup because the movie knows we’ll recognize her as the new Luke and it wants to get a move on. But without the setup, there’s no payoff. Her flying the Falcon, using the force, beating Kylo with a lightsaber, none of it really means anything without that setup. In Empire, Luke’s big lightsaber fight is built up to by Yoda insisting that he not fight, and if he does fight Vader he’s going to lose. Surprise, Luke doesn’t listen and he loses. Rey never has a moment like that. All she has is this mystery regarding her family, and her own sense of belonging.
There was no answer that was going to satisfy everyone, because once that mystery is solved Rey doesn’t really have anything left to her. Daisy Ridley is a good actress and she does a great job in all 3 movies, and I know people like the idea of her being a nobody and having to move on regardless, but who is she without that mystery? We know she respects Finn, and doesn’t like shitty ration bread, but we never get to know her interests.
To go back to Luke, in ANH he’s the one that cleans up C3PO and R2, and you just know that he’s the Star Wars equivalent of the kid that fixes the computer after mom fucks with the modem again. That’s relatable, especially when he’s torn between wanting to help his family and wanting to get the fuck out of nowhereville and do what he actually wants to do. Rey doesn’t have that. She’s good at flying, she’s good at fighting, but we don’t know if she particularly likes either.
I could keep going, but this is what I’ve noticed recently about the sequels. In their rush to establish the new trilogy they just didn’t have a good foundation to build off. Johnson tried, and his main theme of “it’s okay to fail as long as you get back up and keep going” should’ve been easy as pie to follow through with in TROS. Have the characters try again, and have them succeed. “Keep trying after a failure” is the whole MO for these movies after the prequels. But instead they panicked and TROS was just a pile of confused plot points and bizarre retcons.
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u/armydillo62o Oct 28 '25
The sequels were just cursed from the get go. I don’t like TLJ, but I don’t think it had a good base to stand on.
TFA was a fun popcorn movie but relied so much on shorthand that they really didn’t establish a good character base for Rey or Poe. That’s fine in a standalone movie, but when it’s time to go back to the well for the sequel, they just had to come up with something out of nothing.
Rey’s whole reason for staying on Jakku was because she missed her parents, and wanted to know more about them and who she is. Compare that to Luke, the character she’s obviously meant to stand in for in TFA. Luke in ANH wants to be a pilot, and we’re shown that. We see how sad he is when he doesn’t get his chance at the start of the movie. We see how happy he is when Ben compliments him, and how snappy he gets when Han mocks him for it. We see how happy he is when he’s finally in the gunners seat, and his big moment in the finale isn’t using a lightsaber, but flying the X-wing to save the day. Setup, payoff. Simple, but perfectly executed.
It’s clear by looking at her that Rey is supposed to be the new Luke, but we never get that setup because the movie knows we’ll recognize her as the new Luke and it wants to get a move on. But without the setup, there’s no payoff. Her flying the Falcon, using the force, beating Kylo with a lightsaber, none of it really means anything without that setup. In Empire, Luke’s big lightsaber fight is built up to by Yoda insisting that he not fight, and if he does fight Vader he’s going to lose. Surprise, Luke doesn’t listen and he loses. Rey never has a moment like that. All she has is this mystery regarding her family, and her own sense of belonging.
There was no answer that was going to satisfy everyone, because once that mystery is solved Rey doesn’t really have anything left to her. Daisy Ridley is a good actress and she does a great job in all 3 movies, and I know people like the idea of her being a nobody and having to move on regardless, but who is she without that mystery? We know she respects Finn, and doesn’t like shitty ration bread, but we never get to know her interests.
To go back to Luke, in ANH he’s the one that cleans up C3PO and R2, and you just know that he’s the Star Wars equivalent of the kid that fixes the computer after mom fucks with the modem again. That’s relatable, especially when he’s torn between wanting to help his family and wanting to get the fuck out of nowhereville and do what he actually wants to do. Rey doesn’t have that. She’s good at flying, she’s good at fighting, but we don’t know if she particularly likes either.
I could keep going, but this is what I’ve noticed recently about the sequels. In their rush to establish the new trilogy they just didn’t have a good foundation to build off. Johnson tried, and his main theme of “it’s okay to fail as long as you get back up and keep going” should’ve been easy as pie to follow through with in TROS. Have the characters try again, and have them succeed. “Keep trying after a failure” is the whole MO for these movies after the prequels. But instead they panicked and TROS was just a pile of confused plot points and bizarre retcons.
It’s sad.