Hmm…the last 6 posts or so seem to suggest that Star Wars has become the brainless entertainment it’s critics always claimed it was.
And we fans are happy to settle for this now. Can’t wait for Michael Bay to direct the Sequel-Sequel Trilogy!
Here’s the thing: I would argue TROS isn’t mindless. That’s what makes it still “good” to me even if it’s throwing everything at the wall.
Rey in TFA was holding back. Finally she accepts her destiny and holds the lightsaber… and in TLJ we have nearly no conflict for her, with most the focus on Luke. In TROS, Rey is most certainly not a ”Mary Sue” or any other hateful term. Making her a Palpatine is so much better than no one because it gives her character something to struggle with. If she was just no one what would she do? Prove someone who comes from nothing can win? We’re all expecting that.
Poe was a fun “hero” character in TFA, where they didn’t have time to explore his character. In TLJ he becomes a fill-in for the audience to teach us “no no no daring plots are bad… forget about Starkiller Base which was just yesterday”. In TROS, we learn so much more about Poe. His relationships with the other characters are stand out, and we also learn an interesting nuanced backstory.
Finn was lots of fun in TFA but like Poe becomes a stand-in for “no no no heroism is bad forget about Holdo’s heroism an hour before”. In TROS we get to see Finn interact with other deserters. I would have preferred more time be spent here, but considering how much they had to fit in it’s good they at least introduced it.
Ben could never be the villain of the ST. I agree with TLJ it’s a really interesting idea to see Kylo do what Vader could not, but TFA had already established him as a joke and Crait isn’t flattering to him either. So there had to be some new big bad. What really impressed me with TROS was Ben’s early redemption. No need to waste the central drama around redoing ROTJ, they made it about if Rey could be turned, and with Ben already set to possibly fight an evil Rey I was emotionally invested in the conclusion.
So no, I don’t think Michael Bay directing TROS would have had the same result.
Everything you mention here about TROS is pretty shallow stuff, though. It pretty much conjured up these most basic, easily sympathisable character arcs/backgrounds - and just barely executed on them, as even you seem to acknowledge. These things can be in a Transformers movie. They are.
TLJ may not have garnered enough traditional “emotional investment” via character arcs and plot, but what it explored thematically and textually about Star Wars and its mythic qualities… That’s a much more interesting contribution to the saga than coming up with… more. More plot, more arcs, more, more. Just for the sake of what? A good story is in why it’s told not what happens in it. When you think about it otherwise, the only real reason to fill out these already archetypal characters with even more combinations of tropes, is to get an audience from the start of the movie to the end. Which is fine, but then why is it necessary? Being unnecessary isn’t even bad, but at that point it can and should be considered at the same level as a Transformers or Marvel film.
TLJ is the only sequel trilogy movie to justify its existence. Even a little. Even if you don’t like it. It’s actually about anything. It’s such a shame that TROS throws that all away for plot and sequence of eventful events. Maybe I’m just past the point of getting invested in a plotline. Idk. But I’d much rather have left a film with a story, than be swept up in moments that won’t stick outside of my engagement with it.
…
Anyway, I had fun with this movie. But it was pretty bad.