That’s my main problem with the movie. JJ didn’t want to make a meaningful movie, he didn’t even want to make a good movie, he just wanted a big dumb blockbuster that lots of people would enjoy without really thinking about it.
I don’t think it’s even this purposeful, honestly. I don’t think there’s really much to why this movie is a mess beyond two (possibly three) simple factors.
-
Time.
-
JJ Abrams isn’t good at ending stories, or understanding why good endings work.
2.5) Chris Terrio has only ever written one good story, and it was based on real life.
I think JJ probably did want to make a meaningful movie. I think he absolutely wanted it to be great and amazing and to touch people the way The Force Awakens touched a lot of people. I think he simply doesn’t know how to do that. It’s not that he doesn’t want to. It’s just beyond him. And he’s gone out of his way to make sure that he doesn’t have to be in that position most of the time, and that’s benefitted him greatly in his career. His strength is in beginnings, and then stopping when the actual STORYTELLING parts begin to take on more and more importance. And I think maybe he thought with Star Wars he could finally disprove the idea that he doesn’t get why this stuff works, and that he could find substance in a story beyond mimicking what worked before.
The last movie in the Skywalker Saga is one hell of a way to have it irrefutably, irrevocably confirmed that he can’t, though.
For me, suggesting that he didn’t want to make something meaningful is letting him off the hook, because it suggests he COULD if he really tried. And at this point - I just don’t think he has it in him. I really don’t. It’s not a thing he’s built for. He can feint TOWARDS meaning and depth, and hopefully other collaborators can (and will) pick up the baton and take it where he’s pointing. But when you ask him to follow through himself… he can’t do it.
I really think that’s the big lesson here. It’s not a story about corporate interference, or meddling bosses.
It’s the story of a couple guys, under the gun and on the clock, delivering sub-par work because their instincts are inherently bad. That’s it.