Why Disney Star Wars Failed: A Critique from a Former Fan

A critique of the entire Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, as someone who used to like them.

[disgustednatalie]

Finn was the most tragically wasted character. Started with the coolest potential for a character, a force sensitive former stormtrooper about to be trained by the last jedi, only reduced down to an arcless person that just yells Rey

[darkwoods]

My main problem is how it undermines everything from the original movies, just so they can repeat it all again. The Empire didn't fall, just re-branded. The Jedi didn't return. The rebels just carried on being rebels living on forest moons. Han went back to being a smuggler. Even Palpatine didn't die! The original movies and characters now accomplished nothing! Just so a lazy disney could repeat the same story rather than evolve the universe and have to be imaginative and creative.

[monovision]

Rey grew up on an isolated rim planet in a sort of slavery. She would understandably not know much of anything about the last 30 years, and would serve as a good protagonist to learn about the world and the stakes as the audience does. She could be our reason for exposition. You know, like a story.

[ECM]

The whole “capitalism is bad” coming from a company putting out the most by the numbers, lazy, lowest common denominator, cash grab is what pisses me the most off.

“Capitalism is bad” and also “see my movie, buy my merchandise, go to my parks, spend your money on me”

Disney can kiss my arse.

[Alex-bzlj]

its funny after this triology people literally went back to the prequels and said were sorry

[tonyv]

I simply can't accept these films as Star Wars movies. I have cut them out. They only exist as examples of what happens when nepotism, hubris and stupidity takes hold of an industry. The movies play out like a student who quickly watched the first film then spent an hour writing a script for a junior high assignment due the next day.

[MusetheInsomniac]

When I watched The Force Awakens, I thought Rey and Finn were gonna end up as like this badass duo. Rey being the one gifted in the force but not so much with a blade, and Finn being the combat vet without as much Force sensitivity. I would’ve loved to see an arc where they have to work together and, in the process, accept that they won’t abandon each other. Better arc imo

[xenophon]

A bit of a misunderstanding of the frustration with Luke’s character. It’s not so much that Luke was changed from his original character, it’s that he was changed to that degree and it’s a smash cut from when we last saw him.

Is it possible that Luke would abandon his friends, family and Galaxy to their fates? Yes, but we need so much leg work to get him there. People change in response to events and their surroundings, and that is a large proportion of why we tell stories: to experience that change with the characters. Relegating that massive change in a character we love to several minutes of screen time is hard to comprehend as a writing decision. I love knights in sour armor, I love fallen heroes, but they take a lot of work and setup to get right.

[urktheturtle]

How to handle an innately powerful character - Aang

How to not - Rey

[orangegalen]

Some more changes: 1: Finn is really conflicted about killing fellow stormtroopers while Poe isn't, so that could've created a dynamic where Finn is saying "wait, don't shoot, let's just go!" when they're escaping in the TIE. Then in the Falcon, he's shown to be aiming for crippling shots on the pursuing TIEs and when he shoots one, he has a moment where he freezes in remorse - and that's where the turret gets shot. It's only when TR8R calls him out and could follow with Finn saying "I don't want to fight you, " but TR8R says "Your life's been forfeit the moment you left!" And that's the moment he realizes that he can't hold back against the troopers - they'll kill him despite him not trying to kill them - and goes full Rebel.

2: Han could've been using his smuggling as a cover for intelligence gathering, getting info on First Order movements, actions, etc. So in essence he's still involved in the fight, just not behind a blaster (since he's old) - and it would be a progression of his character, using his skills to help the Resistance, rather than the regression of him running away and reverting back to the smuggler we first meet in ANH losing all development he got in the OG Trilogy. It also would've given him more purpose in TFA.

3: They could've shown Rey taking parts from a TIE or a Imperial Shuttle inside the crashed Star Destroyer, and since she's a scavenger, she's familiar with control layouts of ships. So while she might not have experience actually piloting starships, she has the theoretical knowledge - and we could see a progression of her 'learning by doing' in the Falcon/TIE chase.

That's just a few minor things I've thought of that could've made the whole story better. Real simple things that any writer/storyteller could do. It just wasn't done.
(Edit: Thanks for reading my essay....)

[astra]

The biggest problem is that they didn't have a story to tell. Everything after that just became more 'problematic'.

[ianb]

"Rey is just in Space Europe, finding herself before she goes to Jedi college."
Line of the Star Wars Criticism century.

[shecklesmack]

Imagine not knowing where you're going to take a film trilogy until the last minute in the production of the final film. I stand in awe of the incompetence. It's like watching a series of corporate decisions playing out on screen and it's so obvious.

[rainbowappleslice]

One of the characters I saw they ruined the most was admiral Hux. Episode 7 set him up to be an actual intimidating character who ordered the death of trillions of beings and the destruction of an entire star system. Only to be ruined in the next 2 movies and killed off for being a completely illogical spy

[spinlok]

I'm still just in utter shock that they didn't have a plan going into this trilogy. Just.... HOW?! Its just unbelievable.

[popculture]

"It'll be just like Beggars Canyon back home."

This line is one of the most important in Star Wars. It tells you a lot about Lukes character. He's been racing T16s with his friends for years. He's a farm boy who dusts crops and shoots wamprats in it. He can already fly a ship pretty well.

Rey on the other hand has never flown a ship before, and yet is able to fly the Falcon (a very difficult ship to fly due to the off-center cockpit) better than Han Solo. When Fin asks her how, she says "I don't know".

Such lazy garbage.

[jackmaddox]

When I see the Disney trilogy I picture a 9 year old kid who woke up on Christmas morning and under the tree was a huge Lego set for the super cool, big, complicated Lego car with the working steering and suspension, and the pistons move in the engine and you can put a battery in it to power the lights and the electric motor (batteries sold separately), for ages 14 and up... And he rips it open, calls his two buddies to come over, and they toss the directions, dump it all out on the floor, and just start slapping pieces together, none of them paying attention to what the other two are building... After a couple hours they stop and look at what they have, and it looks NOTHING like the picture on the box, and it doesn't work, and they've lost too many pieces to the dog's mouth to EVER be able to actually build the thing the right way. So they slap what they have together as best they can, and show the adults, and pretend to be really proud of themselves and impressed with the end result, and hope that nobody actually notices how badly they fucked it up... Then it goes in a closet, and never sees the light of day again.

[LNNJLNK]

The reason Rey being powerful from the start is a problem is that she was introduced as the "Everyman." They try to have her follow the same path as Luke, but they started her at the end instead of the start.

[cptrobby]

The problem is that we made the force awakens the 4th top grossing movies of all time - so we perpetuated the problem in a way.

[mich]

For me, Timothy Zahn's books would have been perfect for the trilogy.