Another good example is Canto Bight. I think 90% of the criticisms around it boil down to two chief problems. 1.) Exposition overload. As I hasten to always point out, the actual "mission" on Canto Bight takes place off camera while their set up for the mission takes three entire scenes. It just never recovers. 2.) The tonal and pacing clashes with Rey and the military A-plot. Basically, I dont' think people "hate" "Canto Bight" so much as they hate the exposition and the way it's intercut, not the actual content of that storyline. (the bad CGI is a problem too)
I'd argue some of the content also implies that whole side mission ends up rather futile and comes back to Bight them when BDT's character turns. So, people may just feel like it's a distraction or they feel cheated.
I'd argue it specifically adds to the growth of Finn and Rose because they feel cheated and they feel like it was pointless. Also it all comes at a point in the film when almost every character is sort of learning things the hard way.
Anyway, I think we can all agree it comes to off-the-mark execution by Johnson. He just doesn't bring his vision to life the way I think we think he thinks he wants to.
If that makes any sense. Jesus, sorry, I'm half-drunk right now.
Another good example is Canto Bight. I think 90% of the criticisms around it boil down to two chief problems. 1.) Exposition overload. As I hasten to always point out, the actual "mission" on Canto Bight takes place off camera while their set up for the mission takes three entire scenes. It just never recovers. 2.) The tonal and pacing clashes with Rey and the military A-plot. Basically, I dont' think people "hate" "Canto Bight" so much as they hate the exposition and the way it's intercut, not the actual content of that storyline. (the bad CGI is a problem too)
I'd argue some of the content also implies that whole side mission ends up rather futile and comes back to Bight them when BDT's character turns. So, people may just feel like it's a distraction or they feel cheated.
I'd argue it specifically adds to the growth of Finn and Rose because they feel cheated and they feel like it was pointless. Also it all comes at a point in the film when almost every character is sort of learning things the hard way.
Anyway, I think we can all agree it comes to off-the-mark execution by Johnson. He just doesn't bring his vision to life the way I think we think he thinks he wants to.
If that makes any sense. Jesus, sorry, I'm half-drunk right now.
I only partially agree. I don't think the problem is that Canto Bight was "pointless." The problem is that Rian doesn't dramatically underscore enough for viewers that the point was that it was pointless. Viewers should have made the shocking realization the heroes caused more damage to their fleet than The First Order did, then make the heroes explicitly pay for it. Which, to mention, is a genius idea on Rian's part.
This is, annoyingly, buried as subtext in the climax of TLJ. On Crait, all is forgiven towards Poe and Finn. Nobody cares about their actions, least of all Finn or Poe, and neither seem to realize (or care) their choices are what pretty much kill The Resistance. If they do, it's left 90% to the imagination.
This is another example of content vs sensibility.
That's perhaps what is most in common with Lucas and the prequels, in which the heroes lose all three films and the battle itself is the failure.
The difference I think is that Johnson took a specific element of what Abrams created and made it about the characters understanding and processing Star Wars itself, almost a meta element where new character try to inhabit types and scenarios of their forebears and fail. It's why the climax is literally a light show.
The difference I think is that Johnson took a specific element of what Abrams created and made it about the characters understanding and processing Star Wars itself, almost a meta element where new character try to inhabit types and scenarios of their forebears and fail. It's why the climax is literally a light show.
so basically TLJ has the thematic heft of the movie Fanboys
These Star Wars films are just ok in general. They're not awful, they're not great, just a bit better than mediocre and they certainly don't deserve all the hate they get, nor merit a lot of the in-depth analysis that supposedly shows how they revolutionize the industry. They are corporate products with huge budgets behind them and at best they do the bare minimum in telling their stories but for aiming low they do hit the mark because these films don't move out of a certain comfort zone. When I read some of the responses to TLJ last year I felt like these 'fans' did not know what they wanted and that continues to this day. I am tired of the endless debate about the quality of something that ultimately does not have much to say about much of anything because we know that we'll get Star Wars forever and ever so nothing ever builds to anything and all that exists is the divisive fandom, which I can well do without. And with the next 50 Star Wars films we'll have the same tiresome conversations because pop culture is apparently not allowed to move on from Star Wars and give the spotlight to something new.
The difference I think is that Johnson took a specific element of what Abrams created and made it about the characters understanding and processing Star Wars itself, almost a meta element where new character try to inhabit types and scenarios of their forebears and fail. It's why the climax is literally a light show.
so basically TLJ has the thematic heft of the movie Fanboys
Plans all going wrong, characters making crucial mistakes, trusting the wrong people, and then being forced to improvise. You'll find plenty of that in Inception, Rises, Interstellar, and most importantly Empire Strikes Back. Personally never understood why there should be a problem with such stuff.£
Plans all going wrong, characters making crucial mistakes, trusting the wrong people, and then being forced to improvise. You'll find plenty of that in Inception, Rises, Interstellar, and most importantly Empire Strikes Back. Personally never understood why there should be a problem with such stuff.£
Of course that's true. But a consistently aired criticism of TLJ is how "pointless" Canto Bight is. But it's not "pointless," it's just that the theme of failure (with a strong anti-war and pacifist current) is under-represented in a very busy climax. So for many either the point of Canto Bight is entirely missed, or if it's understood, for many it's still underfelt as drama.
Canto is a particularly interesting facet of this conversation of content vs sensibility, IE a lot of the sensibility and execution around Canto Bight bothers people a lot more than the actual Canto content itself, so to speak. They just project all of that onto the meat and potatoes of Canto.
