PART 3 of 5
DONT MISS THE FIRST TWO PARTS
PART 2
PART 1
3. That Crazy Plot Though!
Acknowledgement: The movie begins with the bad guys figuring out where the good guys have their base. A huge armada is sent to destroy our heroes, but they manage to escape through some ingenious heroics. Unfortunately, because of some shenanigans involving hyperspace, the bad guys stay in hot pursuit. The heroes have to place their faith in a less than scrupulous character, who ends up betraying them. This sudden but inevitable betrayal (Yes, I am quoting Firefly in a Star Wars blog) is thwarted by the good guys thanks to the help of a resourceful little droid, and the heroes escape again. By the end of the movie, the good guys are still on the run, but their numbers have been severely depleted through attrition. Also, I should mention the main protagonist has a separate adventure where he is trained by a deranged wrinkled master of the force. The Jedi master thinks it is a really bad idea for the protagonist to rush off and face the main bad guy, but the protagonist does not listen. Fortunately, he escapes his encounter with the bad guy (albeit after a heart-to-heart about his true parents) and rejoins the other heroes.
That is one crazy plot leading to nowhere. I
agree, it would be much better if the plot had actually mattered, because at
the end of the Empire Strikes Back
our heroes are pretty much exactly where they started. Oh, I know . . . I know. This is supposed to be the
acknowledgement section, where I explain how I understand why so many people
are upset. Instead I am giving you some sass. I feel the need to point out how I
am surprised, after the amount of backlash The
Force Awakens got for being similar to A
New Hope, that nobody on Youtube or Reddit has complained about how The Last Jedi is just a rehash of
Empire. Instead, people are complaining about a plot that does not make sense,
and some have even gone so far as to call this film a mess.
I would not go that far, but here is where my
acknowledgement begins. The Last Jedi,
while following the same basic plot structure as Empire, is filled with lots
and lots of distractions to sway your attention from this fact. Perhaps the
largest fault with the movie’s plot is it is filled with too many of these
distractions. It also tries to use the padded plot to drive home some life
lessons that the Empire Strikes Back
could not. Did they try to do too much? Probably. Can I forgive Rian Johnson or
Disney for the attempt? Absolutely.
How the plot was
written: Disney approaches me to
write and direct The Last Jedi, and I
say yes immediately. I would not hesitate. Would you? However,
Kathleen Kennedy gives me some parameters to work within. She tells me I have
to work within the same plot structure as The
Empire Strikes Back, but I am free to add my voice to this structure so it
will be different enough that people won’t notice. The formula worked so well
for Disney with The Force Awakens
that they sticking with it. However, she stresses that they caught too much flak
last time about reusing too many elements from A New Hope. This time the movie needs to be different enough that
nobody could possibly complain. Kathleen has the utmost trust I will be able to
make it work.
“This isn’t so bad”, I would think. “I can tell
a good and different story within these boundaries. Especially since they want
me to really dress the film up with some things Star Wars fans have never seen
before.”Naturally, there are a few other key plot points that J.J. Abrams and his crew came up with back while writing The Force Awakens, so I need to include those in my movie as well. Also, also, I must not forget to use Finn, Poe, and a shiny new character. This new character needs to be female, ethnic, and maybe a potential love interest for Finn. Wink-wink.
“We will leave that up to you,” I imagine Kathleen would say. “In fact, anything else you want to do . . . go nuts.”
Great!” I say. “I’ll get started.”
“Oh, one more thing,” Kathleen says. “And this is super-secret. You can’t even tell Mark. Not that we don’t trust him to keep a secret, but he won’t be able to emotionally hide it if he gets asked about it. I promise we will make it up to him.”
So secret I can’t even tell Mark? This makes me apprehensive. What could it be?
“Luke Skywalker has to die in the end.”
My face drains of color. I don’t want to be the one to do that. I grew up with this character. And I can’t even tell the great Mark Hamill? Kathleen has anticipated my reaction.
“But it isn’t as bad as you think. You see, he’s going to become a Force Ghost like Obi Wan and Yoda. So all you have to do is make him fade away at the end.”
I might argue about how a lot of people aren’t going to like it, and eventually I would give into the vision under the stipulation that Luke will have one last grand moment. I knew when I was offered a part in writing the new trilogy that a major motif was for the old generation to make way for the new, but this is a very bold way to do it. So now, even though Disney is giving me a lot of power and freedom for my own artistic expression, I have to use a familiar story outline which leads to Luke Skywalker fading into the force. This is NOT going to be easy. My entire plot must build toward an epic Luke Skywalker moment that he won’t survive.
How the Plot turned out: This roleplaying scenario of how I think the conversation went down between Disney executives and Rian Johnson is not meant to bash either Disney or their director. It is meant to say I sympathize with their task. Kathleen Kennedy worked with George Lucas for a long time, and her business model is not based on rehashing the work he did, but on his philosophy. When Lucas was making the prequels he gave voice to this philosophy.
“It’s like poetry, sort of. They rhyme. Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one.” ~George Lucas
For a lot of people, his attempts to make things rhyme did not work with the prequel trilogy. However, is Kathleen Kennedy and the new Disney regime making this philosophy work?
The numbers and the critical acclaim seem to indicate the answer is yes. At the same time, something odd happened with reactions to the last Jedi. People aren’t focusing on the way it rhymes this time. They are focusing on the ways the film is different.
One sidebar: I don’t know if Kathleen Kennedy really kept Mark Hamill in the dark about his final fate at the end of The Last Jedi. This speculation is based on his mood and demeanor before and after the world premiere of the film. Here is a link to good Youtube video where you can judge for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FntZKz9fXp8&t=1s
I don’t want to dwell on Luke’s story too much here, because I will be devoting the last two sections of this blog series to him. Nevertheless, I had to point out that one of the major deviations from the Empire plot structure involves a build up to Luke’s final act.
For now, let’s take a closer look at some of the key events in The Last Jedi.
A slow grind through space – Some of the problems people have with this film have to do with suspension of disbelief. For example, since Hollywood has conditioned us to think that we will die instantly if we get sucked into the vacuum of space, some of us find it hard to give space Leia a pass. I find this odd since Guardians of the Galaxy did it and nobody complained. Second, everybody know you have to gesture to use the force. And finally, it stands to reason it would take much less force power to pull yourself toward an object in zero gravity than to try to lift something super heavy in the presence of gravity. Still, it’s these moments that caught people off guard that took them out of the film. It’s these moments that I think people are more likely to suspend their disbelief on in a second or third viewing.
Let this be reason number one people like this movie more each time the see it.
After Leia force-pulls herself out of danger, the main plot for the Resistance revolves around what seems like contrived chase through space where all the ships can’t help but go the same top speed. I think there is a sneaky explanation for this chase that you are just supposed to realize, but the movie does not beat you over the head with it. If the same people are selling weapons to both the first order and the resistance, it stands to reason both sides have similar engine speeds for their big ships. Now, for some reason the First Order doesn’t want to launch any more fighters, (which are shown to be faster) do a micro-hyperspace jump, or send any ships in a longer hyperspace jump to cut the resistance off. Allow me to put on my Star Wars tactical nerd glasses and explain away all of these.
Launching fighters is a waste of resources. Kylo and his wingmen were able to fly inside the shields when they caught the Resistance by surprise, but any fighters launched would risk being shot down. The First Order, and Snoke in particular, know that all they have to do is wait for the Resistance to run out of fuel. If the First Order made a small hyperspace jump, then their special hyperspace radar would not be trained on the Resistance Fleet. Admiral Holdo, if she is as smart as she seems, would use this window to make her own hyperspace jump and escape.
Hyperspace ain’t like
dusting crops, boy. ~Han Solo
While micro hyperspace jumps are possible, Star Wars is full of lore as to why they would not be able to be accomplished with much accuracy. Why couldn’t the Death Star simply have come out of Hyperspace on the side of Yavin with the Rebel base? We are supposed to assume Hyperspace is for vast distances, and the best you can hope for is to not bounce too close to a supernova or go right through a planet. Smart fleet commanders use techniques like hiding a Starfleet at the edge of a solar system, and then jumping to the middle, but it would be super tricky to jump in front of the Resistance, and again, you might end up giving them an avenue for escape. The best tactic for the First Order is to let the battle of attrition run its course.
The Plan: Poe actually has the best plan. The best chance for the Resistance is to disable the special hyperspace radar. (They should have called it something like Hyperspace Radar, because at first I thought they were talking about the physical tracking devices we have seen used in both of the other trilogies.) The fact that he and Holdo do not trust each other and do not communicate is a little contrived, but as a ten and a half year veteran of the Air Force, I will tell you it is not unrealistic.
Even if it seems she should explain the plan, Holdo wants Poe to trust her without having to explain everything. She wants to teach him a lesson. Her hubris in holding on to her plan even causes other members of the Resistance to try desert in the escape pods. So I can forgive this little bit of manufactured conflict. Especially since this really produces an interesting arc for Poe Dameron where his mutiny ends up hurting the plan, rather than helping.
The most contrived device about the plot is how they are able to send Finn and Rose light-years away from the battle, then expect them to return with a magic slicer man, infiltrate Snoke’s ship, and then shut down the Hyperspace Radar. I will defend Rian Johnson by saying this isn’t lazy writing. The Canto Bight sequence is creative and fun, and it expands the universe. However, next time Rian should take some advice from Stephen King in his book, On Writing.
Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings. (King, 2000)
I feel like Rian Johnson would have had two directives from Disney. Make good use of Finn and Rose, and make sure you use a Lando-type scoundrel character. If you are going to have DJ the slicer, there is no reason you have to have a whole adventure to find him. If you are able to establish a connection with Maz Kanada, then she should be able to connect you to this guy. There were apparently a lot of deleted scenes on the Supremacy with Finn, Rose, and DJ trying to accomplish their mission. Put these back in the movie and give us the other lesson Luke taught Rey. It makes sense for Luke to go with Rey after his chat with Yoda. Once he opens himself up to the force again, he should sense Leia is in trouble and want to go to her. He would still try to convince Rey not to face Kylo Ren, but would relent and remain on the Raddiz with Leia. These deleted scenes and my little “what if” story are part of what Stephen King calls the true story—the one that develops on its own after the first draft. King says the writer must stop writing for himself and come to a place where he listens to what the story is supposed to be. (King, 2000)
I am not unhappy with what we got. I enjoyed seeing another corner of the galaxy. I even liked the bunny-horse race. I think it is one of those Star Wars moments the kids of today will remember fondly. Maybe it is a place Luke and Rey could have gone, since it makes more sense for them to run an errand for the Resistance, and then join up with Finn and Rose. Together, Finn, Rose, Rey, and DJ would have all used the Falcon for their infiltration. However, one of the main story devices was the new force projection force power. Rian Johnson built his entire movie around this new power, and it works. Unfortunately for Luke, it meant Rian was moving his story toward Skywalker’s ultimate, and last force technique. As I have pointed out, Luke could have physically gone to help out and we would have believed his reasons for doing so. He could have faced the entire First Order and destroyed multiple walkers with the force in an awesome display like we all thought was going to happen. Instead, we got something unexpected and yet beautiful. I will explain why I am elated with the results in the next section.
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