RJ Trilogy The Rian Johnson Trilogy

I am ok with some of this, but there will need to be some connections to what we know or it starts to not become Star Wars in my mind. I would like to see some variant that still involves lightsaber or physical weapons.

 

I take it enthusiasm has waned a bit for the Rian Johnson trilogy. Just checking.

 

Yeah. If we hear of RJ leaving due to "creative differences" in six months to a year's time, then we deserve nothing more than Michael Bay being brought on to do his own trilogy, followed by Zach Snyder, followed by news of Donald Trump buying Lucasfilm.

 

I am not sure why it would. There is not much criticism of RJ as a director. Most of the criticism is of his writing, and specifically of his writing for Luke.

With original characters and setting, I see no reason why RJ won't knock the new trilogy out of the park.

 

I hope he goes all new era entirely and no links except tangentially. Expand the mythos. He is a good pick for it.

 

Agreed on the fact that he's a good director, but to me it feels like he focuses way to much on recreating Movies that he likes in his works. For Looper he was using The Terminator, Akira, Witness, Domu, several time travel movies, including 12 monkeys which seem to be the biggest one, and the problem is that if you know the movies he's using, you can see them plain as day. So it's just like "Oh that scene is lifted from Akira, and that one is from Domu, and that one is from Witness, and that one is from 12 Monkeys, etc". It's one of the same problems with a certain other director that did Black Swan, bought up the rights to Satoshi Kon's work and pretty much filmed a just so slightly different version of Mr. Kon's movie Perfect Blue. Rian has this same issue. He tends to place different characters in the setting of another movie. It's sort of like visual Fanfiction, and what if X character was in Y characters place.

This is one of the bigger issues I have with TLJ, where in if you know what Tweleve O'clock High is and you've seen it, you can see what happens to Poe and Holdo coming from the minute the movie starts. The same thing with Rey and Ben's story with Letter's never sent, and Luke's whole Ronin act from Three Outlaw Samurai. It's really hard to unsee once you've seen and when the beats match almost perfectly, especially in Poe's story, and Rey's actions it makes it even worse because you're telegraphed what will happen because you know that the main characters are just set in there as a means to retell a story that you've already seen. And that's not good from a writing perspective.

As for the new trilogy. My guess, given his love of Japanese manga and animation, the weird liking of abnormal sci fi and probably his desire for European and Eurasia cinema, I think there's a lot he's probably going to pull from.

The one thing I do not want to see is a "Modern" Star Wars. Where the characters are in the twenty first century. They have cellphones and jeans and What if people on earth just started to have force powers. We already have that, it's called Harry Potter.

Again I'm willing to give him a chance, but if I can read where the movie is going to go within the first five minutes of the film I'm not going to be able to enjoy it.

 

Well, you are short!

 

i've watched Unsent Letter, three outlaw samurai, 12 o clock high...but also carch a thief, gungan din etc...there has to be some huge bias to see anything in TLJ that he's more than merely an influence. And for the record, just like any other director ((same things aplly for musicians). Are you sure you saw these movies...or do i sense some lack of objectivity here? Wasnt SW a mashup of different cinema genres/even some specific movies right from the start? What do you think of Scorcese? here's another director with a lot of classic cinema knowledge whose (mostlu great) movies are modernized versions of stuff he grew up with...

 

They should've made Rey a Skywalker since they can make non-Skywalker characters in this trilogy

 

He needs to work on his pacing. TLJ was shot beautifully, but the movie was paced awfully. We were told that this movie would "slow down" and really "focus on the characters" and their development. Perhaps at one time it did. But it was edited down to hit point after point, not flowing, and definitely not slow; I'm still shocked that the longest Star Wars movie was so fast-paced and non-developmental (but that's what you get when you stuff it full of side quests and new characters). We really didn't pause to feel the character's emotions, and that's a problem. That's how you get the audience to care about the characters. I don't care about any of them at this point.

 

Fire him. He has no idea what he’s doing as a writer plot holes from milea away and cringe inducing humor.

 

So funny how a lot of those who critizes RJ for characters decisions, corny humour, plot holes, pacing, deus machina and incoherences have PT pictures as their avatar. i enjoy the irony. But Lucas did what he envisioned and somehow i truly respect that..flawed personal art is always better than corporate filmaking.

I want to see RJs trilogy. Good or bad who cares? It wont ruin my life. At least he's a true auteur too. I want to experience his vision. And if i dont like it i'll go and watch something else. So far i've loved all of his 4 movies...i'm ready for 3 more.

 

I would give the job to Gareth Edwards due to his success in Rogue One.

 

No one's perfect and no movie is perfect either. I am speaking from the point of view of someone who disliked, hated and felt depressed after my first viewing, and came to love it after much thought and finally on the 'loved The Last Jedi' camp after my second viewing. I understood and still understand clearly why would many people dislike the actions that this movie took and why was the movie made in such a way.

Firstly, many of you complaint regarding there is little to none story progression and character development. Alright, remember this, The Force Awakens left us with a girl named Rey on a mission to find out what Master Luke Skywalker have been up to all these years ; a former stormtrooper who defected to the Resistance named Finn who has a conflict within himself on where his loyalties lies and has a choice to make on whether to run or fight. Thirdly, a skilled pilot named Poe who is a hot shot who loves to blow up things and TLJ lets the character learn on the priorities we should put forward for the greater good of the Resistance.

If we skip a few years like the original trilogy did with A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, we won't be knowing what happens to these characters and what happens right after. The Last Jedi had a purpose to start right off where The Force Awakens left behind, as not only it has to make us learn from from these conflicted characters from TFA but to see in what state is the Resistance in and how far the First Order will go to destroy the Resistance.

Rian Johnson's TLJ made TFA a better film in many ways and to me, is no longer considered a rehash as what comes next totally changes how we see TFA. I am truly pumped for his new trilogy and I absolutely adore his direction and the story he has told the audience. It was 'unexpected but right' as said by Gwendoline Christie herself.

In my opinion, the only thing I would demand from this new trilogy is for Rian Johnson learn from his mistakes and criticism from the general audience. The Last Jedi is Rian's launchpad to reach even greater heights and what's in store for us is truly exciting.

p.s. I hope JJ Abrams do a really good job with Episode IX to sum up and connect the sequel trilogy in a very satisfying away.

 

I get the feeling that his future Star Wars movies will be rated R.

 

I've explained many times that I enjoyed the PT because I hit it growing up. When you're five years old and you see TPM, guess what? You don't care about "characters decisions, corny humour, plot holes, pacing, deus machina and incoherences." Which is why so many might enjoy TLJ. But now that you're older, you do. I guess I should change my avatar since having a PT icon is clearly undermining content. What a joke.

 

I said in the (now locked) other Rian Johnson thread that Bob and Kathleen might be about to hit the "pause" button on this project.

Given that Forbes are now reporting this:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcai...-worst-ever-for-a-star-wars-pic/#746d63be57fa

I'm more convinced than ever that Rian's new project will be put on hold...

 

i

i dont know about you precisely but it seems that most of the negativity is coming from the PT fans. That's the feeling i get. Also im not saying PT flaws justifies TLJ flaws, what im saying is what people call plot holes and incoherences in TLJ are mostly nipticking and headcanon being debunked. If we applied the same dose of bias/nipticking with even TESB you could shred this movie apart. The thing is TLJ has a very solid and clever script, not perfect but the very good largely make up for two or three imperfetions...i dont see any flaws that are not in any of the SW movies. But these days it's a competition, isn't it?,.who will critisize the most? everyone thinks they're owned something. Guess what? they're not. Filmmakers make the film they want. It's cinema. Or else go and watch the Marvel factory, the most dull bland unoriginal piece of filmmaking in this corner of the galaxy.

Come on, the truth, what everybody knows is that the film is bein criticized not from a filmmaking point of view (script, directing, themes, acting, editing, symbolism, entertainment, story, characters) but from a "this is or isnt Star Wars" bias:
Some people can't get over the fact that Luke has flaws
Some people can't get over the fact that Rey is not a Skywalker
Some people can't get over the fact that it's a Fantasy movie and the rules for the Force are here to serve the story, not the other way round (which is what every other SW has made). Does the story undermine the Force? on the contrary it gives it a very deep and essential respect.
Oh and some people just hate Disney and/or only want to see SW by George Lucas
Some others are more concerned with lore than actual filmmaking. All in all everyone is taking this film too seriously: SW has sound in space, laser swords, magical wizards and TONS of story conveniences all the time....since 1977. It's not supposed to be that realistic, it's just some kind of dark/fun fairy tale. It's not a sci fi movie. It's pure (futuristic) fantasy. Every SW movie could be demolished that way if people want to base the quality of these movies on this "gritty, realistic" fad.

ps: and a small part also think SW is going too "PC" and neglects their "masculanity" which is just plain silly. It's a small amount of people but i do see these kind of comments here and there on the internet.

 

Are you kidding? A director with guts doing a Star Wars trilogy!? More please.

I don't want Star Wars to settle into a bland formula that tries really hard not to upset any segment of the fan base.

 

Well, technically the earliest it would come out is in 2021, and putting a pause or putting it on hold wouldn't make much difference. Why not we let Rian Johnson direct another film or two ( for his career but not with Disney ), and in the meantime focusing to write the whole story for his new trilogy. Trust me, they are going to go real tight on what he wants to do for the trilogy ( due to the backlash which I still find unnecessary but it is something he has to learn from ), and there will be many, many people involved from square one, to make sure it is universally acclaimed and received.

 

One thing they care about clearly more than longtime fans is $$$$. If this film doesn't have big legs, there is no way they will give him an entire trilogy of $200+ million films full of his own original ideas.

 

I expect there's going to be a lot of angry calls between Disney's executives and Kathleen Kennedy about Rian getting a new trilogy if the Box Office numbers continue to worsen.

Green-lighting another entire trilogy when Rian's film hadn't even been released sounds like a mistake, clearly KK thought it was a home run while the audience has disagreed.

 

Well, it is different risk-wise if you are doing a Saga film. There's a certain built in audience. Fans are eager to see the classic characters alongside new ones. If this film underperforms in any way, they will think a new, original trilogy will be riskier.
An entirely new non-Skywalker/Saga trilogy of $200 million budgets for each film is a whole other level of risk.

 

It doesn't have to be 200+ million films. Personally, I never expected them to be, even before all this.