**Spoilers ahead. Clearly.**
So, I've actually come to the conclusion that I've loved every movie in this new trilogy of Star Wars. They've all been excellent and unique and special in their own ways. From Rey's life force to the Force Bond to the new droids to Babu Frick to all the nostalgia from the old movies and their cameos, this story will always hold a special place in my heart.
However, there's a reason that basically everyone, including me, is angered or heartbroken with these 3 movies. I just read an article that perfectly sums up my disappointment, and is pretty much the reason I think that they're the worst trilogy- these movies are not consistent AT ALL.
There are so many points in both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker that are WILDLY contradictive of each other- and that's why everyone's upset.
Because the main point here is: there were no real plans for these characters from the beginning, apparently. We were introduced to the trio in TFA, which started out strong with hopeful arcs for all of them (with the slim possibility of Bendemption). And then we had TLJ, a movie of all character development and no plot points. (We actually had a ridiculous mess of plot points and random background characters that everyone was upset about. Holdo was angering because the whole plotline could've been solved if she'd been more transparent with Poe, the DJ guy was just awful and was literally never seen again, and Rose didn't deserve the hate she got but was controversial nonetheless.) And then, literally every plot point possible was thrown into TROS with NO foreshadowing from either previous film. The inconsistency between the three kills EVERYTHING.
Nobody knew Palpatine was going to come back because there was nothing there to suspect. Rey's parentage basically got retconned. JJ Abrams went back on them "being nobodies", which was a key point of TLJ. It doesn't matter if they "chose to be nobodies", as Ben told Rey. The point was that they WERE.
That was the purpose of the ending of the movie: the slave child wielding a stick like a lightsaber and proving that no matter what their lineage was, everyone could be a part of the story. And then TROS ixnayed that, only to say that Rey was, in fact, powerful because of her lineage. Because of Palpatine.
All of these characters and all of these plotholes deserved so much better, and I understand it would've been hard to fit EVERYTHING into a 2.5 hour movie. But had there been a PLAN at the beginning of the trilogy, at least guidelines there to make it seem to fit together, it would've been so much better. Everything could've been built upon in a steady progression, with books or tv shows or comics or whatever was needed to fill small gaps in character arcs. But there was nothing to build on because the precious movie time was spent contradicting previous statements and upsetting everyone in the process.
And the only thing that remained at the center of all of these films? It was Rey and Ben's relationship- and, of course, they killed that off right after it became canon.
What could've possibly fixed this movie and perhaps even partially have saved the trilogy was Ben surviving, and the two of them walking into the binary sunsets at the end of the movie. THAT WAS ALL THAT WAS EMPHASIZED DURING TROS. THE POWER OF TWO. THE SITH, THE LIGHTSABERS, EVERYTHING. AND THEN THEY WRECKED IT.
Listen. All Rey wanted was a family, and I understand that all the previous jedi "live inside her now", but how can there be balance within the force if there's only one of them? Rey and Ben are a Dyad in the force. They're supposed to be two halves of the same coin. But now that he's gone, she's just back where she started in the beginning of the movie- alone on a desert planet. It doesn't matter if they all "live inside her" or not- she was ALONE on that planet. She didn't have any of her friends beside her. It was a ridiculously inconclusive ending and I am highly upset about it.
I guess the only consolation in this is capitalism- they're going to have to add on more to the story because Disney is a greedy bitch. We can only hope that some books or some TV show comes out now that fixes everything wrong about the last trilogy.
But until then, I guess it's back to writing fanfiction for me.
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts and opinions on the comments.
