The Ringer - Everything You Need to Know About ‘The Rise of Skywalker’2020-01-15T06:00:00-05:00http://www.theringer.com/rss/stream/207936852020-01-15T06:00:00-05:002020-01-15T06:00:00-05:00The Alleged Trevorrow Script Would Have Prevented a Lot of the Problems of ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KIIaAljUjTXhTUbTRhUa_HvLwKQ=/62x0:1129x800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66104337/TrevorrowStarWars_Disney_Getty_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Disney/Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But even assuming the Reddit description of it is legit, there’s no guarantee it would’ve delivered a better onscreen experience than ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ </p> <p id="OCuQ5W">If <em>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker</em> had gotten great reviews, thrilled most fans of the franchise, or broken box office records, we probably wouldn’t be hearing rumors about how it <em>could</em> have turned out. It didn’t do those things, and thus the disaffected <em>Star Wars </em>fan base has seen its scabs ripped off by tantalizing, unconfirmed accounts of what the movie might have looked like in different hands. <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/1/3/21048232/jj-abrams-cut-star-wars-rise-of-skywalker">Earlier this month</a>, an unsubstantiated <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/1/3/21048232/jj-abrams-cut-star-wars-rise-of-skywalker">report</a> from a Redditor at r/saltierthancrait, which cited an anonymous on-set source, detailed the differences between the final film and an alleged original cut by director J.J. Abrams. The Abrams cut, which was supposedly a lot longer than the eventual theatrical release—consistent with separate, <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2020/01/04/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-star-hopes-theres-a-directors-cut-dominic-monaghan-jj-abrams">credible</a> <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2020/01/03/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-palpatine-return-resurrection-deleted-scenes-episode-9">reports</a> about material left on the cutting room floor—conveniently would have addressed many of the subreddit’s common complaints about the movie. The report put the onus on Disney for insisting on “more fan service, less controversy,” twisting the knife in an open emotional wound.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><div id="gsbcdx"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/No473cYlddM?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div></div>
<p id="JtM90D">One might have thought that the visions of alternate <em>Episode IX</em>s would end there, but <a href="https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/9844eea0-fac6-4ca8-92aa-1c2b452d72a7">no, there is another</a>. On Monday, a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/eoaxdn/robert_meyer_burnett_reviews_an_early_draft_of/">post</a> surfaced at r/StarWarsLeaks, the subreddit where a breakdown of the script for the real <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> appeared months before the movie’s release (complete with <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a29573227/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-rey-kylo-ren-palpatine-ending-leak-photo/">leaked screenshots</a> of the final confrontation between a red-robed Palpatine and the “Force dyad” duo of Rey and Ben). The post, which included a “Wild rumor” tag, notified the community of a YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShS32kJclU">video</a> posted on Monday by filmmaker <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122428/">Robert Meyer Burnett</a>, who claimed to have obtained a copy of an early draft of the screenplay for <em>Episode IX</em> by original writer/director Colin Trevorrow and cowriter Derek Connolly. Burnett, who may have sacrificed some Bothans to bring us this scoop, revealed some of the supposed screenplay’s main plot points, which were <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsLeaks/comments/eoaxdn/robert_meyer_burnett_reviews_an_early_draft_of/feb0pzw/">collated</a> by Reddit user Lollifroll. Trevorrow and Connolly were <a href="https://collider.com/star-wars-9-why-colin-trevorrow-was-fired/">reportedly</a> replaced because Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was unhappy with their drafts, so the leak allegedly presented a picture of the direction Disney decided not go, inviting comparisons with <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s story.</p>
<p id="VmzE7o">In other words, I’m about to break down a Reddit recap of a YouTube summary of an early draft of a screenplay that may or may not exist (although <em>The A.V. Club</em>’s Britt Hayes <a href="https://news.avclub.com/turns-out-colin-trevorrows-version-of-star-wars-episod-1841002112">reported</a> that she confirmed its veracity with a second source). The internet is a weird and wondrous place.</p>
<p id="YdrVRR">Keep in mind that the draft is allegedly dated December 16, 2016, 11 days before the death of Carrie Fisher. It would have had to change as a result of her passing, and it likely would have evolved in other respects between December 2016 and September 2017, when Abrams replaced Trevorrow (following a failed <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-episode-ix-gets-a-new-writer-1026003">attempt at a touch-up</a> by another writer, Jack Thorne). And before you get too invested in the movie that might have been, remember that Trevorrow is the man who made <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_book_of_henry"><em>The Book of Henry</em></a>, and Connolly cowrote <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/monster_trucks_2017"><em>Monster Trucks</em></a>. Their records aren’t flawless, and if we could summon this alternate <em>Episode IX </em>from the dead, we might end up with a monkey’s paw monstrosity that would make <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> look like <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em>.</p>
<p id="EFmSZt">Acknowledging all of those caveats—and the overarching concern that this could be a hoax, in which case we’re critiquing fan fiction—here’s what we can say. If <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>dissatisfied you for the same big-picture reasons that it let down a lot of its audience—its <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/20/21031442/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-review-saga-ending">rigid recycling</a> of the past, the way its plot <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/20/21030614/the-rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-jj-abrams-fans">put it at odds</a> with <em>The Last Jedi</em>, its reluctance to allow <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/19/21028756/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-good-evil-gray-areas">moral ambiguity</a> or a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/16/21023812/rise-of-skywalker-jedi-good-evil">reimagining of the Force</a>—then you’ll probably find a lot to like about Trevorrow’s purported plan. There’s no way to know whether that blueprint would have led to a satisfying film, but the broad strokes make it sound as if the rejected rough draft would have avoided some of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s major missteps.</p>
<p id="3Dg9X6">In an interview late last month, Abrams collaborator Chris Terrio, who cowrote the screenplay for <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> after Trevorrow’s exit, <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-script-colin-trevorrow-not-used/">said</a> that he and Abrams had started their script from scratch, and that any commonalities with Trevorrow’s discarded script would have occurred by coincidence. That comment accords with Burnett’s leaks, which have only a few plot points in common with the <em>Episode IX </em>we know.</p>
<p id="hGJURY">Trevorrow’s title for the final film in the Skywalker saga was <em>Duel of the Fates</em>, seemingly a reference both to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTg6hg1miFg">John Williams classic</a> that accompanies the lightsaber battle at the end of <em>The Phantom Menace</em> and to the conflict between Kylo Ren and Rey, whom the movie would have placed on a climactic collision course.</p>
<p id="Jud2Cc"><em>Duel of the Fates</em>’ opening crawl describes a scenario that doesn’t sound so different from the state of affairs at the start of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p id="hhyeDA"><em>The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts are punishable by death.</em></p>
<p id="Gv41Ev"><em>Determined to suffocate a growing unrest, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has silenced all communication between neighboring systems.</em></p>
<p id="A53NDZ"><em>Led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, the Resistance has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom ...</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p id="FOARbs">From there, though, the two diverge dramatically. Here are the highlights: Palpatine doesn’t <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035070/emperor-palpatine-return-rise-of-skywalker-explainer">return from the dead</a>. Rey really is a nobody, in terms of her family tree: She isn’t descended from famous parents or grandparents. The big battle takes place on Coruscant, capital of the Old Republic and Empire, which the First Order has occupied. The Resistance defeats the First Order, Leia lives, and Rey outduels Kylo, who dies unredeemed.</p>
<p id="8ygZka">Now for some specifics. According to Burnett, <em>Duel of the Fates </em>would have started with a Resistance raid on the industrial planet of <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kuat">Kuat</a>, where the Old Republic and Empire constructed their warships. Although the raiders—including Rey, Rose, Finn, Poe, and BB-8—fail to sabotage the shipyards, they commandeer a Star Destroyer and escape. Meanwhile, Kylo is on Mustafar, searching for a Sith relic, as he does (very briefly) at the beginning of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>. The relic is a Sith <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Holocron">holocron</a>, not a wayfinder, and it contains a recording of Palpatine, who left his last wishes for Darth Vader in holographic form. In the event that Luke killed Palpatine, Vader was to take Luke to learn from Tor Valum, Palpatine’s ancient teacher.</p>
<p id="z3fNby">Rey, who’s assembled her own lightsaber—a double-bladed hybrid of her staff and Luke’s cracked saber—learns from the ancients, too: The sacred Jedi texts she took from Ahch-To tip her off to a communication system, or “Force beacon,” beneath the former Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The beacon can send a signal to 50 planets, and because it’s based on old tech, the First Order’s blackout can’t stop it. Throughout all of this, Luke’s Force ghost is training Rey (who struggles to come to terms with her not-so-special lineage) and alternating between taunting Kylo and trying to turn him back to the light.</p>
<p id="tHZJkl">After that, the Resistance splits up. One team, composed of Rose, Finn, R2-D2, and C-3PO, go to Coruscant to try to light the beacon. Another team, featuring Rey, Poe, and Chewbacca, go elsewhere to consult someone on the proper path for Rey. (That part is pretty vague.) Kylo—who rids himself of Vader’s mask and forsakes his former idol, saying, “You allowed love to cloud your judgment”—confronts and trains with Tor Valum, who turns out to be a spindly, Lovecraftian, 7,000-year-old alien. (As part of that training, Kylo duels a vision of Vader, à la Luke on Dagobah.) The first Resistance team succeeds in lighting the beacon, and Leia asks Lando to take control of the forces that respond to the signal. Those forces congregate on Coruscant, setting up a battle in space and on land, while Finn, R2, and 3PO start a citizen’s uprising around First Order HQ. (Rose, who was captured and tortured by the First Order, frees herself somehow.) For some reason, Chewie flies an X-wing in the battle, which would be a tight fit. The good guys win.</p>
<p id="wL5Ks4">As the Resistance squares off with the First Order, Kylo and Rey meet on <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Mortis">Mortis</a>, a mystical realm introduced in <em>The Clone Wars </em>that’s closely connected to the origins and true nature of the Force. During their showdown, they extract Force energy from each other. Kylo reveals that he killed Rey’s parents at Snoke’s behest. Rey overpowers him, and although the Force ghosts of Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan try to save him, he’s “extinguished.” Oh, and Han Solo appears and talks to Kylo at some point in the film, presumably in a <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>–esque vision.</p>
<p id="xruvF1">That’s a lot to take in, and without reading the script, it’s tough to piece it all together. While it’s welcome that Rose isn’t sidelined as she was in <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>,<em> </em>it’s unclear what role the stolen Star Destroyer plays, and some of the side missions seem like they could be Canto Bight–type distractions. It’s equally unclear what Tor Valum has been up to all this time, or how his presence relates to the Sith Rule of Two or Palpatine’s existing backstory as an apprentice to <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Plagueis">Darth Plagueis</a>. Nor do we know why Snoke would have told Kylo to kill Rey’s parents if they weren’t VIPs, or to what degree Rey fuses the Force’s light and dark sides into a sustainable, nonbinary balance.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="sQaMSw"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="De5Cd2">That said, this doesn’t sound like a remake of <em>Return of the Jedi</em>: There’s no (inexplicably living) Palpatine, no Death Star, no new technological superweapon, and no wayward Skywalker saved from the dark side. The focus stays on the conflicts established in the sequel trilogy: Kylo vs. Rey, First Order vs. Resistance. And Rey has humble origins, which would have led to less of a disconnect between <em>The Last Jedi</em> and <em>Duel of the Fates</em>.<em> </em></p>
<p id="imuNyJ">Burnett also alludes to dialogue that grapples with the gray areas rather than defaulting to dark vs. light. As Rey supposedly says to Luke, “Balance? The dark suffocates the light, light extinguishes the dark. Over and over and over again. How is that balance in the Force?” Good question! Rey continues to question Luke’s teachings, remarking, “So says my master, and his master before him. A thousand masters, so eager to tell us how to live.” In <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>, the “thousand generations” of Jedi are what give Rey her power. Here, they’re bonds she must break to bring lasting balance. Along the same lines, Leia allegedly tells Rey, “You’re not like my father or my brother. You’re new. … Your story isn’t written by anyone else.”</p>
<p id="FzzGl8">That’s potentially exciting stuff—and, perhaps, scary stuff for Disney, if the company was determined not to destabilize the <em>Star Wars </em>status quo. But beyond making money, what’s the point of creating a trilogy that doesn’t say something new? As described, <em>Duel of the Fates</em> wouldn’t have cheapened the original trilogy by resurrecting Palpatine. It would have democratized the series’ portrayal of how heroes arise. It would have raised thought-provoking questions about the Force and refused to supply the same old answers. And it would have explained why the ending of <em>Episode IX</em> would bring about a longer-lasting peace than the ending of <em>Return of the Jedi</em> did. Trevorrow’s hypothetical movie may not have lived up to the rumored screenplay’s promise. But regardless of whether it’s real, the alleged script’s message makes a more convincing case than Disney did for why we needed new movies at all.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="v9LzCA">It’s somewhat suspicious that this leaked script addresses so many of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s most divisive decisions. That may be a clue that this is nothing more than wish fulfillment. Then again, it wouldn’t be shocking to learn that Trevorrow wanted to take the trilogy in this direction: In most respects, the story described by Burnett would make for a more logical follow-up to <em>The Last Jedi</em> than <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>was. If it’s authentic—and if there’s truth to the earlier leak about Abrams’s cut—then it’s possible that Disney made <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> worse along the way. And if it’s a fabrication, it still <em>reflects</em> something real: the desire of many <em>Star Wars </em>fans for a different finale than the one Disney delivered. </p>
https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2020/1/15/21066612/reddit-colin-trevorrow-episode-ix-star-wars-script-rise-of-skywalker-duel-of-fatesBen Lindbergh2020-01-09T06:00:00-05:002020-01-09T06:00:00-05:00John Williams Defined the Sound of ‘Star Wars’—and Remained the Franchise’s Most Reliable Piece
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q9x2IoT1kcm22QKCf_qLWUDHFIY=/67x0:600x400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66069470/JohnWilliamsStarWars2_Getty_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The legendary composer was the most consistent part of the franchise. What will happen now that he’s stepped down? </p> <p id="UHuAnf">The surest signal that one is watching one of the nine films in the <em>Star Wars </em>Skywalker saga isn’t something on the screen. It’s not the opening crawls or the scene wipes. It’s not the lightsabers, blasters, or starfighters. It’s not even the indefatigable droid duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO. All of those things are present at some point in each movie, but not from moment to moment. The only true constant in the Skywalker saga is the sound of the score. And for five decades, that sound was the work of one man, John Williams, who <a href="https://www.avclub.com/john-williams-says-hes-only-got-one-more-of-these-damn-1823487057">announced</a> in 2018 that <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>would be his last <em>Star Wars </em>soundtrack.</p>
<p id="2SIlcj">Over the 42 years that separated the releases of <em>Episode IV</em> and <em>Episode IX</em>, the directors, writers, special effects artists, and cast members who made <em>Star Wars </em>changed, but the composer was always the same. The <em>Star Wars </em>soundtrack never slumped, even as the quality of the storytelling fluctuated from film to film. No matter how hackneyed the dialogue, wooden the delivery, or gaping the plot hole, Williams was there to touch it up with a symphonic flourish. Although the films of the prequel and sequel trilogies often missed the mark set by the first few films in the series, they always <em>sounded </em>like <em>Star Wars</em>. As much as any of the iconography or the surname “Skywalker,” that aural link is the energy field that binds the <em>Star Wars </em>galaxy together. And while <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> wasn’t the universally satisfying finale that fans might have hoped for, the 87-year-old Williams’s final <em>Star Wars </em>soundtrack didn’t disappoint, although some of the flaws of the film are inevitably mirrored in its music.</p>
<p id="PfM2ET">No one has chronicled Williams’s <em>Star Wars </em>work more comprehensively than <a href="https://twitter.com/fmlehman">Frank Lehman</a>, a music theorist and associate professor of music at Tufts University. Lehman, the author of <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hollywood-harmony-9780190606398?cc=us&lang=en&"><em>Hollywood Harmony</em></a> and the editor of the upcoming <em>Music Analysis in Film</em>, is a scholar of film scores in general, but he’s devoted particular attention to Williams, whom he credits for helping him find his vocation. It was Williams’s plaintive, yearning “Binary Sunset” from <em>Episode IV</em>, heard during a childhood viewing of a VHS tape, that inspired Lehman to listen for a living. As Luke Skywalker stared into Tatooine’s twin suns and dreamed of joining the Rebellion, Lehman saw and heard his own future unfold. “I became a film score lover, and eventually film score scholar, as a somewhat direct result of that incredibly iconic piece of music,” Lehman says.</p>
<div id="dRsITw"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iC5JjKZLSOs?rel=0&start=135" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="f7h78I">Lehman has <a href="https://franklehman.com/about/cv/">contributed</a> chapters to books about Williams and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VKc0Xw8uFNPCF4vQe4fa8iaRuKDNKiOK/view">written articles</a> about Williams’s non–<em>Star Wars </em>work, and for the first time, he’s teaching a course for nonmusicians on Williams’s complete output, which he describes as a “staggering amount” of music. (Williams’s first IMDb credit as a composer dates back to 1958, and his musical corpus—which includes soundtracks to more than 110 movies, almost 30 of which were collaborations with Steven Spielberg—has produced five Oscar wins and 51 nominations, trailing only Walt Disney’s 59.) But his most acclaimed contribution to the field of Williams studies is his <a href="https://franklehman.com/starwars/">complete catalog</a> of the musical themes of <em>Star Wars</em>, in which he’s painstakingly classified and transcribed the themes and leitmotifs that pervade the <em>Star Wars </em>soundtracks, including <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s.</p>
<p id="Hs6K0t">The leitmotif is central to Williams’s <em>Star Wars </em>compositions, which drew on a <a href="https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2015/10/20/star-wars-john-williams-influences">wide range</a> of operatic, Romantic, and early Hollywood influences and were intended to evoke the epic, symphonic, swashbuckling scores of the adventure films George Lucas was weaned on. Most closely associated with, and first applied to, the operas of Richard Wagner, the leitmotif is a recurring musical phrase that serves as the sonic signature of a person, place, or concept. When one of those entities appears or is referenced, its leitmotif often accompanies it, deepening the spectator’s connection to the onscreen events. Through the use of leitmotifs, a composer can help a filmmaker allude to or symbolize something without actually showing it, and subtle variations on the familiar musical hallmark can convey hidden depths or character development, hearken back to earlier events, or foreshadow future ones.</p>
<p id="aj5uAE">In the original trilogy, Leia has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5JjKZLSOs&feature=youtu.be&t=28s">leitmotif</a>, as does <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hg-sWWmIVY&feature=youtu.be&t=15s">Han and Leia’s love</a>. So does <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC5JjKZLSOs&feature=youtu.be&t=2m21s">the Force</a>, and so do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq9HRxGeM8w&feature=youtu.be&t=2m29s">Yoda</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7HF4JG1pOg&feature=youtu.be&t=10s">Darth Vader</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCzGXiAWuoI&feature=youtu.be&t=6m30s">the droids</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1PAPNBEyw4&feature=youtu.be&t=26s">Emperor Palpatine</a>. Even the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxMdImpj4mk&feature=youtu.be&t=1m43s">Jawas</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ_QtEfOWuo&feature=youtu.be&t=9m55s">Ewoks</a> have their own leitmotifs. In the prequel era, Williams wrote recurring themes for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHJUQjWlSMM&feature=youtu.be&t=19s">Anakin</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Xf97_cU_o&feature=youtu.be&t=3m54s">Shmi</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDjyGb7Lkms&feature=youtu.be&t=24s">droid army</a>, and Anakin and Padmé’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Lh4Pyxxns&feature=youtu.be&t=1m28s">cringey courtship</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaTCJvwC5JU&feature=youtu.be&t=36s">Darth Maul</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/D2smg-fUg0U?t=38s">Qui-Gon</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQc8a_LVhGw&feature=youtu.be&t=6s">Jar Jar</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia5-JGVeDkw&feature=youtu.be&t=4m46s">General Grievous</a>. And in the sequel trilogy, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ac1Qg-r-8&feature=youtu.be&t=4m19s">Kylo Ren</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM&feature=youtu.be&t=33">Rey</a>, and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdAON6LqZFY&feature=youtu.be&t=11s">Resistance</a> get the Williams leitmotif treatment, as do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJrfB7VquM&feature=youtu.be&t=78">Poe</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6YaL9wg0E&feature=youtu.be&t=1m28s">Rose</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnCsqnrL644&feature=youtu.be&t=11s">Snoke</a>, and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOqtn4DZerA&feature=youtu.be&t=104">Knights of Ren</a>.</p>
<div id="Pvd0hm"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/0AB3hO81j2Z6TfyV1a5kpH" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 232px;" allowfullscreen="" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe></div>
<p id="tINVzd">Lehman has identified 72 leitmotifs in total across the nine films. The most difficult task is trying to distinguish the times when Williams is purposefully echoing an established leitmotif from the times when he may have unintentionally produced a piece of music that sounds like some other snatch of <em>Star Wars</em> score he wrote decades ago. “We’re dealing with nine film scores, and that’s a truly unprecedented feat in Hollywood or elsewhere, really, in musical history,” Lehman says. “So he has 40 years’ worth of music to draw on, and a very established musical voice, and most people can pick out Williams-isms in his music. Some of his themes do share family resemblances with one another.”</p>
<p id="FO5mPi">Lehman estimates that he’s listened to <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s soundtrack 20 to 30 times so far in his hunt for leitmotifs; as for the original trilogy,<em> </em>he says, “The hundreds, I think, would be a pretty low estimate.” When a new movie comes out, Lehman watches it before listening to the soundtrack alone. He picks up on the major themes and recurring refrains in the theater, then uses the recording to transcribe the notation. He may be the only person who glanced at a stopwatch while viewing <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> in order to pinpoint the first appearance of each theme or leitmotif.</p>
<p id="FDj8Ja">The sequel trilogy gave Lehman a lot to work with, thanks to its frequent repurposing of previous themes. “The point of reference in the sequel trilogy scores really does seem to be Williams’s prior work on this series, and particularly the original trilogy scores,” Lehman says. Although the prequels feature some moments of musical recall, Lehman notes that “minute to minute, there’s less in the way of callbacks, less in the way of referentiality.”</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-izLqQvpHEHX5WovQwbPWY34ndw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19588607/starwarsmusic.jpg">
<cite>Courtesy of Frank Lehman</cite>
<figcaption>John Williams and Frank Lehman </figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="jxXTAG">Lehman doesn’t fault Williams for that sonic recycling. For one thing, the callbacks can be satisfying, not only in a nostalgia-inducing sense but in their capacity to reinforce the narrative and emotional ties between trilogies, theoretically reinforcing the relationships and sentiments that span the series. For another, he notes, “It’s not really on Williams to counter the director or producer’s vision of the film,” Lehman says. “He’s giving them what they want.” At many points in the sequel trilogy, what Disney and <em>Episodes VII </em>and <em>IX </em>director<em> </em>J.J. Abrams seemed to want was a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/20/21031442/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-review-saga-ending">remake of the originals</a>. If the scripts call for more Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, R2-D2, C-3PO, Yoda, and Palpatine, plus another massive superweapon, a helmeted dark sider who villain-worships Darth Vader, and a good vs. evil battle between Jedi and Sith and Rebellion and Empire, then there’s no way for the score to escape some sameness of its own.</p>
<p id="nuRzDZ">The downside of that sameness is that this latest trilogy yielded fewer new themes that could contend for a collection of Williams’s most memorable <em>Star Wars</em> hits. While the prequels were Lucas’s low point, Williams was still composing at his peak. “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTg6hg1miFg">Duel of the Fates</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wMiMDBHnJ0">Across the Stars</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHuD5y-PZM0">Battle of the Heroes</a>,” and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw8_gecNA-g">droid army theme</a>, among other stirring anthems, were as unforgettable as anything from the original trilogy, even though the material they accompanied couldn’t give them the cultural cachet of the original trilogy’s main theme or Imperial March. <em>The Phantom Menace </em>and <em>Attack of the Clones </em>didn’t deserve Williams, but his scores lived up to the original trilogy touchstones. The Disney-era movies are much better, but because they’re more prone to retracing the original trilogy’s steps, they leave less room for Williams to establish grand new themes that rank alongside the old ones.</p>
<p id="ZrDmvR">On top of that, the new compositions tend to pull from the same sonic palette as the classic scores. “The last three <em>Star Wars</em> scores are probably the most conventional, at least in terms of the instrumentation, of anything that we’ve heard so far,” Lehman says. “This may just be Williams saying, ‘All right, if I established the sound, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. I’m just going to give you exactly what one imagines from a <em>Star Wars</em> score.’” In the sequel trilogy, Williams<em> </em>doesn’t experiment with, for example, the electronics, electric guitars, and atypical percussion that punctuated the pursuit of Zam Wesell in <em>Attack of the Clones</em>. </p>
<div id="03IpOH"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1PQ-nAskDcM?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="HfkpMe">Perhaps that’s a product of the aforementioned unoriginality in some of the sequel trilogy’s scripts, or a consequence of Williams growing a little less adventurous in his 80s. Or maybe Williams was wary of populating the trilogy with new themes that could come off as warmed-over versions of his greatest hits. When you’ve already written “The Imperial March,” how do you make a martial theme for another totalitarian power that doesn’t pale in comparison? </p>
<p id="foQ7Ty">“One of the things that’s striking about the sequel trilogy is although there is a sort of ersatz Empire … he never writes a theme that even attempts to accomplish what ‘The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)’ did for that film,” Lehman says, adding, “He doesn’t even try. There’d be no point. It would just sound like a kind of rip-off of himself.” The First Order is already a rip-off of the Empire, so maybe it’s best that Williams focused on Kylo rather than trying to make an enemy composed of Stormtroopers, Star Destroyers, and English-accented officers sound like something else.</p>
<p id="8B9xSC">The relative lack of instantly striking tracks in the sequel trilogy may not be solely attributable to the rehashed structure of the films. “Part of it has to do with a change in [Williams’s] own compositional aesthetic,” Lehman says. “He tends to score less in set pieces than he did back in the ’70s and ’80s. Now, his approach is much more fine-grained. I think he scores for moments rather than scenes or large-scale sections … which means sometimes we get a little bit less in the way of those rousing, very memorable, very foursquare, easily hummable themes.”</p>
<p id="YdFMAp">When Williams does break new ground, though, it’s often as fertile as before. One of the highlights of the sequel trilogy, along with “Rey’s Theme,” is the new theme from the final film, also titled “The Rise of Skywalker.” It’s a delicate composition that seems to synthesize several earlier leitmotifs but still stands on its own. “It’s this sort of optimistic, hopeful theme, which serves some functions similar to what Yoda and Rose’s themes do, and maybe Anakin’s theme from the prequel trilogy, but there’s also a sense of maturity and maybe some sort of hard-won victory … which suits the movie quite well on an emotional level,” Lehman says. </p>
<div id="Jcv1la"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-9reMkxTjw?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="r5c7Py">In <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>,<em> </em>Williams also exhumes some underused <em>Star Wars </em>chestnuts from the first film to bring the series full circle. “There’s usages of the main theme in quite overt and interesting ways that we haven’t heard since <em>A New Hope</em>,” Lehman says. “There’s references to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6vKhR8XuP4&feature=youtu.be&t=3m40s">B section of the main theme</a>, which has never been really a main part of the <em>Star Wars</em> underscore canon, and yet here we’re hearing it for the first time in very rousing renditions. And that’s certainly Williams, in part, just thinking, ‘Well, what can I do to give this a sense of being the end of the road, being my final statement on the scores? I’ll give you a return to the original <em>Star Wars</em> musical language.’”</p>
<p id="Mfc3KA">The most compelling non-nostalgia-dependent part of the sequel trilogy is Kylo’s <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/24/21036436/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-kylo-ren-redemption-ben-solo">continual wavering</a> on the light side/dark side spectrum, and Williams’s modulation of Kylo’s theme in <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>suits the conversion the character makes at the climax of the movie. “His leitmotif really does undergo a quite profound transformation, particularly in the last act of the movie when his fate is turned away from the dark side … and there’s a sort of reorientation of his themes, so it’s not quite so chromatic, not so dissonant anymore,” Lehman says. “Not necessarily like a hero theme, or even something that’s stable in any way, but it feels kind of in the process of being transformed. … We’re never presented with a truly definitive, actualized version of any of his themes, which may go along with his characterization.” Although Kylo turns toward the light and redeems some of his heinous behavior, he doesn’t live long enough for his new and old self to solidify.</p>
<p id="ndpZLk">That said, some of the same critiques that apply to the sequel trilogy’s story—even aside from the recycling—also apply to its soundtracks. After <em>The Force Awakens</em>, the trilogy couldn’t seem to <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/12/22/16807906/star-wars-the-last-jed-finn-problem">decide what to do with Finn</a>, which may explain why, in contrast with Rey and Poe, Finn doesn’t have a leitmotif. “There’s no consistent melodic identification with him as a character,” Lehman says, adding, “There were a few little bits of material in <em>The Force Awakens</em> that some people speculated could be like an incipient Finn motif, but that didn’t persist into <em>The Last Jedi</em>.”</p>
<p id="PTMk3b">Similarly, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/20/21030614/the-rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-jj-abrams-fans">some elements</a> of <em>The Last Jedi </em>didn’t persist into <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>. Because Rose is sidelined for most of the latter movie, the theme Williams wrote for her in <em>The Last Jedi</em> is absent from the sequel’s score. <em>The Last Jedi</em>’s score was heavy on the Force theme, reflecting Rian Johnson’s emphasis on democratizing the Force, but <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s score seems to be in dialogue with the original trilogy more than the movie that immediately preceded it.<em> </em>“The fact that it doesn’t really follow up on the musical implications of the previous movie is disappointing, but that’s what it is,” Lehman says. “This is Williams writing according to the directorial needs.”</p>
<p id="ITO2C8">Another musical moment in <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>that Lehman attributes to a disappointing directorial decision is the callback to the music that plays during Anakin Skywalker’s death scene in <em>Return of the Jedi</em>, which reoccurs when Rey enters the throne room on the downed Death Star. “It’s not even a new recording,” Lehman says. “It’s actually the original recording. You can tell that the sound quality is quite different from everything else in the score, and it’s presented as kind of out of order and jumbled in ways. I think it’s probably, to the average filmgoer, a perfectly effective haunted, strange iteration of the Darth Vader theme, but to me it just sounds so lazy and so secondhand nostalgia.”</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="HSXF0R"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="bqq0dH">Lehman draws a contrast between that and a playful reprise in <em>The Last Jedi</em>, when Johnson makes a clothes iron <a href="https://i.imgur.com/VkxjYnE.gif">look like a descending space ship</a> in a scene transition that pays <a href="https://uproxx.com/movies/star-wars-the-last-jedi-hardware-wars-rian-johnson/">homage to <em>Hardware Wars</em></a>. Williams cheekily heightens the visual gag by dredging up the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1pf6s8MGrs&feature=youtu.be&t=6m15s">Death Star leitmotif</a>. “That strikes me as being more Rian Johnson’s sort of subversive approach, which I actually appreciate a great deal,” Lehman says. “It kind of takes things down a peg in a nice way, whereas the two J.J. Abrams movies are much more deferential, much more quotational in a straight-faced way.”</p>
<p id="OvMeEM">Subversive or straight-faced, those references are largely limited to the original trilogy. Lehman laments that with some minor exceptions in <em>The Last Jedi</em>, the sequel scores (and movies) don’t draw on the music of the prequels, which limits their ability to make <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>seem like the culmination of a seamless story. “The filmmakers talked about how this was supposed to be not just the end of one trilogy, but a trilogy of trilogies,” he says. “Musically speaking, it doesn’t really accomplish that. ... [That] does detract a little bit from the unity of the entire saga.”</p>
<p id="xU9ZHI">If any meaningful prequel connections were lurking in <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>, Lehman would certainly sniff them out. But Williams wasn’t always the subject of such scholarly regard. Like the late André Previn, Williams is an accomplished pianist, jazz musician, arranger, and conductor in addition to his film work, and Lehman says his melodic sensibility and harmonic vocabulary were rich even in his earliest work. Yet he was, for a while, maligned as an imitator or dismissed by those who thought his popular appeal precluded artistic merit. “You can still see some of the disdain in some of the older guard,” Lehman says. “But his music does have staying power, and once you get over the somewhat obvious indebtedness to prior classical and film music, which Williams would be the first person to acknowledge … the music is so complex, and so brilliantly constructed and rewarding to play and rewarding to study, that I think his place in the canon is pretty secure.”</p>
<p id="LCU1SQ">His place in the <em>Star Wars </em>firmament is second to only Lucas’s, and unlike Lucas, he never brought dishonor to the series he’s been burnishing from the start. “Lucas has been on record saying that he attributes at least half of the success of these movies to Williams’s contribution,” Lehman says. “I think that’s completely correct. Without his music, or maybe someone who could write very similar music to him, there would not be this sort of mythological impact or appeal across cultures, or this feeling of romantic nostalgia that is so essential to the way that these movies work and became popular.”</p>
<p id="QJ9wo3">With the Skywalker saga concluded, the franchise finds itself at a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2020/1/6/21051480/future-of-star-wars-episode-10-mandalorian-rise-of-skywalker-disney-lucasfilm">creative crossroads</a>. As Lucasfilm deliberates on what the next chapters of big-screen <em>Star Wars</em> will look like, it’s equally crucial for the studio to decide what those installments will sound like. If Disney designates a successor, it may anoint someone like <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8458796/gordy-haab-star-wars-composer-john-williams-games">Gordy Haab</a>, who’s written remarkably Williams-like scores for several <em>Star Wars </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordy_Haab#Video_Games">video games</a>. But Lehman leans toward a break from the past. “In order for the series to grow and hopefully move beyond this over-reliance on nostalgia, it would be nice to see some legitimately new musical voices heard,” he says, citing Ludwig Göransson’s work in <em>The Mandalorian </em>and John Powell’s in <em>Solo </em>as examples of scores that strike the right balance between old and new.<em> </em>“That, I hope, will be the future, that there’ll be a kind of deference to the Williams model, but not a slavishness toward it.”</p>
<p id="MIHunK">My favorite piece of <em>Star Wars </em>music comes about five minutes into a track called “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ZTMC5mw9U#t=4m46s">The Battle of Endor II</a>.” It swells in the score of <em>Return of the Jedi </em>as an almost unhinged Luke duels his dad on the Death Star II. Those 30 or so transcendent seconds of strings and choral incantations give me chills even after countless listens.</p>
<div id="CYUTBr"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U1MnMA0TzGI?rel=0&start=238" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="YSjZVA">That selection isn’t one of Williams’s leitmotifs. It’s unique, never referenced or repeated. “On the one hand, it would have been pleasing to hear that retuned some way in the sequels, because it is such an amazing musical moment,” Lehman says. “At the same time, I’m kind of like, ‘Well, let’s keep that one fresh.’ … It’s not recycled in any way. There isn’t even music that quite resembles it. It really is a sort of one-scene wonder, and maybe all the more powerful for that reason.”</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="VFVDiJ">Williams has been making musical magic like that for six decades—in <em>Jaws</em>, <em>Close Encounters</em>, <em>Superman</em>,<em> E.T.</em>, <em>Indiana Jones</em>, <em>Home Alone</em>, <em>Jurassic Park</em>, <em>Hook</em>, <em>Harry Potter</em>, <em>Schindler’s List</em>, <em>Saving Private Ryan</em>,<em> </em>and so many more movies, but never more memorably than in <em>Star Wars</em>.<em> </em>He’s anything but a one-scene wonder. But like that snippet from <em>Return of the Jedi</em>, his career is singular. It’s unlikely that anyone will match his indelible body of work, which elevated movies both bad and good. “Having studied these scores for so long, I’ve had to deal with a lot of bad movies, or movies that are deeply flawed,” Lehman says. “But the music, with very few exceptions, is uniformly impressive.” The Skywalker saga sometimes let us down. But Williams always ensured that <em>Star Wars</em> sounded as special as it seemed in our dreams.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2020/1/9/21058016/rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-score-john-williams-last-soundtrackBen Lindbergh2020-01-03T11:55:20-05:002020-01-03T11:55:20-05:00Death by a Thousand J.J. Cuts: Why the Studios Will Always Win
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pW0s4lR3bg5hCyFO3NaYbYfn-qk=/93x0:1160x800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66018576/jj_abrams_cut_getty_disney_ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unsatisfied ‘Star Wars’ diehards are demanding the release of a rumored original J.J. Abrams cut of ‘The Rise of Skywalker.'<em> </em>Unfortunately for those fans, their pleas echo futile movements behind other past cultural institutions.</p> <p id="GMKF4y"><em>Star Wars</em> fans’ disappointment with Episode IX has reached the bargaining stage. Just as disappointed DC superhero diehards once beseeched Warner Bros. to<a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/11/18/20970967/release-the-snyder-cut-justice-league-ben-affleck-gal-gadot-tweets"> #ReleaseTheSnyderCut</a> of <em>Justice League</em>, a noisy corner of the internet is demanding the same of Disney in the aftermath of <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>.</p>
<p id="xWjtiL">My favorite entry in the genre—but by no means the first or only one—comes somewhat predictably from a Redditor who claims to have been in contact with an unnamed source who worked on the production of <em>TROS</em>. This<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/saltierthancrait/comments/eisnd8/heres_what_ive_been_told_from_a_source_that/"> glimmering jewel of r/saltierthancrait</a>, which at more than 2,200 words is more than twice the length of the blog post you’re reading now, claims (but offers no proof) that J.J. Abrams’s original cut of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> was quite unlike the film a gobsmacked moviegoing public saw. According to an on-set source who was granted anonymity out of fear they’d be thrown into the Pits of Grik for exposing company secrets, Abrams’s original cut was three hours and two minutes long, which he reluctantly reduced to two hours and 37 minutes at Disney’s urging. It was only at the premiere that Abrams saw the theatrical version, which was trimmed to two hours and 22 minutes, and even then seemed like the radio edit of a pop song, with every pause removed and the tempo cranked to reduce the runtime. </p>
<p id="HrthX3">Supposedly, <em>TROS</em>’s numerous frayed plot threads would’ve been tied up in a neat bow in Abrams’s cut. Finn’s unresolved secret to tell Rey would’ve been the revelation of his Force sensitivity, Rey would’ve had more time to come to terms with her origins, and ex-Stormtrooper and spacefaring equestrienne Jannah was intended to be Lando’s lost daughter. (This last point tracks, because while the consternation over the physical requirements of Emperor Palpatine creating descendants is fully warranted, Lando definitely fucks.)</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="wC8g96"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035104/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-exit-survey"},{"title":"84 Lingering Questions After ‘The Rise of Skywalker’","url":"https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/22/21033862/rise-of-skywalker-lingering-questions-palpatine-rey-kylo-ren"},{"title":"‘Star Wars’ Is at War With Itself in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/20/21030614/the-rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-jj-abrams-fans"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="gkpENX">The Reddit post goes on to explain that Disney executives not only chopped up the movie because of garden-variety creative differences and concerns over budget, but did so behind Abrams’s back to sabotage a potential move to Warner Bros., where he could revitalize the DC Comics universe as he had the <em>Mission: Impossible</em> and <em>Star Trek</em> franchises. (If anything else in this post is true, the premise that Abrams “revitalized” <em>Star Trek</em> is quite shaky, given that those films were also a hyperkinetic kludge of misunderstood self-reference.) </p>
<p id="EPGdar">Conveniently, everything the good folks at r/saltierthancrait hated was concocted solely by Disney to sell toys or, bizarrely, to accommodate the Chinese government’s dislike for a certain shade of blue. And everything they liked—specifically the charming, pocket-size droid mechanic Babu Frik—was something Abrams not only created but had to fight tooth and nail to save.</p>
<p id="LwUFxd">“Disney insisted on more fan service, less controversy,” the post reads, shortly before mentioning that one chase scene involving the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> was an homage to the 1995 PC game <em>Rebel Assault II</em>. (The author did not specify whether he, his source, or Abrams had ever played <em>Rebel Assault II</em> on<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gugjml8rnbk"> <em>MST3K </em>mode</a>, which replaced all the dialogue in the cutscenes with joke banter, including a running gag about a sale on boots and an absolutely dynamite shaggy dog story about a witch named Sybil.)</p>
<p id="DJ4aps">Various other disappointed customers—albeit less verbose ones—have scrawled a variation of #ReleaseTheJJCut across some virtual bench advertisement or other,<a href="https://twitter.com/Master16Rooster/status/1199108322659643392"> dating back to several weeks before the release of the film</a>. We don’t know how many sincerely believe there’s a different, “better” edition of <em>TROS</em> in the Disney Vault somewhere, or how many are just mocking the <em>Justice League</em> controversy, <em>or</em> how many are just venting indiscriminately because they’re mad the movie wasn’t closer to what they wanted. And because<a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/06/poes-law-troll-cultures-central-rule/"> Poe’s Law</a> has left Earth in a panic over the implications of its supergalactic strength, as Dr. Manhattan once did, we never will. </p>
<p id="KNpK6U">But just for the sake of argument, let’s take the sentiment at face value, because it’s becoming increasingly pervasive. In these waning days of the Anthropocene, it’s more important than ever to identify and interrogate the forces that cause some people to bind themselves so zealously to a cultural artifact that the lines between self and fandom blur, to cancerous effect. In other words, we are now what we like and dislike, and society is worse off for it. </p>
<div id="3ssom5"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qijOj90eOck?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="llPkrI">The people sending strongly worded entreaties to Mickey Mouse in the hope of seeing The J.J. Cut or a version of <em>The Last Jedi </em>with Rose Tico edited out or a purple BB-8 or whatever might come off like (and in many cases are actually) self-deluded goons, but they are 100 percent correct in their underlying belief that the core fabric of titanic cinematic enterprises can be retconned and rewritten at a stroke. Such reinvention is the signature characteristic of 21st-century American studio filmmaking.</p>
<p id="IEoYmF">If popular art was ever produced by artists, completed, and left to stand for consumption and criticism, that is no longer the case. Almost every blockbuster movie is tied in to a franchise, and even successful entries are reimagined, rebooted, and serialized until every last penny shakes out of the film reel and onto the floor.</p>
<p id="q2r89x">In the past 30 years, we’ve gone through six Batmans, four Spider-Mans, and three takes on whether Han Solo murdered Greedo or was merely returning fire. The hero of the <em>Star Wars</em> sequel trilogy has been around for three films and four years, and we’ve been ping-ponged back and forth on her origins and parentage twice, with each twist and head-fake sending huge symbolic ripples through the message of the most beloved American pop culture institution of the past 50 years. If there is no J.J. Cut to release, it’s not because one could not be made.</p>
<p id="zax8kP">This baleful mode of online grievance is ineffectual, but it’s the only recourse available to people who have for good or ill invested in a cultural institution that was left in the hands of a <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/10/21003746/reys-parents-star-wars-rise-of-skywalker">mediocre custodian</a>, who was himself constrained by the boundaries of a form whose potential as art is subordinate to its function as commerce. The result is a broth whose taste is a testament to the number of cooks with a ladle in the pot, and there’s nothing we—the people whose love for the cultural institution made it so profitable in the first place—can do about it. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="DLmCIT">That ought to sound familiar, to fans of <em>Star Wars</em> or<a href="https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/1/14/18181665/mlb-mlbpa-player-power-labor-strike-machado-harper-murray"> baseball</a> or even<a href="https://www.theringer.com/2019/10/31/20942249/deadspin-g-o-media-fired-quit-sports-illustrated-maven-sports-media"> journalism</a>. Whether J.J. Abrams really has a good movie on a hard drive somewhere is beside the point.</p>
<div id="w6KGvF"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g_sBMu1RJ_I?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/1/3/21048232/jj-abrams-cut-star-wars-rise-of-skywalkerMichael Baumann2019-12-24T09:04:03-05:002019-12-24T09:04:03-05:00‘Binge Mode: Star Wars’: Ask the Underscore on Rey’s Yellow Lightsaber—Spoiler Breakdown
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i8b1GmDDBs_QH8nEmqUSfLhj5hM=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65965010/rey_site_thumb.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Mallory and Jason deep dive into ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ yellow lightsaber theories and what it means for Rey’s character</p> <p id="7551IW"><em>Binge Mode</em> hosts Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion dive deep into theories and <em>Star Wars</em> history surrounding yellow lightsabers in light of Rey’s appearance with hers at the end of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>. They go into where she could have found the crystal to power her weapon, what other characters have wielded yellow sabers, and what Rey’s new weapon could indicate for her character.</p>
<p id="aJluI9"></p>
https://www.theringer.com/video/2019/12/24/21035697/binge-mode-star-wars-ask-the-underscore-on-reys-yellow-lightsaber-spoiler-breakdownMallory RubinJason Concepcion2019-12-24T09:00:08-05:002019-12-24T09:00:08-05:00The Last Skywalker: On Kylo Ren’s ‘Star Wars’ Arc
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O6ZqMqzivQ2MdATpjbdXLGcYnvk=/89x0:1156x800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65965000/KyloRenToBen_Disney_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Disney/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>‘The Rise of Skywalker’ brings an end to many things, some more satisfying than others, such as the culmination of the saga’s most compelling villain</p> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Spoiler warning" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pDKv4_m7A233BOwrxpbciIp1c2k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19021663/spoiler_warning_v2.2.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="YHgLtp">In <em>Star Wars, </em>names are everything. Sweet, immaculately conceived Anakin Skywalker reinvents himself as Darth Vader. In the saga’s final scene, Rey, once “just Rey,” adopts the Skywalker moniker. (Yes, this is the sort of piece that discusses a movie’s final scene, as well as all the scenes before it. Consider yourself forewarned.) And before he tosses Kylo Ren down a reactor shaft, the resurrected Emperor Palpatine calls him the “last Skywalker”—but of course that isn’t true. Even before Rey assumes the title herself, Kylo reverts to a different, equally resonant identity: Ben Solo, the name he was born with and initially swore off.</p>
<p id="ksX2zx"><em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>has been roundly criticized, by both <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035104/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-exit-survey">this site</a> and others, for a lack of originality. The movie, the rapidly solidifying consensus holds, is far too indebted to fans’ expectations of the franchise, which they in turn picked up from the original trilogy. Seen through this lens, Kylo Ren is both supporting evidence and a crucial caveat. His ancestry—son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, grandson of Vader—makes him a literal callback; his trajectory, as a dark side disciple compelled to the light by family bonds, makes him a metaphorical one. And yet <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/9/21002649/kylo-ren-star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-adam-driver-redemption">Kylo’s characterization</a>, not so much a villain but a villain in the making, has made him the new trilogy’s single most exciting, and innovative, addition. The feeling is only compounded by his relationship with Rey, with whom he has a kindred-spirits, equal-yet-opposite bond that has enough charge to power a thousand Star Destroyers.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="9bG9wl"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"What’s in a Color? The Significance of Rey’s Lightsaber at the End of ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’","url":"https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/24/21035442/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-rey-lightsaber"},{"title":"‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035104/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-exit-survey"},{"title":"The Debate Over ‘Star Wars’ Is Almost As Old As ‘Star Wars’ Itself","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21034508/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-last-jedi-rian-johnson-debate"},{"title":"84 Lingering Questions After ‘The Rise of Skywalker’","url":"https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/22/21033862/rise-of-skywalker-lingering-questions-palpatine-rey-kylo-ren"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="nKz0ud">Kylo’s story line in <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>threads this delicate line until the very end. His Force-assisted connection with Rey, a holdover from Rian Johnson’s <em>The Last Jedi</em>,<em> </em>continues to supply some of the series’ most electrifying scenes, now escalating from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGIPC71qldA">fateful hand touch</a> into an intragalactic necklace grab, and even the passing of Luke’s lightsaber. But apart from a few minor tweaks, Kylo’s ultimate arc hews closely to Vader’s: rediscovering his moral compass with the help of an immediate family member, turning on his Sith master, and sacrificing himself for the greater good of the Resistance. In lieu of filial devotion, or rather in addition to it, Kylo’s reverse heel turn has a different motivation: attraction to Rey, which <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> makes explicit with a full-on deathbed kiss. Parts of of Kylo’s story embody widespread frustrations with <em>The Rise of Skywalker, </em>while others serve as their most obvious counterpoint.</p>
<p id="1NLK5O">Whether one side of this balance ultimately overpowers the other is almost a personal question, depending as it does on how one answers a litany of subjective questions. Is Kylo’s redemption earned? Can sacrificing his life for Rey’s make up for the thousands, if not millions, he’s taken over the years? Does their romance work as well on the screen as it does in fanfiction? In other words: Has Kylo Ren earned the right to call himself Ben Solo?</p>
<p id="EJcrL9">One of the many intriguing ideas <em>The Last Jedi</em> injected into <em>Star Wars</em>’<em> </em>core narrative was that Kylo, unlike Vader, isn’t the deputy to the Big Bad—he <em>is </em>the Big Bad, made all the more heartbreaking by how close he came to being good. Murdering Han Solo was one thing, given that the father all but gave his son permission to lightsaber him through the stomach; assuming command of the First Order, and the title of Supreme Leader, as Rey literally begs him not to was quite another. (There’s also any number of casual deaths inflicted either directly by Kylo or on his orders, but the nature of storytelling is that we attach ourselves more firmly to protagonists than nameless background players.) When Rey telepathically walks away from Kylo and into the Millennium Falcon with her comrades, it feels like a definitive break: Kylo has chosen his path, and Rey has taken what was assumed to be his rightful place as a Jedi leader.</p>
<p id="OSe0ya">To both legions of <em>Last Jedi </em>dissenters and <em>Rise of Skywalker </em>director J.J. Abrams, who may or may not be one of said dissenters, Johnson’s choices look less like an innovation and more like a frustrating dead end. (Abrams’s editor, Maryann Brandon, <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/16/luke-skywalkers-death-was-a-huge-challenge-post-last-jedi-says-rise-of-skywalker-editor">complained</a> of <em>The Last Jedi, </em>“You can’t just abandon a story.” She was talking about the death of Luke Skywalker, though the sentiment applies to other strands as well.) Much has been made of Palpatine’s sudden, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035070/emperor-palpatine-return-rise-of-skywalker-explainer">underexplained</a> return as a hasty retcon of this third trilogy into the first and a dubiously necessary explanation of Rey’s heritage. Less commented on, though equally crucial, is how Palpatine gives Kylo a foil and <em>Star Wars </em>a scapegoat: With someone more straightforwardly bad on the scene, Kylo is now free to unite with the good against a common enemy.</p>
<div id="dbXlNP"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g_sBMu1RJ_I?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="1Z14p4">For the first half of the movie, at least, Kylo’s particular brand of noxiousness gets some additional shading. Kylo has always functioned as an indirect commentary on aggrieved, entitled, distinctly modern masculinity—never obvious or preachy, but clear enough to tap into the zeitgeist. In <em>The Last Jedi</em>,<em> </em>his entreaties to Rey resemble nothing so much as negging. (“You’re nothing … but not to me.”) In <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>,<em> </em>he’s transformed into the guy who can’t take no for an answer after being rejected; if they had Reddit in space, Kylo would be on it, complaining about the friend zone. Running with the ForceTime device, even after its seeming disconnection, is a minor override of Johnson’s story. Still, it’s in service of an interesting progression in Kylo’s character: refusing to respect Rey’s line in the sand, insisting he’ll hunt her down and change her mind.</p>
<p id="mPtsAI">Once the inevitable kicks in, <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>trades some of Kylo’s specificity for the familiar beats of a redemption arc. Leia, in the culmination and sole effective use of the Carrie Fisher footage Abrams stitched into a makeshift role, sacrifices herself to connect with her son via the Force. Han, a non-Jedi, stretches the Force Ghost concept to urge his son it’s not too late. Rey leads by example and heals the potentially fatal lightsaber wound she’d just inflicted. All these personal appeals make Kylo’s eventual defection legible: He renounced his loved ones only after they renounced him first, when Luke gave into his suspicions and nearly tried to kill his student; naturally, their acceptance of his flaws and refusal to confirm his self-image compels him back. It’s not quite cathartic, but we do get one last comically puerile tantrum when Kylo hurls his lightsaber into the ocean. </p>
<p id="J9L8h4">Then again, it’s the nature of heroes to be less compelling than villains. Compared with Kylo’s quavering menace, Ben Solo and his tasteful-neutral tunic are … kind of a letdown. (Between the Uniqlo outfit, long stretches hiding Adam Driver’s face under a helmet, and a tragic lack of shirtless shots, Abrams’s sartorial track record is less than great.) What sits awkwardly is the <em>how </em>of Kylo’s turnaround: After he brings Rey back from the dead, before his life is taken in exchange for hers, they kiss. I am as fervent a Rey-Kylo shipper as there is, but something about what should’ve been a triumph rang false to me. Part of what gives the pair’s connection its charge is the forbidden-fruit aspect; by all objective measures, these two <em>shouldn’t </em>be together, and yet we can’t help ourselves from wanting them to be. And even though Rey and Ben won’t have an actual relationship, the moment comes uncomfortably close to making her affection a reward for Ben’s doing the right thing, precisely the logic Kylo’s always subtly parodied. I found myself wishing for an alternate ending, one that lets Rey either remain the celibate-monk figure of past Jedi masters—keeping her and Ben’s farewell to one last, charged stare—or one more thoroughly explores the implications of her breaking that cycle. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="rcQbVu">But where <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>’s most abrasive elements actively detract from their predecessors, <em>Rise</em>’s Kylo material is merely least-best. Unlike the Rey reveal or the write-off of Rose, Kylo’s fate isn’t something it’s easy to picture the movie being better without. Rather, it’s a testament to how, even when <em>Rise of Skywalker </em>works as it’s supposed to, the task it’s saddled with is monumentally hard. Endings are all but impossible; besides, they’re hardly ever what we remember. Ten years from now, what will we still be talking about: the saber toss, or the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cugJ7JzvM">throne room scene</a>? Ben Solo is dead. Long live Kylo Ren.</p>
<aside id="MYDcCd"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/24/21036436/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-kylo-ren-redemption-ben-soloAlison Herman2019-12-24T06:00:00-05:002019-12-24T06:00:00-05:00What’s in a Color? The Significance of Rey’s Lightsaber at the End of ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RO_LHbM9lGV36AyGdKjRfb8n9OY=/67x0:1134x800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65964388/LightsaberColors_Getty_Disney_Ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Getty Images/Disney/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The last film in the Skywalker saga may have left a bad taste in people’s mouths, but the latest ‘Star Wars’ entry did end on an intriguing hue</p> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Spoiler warning" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IheVqtL-9dvwrsXwYOWD3bptn4U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19051699/spoiler_warning_v2.2.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="D3a2OV">Though <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> spent much of its running time returning to old ideas, the film’s final scene did offer something new. After defeating her grandfather, Emperor Palpatine, and ending the Sith threat (at least for now), Rey journeys to Tatooine. There, outside Luke’s childhood home, she buries his and Leia’s lightsabers, before igniting her own, crafted from the staff we first saw her wield on Jakku. That much is normal; building a lightsaber is common practice among Jedi. It’s what happens when she ignites it that is exciting.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><div id="99qinW"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/1WyL8b7gue12hz2jaHFefD" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 232px;" allowfullscreen="" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="mZFI5B">Unlike Luke’s or Leia’s sabers—green and blue, respectively—Rey’s is yellow, marking the first time a weapon of that color has graced the big screen (though it’s been seen with some frequency in <em>Star Wars</em> television shows). </p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="tRVueG"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Exit Survey","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035104/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-exit-survey"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="EUoO77">Across the nine films of the Skywalker saga, we see only four colors of saber. Jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker used blue lightsabers, while Yoda favored a green saber. The Sith use red lightsabers, and because Samuel L. Jackson wanted to stand out in a crowded battle scene, Mace Windu was granted a purple lightsaber.</p>
<p id="gm8WmQ">As Jyn Erso explains in <em>Rogue One</em>, lightsabers are powered by kyber crystals—a rare Force-attuned shard scattered across the galaxy. Think of them as the batteries that power the blades. When first acquired, kyber crystals are colorless, but they take on a color <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/5/31/8689811/lightsaber-colors-star-wars">depending on who finds them</a>, and what that person does to them. Each color of kyber crystal has meaning, and the wider <em>Star Wars</em> canon has seen almost every possible hue imaginable represented. Even within colors, there are subsets that differentiate sabers. Obi-Wan’s third saber, for example, <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lightsaber_crystal">was a “medium blue,”</a> while Anakin Skywalker’s first was “deep blue.” By now, though, there’s enough <em>Star Wars </em>lore to classify lightsaber colors based on defining characteristics:</p>
<ul>
<li id="Cwe6hj">
<strong>Blue lightsabers </strong>are the most common among Jedi, and favored by Jedi Guardians. Typically, a blue saber indicates that the user is highly skilled in battle, and the Jedi Guardians were known as the best fighters in the order.</li>
<li id="pxxgSs">
<strong>Green lightsabers </strong>are the second most popular among Jedi, and are used by the Jedi Consular, the Jedi class that was often sent on diplomatic missions. The Jedi who use green sabers prefer communication to combat, and are often strong with the Force.</li>
<li id="FqPvSF">
<strong>Red lightsabers </strong>are the weapon of choice for the Sith. To turn a crystal red, a Force user has to pump negative emotions like hate or rage into it, in a process known as bleeding.</li>
<li id="54CqFc">
<strong>Purple lightsabers</strong> are rare among the Jedi; the only two characters from the main films known to use one were Mace Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi (who used a blue saber in the films, but had a purple saber in his youth). Purple sabers indicate that the Jedi holding them fights with an aggressive style and understands both the light and dark sides of the force.</li>
<li id="OTrizF">
<strong>White lightsabers </strong>are typically used by Imperial knights, and were made most famous by Ahsoka Tano, a Jedi who was once Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, and who left the order before making appearances in <em>Star Wars Rebels</em>.</li>
<li id="bfHyCO">
<strong>Black lightsabers </strong>are extremely rare. There’s been only one ever shown: <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tarre_Vizsla">Tarre Vizsla</a>, the first Mandalorian child in the Jedi order, used one, known as the Darksaber.</li>
<li id="OwRVJD">
<strong>Orange lightsabers </strong>are the newest in the canon, first seen in the 2019 video game <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2019/11/21/20976093/mandalorian-jedi-fallen-order-rise-skywalker-star-wars-future"><em>Jedi: Fallen Order</em></a>. In the decanonized spheres of the <em>Star Wars</em> universe, there were only a handful of characters to use an orange blade.</li>
</ul>
<div id="1onfL2"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qijOj90eOck?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="wCAr4G">Which brings us to Rey’s new yellow lightsaber. In <em>Star Wars</em> lore, the yellow saber isn’t as rare as it has been on the big screen. Jedi Sentinels, who sought balance between the Consulars (who were strong with the force) and Guardians (who were skilled in battle), used yellow blades. In the animated series <em>Star Wars Rebels</em> and <em>Star Wars: The Clone Wars</em>, <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jedi_Temple_Guard">Jedi temple guards</a> wielded yellow lightsabers, as did Dathomirian Nightsister/onetime Sith assassin Asajj Ventress. And before she switched to her white sabers, Ahsoka Tano owned a yellow blade as well.</p>
<p id="MIVjNC">That Rey finishes her arc with a yellow lightsaber is noteworthy. <a href="https://ultrasabers.com/holocron/the-lore-history-behind-the-yellow-lightsaber/">The Sentinels who made the color famous</a> were masters in both combat and Force use, were often excellent spies, and made for exceptional defenders of the Jedi order. And they were few and far between: Even in the animated series, Sentinels were relatively uncommon, sparser than the Guardians or Consulars. But in many ways, the yellow saber makes sense for Rey. She’s shown herself to be highly skilled with a saber, going back to her first battle with Kylo when, as an untrained fighter on the snowy surface of Ilum (a planet known for its large quantities of kyber crystals), she more than held her own. As the trilogy progressed, so, too, did her skill in swordplay—shout-out to the Throne Room Scene—and with the Force, as well, even to the point that <em>she</em> couldn’t believe what she was doing. </p>
<div id="i5KbPM"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D4cugJ7JzvM?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<p class="c-end-para" id="oPQAj7">Only time will tell whether Rey is indeed the last Jedi, as the finale of the trilogy’s second film would suggest, but her choice of lightsaber color indicates a protective instinct in line with her story arc. Rey loves and defends her friends, has shown skill in both battle and with the Force, and holds the Jedi order in high regard, as proved when she swiped the ancient Jedi texts from Luke’s hideaway on Ahch-To. While we may not know what will happen to her next, if her saber is any indication, the future of the galaxy is secure—at least for now.</p>
<aside id="b1sGpP"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/24/21035442/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-rey-lightsaberShaker Samman2019-12-23T10:46:57-05:002019-12-23T10:46:57-05:00At the Box Office, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Underperforms and ‘Cats’ Bombs
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SEw-NwUOKnpRFYr5ytl4vdtkq3s=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65959435/cats_starwars.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Universal Pictures/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>‘Episode IX’ didn’t make as much over opening weekend as its predecessors, but it grossed a whole lot more than Tom Hooper’s film</p> <p id="lmH9Gn">With all due respect to Tom Hooper’s Cthulhuian hellscape known as <em>Cats</em>, the question wasn’t whether <em>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker</em> would dominate the weekend box office; it was by how much it’d outpace the competition. And with an opening weekend gross of $175.5 million, per<em> </em><a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3446670340/?ref_=bo_hm_hp">Box Office Mojo</a>, <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> put together the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/release_top_opn_wkd_in_month/?in_occasion=december&ref_=bo_csw_ac&ref_=bo_at_a">third-highest December opening of all time</a>—a massive haul elevated by the film’s taking in nearly $200 million in international markets. But the results, while staggering, were slightly bittersweet for Disney: a reminder that context is just as important as box office receipts.</p>
<p id="XCNZMd">The two films with higher December openings than <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>? That would be the <em>Star Wars</em> entries that preceded it in the so-called Skywalker Saga: <em>The Force Awakens</em> (with nearly $248 million) and <em>The Last Jedi</em> ($220 million). It’s not like audience interest in <em>Star Wars</em> has completely dissipated—the closest thing this franchise can get to a box office bomb is <em>Solo: A Star Wars Story</em>, which still made $393 million—but this downward spiral could hint at a slightly less enthused response to this trilogy, which has found itself mired in what appears to be <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/20/21030614/the-rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-jj-abrams-fans">competing visions</a> between directors J.J. Abrams (<em>The Force Awakens</em>, <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>) and Rian Johnson (<em>The Last Jedi</em>). </p>
<p id="FipqB6">Regardless of where you stand on the seeming <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/19/21028958/star-wars-last-jedi-reaction-rise-of-skywalker-rian-johnson-jj-abrams">Abrams-Johnson divide,</a> the dissonance among the three films seems to have affected how moviegoers are responding to <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>. The film, storywise, is kind of all over the place and leaves lots of <a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/22/21033862/rise-of-skywalker-lingering-questions-palpatine-rey-kylo-ren">confusing, unanswered questions</a>, including <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035070/emperor-palpatine-return-rise-of-skywalker-explainer">never properly explaining how Emperor Palpatine survived</a> getting thrown down an air shaft by his protégé. (I am also permanently scarred—spoiler alert—by the knowledge that the Emperor has canonically fucked.) <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> earned a B-plus grade from CinemaScore, which doesn’t <em>sound</em> bad, but it’s the only live-action <em>Star Wars </em>entry that didn’t receive an A. Even George Lucas’s much-maligned prequels all got A-minus scores; the only other <em>Star Wars </em>B grade came courtesy of the 2008 <em>Clone Wars</em> animated film. </p>
<p id="eCgzgt"><em>Last Jedi </em>detractors, who have manifested in some annoying ways online, would want you to believe the problems began with Johnson’s film. And, look, fans are totally within their right to have their issues with the movie—as long as they aren’t <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2018/06/kelly-marie-tran-deletes-instagram-posts-after-harassment.html">harassing actresses on social media</a>—but on the whole, <em>Star War</em>s fans seemed to respond well to the first sequel. Like <em>The Force Awakens</em>, <em>The Last Jedi</em> had an A grade. </p>
<p id="dPpsXl">Some of this mess could’ve been avoided by Disney, had there been more oversight on important story lines—such as Rey’s parentage—and a bit more Marvel-like synergy. But don’t feel too bad for one of the most powerful entertainment companies on the planet: <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> is still making bank and, issues aside, will probably exceed $1 billion at the box office. The question is where <em>Star Wars</em> will go from here. </p>
<p id="vSpYZN">The future of the franchise on the big screen is a lot murkier than its prospects on Disney+, where <em>The Mandalorian</em> is thriving with a steady stream of random comedian cameos, Werner Herzog, and of course, Baby Yoda. (An Obi-Wan show and a Cassian Andor–led series that may or may not see <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/11/9/18079202/cassian-andor-star-wars-tv-series-diego-luna-jabba-the-hutt">Diego Luna touch Jabba the Hutt’s slimy skin</a>—fingers crossed for our lovable weirdo—are also on the way.) Rian Johnson is still, in theory, going to work on his own <a href="https://www.starwars.com/news/rian-johnson-writer-director-of-star-wars-the-last-jedi-to-create-all-new-star-wars-trilogy"><em>Star Wars </em>trilogy</a>—though both parties have been relatively quiet since that initial announcement in 2017. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, better known as the guys responsible for the haphazard finish to <em>Game of Thrones</em>, left their own plans for a trilogy in a galaxy far, far away for greener pastures (read: <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-creators-close-200m-netflix-deal-1230119">$200 million</a>) at Netflix. The imminent future of <em>Star Wars</em> may lie in streaming, and perhaps the franchise needs a bit of a reset after this trilogy. And when the day comes to make more <em>Star Wars</em> movies, Disney can do a lot worse than being led by the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/9/26/20885801/kevin-feige-mcu-star-wars">steady hand of Kevin Feige</a>. </p>
<p id="L9WgQ9">Now that we’ve got <em>Star Wars</em> out of the way, it’s time to address the more pressing matter: the schadenfreude of <em>Cats</em>. The internet initially pounced on this waking nightmare in the summer, when the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/7/18/20700089/cats-movie-trailer-66-questions">first trailer</a> evoked the sort of surrealist horror you rarely see outside of David Lynch’s filmography. But just because the internet loved making <em>Cats</em> memes and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2019/12/18/21028823/cats-review-musical-taylor-swift-idris-elba-jason-derulo-francesca-hayward">reviews of the movie were hilarious</a> didn’t necessarily mean people would actually pay to torture themselves—as a result, the film bombed with a meager $6.5 million in its first weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. That is <em>really</em> bad, especially when you factor in a <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2684847617/?ref_=bo_hm_rs">production budget of nearly $100 million</a>. </p>
<p id="wz5nTZ"><em>What was that money spent on? </em>you might ask while staring at the titular cats’ terrifying, mangled faces. Universal might have the same question, seeing as theaters have been notified that they’ll be receiving another version of the film with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/universal-notifies-theaters-cats-is-being-updated-improved-visual-effects-1264689">updated special effects</a>—one in which you apparently won’t see Judi Dench’s human hand and wedding ring. (Reminder: She is supposed to be a cat.) </p>
<div id="tYnAVV">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This isn’t a joke: CATS was rushed into theaters before being finished so a new version is being sent to theaters with updated effects. How do you know if you have the old version? Look for Judi Dench’s human hand, wedding ring and all. <a href="https://t.co/VDUOevePU9">pic.twitter.com/VDUOevePU9</a></p>— Jenelle Riley (@jenelleriley) <a href="https://twitter.com/jenelleriley/status/1208659588414758912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2019</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="MPEsH7">This is incredible. I would almost feel bad for <em>Cats</em>, were Tom Hooper not the most boring, milquetoast director to have ever lived. The best-case scenario for Universal is that this film has a long, post-Christmas life at the box office, like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/07/19/box-office-greatest-showman-legs-hugh-jackman-zendaya-zac-efron-mamma-mia/#59f5f446568a"><em>The Greatest Showman</em></a> a couple of years ago. But <em>that</em> movie clearly benefited from positive word of mouth. Every person I’ve spoken to who’s seen <em>Cats</em> didn’t necessarily have a <em>bad</em> time—they were more like, “Please have an edible and go see this”—but when I’m high I’d rather just lie in my bed and listen to synthwave mixes, not pay to give myself a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/nov/10/miamis-dion-waiters-has-panic-attack-after-eating-weed-gummies-reports-say">Dion Waiters–esque panic attack</a> looking at CGI cockroaches and mice with human faces. (These are apparently the real, horrifying things you will see in <em>Cats</em>.) What a win for dogs. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="oGpUDq">So while Disney might not be totally elated with how fans are responding to <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>at the box office thus far, there’s always a silver lining. It didn’t make <em>Cats</em>.</p>
<aside id="RSlJ0Y"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035145/the-rise-of-skywalker-star-wars-cats-box-officeMiles Surrey2019-12-23T10:30:31-05:002019-12-23T10:30:31-05:00‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Exit Survey
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FSOZLC6deuS3Ps2_jaEEro9744o=/117x0:1184x800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65959342/skywalker_exit_disney_ringer.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Disney/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ‘Star Wars’ Skywalker saga has ended—not with a bang but with a whimper. Dejected but still harboring some hope, the Ringer staff divulged their thoughts on the movie.</p> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Spoiler warning" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IheVqtL-9dvwrsXwYOWD3bptn4U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19051699/spoiler_warning_v2.2.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="RhZAnW"><em>As Tyrion Lannister, lover of “stories,” might tell you himself: Endings aren’t easy. And with the release of </em>Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise of Skywalker <em>this past weekend, one of the most iconic sagas in the history of film has ended—and </em><a href="https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/22/21033862/rise-of-skywalker-lingering-questions-palpatine-rey-kylo-ren"><em>it was not easy</em></a><em>. Faced with the weight of 40 years of storytelling and the wrath of J.J. Abrams, </em>The Ringer <em>staff attempted to summarize their feelings about this ninth and last installment.</em></p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="hyLHT5">
<h4 id="GSdi81">1. What is your tweet-length review of <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em>? </h4>
<p id="TFlVPz"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/zach-kram"><strong>Zach Kram</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Surprise! This website has been secretly operated by Emperor Palpatine THIS WHOLE TIME. How? You don’t know. Why? It doesn’t matter. But he’s back now, and controlling everything!</p>
<p id="6pw9QI"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/alison-herman"><strong>Alison Herman</strong></a><strong>: </strong></p>
<div id="DmbLDY">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">it started so high (with a closeup of adam driver) and then sank so low..........</p>— Alison Herman (@aherman2006) <a href="https://twitter.com/aherman2006/status/1208536546338471937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2019</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="6wUwdY"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/shaker-samman"><strong>Shaker Samman</strong></a><strong>: </strong>You know those <em>ClickHole</em> choose-your-own-adventures where every poor decision ends up piling on top of the other until you’ve learned every possible way to lose the game? This was that, and <a href="https://quizzes.clickhole.com/which-one-of-my-garbage-sons-are-you-1825124556">J.J. Abrams is the Dreaded Laramie</a>.</p>
<p id="JIir2v"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/andrew-gruttadaro"><strong>Andrew Gruttadaro</strong></a><strong>: </strong>A week before this movie came out, I tweeted this:</p>
<div id="MVlM31">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Last Jedi is great. The Rise of Skywalker may make it legendary in retrospect.</p>— Andrew Gruttadaro (@andrewgrutt) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewgrutt/status/1204804242030178310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2019</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="lC8KvB">Unfortunately it holds up. </p>
<p id="wGRzR1"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/chris-almeida"><strong>Chris Almeida</strong></a><strong>: </strong>Dear J.J. Abrams:</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QRS6Fz9kzUYpNccFX9Ty-ioJJoU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19550316/pasted_image_0__15_.png">
</figure>
<p id="BS9Smd"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/miles-surrey"><strong>Miles Surrey</strong></a><strong>: </strong>At least we still have <em>The Mandalorian</em>!</p>
<p id="PVcCvx"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/michael-baumann"><strong>Michael Baumann</strong></a><strong>: </strong>I’m glad the reviews were so bad because they lowered my expectations so far that I genuinely enjoyed <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> on first viewing, even as a rabid Team Rian Johnson partisan.</p>
<p id="kOmm85"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/claire-mcnear"><strong>Claire McNear</strong></a><strong>: </strong>As a person who likes <em>Star Wars</em> but is emphatically not a <em>Star Wars</em> Person, I mostly enjoyed it. But I have some questions.</p>
<p id="HXGVeP"><a href="https://www.theringer.com/authors/ben-lindbergh"><strong>Ben Lindbergh</strong></a><strong>:</strong> It lost me at the first two sentences of the opening crawl. I disliked it slightly less the second time I saw it—it was more comprehensible on a basic plot level, at least—so maybe if I see it several more times it will stop seeming like a creatively bankrupt remake of <em>Episode VI</em>?</p>
<aside id="k7n0gN"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"84 Lingering Questions After ‘The Rise of Skywalker’","url":"https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2019/12/22/21033862/rise-of-skywalker-lingering-questions-palpatine-rey-kylo-ren"},{"title":"The Debate Over Star Wars Is Almost As Old As Star Wars Itself ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21034508/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-last-jedi-rian-johnson-debate"},{"title":"‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Didn’t Kill the Past—the Past Killed It","url":"https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/20/21031442/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-review-saga-ending"}]}'></div></aside><h4 id="c7JT5S">2. What was the best moment of the film?</h4>
<p id="wfmEq1"><strong>Samman: </strong>The Kylo-Rey moments, as they’ve been for the entirety of this new trilogy, were superb. As was true with <em>The Last Jedi</em>, the ForceTime moments between the duo were wonderful, and the saber duels they partake in were some of the best in memory. I’ll be rewatching clips of the battle in Ren’s chamber and on the ocean wreck for a while.</p>
<p id="CPtSoC"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>Chewie’s reaction to losing Leia.</p>
<p id="cnVgsK"><strong>Herman: </strong>It was a little on the nose, but an old man sucking the life force from a promising new generation to revive himself captures the spirit of this whole thing pretty well, so points for self-awareness!</p>
<p id="F3iWtc"><strong>Baumann: </strong>I would die and/or kill for Babu Frik. <em>Star Wars</em>’ greatest legacy is cute mechanics.</p>
<p id="aA2Lft"><strong>Kram: </strong>Nothing from this movie reached the majesty of the throne room scene or the Holdo maneuver from <em>The Last Jedi</em>—but Rey’s surprise Force lightning attack on the ship we thought was carrying Chewie came close. It’s too bad the film undercut those stakes almost immediately.</p>
<p id="QGl0Sh"><strong>Almeida: </strong>When Rey thought she had killed Chewie, because it felt like the movie might have been willing to actually take some risks.</p>
<p id="LzFLNN"><strong>McNear: </strong>All the Kylo Ren–Rey chats from afar were excellent.</p>
<p id="AbSGr3"><strong>Surrey: </strong>The Rey-Kylo dynamic remains the single most interesting part of this new trilogy, and I think it’s one of the few things J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson seemed to agree on. Their relationship is fascinating, complex, and ultimately, tragic. Also, Babu Frik is my new best friend, and I appreciate how Palpatine’s scenes looked like they were from the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAchA32z2zM">director’s cut of <em>Event Horizon</em></a>.</p>
<p id="lG1lLZ"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>I absolutely <em>loved </em>how one of the major changes Kylo Ren made after turning good was just … rocking streetwear? Like, “Yeah I’m a good guy now. Call me Ben. Also? I only wear Yeezy.” (There’s a larger discussion to be had about how the good guys wear <em>no </em>fucking armor, though. What’s up with that? What’s so evil about putting on some protection from LITERAL SKY LASERS?)<strong> </strong></p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ro2riO9lUP6jfw4zrb-vfpk0-xw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19550314/image__4_.jpg">
<cite>Disney</cite>
</figure>
<h4 id="AXci9n">3. What was your least favorite part of the movie? </h4>
<p id="Xy5Ffx"><strong>Almeida: </strong>I guess when the movie’s main antagonist was revealed in the crawl with “The galaxy has heard a mysterious broadcast, a threat of REVENGE in the sinister voice of the late EMPEROR PALPATINE,” I knew we were really in for it.</p>
<p id="z1np8a"><strong>Herman: </strong>They really turned <em>Star Wars</em> into <em>Avengers: Endgame</em>. <em>Star Wars</em> has always stood apart for being one of the most powerfully simplistic and tactile stories in a landscape otherwise filled with convoluted CGI. <em>Rise of Skywalker</em> caves to the pressure and devolves from a movie into a checklist, with every character serviced and every thread tied off until there’s no space left where the actual story should be. I expected to be put off by this movie’s themes. I didn’t expect it to be so irritated by its structure and style.</p>
<p id="VxY3jX"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>How aggressively the movie went out of its way to shade <em>The Last Jedi</em>. Like, I can get that there’s some disagreement or—even if I philosophically loathe it—that Disney may have wanted to course-correct in the face of fan criticism. But <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> actually has a line disrespecting the Holdo maneuver, one of the most stunning sequences in <em>Star Wars </em>history. It reeked of jealousy and pettiness, and made me completely quit on the movie. </p>
<div class="c-float-right"><div id="oceM8q"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/1WyL8b7gue12hz2jaHFefD" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 232px;" allowfullscreen="" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="R0HouV"><strong>Surrey: </strong>All the moments that read like a transparent rebuke to Rian Johnson and <em>The Last Jedi</em>? It should go without saying but as long as your argument isn’t <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/">rooted in racism or misogyny</a>, it’s totally fine to not like <em>The Last Jedi</em>. But trying to retcon most of that film in service of, I don’t know, J.J. Abrams’s bruised ego and the whims of a few <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/12/18/16791754/star-wars-the-last-jedi-negative-reaction-reddit-fans">loud fans on Reddit</a> isn’t just a huge waste of time—it sets a ridiculous precedent. I would love to know what went into Rose suddenly becoming a nonexistent character, Kylo feeling the need to repair his dumb helmet, and Rey being a Palpatine.</p>
<p id="y55Ixz"><strong>Kram: </strong>Beyond the actual plot issues (and hoo boy were there actual plot issues), the frenetic pace was discomfiting. The best entries in the series mixed the loud scenes with quieter moments, allowing their stories and character arcs to breathe—but every scene in this movie was big and bombastic and full of gunshots and yelling. </p>
<p id="JlCz2N"><strong>Baumann: </strong><em>“OK so we have the climactic final battle and the enemy is … ummmm … A MILLION STAR DESTROYERS AND THEY ALL HAVE DEATH STAR WEAPONS!” </em></p>
<p id="rtBaED">The big-picture stuff is what it is. I can live with it. And the dialogue and visuals were all broadly competent. But everything in between—from pacing to determining the scope of major action set pieces—seems to have been constructed with all the care of “Well, I brought my dinosaur who eats force-field dogs.” We ought to expect a greater degree of imagination from billion-dollar sci-fi screenwriters.</p>
<p id="RfnY8E"><strong>Samman: </strong>From the opening scroll, which attempts to shoehorn in an aggressive plot turn, to clunky dialogue, to actions without stakes and an unearned ending, this was the most disappointed I’ve ever been leaving a <em>Star Wars</em> movie.</p>
<p id="1NGVit"><strong>McNear: </strong>This point has been made about <em>Star Wars</em> a million times, but I was bummed by the total absence of gray area: You’re either a good guy or a fascist who wants to explode worlds all the time and fondle people’s throats, and there’s no in between. Given how great so much of the Kylo Ren–Rey buildup was, it felt surprising that his pitch for her to join him was still just to say “the dark side” over and over. I want to hear some substantive discussion of policy, OK?!</p>
<h4 id="h4N1Bq">4. Let’s get it out of the way: What’s your take on the reveal about Rey?</h4>
<p id="qPwGEl"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>The problem isn’t the reveal—the problem is the lack of work done to set up and explain the reveal. </p>
<p id="xPJXXW"><strong>Almeida: </strong>We didn’t know that the Emperor was alive until the crawl of the final movie, we didn’t know that he’d had kids, and none of this was really explained AT ALL.</p>
<p id="LqwKhO"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>Any time you have a chance to make your trilogy’s central twist a completely predictable repeat of a previous trilogy’s central twist, you have to take it, even if means retconning much of the middle movie.</p>
<p id="j8Og33"><strong>Baumann: </strong>The forces of righteousness lost this battle years ago and I’m just tired now. It’s fine for what it was.</p>
<p id="polcxX"><strong>Kram: </strong>I’ll let Rian Johnson take this one. In 2017, the <em>Last Jedi</em> director <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/rey-parents-skywalker-abrams-johnson-ridley-interview-929073/">said of Rey’s parentage</a>, “I really believe that it has to be rooted in something that has an emotional impact, and that’s the only thing that matters. Surprise is fine, but surprise by itself is cheap ... you better damn well make sure that it also means something and is satisfying beyond just the ‘Oh, it was this’ reveal.”</p>
<p id="tsEpQr">Luke and Vader enjoyed a preexisting connection that amplified the emotional impact of the famous “I am your father” reveal. Rey and Palpatine, who had never met or interacted, did not—and that’s to say nothing of the reveal’s reversal of a welcome theme from <em>The Last Jedi</em>: That anyone can be a hero regardless of bloodline or family legacy.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="NxBdEP"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="P20xsZ"><strong>McNear: </strong>That reveal, plus the weird hints that Finn was maybe-kinda-sorta Force-sensitive, gave me the feeling that there were approximately 12 total people in this world, and all (OK, most) of them just happen to be blessed with absurd magical powers. The odds of this seem unlikely! Fundamentally, the story of two family trees has much less interest for me here than the story of, well, just a plain old world and the people in it. Forgive the comparison, but it’s like if Harry Potter had secretly been Voldemort’s grandson—it would have made his survival in infancy, and the fact that Dumbledore et al. were always so invested in him, that much less interesting, because of course they would be. It’s a better story when Harry is just some kid whose mother loved him.</p>
<p id="EY3LJj"><strong>Samman: </strong>One of the most exciting parts of <em>The Last Jedi</em> was the idea that not everything in the <em>Star Wars</em> universe had to be dynastic. Rey coming from nothing was inspiring, and could’ve set the stage for a movie focused on the power of self and teamwork. Instead, the twist resurrected a long-forgotten name in hopes fans would consider the plot twist worthwhile.</p>
<p id="jXEY0u"><strong>Herman: </strong><em>Star Wars</em>—a story about a populist crew of idealistic rebels rising up against an autocratic regime—is an aristocracy. Making Rey a Palpatine, and implicitly arguing that being a Palpatine is the only reason she matters, doesn’t just fly in the face of Rian Johnson’s brilliant contribution to the franchise—it’s a bizarre reversal of the themes that contribution was ultimately in service of. What good is a story about people asserting their right to agency and autonomy if there really are some who are more important than others? That the revelation is handled in such slapdash, half-baked fashion only adds insult to injury.</p>
<p id="RqsgzS"><strong>Surrey: </strong>I swear this isn’t a bit, but I got distracted by two things: Jodie Comer is Rey’s mom, and it is now canon that the Emperor fucked.</p>
<h4 id="97au8q">5. In many ways, Emperor Palpatine looms over <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>—and retroactively, this entire new trilogy. Was he a worthy final villain?</h4>
<p id="97gXJB"><strong>Kram: </strong>Yes, he was—in 1983, in <em>Return of the Jedi</em>, when he fell down a reactor shaft, he exploded, and the moon-sized weapon he was on exploded thereafter.</p>
<p id="yzRYXd"><strong>Baumann: </strong>I think putting a major point of exposition <a href="https://twitter.com/Polygon/status/1208064528765861888?s=20">in a <em>Fortnite</em> Easter egg</a> tells you all you need to know.</p>
<p id="zv1wE7"><strong>Samman: </strong>The addition of Palpatine was almost absurd. Palpatine wasn’t a clone. He wasn’t a ghost. He somehow survived being thrown down a shaft and also a planet-sized space station explosion with only some minor appendage damage? And then he spent the next few decades in self-exile building ships manned by God knows who and propping up puppets instead of returning to power for … reasons?</p>
<p id="C5CjdC"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>My guy was strapped to a crane.</p>
<p id="LOVrbG"><strong>Surrey: </strong>I love Ian McDiarmid and you can tell he’s really having fun here, but if <em>Rise of Skywalker</em> can’t even bring itself to explain how exactly the Emperor came back—while most of the film is overexplained to the point of exhaustion—then maybe it was a bad idea to begin with.</p>
<p id="G2MocI"><strong>Herman: </strong>Palpatine has always been a nothingburger of an archnemesis, lacking any of the complexity or mystery that’s made Darth Vader such an icon. <em>Rise of Skywalker</em> does nothing to make him interesting, and in fact takes our interest in him distressingly for granted. Think of the Grand Canyon–sized gap between “I am your father” (<em>gasp!</em>) and the offhand reveal Palpatine had a son (<em>shrug</em>). No thanks!</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/F9opsZkUjE7u8zSoOEoEKTAcpLM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19550315/star_wars_rise_skywalker_ending_explained.jpg">
<cite>Disney</cite>
</figure>
<h4 id="kujAmu">6. Speaking of villains, let’s talk about Kylo Ren’s arc …</h4>
<p id="jst7cI"><strong>Herman: </strong>Ben Solo left behind a promising career as a menswear influencer to join the dark side. Sad!</p>
<p id="ceZIcE"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>There were bits of his redemption arc that bothered me—the return of the mask, Han Solo’s unnecessary cameo—but I’m perfectly OK with Kylo’s story ending with him truly becoming his grandfather’s grandson by sacrificing himself to defeat an old pale guy.<strong> </strong></p>
<p id="RsKfvI"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Genuinely compelling, though it’s absolutely devastating we didn’t get more of Ben Solo, since all he wears are oversized sweaters. Dude looks like a cool yoga instructor from Seattle.</p>
<p id="W953RX"><strong>McNear: </strong>It worked for me until the very end. I think I might have had a harder time buying it had our boy ever explained his affinity for the dark side in more depth than it being a waypoint to more power, but it’s not like it was a betrayal of our emo king to reveal that he’s been conflicted all this time.</p>
<p id="fehZmu"><strong>Almeida: </strong>I was fine with his redemption. The movie didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Seeing Ben with a blue lightsaber was cool. I’m glad he finally ditched the cape.</p>
<p id="YoFHwD"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>I found Kylo more compelling when he was conflicted than I did after he went back to being Ben. On the whole, though, he’s a top-tier character in the history of <em>Star Wars</em>.</p>
<p id="FrSKR1"><strong>Samman: </strong>Kylo’s arc from Ren to Ben, his internal conflict, clear love of Rey, and final sacrifice make him the most compelling character from the new trilogy, and the conclusion of his narrative makes me that much angrier that we didn’t get a film with him as the central piece. The strongest parts of this new saga have centered on his relationship with Rey, and instead of highlighting that, Abrams chose to focus on a wild goose hunt for a decrepit grandfather who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmZexg8sxyk">probably inspired that MGMT song</a>.</p>
<p id="r3tFKs"><strong>Baumann: </strong>This I’m actually really happy with. We got redemption for Ben without having him saunter into the Resistance base arm-in-arm with Rey while suffering no consequences for genociding the New Republic government. Not only would that have been narratively lazy but it’s a genuinely dangerous social message to send nowadays. Well done to the Disney goons for threading the needle.</p>
<h4 id="xyawW8">7. … and that kiss!</h4>
<p id="Ja1ucQ"><strong>Herman: </strong>Some things are better left as subtext!</p>
<p id="U6FIs2"><strong>Samman: </strong>Good kissing, IMO.</p>
<p id="UwgUsX"><strong>McNear: </strong>I laughed out loud in the theater.</p>
<p id="dzgVDw"><strong>Lindbergh:</strong> If you’re going to bring back the Emperor, Lando, and Wedge, you might as well throw in another indelible sight from the first trilogy: a first and last kiss between Skywalkers. But if you’re Rey, do you take it as an insult or a compliment that your kiss made your crush immediately die and disappear?</p>
<p id="woKEvk"><strong>Baumann: </strong>Gross. I think you can read further into the immediate revulsion than “Why are the two least horny, hot 20-somethings in the history of narrative fiction making out?” But I don’t need to.</p>
<p id="g139PS"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Seriously, was this movie written by the internet? Just kidding—if it had been written by the internet, he and General Hux would’ve made out. (Justice for Hux!) </p>
<p id="0d0yEL"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>I’m less on board with this, but I take a bit of solace in knowing that Ben Solo’s last thought before he disintegrated was, “Wow, OK, so you’re telling me that girls would’ve liked me if I was friendly and dressed cool? I definitely went about life wrong.”</p>
<h4 id="uOmT5z">8. How does <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>affect your feelings about <em>The Force Awakens </em>and <em>The Last Jedi</em>?</h4>
<p id="QsrzPZ"><strong>Kram: </strong>I already cherished <em>The Last Jedi</em>. Its successor may have sullied it with respect to the canon, but considering the respective theater-going experiences alone, my initial feelings are only reinforced. And frankly, I’m now surprised in retrospect that <em>The Force Awakens</em> was as delightfully entertaining as it was.</p>
<p id="LlTeM1"><strong>Herman: </strong>It makes <em>The Last Jedi</em> look like a miracle, and <em>The Force Awakens</em> a useful counterpoint. Obviously, it’s remarkable and rare for a major franchise to entrust so many major decisions to a single auteur, and for said auteur to reward that trust with a singular achievement. But <em>Force</em> still goes to show that even within a more rote and dutiful version of <em>Star Wars</em>, there’s still room for far better—and more focused—than <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>.</p>
<p id="jBLauz"><strong>Surrey: </strong>It ruins any sense of cohesion, thematically and narratively. <em>Last Jedi</em> detractors are going to say Rian Johnson put J.J. Abrams in a tough position, but it speaks to a larger issue about this trilogy—a lack of oversight over major details like Rey’s parentage, and what these films were supposed to represent. This is the only time you’ll catch me advocating for this, but <em>Star Wars</em> could’ve used some Marvel synergy.</p>
<p id="6ugqLd"><strong>Almeida: </strong><em>Rise of Skywalker </em>definitely taints both of its predecessors. I didn’t love <em>Episode VII</em> or <em>Episode</em> <em>VIII</em> as much as many others, but they were coherent movies that made me curious. To see now that all their mysteries and arcs were leading to <em>this</em> mars the whole trilogy for me.</p>
<p id="aSAnIR"><strong>Samman: </strong>It’s wild how a film made to undo <em>The Last Jedi</em> actually makes me appreciate it more. Rian Johnson’s installment wasn’t perfect—seriously, what the hell was up with Canto Bight?—but it at least built on old ideas <em>and</em> introduced new and exciting ones. And <em>The Force Awakens</em>, while not my favorite <em>Star Wars</em> movie, was a genuinely enjoyable table-setting for a new trilogy. <em>Rise</em> does its best to undermine what I thought was one of the better entries to the canon, and choices made therein often—and once even directly—neg it. <em>The Last Jedi</em> will be remembered as a star entry in the saga. The same can’t be said for <em>Rise</em>.</p>
<p id="eH779q"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>I’m really trying not to be dramatic—these are just movies, and ending things is always hard—but <em>The Rise of Skywalker </em>is a massive bummer, and a complete waste of two very competent, compelling films.</p>
<p id="Wiu8tB"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>On the one hand, my disappointment in <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> makes me appreciate them more (especially <em>The Last Jedi</em>). On the other hand, knowing how the trilogy ends makes me less likely to rewatch them.</p>
<p id="ZOhjV2"><strong>McNear: </strong>Look, I get that people don’t come to these stories for nuance, but I did really love the earlier suggestion that the Skywalkers (and, by extension, Palpatines) didn’t have a monopoly on the Force, and I didn’t love seeing that work undone. Also, does this mean that the broom kid on the casino planet from the ending of <em>The Last Jedi</em> is someone’s (cough cough, Luke’s or Emperor Palpatine’s) long-lost child? Much to think about.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yQ5ak1ZLd43LOBIFOyIJQifpIrg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19550313/Leia_The_Rise_of_Skywalker_1280x720.jpg">
<cite>Disney</cite>
</figure>
<h4 id="4lzSVy">9. With the Skywalker saga finished (allegedly), what are your final thoughts on these nine films as a whole?</h4>
<p id="caMXvz"><strong>Kram:</strong> <em>Star Wars</em> is one of the most important cultural touchstones in my life, which is a rather disproportionate outcome for a series that has four and a half good movies out of the nine main films. (<em>Rogue One </em>rocks, though.) </p>
<p id="4F5DnF"><strong>Herman: </strong><em>Star Wars</em> is a giant mess that should never have worked in the first place, mashing together woo-woo mysticism with martial rigor and one-on-one wizard duels with massive military battles. It’s remarkable it ever clicks, often lovably camp when it doesn’t, and depressingly joyless when its beautiful idiosyncrasies get micromanaged by Disney.</p>
<p id="VCbhJ3"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>More than half of them are good, and even the bad ones are burned into my brain more deeply than the <em>best</em> entries in any other film franchise.</p>
<p id="UD6FON"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Most are good (<em>Empire Strikes Back</em>, <em>A New Hope</em>, <em>Last Jedi</em>), some are bad (<em>Attack of the Clones</em>, <em>Rise of Skywalker</em>), but that won’t prevent me from watching each of them 30 more times. It’s also worth mentioning, George Lucas aside, there’s no one more important to the franchise than John Williams. His scores are the heartbeat of <em>Star Wars</em>—and I don’t mean this in a bleak way, but given the fact Disney claims this is the “end” of the Skywalker films and Williams is 87 years old, we’ve probably heard his last contribution to a galaxy far, far away. A sincere thank you for everything; I still listen to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTg6hg1miFg">“Duel of the Fates”</a> to hype myself up.</p>
<p id="UmZEjd"><strong>Almeida: </strong><em>Revenge of the Sith</em> is the best <em>Star Wars</em> movie. Make Hayden Christensen a Force ghost next time, cowards.</p>
<h4 id="v7ZhWZ">10. Where should <em>Star Wars </em>go next?</h4>
<p id="11UVqe"><strong>Baumann: </strong>As far from the Skywalkers as possible. It’s a big galaxy far, far away.</p>
<p id="4Kk46f"><strong>Herman: </strong>To the corner, to think about what it’s done.</p>
<p id="azS7SF"><strong>Surrey: </strong>Help us, <a href="https://www.starwars.com/news/rian-johnson-writer-director-of-star-wars-the-last-jedi-to-create-all-new-star-wars-trilogy">Rian Johnson</a>, you’re our only hope (along with other artists willing to take <em>Star Wars </em>into bold and meaningful directions).</p>
<p id="VaNJu3"><strong>McNear: </strong>Some breaking news here: <em>Star Wars</em> remains great at world-building; the first third of the movie, when Rey and pals were jumping between different planets, was my favorite by far. So I believe in the <em>Star Wars</em> brain trust that almost anywhere could be great—provided it’s somewhere we haven’t been before, and the people there aren’t related (secretly or otherwise) to all the people we’ve been watching.</p>
<p id="XJDeht"><strong>Lindbergh: </strong>The small screen. (Thank goodness we get more <em>Mandalorian</em> this week—Baby Yoda, heal our wounds.) Movie-wise, it may be time to pivot away from trilogies for a few years, but Lucasfilm shouldn’t shy away from distinctive storytellers. Playing it safe isn’t the strategy <em>Star Wars </em>took to the top.</p>
<p id="5Zn8sv"><strong>Almeida: </strong>Let’s pretend this trilogy never happened and mine the Legends timeline for stories. Wherever <em>Star Wars</em> goes next, it shouldn’t be without a map.</p>
<p id="49WroJ"><strong>Kram: </strong>Either far into the future or far into the past. If the lesson from <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> is that the series is too wedded to its established, well-worn tropes, then <em>The Mandalorian</em> and other in-motion projects (the Obi-Wan and Cassian Andor spinoff series) will face the same challenges that felled <em>The Rise of Skywalker</em> in terms of weaving new, exciting stories amid the familiar. Bring me the Knights of the Old Republic.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="RYNNrG"><strong>Gruttadaro: </strong>Wherever it goes, I just hope they have a meeting about the overarching plot beforehand.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/23/21035104/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-exit-surveyThe Ringer Staff