Rian Johnsosn: Rey's parents question is still open

What can I say - they put good filmmaking ahead of the wish fulfilment of 40+ year old men in a much more competitive cinematic environment.
As for the implication that Rey Random diverts this away from the Skywalker storyline - we've been over this for the past two years. It doesn't.
The films are all about the Skywalker legacy impact upon the galaxy. And had Han Solo in one film, Leia in two (would've been three) and both Luke and Kylo in three films.

Oh look, another Rey Skywalker obsessive who hates TLJ...

 

And the highest grossing film for 2017 in China was Wolf Warrior 2.

 

If that was my only issue I would have been delighted.

Fact is, like the list on page one, the film had unforgivable flaws.

The volume of disappointment speaks for itself.

Fight it all you want. Truth hurts.

It's not like I've ever wanted to dislike a SW film before.

 

If JJ crumbles under a few grumbling and insistent fans about Rey's parents that she must be a so and so then that would be weak. Her being a nobody isn't weak. It's just quite a twist some don't wanna accept.

Rey accepts it though

 

So does Luke, Yoda, Kylo, Snoke, Leia.

 

Yoda was Reys great grandpappy

 

I honestly think Rian approached TLJ with the idea of giving each major character a complete upside-down crisis.

Finn, in love with Rey and determined to find and save her, winds up risking his own life and falls for another girl, who ironically saves him.

Poe abandons the Resistance and organizes a coup against the very organization he dedicated his life to.

Luke, of course, abandons the Jedi religion and most strikingly abandons hope. Luke had been synonymous with hope since 1977.

Leia loses her command, loses all her family and when she asks for help to lead the very rebellion she's dedicated her life to, nobody bothers to answer.

Rey of course, obsessed with where she came from and why she was abandoned and left to die on a desert, finds out she is a nobody, she was discarded and unloved from birth and has "no place in the story".

Ben Solo must confront the fact the murder of his father did not consummate his dedication to the dark side, or increase his power. That he's still conflicted and ironically must kill a Dark Side master in order to galvanize his dedication to that very Dark Side.

Even Yoda destroys knowledge and then laughs about it.

There is a mischief to this film, it was designed in many ways to scatter the marbles and laugh as fans frantically pick them back up. It's why the film annoys some fans, because it crashes the party, poops in the punch bowl and then replaces the pop-dance music with blazing, super loud heavy metal.

I like it. I think the franchise needed it. I think it needed more room to breathe and shedding the past is a perfect way to embrace a new future.

That said, I think JJ has other ideas on where to take this thing. I think the table he set in TFA was overturned and I'm not so sure he'll be entirely content with that. And Disney knows the "who is Rey" question sells merchandise, peaks interest and drives ticket sales, so believe me, they will continue to hint that there are all kinds of unresolved questions to explore in the next installment.

But a dire warning to you all: JJ is LOUSY at tying up loose ends. See the last episode of LOST for how JJ is disinterested in solving the mystery box, he's much better at just creating more mystery.

My guess is we'll get two directions in Episode IX:

1. Unsatisfying resolutions to open questions, and a somewhat lazy conclusion to IX that's primarily used as a vehicle to branch out to new trilogies and side projects.

2. No answers at all and then the unsurprising revelation that there will be an Episode X. This is the better option for me, because JJ can work his element better, which is to produce questions rather than answers.

Part of the appeal of episode-based story telling is the constant allure of what will come next. And it sells, oh boy does it sell. I don't see Disney abandoning a movie franchise and movie formula that chimes in with a billion dollars world wide in just 3-weeks and shatters the box office with each installment.

Call me cynical, but there's no profit in providing clear definitive answers for our favorite characters. The money is teasing the audience into watching and paying for the next installment and I think that's exactly what we'll continue to get.

 

I think you're right, but boy do I hope you're wrong. The last thing we need is another JJ mystery box set up only to be completely discarded by the next director

 

I think one of the themes of the ST is that the force belongs to everyone. Not just the Jedi (or Sith), not Just the Skywalkers, but also a nobody from Jakku or a stable boy on Canto Bight. I think the franchise will be ok.

 

There's nothing new with that: in the OT, the prequels and the Expanded Universe there's a lot of force sensitive/porweful force users who are not Skywalker, you don't need Skywalker blood to be force sensitive/powerful with the Force.

what's the problem with that?

 

OR it'll connect TFA with IX, completing a circle, and make TLJ a movie with the intent to confound and stir conversation. I have a feeling, though not it's initial intent, that 9 will feel like a cerebral movie like Momento, where all becomes clear at the end once context is established for the whole trilogy.

 

of all the controversial elements of TLJ...the last thing jj abrams should be changing is rey parentage.


i would prefer a ascended physical luke the white than rey being revealed to be important

 

We've heard your predictions of doom and gloom before.

Yoda literally showed up to tell Luke to the girl will be fine and that she has everything she needs. Luke failed trying to control things with Ben and was frustrated he couldn't control Rey.

She's the reason Luke won't be the last Jedi.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 6, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 6, 2018 ---

Lol so unless people have important parents they cannot amount to anything. Ridiculous.

Rey is the rebirth of the Jedi. That's pretty important. Heredity is irrelevant.

 

This has been a theme in star wars for more than 30 years...

 

Truth may hurt but grasping for the false refuge of consensus when no such thing exists won't get you closer to it.
If some defenders of the movie sound like they are reducing your honest disappointment to a knee-jerk by describing it as hurt expectations, it is because
a large share of the criticism is founded in perceived errors that are grounded firmly outside the text of the film (often even are antithetical to it).

Rian Johnson chose to break the mold thematically and he kept cherished plot points as mere window dressing.
You can either take it or leave it - how about that for a truth that hurts?

I don't disagree but I think its fair to say it hasn't exactly been at the forefront of the narrative.
Plenty of fellow fans seem to think that the soap-opera mechanics between the characters translate to the force being a mere function of those dynastic trappings.They say it rather loudly and rather often too.

Please don't do this Ben.
I mean please stop sounding like Ben.
I mean... come back to the light: we have the cookies (rumors to the contrary be damned).