Rian Johnson, You're My Only Hope. The director of Star Wars Episode VIII reveals some information that I find as disturbing as Darth Vader did with Admiral Motti’s lack of faith.

Rian Johnson, You’re My Only Hope

Andrew Sieger

            According to an interview in USA Today, Rian Johnson reveals some information about Episode VIII that I find as disturbing as Darth Vader did in Admiral Motti’s lack of faith.

The only way I could stomach the juvenile, hokey and just plain stupid elements of The Force Awakens (starting with “So, who talks first?  Do you talk first”) was because of the promise of the next two Star Wars films being something different, something risky and perhaps something special.

            The promise was the ultra-cool concept of Rogue One.  To take an idea every Star Wars fans has dreamed about, to take the one line about the spies who stole the plans for the Death Star and make a movie around it sounded like a brilliant idea to me.  Then they told us it would be a blue-collar, gritty, war movie.  I could not wait.

            Then I saw it.  And it was awful.  Boring.  Dull.  Shallow.  The actors speak the lines like robots devoid of emotion.  The action scenes were forgettable and cliché.  Did anyone really think Diego Luna was dead and wasn’t going to come back and save her?  Not very different at all from The Force Awakens.

            We all knew after seeing Godzilla that Gareth Edwards doesn’t know shit about story or character.  With Rogue One, he abdicated the story duties to Hollywood hacks and brainless Executives who reshot and ruined anything that might have been cool.  The Darth Vader scene at the end is one of the most obviously tacked on scenes in movie history.  The fact that it’s the best scene in the movie highlights how bad the rest of Rogue One really is.

            When it was announced that King of the Hollywood Hacks, JJ Abrams, was stepping down from directing Episode VII and being replaced by one of the best young directors in the business, Rian Johnson, I was ecstatic.  Rian Johnson comes from the world of low budget, character driven, independent movies like Brick and The Brothers Bloom as well as some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad.  Looper proved he could handle special effects, big time stars like Bruce Willis while maintaining characters, emotion and story.

            I had hope.  New Hope, you might say.  Now I have dread.

            In the USA Today interview, Johnson says, “I want it to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride the way The Force Awakens and the original Star Wars movies were.”

            Funny?  Who the fuck wants funny?  Sure, a few sarcastic lines to break the tension is necessary but to describe the film as funny, not intense or exciting, makes me very worried.

            Another promise was Episode VIII would echo the structure of the original trilogy and have the middle installment be dark and introspective.  Everyone worth their salt knows The Empire Strikes Back is, hands down, not only the best Star Wars movie but perhaps the greatest sequel in movie history.  Why?  Not because it’s funny – but because it’s serious and mature.

            Didn’t Adam Driver promise us back in September of 2015 in Variety that Episode VIII would be dark and disturbing, very much like The Empire Strikes Back and very different from other Star Wars films?  You bet your ass he did!

            What the fuck is going on here?  The statements are in direct contradiction.  That scares me more than anything.  Did the success of The Force Awakens make the greedy jerkoffs at Disney fearful of something different and risky? 

            If not for Rian Johnson I’d give up and bury the franchise.  I remain cautiously optimistic that he could use the Force, let go and conjure up a classic.  But instead of expanding the scope and tone and thereby expanding our movie going experience, I fear we are going to get more of the same.  Instead of breaking into new territory, we are going to retread over tired ground.

            C’mon, Rian Johnson, stand up to those studio fools.  You’re the storyteller, not them.  Remember Brendan from Brick, the Brothers Bloom and Walter White.  All these characters are dark, serious and flawed.  Yet, they are fascinating and unforgettable.  Darkness is nothing to be afraid of.  It’s where we find out who we really are.  Out of darkness comes illumination.

            I fear the shadow of the Corporate Star Wars Empire has fallen over the galaxy. 

Help me, Rian Johnson, you’re my only hope.