Becoming a better storyteller by studying 100 movies, 50 screenplays, and 25 books in 2020.

Everyone in my house wanted to see The Rise of Skywalker, out in theaters now. Having forgotten everything that happened in the previous story apart from Mark Hamill sitting on a rock somewhere off the coast of Scotland, it seemed a good time to fire up the old YouTube TV and catch Rise of Skywalker‘s prequel.

• Release: 2017
• Directed by: Rian Johnson
• Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, the late great Carrie Fisher, and many, many other people.
• Screenplay by: Rian Johnson
• Spoilers? Naturally.

Mark Hamill sitting on a rock doesn’t even happen in The Last Jedi. It happens in The Force Awakens, the prequel to Last Jedi (or episode 7, if you care about tracking that way). And the fact that that was the most memorable thing about The Last Jedi may tell you all you need to know.

The original Star Wars movie, A New Hope (but who calls it that? It’s Star Wars) came out in 1977 when I was four, and it shaped my imagination in the same way it shaped the imaginations of all the kids of my generation. The make-believe games I played with my sister and neighboring kids began with bickering over who was going to be the badass Princess Leia and rigging ropes to swing on. So hear me: I’m not a hater. I loved the original trilogy and I really, really want to like the last one. (I haven’t seen the middle trilogy and people who have tell me not to bother, so it’s not going to show up in this 100 movie cycle unless things get grim).

What works?

If The Last Jedi works, it’s because the story constantly escalates. Like the films of the original trilogy, it’s a mixture of genres: action, sci-fi, fantasy, Western (yeah), suspense, and romance, so some plot beat gets hit every few minutes. That helps distract from the dialogue, which gets goofy on a regular basis. You’re too busy tracking the spiralling action to get deeply and fully annoyed.

And speaking of goofy dialogue, Johnson’s script forces the humor instead of letting it occur naturally. He seems determined to generate catchphrases. Not content to mix four or five genres and their conventions, he wants to mix in comedy, too. And that’s a problem, because comedy breaks tension.

The original film had its funny moments, but they arose out of the characters’ personalities rather than having the jokes shellacked on.

I’ve seen this segment probably not fewer than twenty times, and it still makes me laugh. Why? Because the opposition derives from the characters’ personalities, and nods at the tension that’s building in the Luke-Leia-Han triangle without breaking it. Hamill’s timing here is perfect. Luke asserts himself as earnestly in this context as he does in any other battle in the story. We glimpse the possibility that the charming but arrogant Han might care about something other than himself. These guys are invested in something.

What’s missing?

If the mixed genres and constantly escalating action were features of the original film that engaged the world, why don’t they work here? I think it’s because Johnson’s script tries to pack in too much stuff. There are too many story lines going on for the audience to get invested in any one of them.

As I’ve already hinted, the key problem in the story is there’s no character development. Of all the story lines in the film, the one with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) holds the most potential, because Ren seems genuinely conflicted between his allegiance to the Dark Side and his bloodline’s loyalty to the Resistance. But Rian Johnson is too busy blowing stuff up to let us see that struggle in any depth. Likewise, Rey comes from nowhere, and might be the hope that saves everyone. She and Ren have a mysterious mental connection. But there are, like, a dozen other characters who have to have their screen time too, so we can’t spend the proper time with Rey and Ren to get invested in their struggle.

Becoming a better storyteller

Writing lesson from The Last Jedi

For my project on becoming a better storyteller, here’s what I’m taking away from studying The Last Jedi: Keep it simple, stupid. Don’t overdo it. The original story focused on one protagonist: Luke Skywalker. Two key allies, Leia and Han, supported him in his struggle against one clear opponent, Darth Vader. Everyone and everything else in the story is in service to that opposition. In Last Jedi, you’ve got the new characters like Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose (see?…), who are supposed to carry the franchise, competing with the compelling original story characters in Luke and Leia. Yoda shows up. Who’s the villain we’re supposed to focus on, Snoke or Ren? For heaven’s sake, who IS The Last Jedi? Is it Luke, or is it Rey? If it’s supposed to be Rey, why does the story climax focus on Luke? For God’s sake, Johnson, pick something.

This film doesn’t have enough story to fold laundry to.