It's official: another Star Wars movie is in the works, which means there's another opportunity for fans to get excited or absolutely livid. The latter tends to come from the franchise's recent decision making with its movies and its attempts to please as many people as possible. At least, that's what some think, though I'm inclined to think there's also another key part both sides of the fandom tend to overlook.
Star Wars often does the same stuff with its movies over and over again, and it may be time to shake things up. Below are some of the common tropes I've been annoyed by in more recent years, and I'd like to believe the franchise would improve significantly if it stopped repeating these mistakes from movie to movie.
Story Elements That Aren't Explained Until After The Movie
In most movies, a director revealing additional things about the plot would be frowned upon or even laughable. To be fair, that was generally what the Star Wars fandom did following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, as explanations behind key plot points are still rolling in following the movie's arrival on Disney+.
It should be noted though that this is something the franchise has done for a long time, even as far back as the Original Trilogy. I can forgive the opening crawls because it's inevitable there needs to be some catch-up given the passage of time between movies. But when it comes to the motivations of characters or details about the story, I believe that if it wasn't important enough to make the final cut of the movie, there's really no need for it to be added in the novelization. If a plot detail is that important, show, don't tell.
Overhyping Insignificant Characters Ahead Of Movies
What do Maz Kanata, Captain Phasma and Zorii Bliss have in common? They were all characters hyped well ahead of their respective Star Wars movies, but had little to do with the overall story. Before them it was Gungans, Boba Fett or just about any character who was featured in some toy line or trade magazine ahead of release, and yet was ultimately was of no importance to the franchise.
Obviously it's in Star Wars' best interest to have a bunch of cool-looking characters people want to buy toys of, and I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is the overhyping of these characters, only to see the movie months later and learn they weren't really anything than a stormtrooper in shiny armor. Promote characters who are going to be impactful to the story, and maybe be more mindful about deciding which characters are worth having around to tell a story and which aren't.
Too Many Jedi Heroes
The Star Wars franchise has done itself a disservice by tying so many events to the Skywalker family, but it's also done a disservice by continually telling a story through the eyes of a Jedi. That perspective of righteousness, the Light Side and natural aversion to the Dark Side drastically limits the scope of stories that can be told, and makes this enormous universe feel even smaller than it already does.
Sure, Solo: A Star Wars Story was a poor showing for a non-Jedi lead, but Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian have proven this is a commercially viable and mega successful premise. It'd be fine to introduce a Jedi as a side character if it's absolutely necessary, but allow us to have a morally conflicted character who doesn't necessarily have to adhere to the code of the Jedi. I'd love to see it, or at least some other profession of the Star Wars universe explored in greater detail.
Us Vs. Them Plot Lines
A galaxy as big as Star Wars could have some real Game of Thrones power struggles for control of the galaxy, and yet, it always seemed to boil down to Palpatine vs. everyone else. In fairness that's a testament to how powerful a villain Palpatine was, but now that the franchise is officially moving beyond his reign of terror, perhaps it's time to a conflict with more shifting pieces.
Under normal circumstances, I think some would be leery there wouldn't be enough screen time to devote to multiple factions, but this is Star Wars. The day this franchise stops getting trilogies will be a sad one indeed, though not a day I'll imagine we'll see in the near future. Use those guaranteed sequels and plan a story out that makes sense rather than changing things up on the fly between movies.
Machines That Destroy Planets
The Death Star and Starkiller Base were effective fear-mongering devices for a hot minute, but ultimately not worth the time or effort for what they accomplished. This is especially true when considering how easy both were destroyed, and that the fear they struck in destroying planets only strengthened Rebel factions resolve to band together and stop them.
I'm also a firm believer that if Star Wars depicted more personal acts of destruction with its villains, it would be far more effective. Blowing up Alderaan was about the most PG way to show genocide to a mass market, but showing these villains raiding villages and hurting others would make the evil shine through so much more in my opinion. Plus, I'm so over Death Star knockoffs, and just might lose it if I see another one.
Too Many Main Characters
Star Wars has a tendency to create a bunch of likable characters and then struggle to give all of them important roles in the story. Granted, it's not like I'm expecting every character to have a major arc, but when introducing three leads, there's an obligation to give those characters something more to do than stand around.
The Sequel Trilogy put a lot of heroes in the main group, but did a poor job of working them into the core story. Even when Leia and Han weren't super impactful in Luke's story, they were at least tied into the arc in a way that naturally brought them back into the story. If there's no reason to have a gang of heroes in a Star Wars story, keep it simple and keep the numbers as low as possible.
Do you have any other suggestions for things the future stories of Star Wars cinema should avoid? List all comments and suggestions below, and continue to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest happenings in movies and television.
