Solo4114
Master Member
Misleading? No. Confusing? Yes. And that's basically my point.
Here's my understanding, based on what I've read thus far:
- After the battle of Endor, the war continues for another 2-3 years or so, culminating in the Battle of Jakku, at which point the last major Imperial force is decisively defeated.
- The Republic and the Empire then sign a peace treaty, allowing the Empire to continue to exist and occupy a small group of planets, but requiring them both to disarm.
- The Republic upholds its obligations, but the Empire (or at least portions of it) retreat to the Outer Rim, and begin rearming and rebuilding their war machine, intent on returning one day to crust the Republic and restore the Empire. This new force is called the First Order.
- Paralyzed by internal disagreements between those absolutely committed to maintaining peace, and those who realize that the First Order cannot be bargained with, the Republic refuses to take any steps which might further antagonize the Imperial Remnant/First Order. Frustrated at this, Leia and several others form the Resistance, which is essentially the only military force to speak of (outside of meager planetary defense forces).
- The Resistance begins to actively oppose the First Order, as the First Order begins to spread out and claim more and more territory, all while the Republic is still debating whether to rearm and fight back.
That's the situation when the movie starts. Waaaaaaaay upthread, I tried modifying the opening crawl. It probably would've been a bit longer, but it conveyed the bulk of this, and at least distinguished the Republic from the Resistance, and explained their (lack of) relationship. I think this could've been addressed in exposition elsewhere in the film, too.
In general, this is a good idea. You can show without telling. But the problem with TFA was that there were too many leaps to make, and too little time to make them. I truly believe that the film need another 10-15 min to allow characters and plot points to develop/breathe and give space for exposition. Not that every detail has to be spelled out, but more than what we got in the film. There were just a few too many moments that required the audience to draw conclusions from unavailable information, to the point where the message was less "trust the audience" and more "Whatever, that doesn't matter, just shut up and enjoy the ride."
This gets to one of my major criticisms of the film. Even if we set aside the stuff about worldbuilding that didn't go far enough, and context for the events of the film coming at the expense of action sequences, the characters themselves end up occupying positions that they haven't earned. I don't mean in the sense of "Kirk shouldn't be captain because he hasn't worked long enough." I mean, like, Finn and Poe's friendship coming out of nowhere, or Finn and Rey's relationship developing at a seriously accelerated rate. Finn and Poe behave as if they're best friends, but haven't really earned that relationship with only about 20-30 min of actual real-world interaction. Granted, it was tense interaction, but they behave the way, say, Han and Luke do at the end of ANH, and they just haven't had that kind of interaction. Finn and Rey do, but they become much closer much sooner in the process, and most of this is because (1) we need these characters to be positioned such that they're best buds and the new "big three", and (2) once they step into those positions, we're supposed to just accept that.
But all of this comes from the audience's meta-expectations of the film, rather than from what's shown on screen. We accept that they're heroes and friends because we're primed to know that those are the roles they're supposed to be playing, regardless of the film showing their actual development. So we end up skipping the development simply because "Well, they're the heroes." We skip the building blocks of their relationships because "Well, they're the new characters who take over from Luke, Leia, and Han." But it's like stepping into someone else's shoes and the size is maybe half a size too big; you haven't grown the fill the shoes yet. That's not to say you can't, or won't, but just that it hasn't happened yet. That's where, I think, Kasdan's insistence on not explaining was mistaken (or mistakenly interpreted by Abrams).
As for the notion of the Rathtar sequence being necessary, the only necessary part is Han finding the Falcon and then going with the kids to Maz's place. There's literally no need for an action sequence. You just need to get Han and Chewie off the ship. Ways that could happen:
- After breaking down, the new ship docks with the Falcon through a purpose-built docking socket, which also allows the new ship to be slaved to the Falcon to allow the Falcon to fly both ships simultaneously. They then fly to Maz's. When the First Order attacks (tipped off by first order loyalists), everyone boards the Falcon, rather than the new ship (or new ship gets blown up in the FO attack).
- Han and Chewie board the Falcon together, get it running again. Han says "Chewie, follow us with the new ship. You know where we're headed. I'll stay here and make sure this old girl keeps flying." Then they fly to Maz's. When the First Order attacks (tipped off by first order loyalists), everyone boards the Falcon, after the new ship is blown up.
- Han and Chewie board the Falcon, then take the kids to their ship, which is subsequently boarded by ONE pirate gang. There is a BRIEF fight, where Han and Chewie set the new ship's self destruct, everyone runs to the Falcon, and they fly away. No Rathtars needed. Sequence lasts 5 min at most, and then they fly to Maz's. (I like this option the least, actually.)
- If we want to play with the whole Force guiding Rey thing, Finn and Rey land on Maz's planet, based on "a feeling" Rey has, after the Falcon has mechanical problems. While there, they meet Han and Chewie. Again, FO attacks (after being tipped off), Han's new ship gets blown up, everyone boards the Falcon.
Once everyone is on board the Falcon (either on the way to Maz's or after the FO attack), you have time for exposition and character development.
