The Rise of Skywalker Is The Justice League of Star Wars

The Rise of Skywalker Is The Justice League of Star Wars

With a tight production defined by course-correcting a divisive previous entry, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is reminiscent of Justice League.

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker could have taken many paths, but few would have predicted that the movie’s biggest contemporary comparison would be the perennially discussed Justice League.

When Star Wars: The Last Jedi released in December 2017, we wrote that it was so startlingly divisive, with the discourse so driven by different side’s perceived belief of what the story should represent, it was essentially the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice of the Star Wars franchise. The parallels, of course, had a crucial inversion – it was the critics who loved The Last Jedi, while many (but far from all) fans were burned – yet the proceeding two years proven it to be a mostly accurate assessment of how fandoms are becoming increasingly fractured and radical. However, there was one aspect of the parallel that wasn’t considered, perhaps to will it from happening.

Just a month before The Last Jedi, Warner Bros. and DC’s attempt to respond to Batman v Superman’s backlash released: Justice League. The film was a resounding box office bomb and critical punching bag, with the root cause not it continuing Zack Snyder’s divisive approach to the characters, rather how Joss Whedon’s studio-mandated reshoots had torn anything close to vision apart and left a Franksetin movie full of cheap jokes and CGI faces. The decision to course-correct on Justice League throughout production following the response to previous films sealed Batman v Superman’s legacy and put paid to that entire story thread of the DCEU (Snyder Cut pending release).

If The Last Jedi were truly Star Wars’ Batman v Superman, then its divisiveness would surely have to have a similar effect on its sequel – or have none, highlighting a distinction between Disney and Warner Bros, DC and Lucasfilm as studios.

Enter Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This isn’t a movie with scandalous trade reports of troubled productions (although the editing does reveal evidence of reshoot adjustments), but make no mistake that this movie has been made with the backlash to the previous entry at the forefront of the filmmakers’ minds. And, just as Justice League emerged somehow worse than its predecessor, so too has Star Wars 9 managed to eclipse The Last Jedi.

Justice League & The Rise of Skywalker Were Made Against The Clock

Before looking at any impact of previous movies, it’s important to establish that both Justice League and The Rise of Skywalker were already being made against the clock before any franchise problems rear their heads.

In 2016, Warner Bros were wanting to gain momentum for their DC shared universe (and secure executive bonuses), so had team-up releasing only a year-and-a-half after Dawn of Justice, with production set to start the month after. This meant the film was deep into pre-production following Snyder’s grand vision when Batman v Superman opened on March 25, 2016, putting every single change to the plan in reaction against the clock.

The Rise of Skywalker had a similar tight development, albeit more as an accident. Colin Trevorrow was hired to direct in August 2015, before The Force Awakens and a whopping 45 months ahead of the original May 2019 release. However, due to script disagreements with Lucasfilm, he and screenwriter Jack Thorne were removed (both get story credits) and JJ Abrams was appointed as a replacement in Fall 2017, submitting his story pitch to Disney CEO Bob Iger on December 15, 2017, the day Star Wars: The Last Jedi released. This and further complications caused by the untimely death of Carrie Fisher delayed production on Star Wars 9 from Spring 2018 (the same far-thinking timeline afforded to The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi) to Fall. Even with a release date delay to December 2019, that’s a drastic shortening of the post-production time on a film that was already operating against the clock.

There’s no normal time it takes to make a movie. In the 1980s, slasher franchise entries were turned around in single-digit months, while Richard Linklater is about to embark on a 20-year endeavor with Merrily We Roll Along. But the general rule of thumb is that two years is the minimum start-to-release for a studio tentpole, with 2.5-to-3 years stronger. The upper limit is the 3+ years George Lucas was working with on both the original trilogy and prequels, and also JJ Abrams on The Force Awakens and Zack Snyder on Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.

Justice League & The Rise of Skywalker Were Reactions To The Previous Films First

While Batman v Superman and The Last Jedi have opposite divides, the reasons for their respective backlashes are rooted in the same ideas. Auteur directors taking storied characters and presenting daring twists on them that have lasting ramifications for the canon. There’s more to it than that – the stylings of Zack Snyder and tonal balance of Rian Johnson specifically coming under fire – yet the lasting debates were centered on Batman, Superman, Luke Skywalker and Rey. And both sides decided to correct.

What makes those short production times so damaging is that they were done with shifting roadmaps. Snyder and Chris Terrio’s Justice League script was reworked on set by Geoff Johns and the logline during production focused on how this was a brighter, more traditional take. Eventually, even Snyder’s watered-down vision proved too much and he was removed from the film, replaced by Joss Whedon to script and direct rushed reshoots that would bring the film more in line with Marvel’s The Avengers (Snyder got sole directing credit, Whedon story).

While the details of The Rise of Skywalker’s development are a more closely guarded secret, it’s clear that there were similar adjustments being made to Star Wars 9. Abrams and Terrio were starting from scratch, but it’s unlikely the story discussed on The Last Jedi’s release day – when reviews were golden and the backlash still simmering – is what has followed through on here. Moves like Luke’s respect for the Skywalker lightsaber, reversing Rey’s “nobody” status and the sidelining of Rose Tico all scream reactive choices made later in the game. There are no firm reports of reshoots or changes, although rumors abound and based on the finished film there’s an attempt to appease and offer burned fans something closer to what they expected and theorized.

Justice League & The Rise of Skywalker’s Course Corrections Ruined Both Films

Justice League stands as one of the biggest cinematic failures of the 2010s. It barely holds together as a film, the battle between its two distinct directors present in every scene, from Henry Cavill’s CGI upper lip to obvious reshoot plates. It does little but go through the motions, with much effort placed in making Batman and Superman as unlike their Dawn of Justice presentations as possible – Batman quips, Superman smiles.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a more polished film for sure, yet its story is constructed with such pace – a trick Abrams previously deployed in The Force Awakens, deciding that forward-momentum distracts audiences from big questions – and scenes edited for frantically that many of its bigger moments fail to register. That most of its choices don’t hold up to any internal logic, breaking the continuity of The Last Jedi and other previous movies, seals it.

Both movies are fundamentally obsessed with what they are not, putting extra effort into not only avoiding the divisive choices of their predecessor but actively undoing their severity in the narrative. In having so much effort focused on what’s absent, what’s present and what the movie is trying to say comes as an afterthought. Without a clear positive vision, Justice League to a degree and The Rise of Skywalker wholeheartedly take the path of least resistance, trying to craft a movie that will please the biggest proportion and yet in doing so ensuring that nobody can truly embrace it.

Indeed, when each entry is taken as part of the greater whole, the flaws become painfully apparent. All of Snyder’s setup for his five-movie plan is discarded for a run to the conventional finish that feels as if it takes place in a new world. Conversely, the lack of plan for the Star Wars sequels is unavoidable, with The Rise of Skywalker’s efforts to undo The Last Jedi puts the finale at odds with what came before. You have two trilogies whose endings don’t gel.

Justice League & The Rise of Skywalker Have Had Comparable Reaction

The story of Skywalker is still being written, but already the similarities and differences in enaction can be felt. On the surface, the attempts to placate did yield some comparably tangible results: select critics praised Justice League’s change in tact and breezier tone than Batman v Superman, and so too has The Rise of Skywalker’s reviews highlighted a more classical energy than The Last Jedi. But overall, the drastic changes only made things worse.

While The Rise of Skywalker’s reputation read via metrics such as Rotten Tomatoes displays a fan/critic divide more reminiscent of Batman v Superman and a direct inverse of its predecessor, the impact can be felt. The box office opening was lowest of the sequel trilogy (and below initial optimistic projections), while the CinemaScore was a mid-range B-, the worse than the sequels. So even if the debate may on the surface suggest that retroactive tampering works, that Disney managed to fix the problem in a way Warner Bros. could not, the story is still on of disappointment. Indeed, a divide is still a failure, it shows that the universal appeal of The Force Awakens hasn’t been attained, that every fan regained is another lost.

Justice League’s legacy is now that of a troubled production, with the Zack Snyder Cut the dominant part of the narrative. Audiences know it was tamped with by the studio, and there’s hunger to see that wrong righted. More substantial, the DCEU took a hard pivot, embracing everything besides the World’s Finest to deliver an array of uniquely-pitched hits like Aquaman and Shazam!, while the future contains promising megahits like Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad and complete-reboot The Batman.

Whether the same severity of reaction comes to pass for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker remains to be seen, although the decision to pivot seems to have already been set. The Mandalorian is winning back audiences with an approach much more aware of George Lucas’ original western, samurai and serial influences, while Jedi: Fallen Order displays a deeper understanding of the series’ philosophy not seen outside of Dave Filoni’s cartoons. Star Wars is set up to continue beyond the Skywalker saga to the point it could be argued that Disney’s real aims were always to get the sequel trilogy out of the way, use it to springboard a more diverse and varied franchise fabric.

However, the very existence of The Rise of Skywalker is a worrying sign that Justice League was not the seismic industry lesson some have speculated. A movie whose budget inflated to $300 million, bombing with a paltry $600 million against an expectation of billions, it showed that such tampering doesn’t work. And yet here we are, two years later with a very similar situation. A studio has bowed to fan pressure, allowing the armchair filmmakers of Reddit to dictate the culminating chapter of one of the greatest sagas in cinema. No matter the result, that shows a failure of creative vision.

Justice League & Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Are Not Art

The stories of Justice League and The Rise of Skywalker aren’t about how we treat Batman or Luke Skywalker, they’re about the degradation of art. A movie studio gave an auteur with a strong connection to a property explore their unique take on a giant canvas, and when the reaction was mixed, they whipped back by having a proven safe choice either butchering the same auteur’s follow-up or systemically undoing its impact.

The 2010s have been a bizarre time for blockbuster cinema. The Marvel model allowed a production line of films from fun voices to dominate, the likes of Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve were gifted gigantic budgets that enabled them to tell stories of grand scale and intimate relationships, and yet more and more overspend was wasted away on limp, mediocre-or-worse attempts for a studio to capture a fanbase that is disengaged. That we close out on the final Star Wars movie, the end (for now) of the story George Lucas’ began in 1977, and that it is so warped and sanitized (in contrast to the film snob credentials of the creator and the subversive efforts of his accidental commercial hit) is a worrying stamp on the decade that suggests the corporate mandate still rules over the art.

And that, ultimately, is what links these two movies. Batman v Superman and The Last Jedi are fundamentally challenging films that force the audience to reconsider their preconceptions of their respective franchise myths. Justice League & The Rise of Skywalker are product, meticulously engineered to protect the brand.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-wars-rise-skywalker-justice-league-movie-comparison/

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