Last Jedi was the most safe, least risk taking movie I saw that year. Most of the "risky" decisions were made by a selfish new director who wanted to make a name for himself and make his film the final all be all of the franchise no matter how much it hurt the story in the long run.
Rey's parents being nobodies was just him wrapping up a stupid cliche plotline he didn't want to deal with.
Same with killing off Snoke, never mind that his backstory was actually something that really should have been addressed.
The leader of the rebellion might actually be corrupt showing how good and evil can be found on both si-oh never mind she's secretly good and Poe's treasonous mutiny gets a slap on the wrist and an "Oh you…."
The rebel alliance might be buying from the same shady dealers as the First Order, oh no, look at this nuance that....goes nowhere.
The grand plot is still rebels vs empire and ends as rebels vs empire even though the First order should technically be the rebels but Disney wanted Rebels vs Empires.
An old wise mentor having flaws that led to the corruption of a young Jedi but redeeming himself and dying in a heroic, noble way, gee where have I seen that before. I mean, I personally loved the execution but there's absolutely nothing subversive about the idea.
The shame of it is I SEE where they could have truly been subversive but dropped the ball in order to play it safe. Like hey, what if instead of Rebels vs Empire, it was New Republic vs First Order and what if both sides where corrupt and this is explored and actually goes somewhere.What if we dropped the whole absurdly long casino segment which, while fun, drags the momentum of the story to a halt and accomplishes nothing except for a cheesy scene with Rose about how freedom is good. What if Finn was actually relevant in the plot again where the writers actually know what to do with him instead of giving him sloppy Phasma seconds and teasing that he was going to sacrifice himself for the greater good but copping out at the last second because him not being in the third movie is too unsafe so they have Rose do the most moronic thing possible because only love will win this war (this said while the doors of their last base being exploded, cue laugh track), never mind they only got as far as they did because of the sacrifices made by countless other people before her including her own damn sister (see if this were framed as a tragedy of how one soldier being broken to the point she could not take one more loss, it'd be fine but it was framed as sweet and positive).
What if....and bear with me here, Rey actually joined Kylo Ren to end the war and the Dark and Light side alike. Only that didn't involve killing all the rebels (because why would it?) but actually brokering a peace treaty between both sides. The challenges would involve dealing with the extremist elements from both sides as well as trying to soothe years if not decades of animosity. It'd be an intriguing idea with clear thematic relevance to current socio-political events. And what if Luke, jaded by decades of absolutism, tries to kill Kylo Ren not believing he could change and thinking the whole idea is a trap to corrupt Rey. And Rey and Kylo Ren would be forced to kill Luke because it'd be the only way to finally get true peace in the galaxy. Because what's more interesting than a former paragon of good acting in the antagonistic "evil" role because he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing. The ultimate irony that Luke Skywalker, the man who brought peace to the galaxy the first time is the ultimate enemy to it, the second time. It'd do wonders in clearing away all the absolutism bullshit of light and dark in the writing of the story and craft a tale of nuance, misunderstandings and how life isn't usually as simple as killing a bad guy but about working together with other people, people you don't necessarily like or trust, to ensure a stable and peaceful era all for the sake of the greater go-oh what's that? Last Jedi ended and we're back to Rebels vs Empire again?
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Man look at all that risk taking.