If you bring up the name, “Rian Johnson” to movie fans, you might get mixed reactions. Let’s analyze the reasons as to why. Let’s say that you just like his movies. Okay, you might think he’s a pretty darn good director. His filmography is impressive (I haven’t seen Brick), but I have seen the critically acclaimed Looper and his most recent film, Knives Out. My personal opinion: Rian Johnson is a good director, but I’m not head over heels about his movies. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen Brick, but Looper is honestly pretty overrated in my opinion. I mean, seriously, how did the Rainmaker exist in the original timeline when Bruce Willis was actually meant to kill his mom? Maybe his mom actually died somehow after Joseph Gordon-Levitt saved her. You know what? Time travel is confusing, so let’s move on.
Well, at least Rian Johnson hasn’t done anything else that made fans scratch their heads, right? Yeah… I know what you’re thinking. We’ll get more into that later, but I want to keep talking about Rian Johnson’s directorial work. So what about Knives Out? That’s probably my favorite movie from him, but even that movie is nothing too special for me. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it. My biggest issue with it was the fact that it was a mystery movie, except the big reveal was pretty predictable. For those of you who haven’t seen it, but don’t care about spoilers, guess what? Captain America goes bad. Oh yeah, it’s like that. I mean, the acting was good and it kept my interest, but I think a movie about a mystery shouldn’t be so predictable. And Daniel Craig’s Foghorn Leghorn accent… well, at least they made fun of it.
So those are my thoughts about the work of Rian Johnson. But wait, I’m forgetting about his most popular movie, aren’t I? Yeah, this is a touchy subject, but apparently, he keeps forgetting about it too. Now here’s where the Rian Johnson name gets people a bit itchy. Okay, that’s a serious understatement, because brining him up to many Star Wars fans will surely trigger them. Any Last Jedi fans out there? Well, if you are, don’t say so out loud. Well, unless you’re prepared to go to verbal war with other Star Wars fans. Hey, we’re all entitled to our opinion, but even I’ll admit that many Star Wars fans can get very toxic. And what is the source of their toxicity? Rian Johnson has a lot to do with that.
I’ve talked about my opinion on The Last Jedi several times before, so I won’t go into another review. I’ll just say, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. I will say, however, that it did make me less of a Rian Johnson fan. I liked some of the things he did with The Last Jedi, but he also did several things that made me very angry. Come on, why did Luke have to die that way? I get a headache just thinking about it.
Speaking about Rian Johnson and his work on Star Wars, does anyone else remember when he was supposed to do his own trilogy? Let’s face it, it probably won’t happen. I mean, here’s the real question: who in the Star Wars fanbase even wants it to happen? The Last Jedi was the beginning of the division of the Star Wars fanbase and is very passionately hated by many fans. Why would Disney and Lucasfilm want to bring back a man who delivered a film that the fans hate so much?
Let’s look at what Rian Johnson has been saying about it so far. To sum it up in a few short words, he doesn’t sound to excited about it. Whenever asked about it in interviews, he usually brushes off the question and says, “we’ll see”. From my point of view, it sounds like he really doesn’t want to do it. If that’s the case, I really can’t blame him. Half the fanbase despises his Star Wars movie and he wasn’t too happy about their reactions. I just can’t imagine him being too pumped for pursuing another movie, let alone a trilogy, when legions of fans don’t want him to return. On top of that, it just seems like a no-win scenario for Disney and they can’t afford to lose more fans.
Well, Rian Johnson himself recently told a reporter from USA Today that he still intends on doing his Star Wars trilogy. Sarah Wilson (the reporter), took to Twitter and posted that his trilogy is still happening. I mean, she sounded pretty excited about it, so that basically confirms it, right? Yeah, at this point, I’ll only believe it if someone at Disney or Lucasfilm confirms it. The word of Rian Johnson himself just doesn’t mean squat anymore.
Needless to say, the idea of Rian Johnson returning to do a whole Star Wars trilogy doesn’t intrigue me. I do like the idea of giving him the chance to redeem himself, but I don’t see many fans running to the theaters to see his trilogy. After that crushing flop of the Solo movie, I wouldn’t want Disney to take any unnecessary risks.
Now if we’re talking about money, The Last Jedi is the second highest grossing Star Wars movie, just right behind The Force Awakens. That kind of accomplishment was a serious win for Disney and I reckon they would want to stick with someone who brought in the dough. However, The Last Jedi really didn’t make truck loads of money because lots of people liked it. Many fans did, however, liked The Force Awakens, which received much more positive fan reactions. The Last Jedi made the money it did because we Star Wars fans were still working off that momentum from The Force Awakens. Yes, hype is always a factor. Rian Johnson won’t have that hype from The Force Awakens to work off of if he pursues a trilogy.
As of now, all he has for the fans to get them excited for his trilogy is one of the most hated Star Wars movies. Needless to say, that won’t help his case. I mean, we Star Wars fans will watch pretty anything that’s Star Wars, despite what some fans will claim. If Rian Johnson’s new trilogy does happen, we’ll watch it. However, I just don’t see him actually pursuing it anytime soon. He’s got no reason to be excited about it, and neither do we. On top of that, Disney has no reason to pursue it either. If it happens, it happens and we’ll judge them when we see them. If not, let’s be honest, it’s no real loss.
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