It’s been just over two weeks since the general public was able to sit down and take in the supposed final chapter in the “Skywalker” Saga: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker. The professional reviews have slowed and we now have a stable rating of just over 54% according to rottentomatoes which hasn’t changed all that much from its early reviews at release weekend. While the popcorn munching public has had a much more favorable opinion of the film (clocking in at a respectable 86% audience review) there is still a lot that die-hard and casual fans have felt was lacking, unnecessary or just plain weird about the film. Now the hasthag #releasethejjcut has exploded in the wake of reddit user egoshoppe posted in saltierthancrait subreddit about an insider account he had been given of the true stressors between JJ Abrams and Disney executives that plagued the production. People are demanding, begging and lamenting the “JJCut” of the film as some bastion of clarity and cohesion that the sequel trilogy desperately needed.

Here’s Five Reasons why the JJ Abrams “Cut” of Disney’s Star Wars Rise of Skywalker won’t actually make you happy:

You will always be angry with Rian Johnson

If you are reading this list, chances are its because you feel some sort of way about Rian Johnson’s entry into the Star Wars franchise, and it probably isn’t the sort of emotion that lends itself to a Jedi. The outcry against Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi has faded, but the wounds are still there. Those scars and feelings of betrayal, the feeling that Disney had allowed the central movie of their sequel trilogy to be helmed by a Director whom many argued did not respect the Star Wars franchise. Or, at the very least – didn’t understand the difference between subversion of expectations and mockery of them. If you are hoping that a JJ Cut of Rise of Skywalker will help smooth the rift that TLJ (The Last Jedi) chasmed into the saga, you are sure to be disappointed. If anything it seems fairly obvious that the movie we got out of Abrams for the climax of the series was never going to attempt to seamlessly flow the contentions of Last Jedi into its narrative.

There is no such thing as a perfect ending to a childhood transcending property

Beyond the films, the books and the video games, past the television shows and the merchandise is an uncomfortable truth: Star Wars is too big a thing to make you truly happy anymore. The narrative has been on a constant uptick, climbing in intensity, mounting the stakes and level of power – and that sort of progressive climb really can’t be sustained. It is why people rolled there eyes at “Starkiller Base” and its multi-planet the-power-of-the-sun-in-the-palm-of-your-hands killing tech – because at a certain point, blowing up planets is just blowing up planets and you really have a hard time making the stakes any higher. This is why The Mandalorian works so well, and why Disney+ really hasn’t experienced any backlash from its episodes or its Season 1 conclusion. The stakes are drawn back, reserved. We don’t need incredible feats of magic or ace piloting, because we are back to the roots of how Star Wars feels – beyond the planet killing weapons, it really comes down to a cocksure rebellious hero taking on the universe, one kooky adventure at a time. Nothing in the JJ Cut will diminish the Theatrical versions desperate attempts to up the stakes and pull in even more incredible feats of daring do – those are a part of the narrative, intentional and important to what JJ was trying to accomplish. If anything, the directors cut would only increase the amount of Michael Bay-esque explosions and frenetic energy.

It will only continue to remind you of your feelings for The Last Jedi

Everything that was set up in TLJ was either retconned or completely ignored. That is made painfully obvious in nearly every set piece of the entire final installment of the Skywalker storyline. Rey’s origins and parentage are hand waived into being important, albeit disposable cornerstones of her narrative and even the tone and treatment of Luke Skywalker’s force ghost removed any question of his loyalty to the force and the training of future Jedi. While that might make you smile, or even cheer triumphantly at the way the movie attacks its cruel predecessor, you will eventually wake up to realize that, while a jovial moment and visual, a cohesive story and trilogy it does not make. At the end of the day, the revenge porn that is the majority of RoS plot adds more questions than it answers – coming in as an alternative second film in the trilogy, rather than a conclusion.

What is missing from Star Wars isn’t more hype – it’s less.

The refrain from most people who are either excited for and love the most recent Star Wars film or simply wanted more of it, is that the film didn’t give them all the conclusions they needed. They site the hyper-space speed at which the plot had to move in order to tick all the boxes that would right the ship from the previous film, and subsequently close everything up in a neat little bow. That kind of plan rarely works, and instead highlights the mistakes made and the rushed nature of the screenplay. What would be truly refreshing for a JJCut is not an extra hour of explosions, lens flare and shoe-horned fan service, but a paired down opening act that removes the first portion of their journey, writes it into the opening crawl as done and allows us to jump in as the action is happening. The best example of this is in Return of the Jedi, where we jump directly into a plan already in motion to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. The movie doesn’t spend the time to tell us what the plan is or how they will execute it (or even worse, take us on all the side quests to get the tools necessary to fool Jabba). That is wasted time in an action adventure serial.

Even if you had it, you’d want more

Perhaps the hardest thing to come to terms with is our desire as fans for more. Even if we got everything we wanted from a film we loved, at most it would make us smile and cheer in the moment, but in our next breath we’d be wanting more. That is the curse of fandom, and the difficulty of creating content for fandom: the more you give, the more will be required for the next movie, the next show and the next figurine. And even when we get more of what we want, it doesn’t end up satisfying the same way. This is why it can be so refreshing to see a deconstructed version of our favorite franchises (like The Mandalorian). It allows us to reset all the high stakes we’ve built and just focus on the core of the story – the emotion that drew us in.

What do you think? Is the JJ Abrams Cut of Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker worth all the fuss? Let your voice be heard in the comments below!