But for a film tasked with kick-starting a theoretically infinite number of sequels and spinoffs, and burdened with setting up stories and characters that may or may not ever pay off (Hi, Poe Dameron! Bye, Poe Dameron!), a decent tease is good enough. Finn the way that I used to play Darth Vader vs. Still, it’s hard for me to imagine children playing Kylo Ren vs. Abrams isn’t what I would call an “idea machine.” He takes an existing invention and puts a clock in it, and the tease is always better than the follow through.Īfter watching The Force Awakens, though, I’m somewhat excited for future Star Wars movies. where he said with a touch of sadness that The Force Awakens was the Star Wars movie the fans have been looking for and that (by implication). It’s everything you loved about the original with a half-twist. He takes the same irreverently respectful approach to Star Wars that he brought to his Star Trek pictures. Of course, Abrams never set out to make or break myths, but rather to keep the old myths in circulation. This trio even includes the actual Han Solo (Harrison Ford, making more of an effort than in Crystal Skull). It’s telling that while the prequels eschewed any sort of “Han Solo figure” (i.e., a clumsily charming rogue in a cool jacket) and focused almost exclusively on the monotonous, self-rubbing mysticism of the Jedis, The Force Awakens features at least three different Han Solo figures. There’s a real sense of overcompensation. The Force Awakens gets built on the framework of A New Hope, and there are many callbacks to the 1977 original, at least several dozen in the opening twenty minutes alone. It’s a real Star Wars movie it’s just not a great Star Wars movie. However, The Force Awakens turns it back into a tangible and dimensional cinematic world. The infantile fussiness of the prequels flattened the Star Wars universe to the point of discouraging imagination. I won’t rehash it here, but sufficed to say that the words “George,” “Lucas,” “is,” “dead,” “to,” and “me” would probably dominate a word cloud made from my mid-2000’s movie blogs. Just a concise and mysterious setup primarily focused on characters that you like.Īnyone who goes way back with The Barnesyard knows my tortured history with the Star Wars franchise. No parliamentary procedure bullshit at all. Nothing about filibusters in the Galactic Senate.
The 1977 release of A New Hope had a seismic impact on the film industry and the ripples expanded far and wide. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to label Star Wars as one of the biggest cultural influences of the last half-century. Abrams and his co-screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt to begin the opening crawl of Episode VII, the Star Wars franchise returns to the world of things about which you give a rat’s ass. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (United States, 2015) December 16, 2015. With those four words, strategically chosen by director J.J. Abrams) GRADE: Bīy Daniel Barnes “Tangible and Dimensional” By Daniel Barnes on DecemStar Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (J.J.