Okay, before we get to the main segment of this article I’d
like to set the record straight. For a while, I had lost my desire to make
articles about games as they have become something that I had to come to terms
with such as micro-transactions, corporate dollars being the final end game. It’s
not that it’s all bad but it just took me some time to get back into the swing
of things, but what I’ve decided to do is to try and focus on the good side of
things for this. I won’t go into detail unless someone wants to ask me a
question about it just because I’m not someone that goes into that realm of
things and just want to focus on the story at hand. Alright then, onto the main
event.
This year is going to be a huge year for movies in terms of
entertainment, the reason I say that is because it’ll explain why Star Wars could and
probably will be the biggest of the year. Yes, we have Avengers: Age of Ultron effectively
kicking off Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something that I’ll write
about in a few weeks into greater detail. We’ve had Fast & Furious 7
breaking the billion dollar box office record in 17 days, a record that the
Avengers and Star Wars could easily break. We have a slew of new movies from
classics like Mad Max: Fury Road, Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys, another
super hero installment in Ant-Man, the final Hunger Games movie, Ex Machina, Kingsmen:
The Secret Service and of course Spectre in November because who doesn’t love
James Bond? I would like to include the new Fantastic Four movie but that thing
is an abomination to me already by ruining Dr. Doom.
Now of course all those movies will be great or have already
been well received but none of them hold the same power that the Star Wars
movies have held for almost forty years. The fans of the movies are passionate
and not very unforgiving like myself, but even the prequels which garnered a lot
of criticism for certain dialogue were somehow able to be enjoyed because it
brought everything full circle. However, fans did demand more and when word
that JJ Abrams was going to be producing, directing and writing the new film,
their expectations rose up much like what had happen in 1999 with The Phantom Menace. When the first
trailer was released for The Force
Awakens, many questions were asked about what the story would be about.
What have been Luke, Leia and Han doing for the last thirty
years since Luke defeated his father and the Emperor? Who was this new
Stormtrooper or was he one in disguise? Who was the pilot of the new generation
of X-Wings and would he be a Jedi? And who was the new possible Sith Lord with
a lightsaber that had a cross guard?
(To the left) Kylo Ren in full view from the second teaser trailer
There were not many answers until just a few weeks ago when
the second teaser trailer was released that sent the internet crashing in some
cases. Alright, exaggerated maybe but it did go crazy. We saw a new droid in
BB-8 that was either laughed at or thought of as a cool update to R2-D2. We got info on
another main character in Rey (Daisy Ridley) being a scavenger that at some
point meets the former Stormtrooper or disguised one in Finn (John Boyega) and
we found out the name of the name of the pilot is Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac).
Clearly as of now these three will end up being the main force behind the new
trilogy unless some major happens. We saw a new class of Stormtroopers all organized under one banner
with a leader that may or may not be the main villain and ancient crashed Star
Destroyer and X-Wing in a desert. Clearly, the war loomed on after Return of the Jedi. But that’s not all
we saw in the second trailer and interviews.
(Bottom) R2-D2 with what appears to be
Luke's mechanical hand
We of course watched as Luke in a voice over explain the
Force that runs strong in his family starting with his father as we see his burned masked has been taken from the funeral pyre Luke had set thirty years prior as some sort
of possible trophy. Luke then talks about how he has it as we see a mechanical hand
touch R2-D2 but we do not see his face. Then he talks about his sister, Leia,
having it as well as we see a hand present Anakin’s lightsaber to someone who is
presumed to be Leia. And then he says that “you have it too.” However we don’t
see who he is talking about and I think the bigger message is that he’s saying we
all have it, a very clever tactic until we see the movie. Then we find out the “face” of one of the new villains that may or
may not be leading this new remnant of the old Empire called “The First Order” while possibly part of the Rebel
Alliance is now called “The Resistance.” This villain’s is name Kylo Ren but who we
don’t know is being portrayed by yet while being hidden behind a mask, but it
seems like he is one of the main reasons the The First Order is still up and
running, no doubt trying to keep Darth Vader’s and the Emperor’s legacy alive
while trying to become a Sith Lord himself if he isn’t already.
Oh and we got to see Han and Chewie at the end and say they’re
home. Yes, yes you are.
The thing is though while we got some answers to questions
of who some of these people are and what they are doing, they were not
fully answered and that is probably JJ Abrams's design. Most trailers and
interviews when it comes to movies give us a pretty good idea of where the
movie is going and probably how it’s going to end but with these two trailers
and lack of definitive answers have given it a mysterious tone as to what will
happen, hopefully that trend continues in any future trailers that are released
until that point.
I will say that in September there will be a four-part mini
comic series that explains some of things that happened between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens so we will get some
answers there but they shouldn’t affect the overall tone of the actual movie. From
what everyone has gathered through the trailers and the interviews, this movie
for the hype that is being poured into it could actually live up to the hype.
It has the feel of a Star Wars movie, it has the direction of centering the
story around a core group of characters and not going all over the place which
was one of the criticisms of the prequel trilogy. It has the feel of a coming
of age journey which was one of the strong points of the original trilogy. JJ
Abrams seems to be bringing the movie back to its roots and keeping it simple
and focused. That is a good thing for many.
(From left to right) Finn (Boyega), Rey (Ridley) and Poe Dameron (Isaac)
This all depends on the writing that JJ and Lawrence Kasdan
will be bringing to the table. But I’ll lay this out for everyone that wonders
if these two co-writing will be good or bad. JJ Abrams is widely known for many
of his writings in movies but will focus on the Sci-Fi genre of his writing
which of course features both reboots of the Star Trek franchise that were well
received by many. He’s also been highly praised for other features such as Mission Impossible 3 and Cloverfield, as well as the TV series Lost and Fringe. Of course he had the hindsight to bring in someone that
knows the story of Star Wars even better than he does and Lawrence Kasdan is
just that person. If you don’t know who he is and are asking why, then I’ll
tell you.
Lawrence Kasdan is a four time nominee of the Oscars for his
writing ability in The Big Chill, The
Grand Canyon and The Accidental
Tourist. Of course, the real reason that JJ Abrams brought him in was
because he was co-writer for The Empire
Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark. If anyone can make sure this movie is done
right for the fans then it’s him. This will be the only movie of the new trilogy
that will feature these two as writers, but it’s important to get it off on the
right foot and they are the guys to do it. The next two in the trilogy will be
written and directed by Rian Johnson who has written and directed three films
prior to Star Wars. Luckily for anyone that’s concerned about that, those
movies include Brick, The Brothers Bloom and Looper which were all well recieved, as
well as directing three episodes of the critical acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad. It’s no doubt in my mind
that Abrams and Kasdan had a hand in picking the writer and director.
Now there are still questions to be answered as to what
direction the movie is really going in and what we’ll all will be treated to
but it’s being very tight lipped in order to keep it a surprise for all movie
goers and fans alike as it should be.
(To the right )Kylo Ren with his lightsaber
that sparked debates from the first trailer
I haven’t answered the question though of
why all of this that’s been laid out to read means it’ll be a great movie maybe
even better than any of the six movies that have come before it. It’s
because it’s for the fans, genuinely for the fans. There’s always going to be
critics of everything because they want something to complain about or it’s not
perfect just like anything else that’s been released. People have been talking
about why Kylo Ren’s lightsaber has a hilt that resembles a broadsword, but we forget people
were complaining about Darth Maul’s double-bladed lightsaber and they grew to
love it. Some people want to complain just to complain whatever their reason.
Now what this new trilogy and specifically what The Force Awakens could bring to the movie industry are two subtle but very well thought out ideas that have not been used to their full potential in big blockbusters. The first one comes from what JJ Abrams has done to keep any info from leaking out. In this day and age with social media, keeping secrets is almost impossible in every aspect but what Abrams has done is have essentially everyone that is working on this project not just take a vow of silence but actually have them sign papers to make sure that they are tight lipped on everything in the plot. Everyone including the actors accepted it with open arms and they did it because it's a brilliant thing.
Think about it, we've seen numerous trailers of what Jurassic World is going to be about and we have the main plot in it so while many will indeed go and see it, there isn't anything really mysterious about it unless there is a major plot twist such as The Empire Strikes Back (Sorry, I had to). Even with Age of Ultron, we had an idea of what was going to happen but that movie was so epic, which I'll write about in a future piece about soon, that it was about the action. Of course, those films bring in fans because they know it'll be great to watch and they'll get to see how they figure out the problems that are upon the characters, perhaps Chris Pratt will dance to stop the dinosaurs. And we know that with the upcoming Marvel movies, it will all lead to fighting Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2. Yes, it's hard to hide any mystery in comic movies when you have source material but there are ways to work around that.
(To the right) Darth Vader's burned mask in possibly Kylo Ren's hands as a Sith relic
But what they don't bring is that sense of mystery and intrigue of everything that these two Star Wars trailers have brought with them. We only know certain things about the characters and we don't fully know everything about them. We don't know if Luke is a crazy hermit, or could be Kylo Ren or has he been training Jedi underground for the last 30 years (again, the comic mini series could elaborate on that) as some of the fans have speculated. We don't know if Finn is a stormtrooper even though we've heard that he is because again, the plot is being kept very secret and we aren't sure of everything. We don't know who will be a Jedi and who will be other than the photo's of Finn with Anakin's lightsaber and again, that's only and possibility. The point is that we don't know anything for sure and THAT's what will make movie goers even more eager to see this film than they already are. On a side note, Spectre, the new James Bond film, is also doing this same thing as well. Obviously, the film industry has done this with films before that smaller and lesser known but for a major blockbuster like this, it truly does make an impact and it could see a lot more revenue gained that it already will no doubt get.
(To the left) Anakin's lightsaber possibly being handed to Leia
The other idea is this, it's for the fans, to give them the best possible experience. Think about it this way, you have writers that know what makes this particular franchise amazing and give credit to Disney on this as well. As much as some people may hate them, Disney rarely fails in making sure the story is a good one for all audiences and considering they took George Lucas's ideas for a sequel trilogy and threw them out the window shows that they thought it would be bad. And to be fair, while Lucas did create the series, the prequels and to a lesser extent the original trilogy did suffer from some bad dialogue as well as some bad plot points. I'm sure Disney thought about it long and hard but they knew that in order to make this new trilogy work and keep fans happy to make money, they had to do it right and they made sure to have someone that understood from a fan perspective what made the Star Wars franchise great and take it to another level. That's why JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan are here. And those two along with Disney know what the stakes are in this. If you make something you know the fans will enjoy, then you will reap the rewards. If you want a good example of not giving the fans what they want, just look at Sony as they tried with Spider-Man and they had to give the right to use him to Disney and Marvel because they just weren't cutting it.
The main point of this article is to inspire hope for anyone
that’s afraid the movie will fail or meet expectations. I don’t need to quote
every interview that’s been released, it doesn’t need to be. The reason this is
short is because it doesn’t need explaining in depth explaining, it just needs
to be a good summary of everything that it stands for and what will make it
good. For all the answers we’ve been given and all the info that’s been
released so far, none of that matters more than one simple fact that to me at
least will make sure this movie and this trilogy will succeed and be better
than the two before it and transcend how movies are made like the original one did
so many years ago in a galaxy far far away. If you don’t believe that, just
read my statement here.
JJ Abrams is first and foremost a fan of this series and he
wants it to succeed more than anyone. I trust him in what he’s doing and you
should too.
May the 4th be with you.
