I'm getting rather concerned that the new Star Wars film may be being burdened by the extraordinarily high expectations of the public. Can it live up to its hype?
I'm not really the Star Wars nerd that some other middle aged men (and women) seem to be. The first movie was good and ground breaking in several ways; the second was terrific; unfortunately the promise was squibbed in the third. The prequels are notable for many things, but none of them positive: Lucas' tin ear for dialogue; his tin ear for mythology after all, with the strange quasi-demolition of the mysticism of the Force via the "midi chlorian" explanation ( I am betting the new movie tries to forget completely about that - and Jar Jar Binks); and of course the un-engaging results of making adventure movies with way too much CGI.
But yes, I am relatively keen to see the new movie, although I think my expectations are realistically lower than those of many. (I am not convinced that JJ Abrams is that good a director - but everyone's so relieved it's not George, it may hardly matter.)
Anyhow, I was thinking this morning: what things would really disappoint me in the new film? Here are a few ideas:
* if it ends with an X Wing attack on a new and deadly space based weapon, I'll scream. That's what made Return of the Jedi a dull re-write of the first film: it must not happen again.
* any mention of midi chlorians (see above);
* a CG army of Yoda clones (although I would be slightly amused if some sort of long lost loser son of his turned up and had to learn the way of the Force from aging Luke - as long as the son is a puppet, not pixels);
* a set of Chewbacca pups could be funny too, as long as they make a brief appearance only;
* no ewoks, please.
Seems obvious that a few things will happen:
ReplyDelete1. Luke will be evil, or at least power-mad and/or mysteriously ambivalent. This is a stone cold lock. More broadly, the "light ending" at the end of VI will be undermined and depicted as a sham.
2. Abrams will want to pull the same trick he did with the Trek reboot, which is to cut and run from canon as much as he can, and only refer to it obliquely through one-liners or fleeting cameos (hello Billy Dee!).
3. Fisher will be used sparingly, as her stuff is unlikely to be of high quality.
4. Hamill will be freaking awesome, especially if they actually go all the way and have him become a Sith Lord.
Quite a man crush u have going there for MH, Monty....heh
ReplyDeleteOne thing's for sure: unlike many peoples' experience with Empire*, with the internet, it will be near impossible to not know any plot surprise (such as an evil Luke) unless one is at a very early screening.
* including my own, happily