OK, I’ve seen the new trailer, and I’ve been delighted, again, to see Harrison Ford appear as Han Solo. And I’ve been disappointed to see no sign at all of Luke Skywalker. (But hey, Han was always more fun, right?) Which makes me wonder, is it that they’re saving him, or is it that his part is no more than a cameo?
And then, it occurs to me to reflect for a moment on the rest of what we see on the trailer…. storm troopers… the Millennium Falcon!… an apparent Darth Vader impersonator… various familiar small flying craft, X-wings and tie fighters… good guys distinguished by the fact that their uniforms are more casual and earth-toned than the bad guys’… a young woman, more conventionally pretty than Carrie Fisher but not as hot… a young black guy, proving that Lando Calrissian was not alone in that galaxy, who may, given the context and the voiceover and his various facial expressions of deep concern, be our protagonist…
And it dawns on me that I’m almost certainly going to be subjected to a bait-and-switch when I go to see this film, which I inevitably will do. I’m being teased with Han Solo and Princess Leia, and made to wonder about Luke Skywalker, but will the film really be about them at all?
Probably not. At most, at most, they will play a role like that of Obi Wan Kenobi — if we’re lucky. Sure, Obi Wan was hugely important, but was the film about him? No. He was important as a guide to the main characters, cluing them in to what had been and could be again. (And, as is the case in this situation, he was the only “name” actor in the production.)
No, the filmmakers’ likely goal is to use Han and Leia and Luke to get me interested in people I’ve never heard of, so that I’ll care enough about them to buy tickets to the two films to follow. The central conflicts and action and development will likely center around these young strangers.
Which makes me a little sad, and even sadder when I think how likely all this effort is to fail.
“Star Wars” — the original one, the true phenomenon, seems to me a one-time, magical thing. It had enough magic to keep us interested in the next two films, and even to, many years later, dupe people into going to see the decidedly unmagical “prequels.” The amazingly, stunningly unmagical prequels.
But no matter how much money is spent, no matter how dazzling the new technology may be, how can you duplicate the experience that we felt when we went into theaters in 1977 completely unaware of what we would see and hear and feel, and then were so delighted? There had been no way to predict it. If someone had told you the premise — essentially a cornball evocation of old movie serials from the 1930s brought to a new generation — it would have sounded no more promising than the completely bogus “Argo.” (I refer, of course, to the fake sci-fi film within the film, not to the Ben Affleck vehicle itself.)
But it worked. Lightning struck. And now, people are laboring to make it strike again, in the same way.
Is that possible? I don’t know, but I’m afraid it’s unlikely…
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OK, confession time… I didn’t actually SEE all three of the prequels. I saw the first one, and learned my lesson, and haven’t bothered with the other two.
Yeah, I’ve heard that the third one is not bad. But to see it, I feel like I’d have to see the second one, and I’m not going to do that. Anyway, “not bad” is a free-fall letdown after the original trilogy, and especially the first film.
I find that with books and films of this type, the first is always SO much better than the ones to follow that it’s like night and day. By “of this type,” I mean “unremarkable young person discovers that he has an amazing destiny and powers he never dreamed of, and comes into his own.” Basically Messiah stories, without God as we know Him.
King Arthur — ordinary orphan boy raised by a foster father who is destined to be the king who will save the land. Harry Potter — despised boy raised as someone who is less than others finding that he is a wizard with wonderful powers, and that a whole unsuspected world of people rely on him to deliver them. Paul Atreides — A pampered young noble (a twist there) who finds he is the Kwisatz Haderach and more, and destined to redeem not only a whole unsuspected world, but the whole of humanity spread over many worlds. Neo in The Matrix — ordinary young man who discovers (yawn) an unsuspected world in which he is destined to be The One, having special powers, etc.
And Luke Skywalker. Young man raised as usual by an aunt and uncle (or other foster parents), not knowing his true lineage, discovering there’s a thing called the Force and boy does he have it, and so forth.
Each starts out unremarkable. There is generally an unsuspected world, or an unsuspected way of seeing the world. He has unsuspected powers. He is The One.
Anyway, I find that after the first book or film, there is a distinct drop-off in the stories’ ability to engage my interest. The fun is the DISCOVERY that our protagonist is special, and the rush we get from imagining we’re in his shoes (he’s so ordinary!) and discovering this wonderful thing about ourselves.
Actually, Dune may be the outlier in the bunch. Not only does the protagonist start out as a person of great privilege instead of being ordinary or regarded as inferior, but what he turns into is not something that is unambiguously good. Sure, he’s vanquished the Harkonnens and gotten even with the emperor, but what has he become? The old Paul was much, much more likeble and admirable than Muad’Dib.
So it sort of follows the familar pattern, but follows it to a darker outcome…
J. J. Abrams makes a solid movie. If you haven’t seen the new Star Trek movies, you definitely should. And as far as Luke being in the movie, he’s going to be the Obi-Wan character, and I’ll bet he’s going to die in this film.
I have no doubt that this episode will be everything that the Star Wars generation has been waiting for, but I’m kinda worried about the other projects (Rogue One featuring “Wash” from Firefly, the standalone Boba Fett movie, etc.).
Agree. Sometimes you gotta fire the old coach (Lucas) and bring in new blood. However, I’m sure Lucas doesn’t really care since he sold everything for around Four Billion (no seriously, it’s $4 Billion, I didn’t just make that up.) to Disney.
“And I’ve been disappointed to see no sign at all of Luke Skywalker.” -Brad
Clever the marketing is, in suspense it leaves.
Seriously though, he’ll be in the movie. He’s listed on the credits, and he was in the second trailer. (Pretty sure that supposed to be Luke’s robotic arm patting R2-D2.)
It’s possible that they aren’t showing Luke much because the whole first movie (or more) will be a quest by the young new people to find Luke. Along the way, the young folks meet up with Han and the rest of the gang, who help out. Then when they find Luke, you’ll get two more movies of them fighting the non-earthtone wearing group.
Hey, as long as Jar-Jar Binks isn’t in the movie, they could just fly around and blow up stuff, have an occasional light-saber battle, toss in some Jedi philosophical quotes and I’d be happy. What can I say? I’m a simple man of simple tastes.
But your main point of the fact that this won’t be like the original release in 1977 is well-taken, to be sure. Nothing recreates the original. As someone once said “You never forget your first time.” However, you’re only looking at it from your perspective – someone who saw the movie in theaters in 1977. There’s a whole lot of people younger than you who didn’t have that experience. This new Star Wars movie will maybe try and give that magical experience to younger audiences.
I saw John Boyega–the “young black guy”–in a small, very moving independent movie called Imperial Dreams. He was incredible in that picture, and I knew I wanted to see the new Star Wars movie just to see him again. I think he’s British but might be wrong about that.
By the way, I’m assuming Boyega does have a major role. When we asked the director of Imperial Dreams whether it would get wider release (this was part of a film festival), he said that depended on how Star Wars does. So I assume he has a big part.
I’m thinking Boyega (good to have a name; better than “young black guy”) is the hero — the new Luke. And the pretty girl is sort of the Leia and the hotshot rebel pilot is the new Han.
And yes, Luke is the new Obi-Wan. (Of course, he was sort of that already in “Return of the Jedi.”)
And I am the Obi-Wan of moviegoers, old enough to have seen the original movie as an adult — but an adult who absolutely loved it. I still remember the sensation of driving my awful orange Chevy Vega back to my in-laws’ house in Memphis after seeing it at the old Park theater there across the street from Pete & Sam’s, and having to suppress the feeling that I was flying an X-wing…
At the time, I was a copy editor at The Jackson (TN) Sun, and I was the movie reviewer on the side. I generally went to see the movies in Memphis when we were there on the weekends. My only pay for those reviews was reimbursement for the tickets, but that was worth it to me…
I’d love to see that review.
I’ve seen it sometime in the last decade or two. It’s in one of those boxes piled up in the garage. Either that, or up in the attic and inaccessible. When we had a second AC system put in upstairs, a lot of the ductwork blocked me off from things I had pushed back in the corners of that crawlspace up there…
There are other great mythical archetypes. Sequels just carry on with the original premise. When they don’t we, the audience, usually rejects the story because it doesn’t follow our conception of what we “want to see.”
So the trick is to start with the existing premise and somehow morph it into another compelling archetype – unexpected but widely familiar. The further the audience gets from shared memories, the harder this becomes. With a global audience, it may be a lost cause.
Since they are pre-selling movie tickets now; I would bet that it is going to miss striking that cord.