Tempering my excitement... it could suck, you know

I hear you. Believe it or not the original Star Wars movie was said to move from scene to scene very fast for people in 1977. I wouldn't worry though as JJ Abrams seems to want to capture the feel of the OT and I'm guessing that'll mean 1977 pacing too. Maybe not as slow as you would like but Star Wars is meant to be a space adventure movie not some art house staring at aspirin fizzing in a cup for 20 seconds type movie.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 26, 2015, Original Post Date: Oct 26, 2015 ---

I completely agree with you BamBoozle. Trevorrow is my biggest concern too. He might have done a great job with safety not guaranteed (only judging by rotten tomatoes, I've yet to see it), but Jurassic world is a pretty dumb movie. I'm not sure his credentials qualify him to direct a Star Wars movie. I can think of so many other directors I'd love to see direct episode 9. I can only assume Kathleen Kennedy and co have a very good reason for their choice.

 

Yes, I agree. Jurassic World wasn't that good. It entertained me but that was mostly nostalgia. (I saw Jurassic Park as a 5 year old kiddo at the cinema's and i loved it). I hope that JJ, Kathleen Kennedy and i forgot his name director VIII and Kasdan will keep him on track. And I hope that he will learn more about directing so that he can become the right person.

But first The Force Awakens!

 

R

Rian Johnson is directing episode 8 and I have a better feeling about him. Yes let's hope Colin will be ready by then to create something special for the end of the trilogy. To be fair the script should be good so that will help him.

 

Ah yes thank you! Rian Johnson! And agreed about having a better feeling with him than with Treverrow. We can only put our trust in the Force now.

 

Back to the original topic I just read in the TFA thread that 87% of the Cantina members expect the film to be totally awesome.

Of course, I do not know what it requires to excite each and every one but I'm rather pessimistic. According to my experience as an old fossil it's better to expect the worst yet not to give up hope for the best.

No doubt Abrams is passionate about it, but the things he might find exciting about the OT for himself must not be the same things I found exciting (and Star Trek is the best proof that him and me will probably not be on the same page).

 

I'd say that's a good rule to live by but for me when it comes to Star Wars I would find it impossible to see it that way. I must confess that even though I don't want to compare this movie with the OT if it's a bad film I will be very disapointed.

Unlike you I still am optimistic about what JJ can bring to the saga. After watching his earliest films I've always seen the potential in him to produce outstanding work. While I obviously like his Star Trek movies more than you do I still feel his best is yet to come.

His camerawork work for instance, some of it I adore and at other times it leaves me cold. I think overall his biggest problem is feeling the need to be very over the top in alot of his filmmaking choices. I feel that if he reigns this in and has learnt the old saying less is more I feel he could make a fantastic star wars film.

One of his strengths is he listens to people and is self critical. I think if he studies his past work, is open to suggestions which I think he will I don't see why this can't be a success?

 

I am rather skeptical on that 87% and what the number is, i think overall everyone would agree that it looks AWESOME but many like you and me are very skeptical of the film. I am a huge Starwars/Statrek fan, i just want what is best for the franchise and them doing what they are seems like almost a soft reboot in a sense and that is what JJ is known for, everything JJ has created is nothing original by any means this is what he does and the industry is ok with that while many like me are not. I think he is very overrated director/writer, i don't see his appeal that everyone else does. After what he had done in regards to Startrek it is very small % of people that like what he did. The problem is that he didn't give it the respect that it should of received, heck he didn't even give credit to the Gene Roddenberry, that alone is pure arrogance and typical of this industry.

You make a great point on comparing this movie to OT, it feels like a soft reboot when it comes to what OT was, everything seems to be aligning that way and this is what JJ does, if this is what Kennedy allowed JJ to do, she is no better than JJ. I don't want OT retold from a new generation while using those actors from the past films, that is what this all feels like. But, again JJ cant come up with anything original. So, sorry if i remain skeptical of JJ and what he has done in the past with another franchise that he might do to the same on another great franchise. I am not afraid to call out who and what JJ is and what isn't and he is wrong for this franchise. There is far better directors than him, that have a better track record.

As for your comment on his camerawork, i notice he got his famous lensflare into the movie which we all see when Kylo Ren is looking outside that window of read. I don't share your opinion by any means that he likes to go over the top, i think he lacks in areas of original thought and ideas to bring forth anything that he has worked on.

Lets also remember, box office numbers do not make a film successful as we have seen with the PT, longevity of a film and how it is received by the fans is what makes it successful. I know what i have stated will not be a popular opinion, however i think it needed to be said. Will i go see this? Absolutely i will go see it. I have a 10yr old, i watch Rebels with him and i love it!

 

You see it as a soft reboot but JJ lacks originality? A soft reboot by it's very definition is keeping continuity but adding something new. If you want originality you should be happy that JJ is bringing new things to the franchise. I'm not entirely sure what you want from a new star wars movie? Would you rather it be set in a completely different time period and unrelated to the skywalker saga? If so then that would be an unwise move for Disney and LucasFilm to make. It is a smart move to use well established characters and certain familiarities from the original saga. Many people, fans of the original trilogy were unhappy as you know with what George Lucas did when he made the prequels. To many and to myself included felt the PT bore no resemblance to everything we loved about the original trilogy. The OT is Star Wars! The whole Star Wars universe was made from those three movies. If Kennedy and co decided to create something completely different it would be a massive risk that could end in disaster. It makes more sense to include characters that people are already connected to and introduce new characters alongside them. I say start with something familiar and then eventually branch out into something altogether different. JJ is only setting the scene, starting the story, establishing the new characters. You don't need arty camera work and originality (does it even exist anymore) as such. You just need a solid Director who can tell a great story.

To me the trailer isn't standard JJ Abrams. It already looks better than anything he has done before and that gives me hope. Sure there is the odd trademark Abrams like the lens flare but if it's the odd touch here and there and not in your face all of the time it won't be a problem. All of the shots I have seen from the teaser trailers and the full trailer I think looks great. A more mature approach from JJ I feel.

 

Should the film be too derivative and have, indeed, rather qualities of a reboot (I hope not), than the use of well established characters would rather look like a devious move to me, obfuscating the issue. We'll all find out about that pretty soon.

 

You don't make any sense. It's a sequel trilogy. It's a continuation of the skywalker story. What is wrong with that? Of course it's going to have some things that are the same. It's what happened thirty years later. Guess what the characters in that time didn't die - but that's totally unrealistic right? Well not really.

Also people love the millennium falcon, x-wings, tie fighters, stormtroopers so why is it a bad thing to give people what they want? When I saw the last trailer for the first time I got shivers up and down my body. Trailers never do that to me. For this reason alone I have faith that JJ will deliver the goods.

 

Sorry, if I wasn't clear enough, I tried to express that I share the concern of Acidrain:

What did Abrams do in Star Trek (2009)? It was a reboot and he used a character from the original Trek as an attempt to build a bridge. While it's labelled "sequel" it still could be a film that's essentially a reboot in terms of story and plot devices (e.g. Starkiller weapon). I hope I'm wrong.

 

Like we have nuclear weapons capable of decimating countries the empire/first order had a weapon capable of destroying a whole planet and now it seems whole solar systems. It makes perfect sense to make super weapons such as starkillerbase weapon. If you have a weapon as powerful as that you have the subservience of the whole galaxy. People will do anything you ask of them if they live in fear of being completely destroyed. Why wouldn't they take advantage of that technology? It's not derivative as such it's just serving the story appropriately.

 

I think that it is kind of a reboot, if you look at it from the perspective of "restarting" the franchise with a new set of characters.
I'm confident in the movie, but I also fear the remake of plot points and devices, and we all know where fear leads...

Please, let us not have another trench run! I would be cool with them starting to go for a trench run, that team being wiped-out, and we get a comment in the likes of "I guess they learnt to protect those trenches, move to plan B" or something like that... Just a wink not a full retelling of the same thing.

 

Yes I agree with you. It's best to be wary about such things rather write it off completely before having seen the actual film. It annoys me when certain people just think oh it's jj and certain elements of the story are the same therefore it's going to be a copy of what has gone before and there won't be any originality. It makes sense to show things that are familiar in the trailers and leave out everything that is different thereby leaving alot of surprises. Even the bit at the beginning of the last trailer where Rey is searching that crashed star destroyer - well I haven't seen anything like that in a star wars film before. Lets just wait till we see the film before we give up any hope of it being something truly amazing which I think it will be.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 6, 2015, Original Post Date: Nov 6, 2015 ---

I love how they are referring to the original Ralf McQuarrie paintings. Another smart move as we owe as much to him as we do Lucas. He after all created the whole look of Star Wars. We should be in for an enriching Star Wars experience. I think it will look stunning!

 

What i want to see in the new film and going forward, is going FORWARD not retelling of the same story that happened in OT and that is what this seems to be. I am not interested in a new timeline like JJ did with Startrek, nor unrelated to the Skywalker saga, what i want is it to go forward not backwards to get us all worked up and ready to go forward and that is what i am seeing. I have NO problem with them using familiar characters to basically usher off the new trilogy or next chapter, but from all indications it would seem that way, i am holding my breath that JJ does well with it and with what he has done to Startrek i am very skeptical.

That is my entire fear, the path of the TFA seems to tell the same story from those characters from OT in the sameway. We need to be reminded or recreated to do that, what we need is a solid path forward and perhaps this first movie is doing that.

He used Spock, that is your argument? JJ created the same story only in his own vision, while on the same note gave ZERO credit to Gene Roddenberry, that alone is pure arrogance. It doesn't matter about JJ Trek, it has already been declared a failure by much of the fanbase, just as PT has been declared it. So, lets hope that he doesn't do what he did to the Startrek franchise.

That is it right there, remaking the plot points and devices when it comes to this new movie, i don't want that and nor does anyone else.

That is what is great about these forums, we are agree to disagree and i just happen to think that JJ isn't all that after what he did on Startrek.

 

I'd like to think JJ will change your mind about him after seeing TFA. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

 

Ok I'm even more convinced now after seeing the Japanese trailer for TFA that JJ is going to knock this thing out of the park!

To me it looks like he has shot a film with a tremendous amount of thought, care and skill. This doesn't look like Abrams standard fare to me. I am telling you people, this is JJ Abrams' moment of glory. In December you will witness his masterpiece, his inspired vision!

 

Personally, I think it's going to feel like a reboot, even though it's technically not. Just like Star Trek 09 was not technically a reboot.

 

I think you will not be thinking anything except for this is amazing! Forget star trek or anything else he has done. This will be something completely different and on a much higher level to what he has done before. In a recent interview he basically explained how he was given a master class on how to write and direct a film by Kasdan. Their main aim was to create something utterly delightful and fun and they assure us they have written a story with wit, brevity, efficiency and clarity. He clarified to me what I'd hoped that he addressed the things that weren't right with previous movies. He also said despite there being old characters its the new characters they are really focusing on and telling a new story. I'm totally convinced this film will be JJ's masterpiece!

 

That is my feeling of it as well, i agree on the startrek side of things but that is what JJ is known for and does and has create nothing original.

We can dismiss his former movies and what he has done in the past just because this is Starwars, doesn't mean he wont do the same and i think it will be a soft reboot while using primary characters from the OT in order to usher in a new era of the franchise but i am sorry but JJ IMO is a hack, he has created nothing original, this is what he does and he is known for, reboots or recreations of what has come before and re imagined. I thank god that KK and Kasdan are around including the others so JJ is not allowed to be on his own to destroy another franchise.