What If the Force Awakens sucks?

Same here, and I knew it would happen but didn't know when I'd get here.

Let's hope Disney kept some of Lucas treatments of 7 being mostly about the grandchildren of Anakin Skywalker. Hence why don't know Ren and Rey's last names yet cough Solo.

 

Sharing genes with Anakin and Han is a recipe for disaster.

Hanakin Skysolo

 

Han doing Leia all those times results in kids..

 

I think it is really difficult for this movie to SUCK. For one as lack luster as the PT was they were decent movies with elements that fell flat. They would be fairly well ranked if Star Wars wasn't in their name. Also at some point when things start to go wrong there is no reason for people's suspension of disbelief to stay high. Its kinda like the last few weeks with a girl you are going to break up with. The little stuff you overlooked in the beginning are adding up with the major issues that are making you rethinking it in the first place. But the failure of the PT I think one puts people in mind that lesson's were learned and that things have to be better so I think there will be for some rose colored glasses helping the film along. The most significant reason I think the film will succeed is that the process seems to be solid. They have a talented team and the contributors seem to be all fans.

 

yes, the force awakens will definitely suck .... you into the story

i think you really have to wait for its release to be sure because who really knows who those "critics" are on the web. im not talking about people here on this board but more like the critics on youtube who can only be happy once they get to sacrifice the message what a movie is supposed to communicate in exchange to being a popular critic that seeks attention but you get my idea. i was really disappointed with a lot of them and even though i respect red letter media, it actually took me 1 year ... yes one year to finally watch Prometheus at take a shot at it simply because their review was so believable. the same goes for their reviews of the recent TNG movies ... they were right they really were bad films so obviously i thought the new jj star trek films woulda been not good and again i waited for a long time before realizing how freaking great thes 2 new films are. i love amc movie review but maybe im not 100% right but john shnepp or another one of those guys i respect a lot complained that super 8 sucked .... really ? its a movie intended for 12 year olds come on ! it just shows that jj has a wide range. anyways i love their show but the thing you gotta understand is : do your own research before listening to other ppl's opinions if you want to know if a movie is good

 

It's just a movie... I'll get over it !

In 1999 at least we had The Matrix

 

What do you mean you disagree? JJ is not touted as any sort of master of special effects or action if anything all of those aspects of his previous films have been criticized.

His reputation in the industry is as a good producer and as a director that's very good at getting believable performances out of his actors, there are many reasons he got the gig on TFA but it's mostly because he's a big schmooze and because he's managed to gain a following making nostalgia cinema even though most of the Star Trek fan base hates his take on Trek because it's so far off the mark of what the series has always been about, treats established canon like you would expect someone who has no real familiarity or appreciation of the series (Abrams has stated plainly in interviews that he was never a fan of Trek and hadn't even watched all of the original series or films before being hired to do the 2009 reboot), and totally wasted the opportunity to really uh boldly go wherever they wanted after effectively establishing a new timeline for the story.

You state correctly that he wasn't really into Trek, and it shows because nothing about his take on it besides the most superficial aspects was anything like it.

As for MI3, it was decidedly light on action and wasn't regarded much for that, but it took the characters into a new direction and made them work in a smaller setting and received good marks for that. But it hardly revived the series in a significant way. It did enough to earn a sequel which was much better received and an all around bigger success.

So where's his fan base coming from? Just being perfectly honest about it he is not touted as a great genre film director and is not popular with the film geek community. He's popular with casual filmgoers and has yet to direct a single film which was particularly successful critically or financially.

It's okay that you like his films, absolutely. But it is not a matter of opinion that JJ is not at all highly regarded as an action or genre film director. He's a journeyman director at best, with a little more clout because he's carved out a career as a producer. So he's in good with the suits.

There are so many names ahead of him, director wise in the action and genre film game.

All that said, Star Wars isn't exactly the type of high end material that really required an auteur powerhouse director. I trust him as a hired hand, but I really hope he doesn't get much more of a role shaping all the new films as a producer because I expect him to play things as safe as possible by the book and end up getting a lot of praise for mediocrity while much better filmmakers get passed up on.

 

I'm giving you a no-suck guarantee.

 

I don't either. Too many great minds involved. I know everyone freaked out when Disney took over Star Wars but they will absolutely guarantee the movie will be good. Now...will it be the type of movie that you have to watch every time it is on? That is tough to do. Those are rare.

 

You realize that critical consensus and your opinion are subjective right. There is no accounting for taste.

 

Everything is relative. Abrams ST's are the only ones I can stomach. The rest are like watching an entire baseball game. Keep that in mind with this film as well. There will be those that dislike this movie. I do believe they are about to knock our socks off with TFA...at least I hope they will.

 

So let me get this straight. No one is allowed to say anything negative about the prequels, but you are allowed to make gross generalizations about anyone who is a PT detractor, assume they have no valid points, and insult them wholesale with statements like this?

Sounds pretty fair.

 

My biggest source of dread about this film comes down to just how 'PG' this film is going to be. I keep thinking back to this:
http://www.starwars7news.com/2014/11/new-details-regarding-the-force-awakens-eu-books.html

"Boy's License"
Is that statement just for selling YA novels? Or does it speak further to what Disney's overall agenda with Star Wars is?
That blurb notwithstanding: What have we actually seen in either of these teasers that says: "I'm a PG-13 movie!"?

The bloody handprint on Finn's helmet is the only thing I've seen that says PG-13 to me.
That and a failbomb in the Dialogue and Character Chemistry are the only ways I see this film sucking.

 

Well duh, but that wasn't the point. The point is Abrams is totally a company guy, and he has yet to make any film, let alone an original, that has really strongly resonated with audiences or even earned anywhere in the ballpark of the kind of money top blockbusters these days bring in.

He has the persona and image with average filmgoers of heavy hitters like Cameron, Spielberg and Peter Jackson, with precisely none of the filmography and accolades to back him up whatsoever.

He's not terrible, but he's really not far up the totem pool of directors either doesn't at all deserve the credit he gets. Studios like him because he is safe, and they don't like taking risks.

At best Abrams has made passable-decent pop corn fluff, at worse he's made mediocrity like Super 8, and as long as that's where people are setting the bar that's what we're going to get more of.

Personally I haven't seen evidence that JJ Abrams is truly great at anything more than really effective marketing strategies.

Still looking forward to the film, and I expect it to perform well, but it's simply not his name that's going to be such a huge factor in the film's success.

And his idea of a good script more than worries me. This is the guy that's responsible for Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindleof having careers. They are JJ's closest friends and collaborators in the business, that alone and tells us an awful lot about where his taste truly lies, his motivation and what his idea of quality is.

 

Tough question. I see it as being another PG Star Wars film, AKA everything but ROTS. I think the overall direction that Disney is going with is the blend of all levels of maturity that Star Wars doesn't have enough of. We have rumors Rouge One will be about "real war" and the people involved, We've seen bloody helmet Finn, the upcoming Dark Disciple has been stated in in interviews on starwars.com to have some more mature topics and handling the TCW show could never do on Cartoon Network, etc. Then we also have the YA novels, Star Wars Rebels, most parts of the book and comics, so I think it's gonna be a mix of everything.

As for TFA, what I can see is something pretty different about Star Wars. The PT was thematically and visually different from the OT, but ROTS had enough connective tissue to make it look like it was eventually going to look like the galaxy in ANH. I see the TFA Pirates and think of the more underground and villainy that Jabba has in the Desert Raiders, but something akin to Revan and Bane with Kylo Ren, with possible connections to the Star Wars Vader comic just released.

I think Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to be a great movie. I don't know what exactly what "force awakens" in the movie, but I know the attention and resurgence in Star Wars interest will certainly awaken.

 

I liked Super 8 To each his own, I suppose

 

I'am tempted to write the infamous sentence "it's just a movie"
Our lifes will go on. (I hope so)
Let us watch the movie first and decide later, in the current state it's just cumbersome speculation.
Bear up! it will not be bad. (I have a good feeling that the force is strong with this one)
Even if the movie has flaws, we will see our childhood heroes one more time, I can't imagine this as a bad thing.
I'am waiting 30 years plus to see Luke Skywalker again, this movie can't totally disappoint me.
It will give us something back, that we all longed for so long. (It will be like ten Christmas and Birthdays all together)
Like Han said in teaser two "Chewie we are home". (at last)

 

It's better than Man Of Steel.

He's no David Fincher or Tarantino, he doesn't try to be profound like Chris Nolan. He just makes good old fashioned, light hearted action films and i'm yet to see a wooden performance out of his actors. He did a great job directing the kids in Super 8, imagine Michael Bay or James Cameron doing that without someone ending up in tears.

 

I think those three are overrated, but I guess to each his own.
I prefer Kurosawa/Leone/Kubrick/Hitchcock and sometimes Coppola for the Godfather 1 and 2, George Lucas for ANH and Martin Scorsese for Godfellas.
I think the guy with the most influence on other directors was Akira Kurosawa. (they even confirm it in interviews that he was the man)

I can recommend:
Drunken Angel
Rashomon
Ikiru
The Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood (MacBeth in feudal Japan)
The Lower Depths (my favourite Kurosawa movie, I don't know why)
The Hidden Fortress (better known as the blueprint for Star Wars)
Yojimbo (for a fistful of Dollars)
Sanjuro (the sequel to Yojimbo and I like it a bit more as Yojimbo)
Red Beard
Kagemusha (a great film, the producers were George Lucas and Martin Scorsese)
Ran (a altered King Lear version in a feudal Japan setting, a great late work from Kurosawa)

After I watched most of his movies there was no doubt in me left that he is the No#1 (my biased opinion, but I guess to each his own)
If I look at the complete work, only Alfred Hitchcock comes close to Akira Kurosawa.

My favourite movie is Sergio Leone's masterpiece "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"

Edit: I agree it's some kind of "OFF TOPIC" but it was an answer to another member and I think that this post doesn't hurt this thread.
Nobody needs to read a post to it's full length, just skip it, that is what I do, if I dislike a post.
Don't be rude/irritated and give a bad rate immediately for it. @Rabid_Android

 

Did you really just liken James Cameron to Michael Bay and in the same sentence claim that Abrams is better?

Wtf?

Cameron isn't just better in every way at directing than anyone you mentioned, he's one of the three most major influencers and decision makers in Hollywood with a proven track record of tremendous success and a huge part of the reason genre films have broken the mold of mindless popcorn fluff.

It wasn't Spielberg or George Lucas who made people like Stan Winston the legend that they are today, it was James Cameron as a matter of fact.

I could care less how believably angered Zachary Quintos was regarding his mother's death in Star Trek when the script did nothing to earn that moment. I can't say the same thing of any James Cameron film and he's anything but bad working with actors.

Cameron more than proved he was capable of transcending the genre and medium as far back as Terminator. His films have consistently and undeniably put story and character first even while greatly revolutionizing technology and pushing the envelope on what you can achieve with film.

This is true even with his films I don't particularly like, including Avatar and Titanic.

Ya, this is all subjective but Abrams hasn't even made a seriously successful film (let alone several of the most successful original films of all time) and Cameron is one of the all time greatest action/genre film directors ever and has a ton of respect and legitimately less difficulty getting any project he wants off the ground these days than even Spielberg or Lucas and that's not an exaggeration.

You're right about one thing, I can't imagine Cameron directing a mediocre effort like Super 8 and totally aiming to rip off Spielberg the whole way through.