The Gospel According to Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars Episode VII Light Saber
Last week, movie lovers from around the world witnessed the arrival of something long awaited. Something they though, until Disney bought the franchise, would never happen again. Something bearing both joy and desolation… The new Star Wars Chapter sneak peak of… the trailer!?!
Schedule for December 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens sparked questions long before we could feast our eyes on any new images. It started with the Lucasfilm sale to Disney and the predictable announcement of the franchise continuation. Was it good omen? Would the new series bear a resemblance to the old franchise or the last one? Who will be in it? When it will be set? And many more questions. Then, along the way answers started surfacing, some blanks were filled, slowly paving the way to last week’s first glance at actual footage.
But, let me first be truthful. As much as the old trilogy is dear to my childhood, in no case it can forgive the awful three prequels Mr. Lucas went on to craft later. Not only did these movies almost make me repudiate something so formative of my early days, they didn’t even respect important story points. This was not only bad, it was insulting. As an anecdote, to show how much George Lucas did not care — in an interview with one of my friends, Hayden Christensen stated that the famous director/producer slept in his chair during most of the shooting, only showing interest in the fight scenes.
So, it is fair to say that it is with a harsh eye that I watched those 86 seconds of trailer. The love I have towards the original three was not able to overcome the bad taste left by the latest three. In fact, I was ready to hate the new film.
But guess what!?! It doesn’t look that bad! Not bad at all. How come? How come a new Star Wars movie directed by the man who made questionable but profitable Star Trek flicks looks good? A movie produced by Disney, the company that brought us such classics as Cars 1 & 2 (aka Planes 1 & 2) and countless other brain-damaging pirate flicks? Good question!
Why?
Because as I was watching it, I could feel the mood of the original trilogy. It was there and possibly alive… at least for that 86 seconds. And I was glad! Well… minus the crappy light saber at the end, but I was glad.
Maybe it’s because they hired writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Lawrence Kasdan. Maybe it’s because the original cast joined the adventure. This short sneak peak made me curious about it, curious about this new adventure, something I thought impossible.
So the question is: on what side are you? The dark side or the light?
