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Star Fraud: In Need of More Money.
10 years ago
After the low quality fest that the prequel trilogy was, no doubt that something as average as this Episode VII shines as a super nova in this fatigued franchise.
As a distorted reflection of Episode IV, this film basically offers the same that Lucas did back in the late 70s: we have Tattooine with a different name (covered with junk from the original trilogy), a XXL Death Star straight out of space opera anime from the 80s, a female Luke Skywalker with an even more miserable background, the comic relief droid, a bad-guy-turn-to-good as Han Solo was in Episode IV, an Emperor which feels like a bootleg Sauron (played by Andy Serkis) that does have his Space Nazguls (seen in the Flashback), a more pathetic than intimidating pseudo-Darth Vader (the scene in which Darth Vader's melted mask does its cameo could had Ben Solo listening Crawling on my Skin while cutting his forearm as he ask his grandfather for evil guidance), a female Yoda (which, like many things in this movie, is up to eleven since she has been around for one thousand years), the mentor figure dying at the hands of the villain, the McGuffin everyone is looking for (in Episode IV was the Death Star schematics, in this Luke's GPS)...
We are all aware that Lucas' first movie was basically a pastiche, a space opera rendition of Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress heavily influenced by the Flash Gordon serials pre-TV era and John Ford's westerns presented through the Hero's Journey from Campbell's monomyth theory, Abrahams basically did a carbon copy of this first film that appeals to a zeit geist too over stimulated for have a movie with a pace less fast than a rollercoaster with a flux capacitor. The narrative quality is at the same tier as fan fiction, Rey is a character forced on the viewer as much as the constant references to the original trilogy (something which makes the film feel dishonest, as if afraid of letting us stop and think) without much chances to grow on us as a young Luke struggling with his overprotective uncle and aunt before the adventure calls on his door and a skill with the force that put the one of her grandfather to shame like if this franchise was Dragon Ball.
The fan was starved for quality in a franchise even more derelict that Star Trek, Abrahams was aware of this as much as he was about how vital is to appeal the veterans more than the kids. A young Lucas made a movie which is a love letter to the cinematographic pop culture he enjoyed during his childhood and formative years at college, Abrahams did a product for re-start a business and disguise it as a nostalgia trip which is going to make it age poorly.
Still, could had been worse.
Could had been another Episode 1.
As a distorted reflection of Episode IV, this film basically offers the same that Lucas did back in the late 70s: we have Tattooine with a different name (covered with junk from the original trilogy), a XXL Death Star straight out of space opera anime from the 80s, a female Luke Skywalker with an even more miserable background, the comic relief droid, a bad-guy-turn-to-good as Han Solo was in Episode IV, an Emperor which feels like a bootleg Sauron (played by Andy Serkis) that does have his Space Nazguls (seen in the Flashback), a more pathetic than intimidating pseudo-Darth Vader (the scene in which Darth Vader's melted mask does its cameo could had Ben Solo listening Crawling on my Skin while cutting his forearm as he ask his grandfather for evil guidance), a female Yoda (which, like many things in this movie, is up to eleven since she has been around for one thousand years), the mentor figure dying at the hands of the villain, the McGuffin everyone is looking for (in Episode IV was the Death Star schematics, in this Luke's GPS)...
We are all aware that Lucas' first movie was basically a pastiche, a space opera rendition of Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress heavily influenced by the Flash Gordon serials pre-TV era and John Ford's westerns presented through the Hero's Journey from Campbell's monomyth theory, Abrahams basically did a carbon copy of this first film that appeals to a zeit geist too over stimulated for have a movie with a pace less fast than a rollercoaster with a flux capacitor. The narrative quality is at the same tier as fan fiction, Rey is a character forced on the viewer as much as the constant references to the original trilogy (something which makes the film feel dishonest, as if afraid of letting us stop and think) without much chances to grow on us as a young Luke struggling with his overprotective uncle and aunt before the adventure calls on his door and a skill with the force that put the one of her grandfather to shame like if this franchise was Dragon Ball.
The fan was starved for quality in a franchise even more derelict that Star Trek, Abrahams was aware of this as much as he was about how vital is to appeal the veterans more than the kids. A young Lucas made a movie which is a love letter to the cinematographic pop culture he enjoyed during his childhood and formative years at college, Abrahams did a product for re-start a business and disguise it as a nostalgia trip which is going to make it age poorly.
Still, could had been worse.
Could had been another Episode 1.
