Disney
bought Star Wars from George Lucas in 2013 for over 4 Billion
Dollars, most of which Lucas has promised to education. His Edutopia
Foundation has been distributing millions ($128 million went to his
alma mater USC back in 2006) and in 2010 he joined other billionaires
in The Giving Pledge where he said in a letter, 'I
am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is
the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our
collective future -- and the first step begins with social, emotional
and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our
greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt -- as
educators, storytellers and communicators, our responsibility is to
continue to do so.’
I
bring
this up as a preface to sharing my non review of the new
"Lucas-less" Star Wars film. I believe him to be a great
innovator and technical film maker. The director became lost
somewhere in the mythology, but the work put on screen will glare
back at us ad infinitum.
I
was there, in line for the Star Wars movie people were freaking out
over back in 1977. Star Trek was dead and the genre was losing it's
flavor to a more gritty, in your face real life style of filmmaking.
In the 1970's top movies killing at the box office were films like
Taxi Driver, Serpico, French Connection, Rocky, Annie Hall, Godfather
I & II, etc. All derived in some form from real life. No flights
of fancy and certainly no sci fi extravaganzas. But there was a buzz
going on about a movie about to come out that was going to make Jaws
an also ran at the box office. I was doing the Ghosts of the Globe
show at The Old Country in Williamsburg at the time and really wasn't
paying much attention to Hollywood. The great movies were coming out
of New York (or at least the storylines made it appear that way).
We
didn't go the first day because we were visiting friends in DC and
they had tried and couldn't get in. We eventually made our way to a
screening and no one had been exaggerating. It was visually stunning.
I was an avid Star Trek fan (as was the entire family) and in the
opening and any time you saw the Enterprise fly past it always moved
in an arc. It had to. There was no technology to film it doing
anything else. In the opening of Star Wars after the scrolling Episode recap ended and that massive ship came onto
the screen jaws dropped and movie SFX would never be the same. That
was George Lucas. I know he wrote it and did all that, but to dream up the technology and then to build and integrate it into filmmaking at a time when computers were windowless, in few households and had less brain power than today's cell phone is an unbelievable achievment.
The story was appropriately described as a space western by the press which was accurate, but it was more than that. The film was so down to earth (sorry) you were able to believe geneology and the lives lived as depicted in that far far away galaxy. It was an unforgettable experience. So I aproached seeing the new Star Wars film with trepidation, especially after I heard who was in the cast.
The story was appropriately described as a space western by the press which was accurate, but it was more than that. The film was so down to earth (sorry) you were able to believe geneology and the lives lived as depicted in that far far away galaxy. It was an unforgettable experience. So I aproached seeing the new Star Wars film with trepidation, especially after I heard who was in the cast.
Lucas'
last foray into Star Wars (for me) left much to be desired. To be
honest it was a mess. He never heard the saying, 'less is more' and
less of the second three films would have been more. Needless to say
(and yet I'm saying it) my opinion derives from my being there in
1977. The fact of the matter is younger folks first discovering the
films starting with the second three will most likely disagree with
me and that is to be expected. The very thing that divides us also
binds us together. It's the thrill of discovery.
The
new Star Wars movie was better than I thought it would be, but
lightning in a bottle it couldn't be. It felt awkward seeing a 73
year old Han Solo still teamed with a ??? aged Wookie. Or a 60 year
old Princess Leia without her buns (hair...jeez). I got over it but
it was a tad strange. Other characters and the plot were viable as
these things go and as far as keeping things real with the first
three films there were no glaring miscues. The comedy was there and
Director JJ Abrams really knows how to blow things up. Other than a
few well placed nudge, nudge, wink, winks, inside references relating to past films
were kept to a reasonable few. First timers starting here got just
enough to make them want to see the beginning films before the next
one comes out. Old timers might applaud the nostalgic homage paid to the early films without glorifying the last three. As I said before, the movie was better than I thought it would be and, even though JJ can be a bit heavy handed with explosions, he managed not to damage that feeling of being transported through space and time to that galaxy so far away and long ago.
I
don't want to be a spoiler so I'll draw the line here. The movie is
entertaining to say the least. If I was reviewing I'd rate it 3.5
Starts out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment