Last
week the fanboy blogosphere exploded, as the news that J.J. Abrams
will direct Star Wars Episode 7. This is great news, and proof that
under the new management Lucusfilm continue to pave the way for
exciting, genre cinema. The decision is a left field choice, almost
as if Kathleen Kennedy took a note out of Marvel's book and hired an
exciting fanboy. Is Abrams a fitting choice of director? Hell yes! First of all he is fan of the Star Wars Universe, and with that
passion he could enthuse the franchise with a much needed sense of
fun and excitement something that was sorely lacking in the prequels.
I mean come on, he reinvented Star Trek, and enthused it with
sexiness, fun and turned non Trek fans (including me) onto the
series. If he can do the same with the Wars universe, he will bring
balance to the force.
As a
genre fan, and a director/producer he has been able to balance tent
pole action and touching character moments; take for example the
opening of Star Trek, which begins with the jaw dropping attack on
the Enterprise, while at the same time the birth of a major
character. Sitting in the theatre and hearing sniffles from the
audience, I cant remember the last time a Blockbuster made an
audience weep openly. If Abrams is able to bring this level of
emotion back to Star Wars Universe, then it'll be the most emotional
episode since The Empire Strikes Back. He has also tipped his hat to
one of his favourite filmmakers, Steven Spielberg, in the brilliant
E.T. Homage Super 8 yet never trying trying to be Spielberg, so by
taking on the SW Universe I'm confident that Abrams wouldn't imitate
Lucas, instead he would bring his own skills and talents as a
storyteller and create something fresh and new with the franchise,
while still pleasing long time Wars fans. With Abrams television
experience its possible that some of the alumni of his shows could
appear in the first flick, imagine John Locke aka Terry O'Quinn as a
Jedi Master or Jennifer Gardener kicking ass as a female Jedi. Its a
shame that Sam Jackson died in Revenge of the Sith, he would have
been an awesome Jedi Knight under Abrams direction, and given some
bad ass dialogue instead of the wooden exposition he delivered in the
prequels.
There
is also a wealth of materiel to choose from, ranging from comic books
and video games to novels and even Lego, Abrams and his writers could
choose to ignore the extensive materiel altogether and decide to take
this new chapter in a different direction, or re-write history a la
Star Trek. Imagine an alternate universe where Luke turns to the Dark
Side, betrays his friends and becomes a Sith Lord. That's a story arc
I'd love to see, we'd see a different Luke Skywalker one who is mean,
lean and older too. In which he is a cruel, malicious son of a bitch.
With Abrams's appreciation of old school effects we could see a
return to models and prosthetics, while merging blue screen and CGI,
this could help wash away the fowl taste of the over the top,
cartoony CGI that was evident in every frame of the prequels.
With
a new saga comes a new composer, while it would great to a hear a new
John Williams Star Wars composition, it would be even better to hear
a score by a Blockbuster alumni for example Hans Zimmer, Howard
Shore, or for my money Michael Giacchino. The guy scored Lost, Star
Trek and Super 8 so he has successfully worked with J.J. Abrams, and
I wouldn't be surprised if he is announced as the composer for the
new Star Wars flick. There are lots of other exciting developments
that'll come over the coming months. But right this is great genre
news, and is further proof that right now we are living in the golden
age of Geek Cinema.
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