My Spoiler-Free Review of The Force Awakens
Added 2015-12-27 02:49:21 +0000 UTChttp://starwars1999.tumblr.com/post/136012485853/the-force-awakens-review-spoiler-free
Comments
I've personally warmed to the idea that the prequels are an "unreliable" telling of events. The characters involved, the places they go and where they ultimately end up are more or less accurate. The details, however, were embellished or made up by an unreliable narrator much later. In The Force Awakens, even what happened in the original trilogy isn't universally accepted in the galaxy. The Jedi were still viewed as mythical figures. The Star Wars setting doesn't seem to have anything like the internet or a galactic news service (I'm glad they avoid this device). Most planets operate in isolation. So much the way a public domain IP gets dozens of treatments over the years, I like to imagine that the prequels are simply a version of that story geared towards a specific audience and running fast and loose with the details. That's how I've made peace with them. I agree completely about The Force Awakens. They nailed the feel of Star Wars and the new lead characters are strong. I look forward to following their adventures for years to come. I've heard the word "predictable" used as a criticism, but I think it's more that it's faithful to the originals and predictable for the sake of keeping things familiar. That's not a negative, it's a choice, and I think it was correct to play it a bit safe with the story given the recent history of the franchise and the fact that it has to hand off to a new generation.
Jeff Good
2015-12-28 14:46:23 +0000 UTCI, for one, hope that you don't lose your nerve with your project. Yes, the new movie is good enough that a decade of nerd rage seems to have blown away on the wind- but your ideas were interesting bits of storytelling first, and continuity corrections second. Stars Wars still unfolds with the strong suggestion that a mytho-heroic age of derring-do happened just the day before yesterday, and the prequels were too clumsy to be that story.
KM
2015-12-28 09:11:57 +0000 UTC
