Okay, this seems like a redundant question because we won’t know if it’s good until it comes out. But let’s make predictions. JJ Abrams is directing. Early signs — in my opinion — are good.
What are your thoughts?
In my mind, JJ Abrams hasn’t really made a bad movie yet. The second Star Trek movie wasn’t as good as the first — but it wasn’t bad. The first Star Trek was actually pretty incredible. Mission Impossible 3 was super good.
I’m excited. I believe in this movie.
Comments
82 responses to “Off Topic: Will Star Wars: The Force Awakens Be Any Good?”
I reckon good. Maybe not the second coming of movies, but definitely good.
Yes, should be awesome.
I’m more worried about the script, writing and story. I fear it will be a whole lot of references to Star Wars original and half the dialogue will be just the characters qouting their past selves.
I’m drinking shots every time someone says “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”
“How was the movie?”
“BESHT MOVEEE EVARR!”
“Are… are you drunk?”
“THASH WHY ISH GOOD!”
not even going to a midnight showing either. whatever’s around 11am on the Sunday
In the words of that guy with bent nose: “You’ll be dead!”
“Never tell me the odds”
This actually has a talented screenwriter, Lawrence Kasdan, i.e. the guy who wrote Empire. It’s also not directed by George ‘It’s like poetry. It rhymes’ Lucas. Say what you will about Abrams’s fetish for lens flares, but he’s a great action director.
Plus, it’s now a Disney joint and they have this shit boiled down to a science by now. Ever since they bought out Marvel, those movies have at least been watchable. Formulaic? Sure, some definitely are, but there haven’t been any Fantastic 4, Origins, or Phantom Menace-esque duds.
When I went to see The Phantom Menace with my friends, on its release, the half-dozen of them stood up in the front row of the cinema and gave a standing ovation for the intro text scroll.
Goes to show… You never know.
All I can remember is “… Trade federation”
I saw The Phantom Menace 8 times at the cinema…
You… you enabler.
I was also 10. Being 10 when it came out was the best age to be for it.
Well, the intro text scroll was pretty much the best part of the movie. It was all downhill from there 😛
Darth Maul’s entrance before the fight scene was pretty good. Shame he proved to be inept.
I actually really like the start of that movie, particularly the way it sets up Jedis as being such badasses with the quotes like “we wont survive this”.
The rest of the movie … it’s not horrible its just not good.
I enjoyed episode 1 more than 2 or 3 I cant stand that Hayden Christianson dude that plays Anakin.
P-Padamayy nnooo!
It’ll be good, but I think peoples expectations will ultimately be hard to live up to. Episode 8 will be better simply due to us all being used to the new style and characters by then.
It’s a weird one that one, expectations…
On one hand, I want it to be brilliant.
On the other, equal hand, just make it better than the prequels and have ‘that feel’ of Star Wars the prequels lacked entirely.
I’ll settle for the second to be honest and if it achieves that, I’ll love it.
Same. Just don’t make it horrible and I’ll be okay with it.
Heres to hoping that Jar Jar Binks has had a child right?
You…
You…
YOU MONSTER!
When you think about it, Jar Jar is the most popular character. Everybody is always talking about him, even commenting on him in the third movie when he didn’t have any lines.
He’s also the true menace to the galaxy…
Palpatine wouldn’t have risen to power without him.
Jar Jar is responsible for the destruction of Aalderaan! #neverforget
So was he the Phantom menace then?
Of course – he was hiding in plain sight, posing as an idiot. Think about it… nobody could have been as stupid as he seemed, and lived to adulthood. Him and Palpy were in league from the beginning.
Issue I have is the weaker points of his previous work. Over foreshadowing of deus ex machina. Forgettable villains. I’m optimistic though.
Yeah, but it is a Space Opera, and he does that stuff well. I can switch my brain off enough to enjoy the ride, as long as the ride is *good*
Depends on the level of lens flare 😛
I was 12 when Phantom Menace came out, and due to parents being anti sci-fi it was the first star wars I ever saw. And I Loved it. Watching the original trilogy after that was such a letdown – storm troopers bad aim created no suspense. The lightsaber battles were so painfully unskilled after the spectacle of the SW-PM. Now that I’m older I can appreciate them more for what they must have been.
Force Awakens is going to be amazing. I think it’s going to have the best things of both the prequels and the originals.
The one thing I’m worried about, coming from being old enough that I can remember seeing the first three in the movies is that I’ll be comparing the directing and the way the story is told. I know I’m over thinking things in a bit too much detail but oh well.
The problem with familiarity on how things are done. Once you’ve seen past the smoke and mirrors, they stop working as effectively.
The true one to compare, will be Episode 8 and comparing it to The Empire Strikes Back. Rian Johnson knows character and how to make them interact well, his time on Breaking Bad displays this, as well as other works. Ivan Kirshner believed with Empire, it was the middle of the story, so a.) the universe should keep shitting on the heroes, and b.) they should not ‘win’ in the end, which they didn’t, they just sort of ‘escaped’. AOTC failed in that respect, it had no stakes, it had no danger, it had no… interesting elements. But Episode 8, let’s hope they go back to the idea of the middle chapter being the darkest 🙂
But it had Hayden Christiansen!!! *goes and shoots self*
As you should! lol
Seriously, he RUINED it. I’ve played with wooden sticks that have better acting skills than him… (at least they look convincingly inanimate).
Honestly it was all downhill after Phantom Menace. I know, people think you should remove it bla bla bla. I still think it was the most visually pleasing of the 3. Oh and when Darth Maul reveals himself to them. Splooooosh. Let’s just not mention his shitty death scene…
TPM is definitely the most rewatchable and it’s got some genuinely good moments, pretty much everything after they fight Maul though is a writeoff.
Interestingly, Maul is still alive in the current canon…
Splooosh? I bought the comics of Maul’s rise to power, and routing of the Black Sun organisation just because it’s Maul being a freaking badass!
But see, it’s not his fault. He wasn’t a great actor but he’s actually not bad in other stuff. The problem is that he had a shitty director and absolutely awful dialogue. A lot of top-end actors were involved in those films as well, and even they come off badly. But they didn’t have to deliver atrocious lines like that “I don’t like sand” monologue. I don’t think the best actor in the world could have taken Lucas’ awful script and made it passable.
I will agree with you there. I’ve seen footage of Lucas “directing” the actors and it is…. AWFUL. Like shockingly bad. Not to mention they just had lots of green screens to stand in front of. Still not a fan of Hayden 😛
Episode III’s character bits are blocked out like a soap opera with two over the shoulder cameras pointed at each of the characters. Fatass just sits in a chair, staring at monitors for both with an extra large starbucks in one hand and yells when he wants the active camera to change.
Yep, the sad fact is that Lucas can’t write or direct. He should have just got the story down then handed it off to competent people to handle those kinds of details while he sat in the background and produced or something.
There’s a good reason why Empire is the best of the films. Irvin Kershner was an excellent director, and Lucas only wrote the initial treatment for the film, not the script. Plus that was before Lucas had a falling out with Gary Kurtz who basically held the production of Empire together.
I think Lucas was an excellent ideas man and also a pioneer of special effects work. He was never a good director and an awful writer. I’m not alone in having a strong suspicion that a lot of what made Star Wars successful in the first place wasn’t Lucas, it was Lawrence Kasdan. His involvement in VII is a lot of why I’m pretty optimistic about it.
This is undeniably true. I saw LIFE AS A HOUSE and Hayden was outstanding in it. Even Sam Jackson was putrid in the prequels, absolutely horrendous. None of the dialogue felt natural or even convincing. Apparently any time anyone challenged Lucas, they either got sacked, or just completely shut out. The prequels were 100% indicative of Lucas’s ego being out of control on them, from noone else being allowed to second guess the guy through to his utter lack of practical effects, it was just a disaster waiting to happen.
He was a promising young actor and Lucas basically ruined his career. People everywhere bang on about how awful an actor he was as a result of his inability to do the acting equivalent of fashioning a five-star meal from a log of crap.
I know some improv folks who’d probably make damn near any script work, but it’s all about the expressiveness in your face and the story that you tell with your body-language and pauses as much as what comes out your mouth.
But it’s so hard to do well (and takes up so much time) that it’s underused in pretty much any medium.
A GOOD actor could take a shitty line like, “I don’t like sand,” and spit it out as the end-result of a ten to fifteen second internal conversation shown on their face, that you can swear you can almost hear… the line itself mere punctuation, a self-aware concession to verbal primacy.
So… you’d have to have an actor capable of that… and a director willing to let them.
I imagine that’s way harder to do when you’re standing infront of a green screen and George Lucas is telling you random instructions that barely make sense and you’re only 20 years old and acting in your second major film role.
Yes. Significantly. Also, complex emotions tend to be very difficult to express if you’ve never actually felt them, and the emotional experience of a 20yr old is… uh. Typically, narrow.
Yeah. When you’ve got a bloke waving a mop in your face and you’re trying to imagine that it’s Jar Jar Binks (who will be CGI’ed in later) saying “How wude!”… I mean, I’m about to turn 40 and I’ve got no idea how I’m supposed to feel in that situation (apart from dead inside), so what chance does a 20 year old have?
Yep – even Natalie Portman had trouble getting work for a while after Phantom Menace came out.
Was he the guy who made Looper? If so I complete confidence in his work – Looper was an unforgettable movie!
And Brick. I bloody love Brick.
The Brothers Bloom wasn’t bad, either, although I know a lot of other people didn’t like it so much.
I can feel it in my bones that this movie is going to be sleek.
But if you listen closely, at around 2:30am on December 18th you’ll hear the subtle sound of ‘purists’ cracking their knuckles and typing something like “Abrams used too much smoke / lens flare / Door Opening Sound” or “too much CGI, should have shot that sequence in actual deep space. 3 Stars. Would J.J. again”
it’ll be like every marvel movies, decent popcorn action flick but nothing special or memorable.
The big issue is going to be the script. JJ Abrams knows how to direct a movie. He just doesn’t seem to be able to proof read a script before he shoots it. Star Trek Into Darkness is a well shot, well acted pile of dog turds. It’s a sleek, shiny object that holds your attention for a couple of hours, but the story is just batsh*t crazy and makes no sense at all. I lay blame for that almost entirely at the hands of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, whom I consider to be among the worst writers in Hollywood at the moment. Their scripts are just garbage – full of references and incoherent “things that happen”. But some of the blame must fall on Abrams because he’s the director. He has final say and whatever ends up in the film got his personal approval. So if the story/script for Episode VII sucks, it’s going to be largely his fault since he’s not only directing, but writing as well.
I’m sure the movie will look fantastic. It’ll look better than anything George Lucas could manage with the god awful prequel films, but will it have a well-crafted and engaging story? I’m not sure. The other big question mark is Harrison Ford. He’s been phoning in his performances for years now. If he sleep walks through his return as Han Solo, that’s going to ruin the movie for me on its own.
Yeah Kurtzmann and Orci are responsible for the crimes against humanity which are the Bayformers films – luckily Lawrence Kadsan (Empire and Jedi) is writing the script so it has a chance of being good!
I have been cocooning myself from the trailers, the toys, any info basically. All I know is there’s a bloke with a lightsaber that has hilts. And that the X-Wings look updated. And there’s a ball droid. Oh and Chewy and Han rock up. You know, all the shit we expected.
Other than that I have been avoiding any trailers beyond the first one, and have stayed in a bubble. Getting over-hyped ruined the prequels for me (still think SW:tPM was the strongest of them…) so it will be interesting to see what a lack of hype does this time around.
Me too. I went into the cinema in 1977 knowing nothing other than the title. I’m practicing good movie hygiene this time around, so I can enjoy it all minty fresh.
Good man. I reckon we’ll enjoy it that much more. Did the same with Star Trek and really enjoyed it 😀
“In my mind, JJ Abrams hasn’t really made a bad movie yet.” …. have to disagree with you mate, honestly not a fan of ANY of his movies. I never remember being soo pissed off with a movies as I did walking out at the end of the second Star Trek… MI3 was the most forgettable of the series, don’t even remember anything about that one. His movies are hyped as hell and ultimately disappointing. Not holding much hope for EP7.
I would say MI2 was the worst of the series…. SO BAD 😛
MI2 was so bad, my unborn child refused to sit through it.
We left the theatre as the water broke, haven’t bothered to see the rest of it since.
Oh my god please tell me this is actually true. Best leaving the cinema early story ever hahahaha.
I think he’ll nail it, or at least come close. I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to Star Wars though, so if he nails the visual feel of the original trilogy and makes an ok movie, I’ll be pretty happy.
And as a Trekkie, I think he botched Star Trek. I get the whole mass appeal thing, but I’d rather watch the Voyager episode “Threshold” again than watch any more movies from his rebooted universe.
I’d rather watch the JJ ST movies a hundred times than watch any Voyager episode ever.
I never really liked any Star Trek other than the original series though, and I think he captured the Spock/Kirk/Bones dynamic really well, which was 99% of what I liked about Star Trek.
I think it will be good to see just to see all the old cast appearing all of a sudden on screen and you get to see where they are up to now in their fictional lives, like Jar Jar Binks.
I kidddd I kiddd!!! Of course for I meant Chewy and Han and Leia and that other guy.
I don’t have a single shred of doubt that it will be amazing.
– Not hard to be better than ep 1/2/3
– Lucas has little to nothing to do with it
– JJ is a boss and has made amazing movies / tv (Lost)
– Trailers have been on point
Hmmm… I’m a bit worried about the acting that I’ve seen in the trailers/teasers so far from some of the newbies in the movie. I have my fingers crossed though!
It kinda has to be good.
I have spent the last 10 years of my life quietly restoring the original 3 movies from 35mm prints, so I am somewhat invested in the SW universe.
I’m quietly optimistic, I have my expectations set reasonably low, as long as it feels like the old SW universe, and there is nothing overtly stupid in it and the music is right (leave the choirs out) then I will be more than happy. I know *nothing* about Ep7 other than how the Stormtroopers look and what BB8 looks like, I have been avoiding *everything* which isn’t easy.
My kids aren’t into Star Wars, apart from the 2 year old, but in the last month my 15yr old has become excited about seeing it, so I am looking forward to taking her, sitting back, switching my brain off and waiting for that big, brassy BOOM of a B-Flat to ring out, and have the biggest logo you’ve ever seen fill the screen and then swiftly recede *, and I’ll be sucked right in after with it and for a couple of hours, be lost in the world that dominated my childhood.
(thanks to Chris Taylor for summing up the feels of SW for the first time)
Yep, this a hundred times. Pretty sure I’ll be seeing it after Christmas with the girlfriend which will be a pretty rad experience in itself. Sharing the things you love is pretty amazing 😀
Though it won’t be quite the same without the FOX fanfare at the beginning.
Oh yeah fuck – I haven’t been watching them on seven (well I did watch the tail end of Sith the other night) is there some sort of Disney logo at the start?
God, I hope so.
First day ticket is booked, but the 17th is my Birthday, so booking an annual leave day and going to enjoy it regardless.
With a birthday that close to Christmas everyone usually forgets it anyway so I try to sneak in a day off and do something cool
I hated, HATED!!, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek movies (seriously, he should have been charged with war crimes). So I’m not holding out too much hope. One thing that’s definitely in his favour for the Star Wars movies is that they’re continuing the storyline, rather than being a “reboot”.
It’s not like it can be worse than Episode II, right?
Yes as long as we have Storm Troopers and Rebels.
No if we have comical droids and Gungan’s.
I have faith, especially after seeing this trailer.
It will be Excellent!
I’ve always maintained that Ep7-9 should statistically be the best trilogy of the trilogies – quality seems to be inversely proportional to Lucas’ level of creative control; ie. much of the beloved originals was due to actor adlibs, tech limitations and stuff not going to original plan, then went bad as Lucas started fiddling. The prequel trilogy are what happen when he has full control, and for the new movies he will have no control. Therefore the new movies must be the best ones! :p
Agree Lucas finally had too much control and it went downhill.Prequels had little emotional depth. Hayden not right for Vader. Infant anakin not right either ,should have been a shy quiet boy taken away from his mum rather than a gung ho type. A new hope had set the stage possibly everything fell into place then for the reasons given by others. That’s why it will be hard to beat. Personally I don’t mind if a new hope and empire still stays up there. I just hope that the new one is better than the Prequels and has no muppets.
Cautiously optimistic!
I’m so hype. That trailer made the film look pretty damn good.
I believe.