The biggest challenges facing JJ Abrams with Ep9 are the same as he’s faced for the entire Sequel Trilogy, to whit: (1) satisfying fans of the Original Trilogy, and (2) creating the next generation of fans with the new cast/direction. By ‘fan’ I don’t mean someone who just goes and watches each movie dutifully once (like say a typical ‘fan’ of the Mission Impossible franchise might), but someone who watches all the movies multiple times, gets their friends and kids and parents to watch it, and buys into all the merchandise for years or even decades: toys, Halloween costumes, books, comics, TV spin-offs, games, theme park tickets, etc. Ideally Disney/Kennedy/Abrams would want to fulfill both (1) AND (2), but if it comes down to it, they could give up some of (1) if they get more of (2) in return. The worse case scenario would be if they whiffed on both …
Tag Archives: Harrison Ford
Ender’s Game (2013, dir. Gavin Hood): solid yet flawed adaptation of the beloved sci-fi coming-of-age novel
Solid sci-fi action with deeper-than-typical thematic exploration of the protagonist’s psychology and whether the ends justify the means. Given controversial author Orson Scott Card wrote the book decades before the current crop of young adult coming-of-age-while-saving-the-world fantasy (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc.), it’s interesting to observe the debt the later writers owe on plot, characterization, etc. Asa Butterfield redeems his Hugo (2011) turn in the titular role (streets better than Jake ‘annoying Anakin’ Lloyd who was under consideration for the part), while Harrison Ford shows us what Han Solo might have become if the civil war never ended, and Ben Kingsley epic fails at a New Zealand accent.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011, dir. Jon Favreau): does what it says on the packet
Passable B movie fare, the story is nonsensical, and both leads Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are dialing it in, but the action and CGI sequences are OK. Just from the title alone, it could have been far worse, I guess. Does what it says on the packet, no more, no less.
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