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: JJ Abrams
The Last Jedi (2017): flawed but worthy addition, and the best of the new lot
I gave it a week to percolate, so here’s my take on Ep8 THE LAST JEDI (2017): if you like Star Wars, or tentpole blockbusters, then go see it, if you haven’t already! It’s better than Ep7 THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) – primarily because director Rian Johnson takes the creative risks which JJ Abram’s didn’t/couldn’t in what boiled down to his mega-budgeted fanfic remake of Ep4 A NEW HOPE (1977). But marked blemishes keep Ep8 from surpassing Ep4 or Ep5 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) – mostly since the narration and characters still have to fit the defective straitjacket established by Kathleen Kennedy/Abrams in Ep7. Read the rest of this entry »
Man of Steel (2013, dir. Zack Snyder): disappointing product which doesn’t live up to its brilliant marketing
I can imagine the conversation Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight Trilogy) had with the studio execs:
Execs: We’d really like to reboot Superman the same way you did Batman. Like for example a dark, gritty, realistic take on Richard Donner’s classic Superman 1 and 2 from the 1970s. Can you do it?
Nolan: How droll; been there done that. But can I recommend my mate Zack Snyder (300), he’s not as good (if I do say so myself) but he’s looking for a gig
Execs: OK, but can you at least take a producer credit? We’ll pay you a gazillion?
Nolan: Sure, why not?
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013, dir. JJ Abrams): JJ’s ultimately lazy take on 1982’s classic Wrath of Khan
Finally got around to seeing it in IMAX 3D: a quality sci-fi action flick, and better than JJ Abrams’ 2009 reboot. For Trekkies ** spoiler alert ** yes, this is Abrams’ take on Wrath of Khan + copious lens flare + latest gen CGI + lots of action, but minus the Shakespearean/Dickensian references and not as tightly plotted, e.g. the foreshadowing in the film only comes from throwbacks to the 1982 movie, which seems kind of lazy. Though I really don’t get all of Abrams’ secrecy around the villian’s identity prior to the film’s release. Speaking of which, Cumberbatch is characteristically good.
If Abrams repeats this performance with Star Wars 7, it will be a hit, and certainly better than the prequels, but it won’t be a great classic – constant action and lens flare plus a few zippy one-liners does not make up for a lack of soul …
Lost (2004-2010 TV series, by JJ Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof) – a grand unified plot theory?
I know we’re 2 years behind, but we finally watched all 90-100 hours of LOST and I can now offer up this ‘grand unified theory’ to explain the 6-season story. (It’s high-concept modern myth-making; the only other recent show to have done this well is BSG.)
Synopsis: 2,000 years ago, Jacob unwittingly unleashes the Devil (‘Smokey’) upon the Island, which is the physical manifestation of Hell on earth. While Smokey seeks to escape the Island and wreak havoc upon the world, Jacob’s plan is to bring a series of ‘half-damned souls’ to the Island in the hope that they can redeem themselves and each other to somehow defeat Smokey. Even though Smokey finds a way to murder Jacob, his final set of ‘candidates’ – the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 – eventually discover their purpose and succeed at their task at great self-sacrificial cost, and are rewarded by reuniting as eternal friends in the after-life
Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows Part 2 (2011, dir. David Yates): among the superior HP films, themselves better than the books, but that’s a low bar
The fanboys (and girls) will likely be satisfied, and those others of us who trudged through the rest of the movies will find it a more entertaining and quicker-paced conclusion (certainly compared with the insufferably slow Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), and the interminably boring Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)). Things come to an end, but because I didn’t much care about the characters, it really wasn’t very dramatic or triumphant or even sad. Truth be told, I did feel a twinge of regret that the vast resources of money and filmic talent could not have been put toward adapting more worthy material!
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