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: The Last Jedi
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 »
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