Try to imagine that I am slowly moving my hand from left to right as I say these words: “You don’t need to get too hyped for the upcoming Star Wars film.”
To be honest, I consider the Star Wars franchise to be the pinnacle of mainstream geek popularity. But at some point, I do consider a massive amount of people suddenly like Star Wars because of all the hype.
The hype train for the upcoming release of the seventh installment of Star Wars “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” isn’t even a train at all. It’s a spaceship.
And it’s hyperdriving straight to the movie theater.
There’s no doubt that this film will make a billion dollars within the first two weeks. If that doesn’t happen, I will dance the Star Wars tune on the corner of East Atherton Street and North Studebaker Road for two hours.
But I have to ask myself, are we expecting way too much from the film?
Don’t get me wrong, having the film moving onto a capable director and writing team is great, but first impressions are everything.
George Lucas was given too much credit for the Star Wars franchise, so there was a lot to be expected from the prequel series when it was first announced. After all, it has been 20 years since “Return of the Jedi” came out.
What is the worst could happen?
I first saw “The Phantom Menace” when I was six. At that time, I thought Jar Jar Binks was the greatest character ever crafted.
Well, I was a kid back then. I didn’t care about anything else other than the action, which it seems “The Force Awakens” might focus primarily upon.
I can’t say “The Force Awakens” could be any similar to “The Phantom Menace”, but considering from the information released so far, some of the plot is similar to “A New Hope”.
In the beginning, Jedi Knights find themselves on a desert planet. They meet Han Solo, a rogue smuggler, on that planet. They escape from a Sith Lord, the evil antithesis, in the Millennium Falcon. A rebel base is on a forest planet that’s going to be under attack from the Sith. The Rebels mounted an attack on the Sith’s superweapon. Jedis and rebels succeed. Roll credits.
It’s like poetry. It rhymes.
J.J. Abrams, the chosen director of “The Force Awakens”, turned Star Trek around by changing it into great action films with a lot of great fidelity, and it helped reinvigorate interest in the franchise, which could be said the same for Star Wars.
But thanks to all of the marketing and the overall fact that the marketing has been out of proportion, the hype may be a bit too much. Much like “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” he might be playing safe with “The Force Awakens” by retreading similar grounds just to appease new and old fans.
Even if “The Force Awakens” turns out to be the next best Star Wars of our time, will it change how we see cinema today? Probably not.