Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) review

I must admit that I went into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker feeling rather hesitant, a genuine first for me when it comes to Star Wars. Now, to be clear, this had nothing to do with the film itself since I had full faith in the amazing cast and crew who has brought this sequel trilogy to life and, of course, J.J. Abrams, who returns to the director’s chair after getting this whole trilogy started with 2015’s The Force Awakens. What I didn’t have faith in… was the Star Wars fandom. It’s been well-documented at this point that the Star Wars fandom has been in quite the volatile state these past few years after the release of 2017’s The Last Jedi, which has easily become one of the most polarizing films of all-time. While some found it to be quite arguably the best Star Wars film to date for its willingness to take risks when it comes to its writing, others thoroughly hated it for that exact reason. And because of this, the film spawned a small but incredibly vocal faction of critics who have taken it upon themselves to declare war against Disney, Lucasfilm, and the latter’s president Kathleen Kennedy for their allegedly piss-poor handling of the franchise. As such, J.J. Abrams now finds himself having to deal with perhaps the worst set of expectations ever thrust upon a Star Wars film; trying to appease those who despised The Last Jedi while simultaneously trying not to piss off those who preferred that film’s method of storytelling. It’s a complicated task that’s clearly been reflected in the film’s overall reception, but J.J. manages to pull through to deliver a satisfying finale to the Skywalker Saga.

In the year since the events of The Last Jedi, the severely limited forces of the Resistance have struggled against the might of the First Order, now led by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). And if that wasn’t enough, the whole galaxy receives an unexpected broadcast from none other than Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who supposedly met his end during the Battle of Endor as seen in Return of the Jedi. When Ren confronts the Sith Lord, Palpatine reveals that he has an armada of powerful Star Destroyers that will serve as the ‘Final Order’ and destroy the galaxy once and for all. The only one who could possibly stand in their way is Rey (Daisy Ridley), the Force-sensitive scavenger turned Jedi from Jakku who had trained with the late Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and is now guided by Luke’s sister, General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Rey and her friends, former First Order stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and Resistance commander/pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), soon learn that Palpatine is hiding out on the uncharted planet of Exegol. And because of its elusive status, the only way to reach it is by finding a device known as a Sith Wayfinder that will give them the planet’s coordinates. Thus, Rey, Finn, and Poe find themselves in a race against time to find the Wayfinder and reach Exegol, all while being endlessly pursued by Ren and the First Order, before Palpatine can unleash the ‘Final Order’. In the process, Rey continues to struggle with the growing connection that she has with Kylo Ren and finally begins to uncover the secrets behind who she really is, which effectively poses some major ramifications for the galaxy.

Despite its immense success with both critics and audiences, J.J. Abrams’ last Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, received quite a bit of flak for allegedly being a ‘carbon copy’ of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope. This, in turn, can explain why a lot of attention was made about Rian Johnson’s efforts to ‘freshen things up’ with The Last Jedi… even though one could argue that it too could be described as a mirror of its original trilogy equivalent, The Empire Strikes Back. As for Rise of Skywalker, the argument of ‘been there, done that’ has once again become a source of contention amongst critics, especially due to the return of Emperor Palpatine as the main antagonist despite the previous film’s concerted efforts to “let the past die”. But just like the whole ‘it’s just A New Hope again’ debate that now dominates the conversation when it comes to The Force Awakens, I’d argue that this isn’t as big of a deal as it’s been made out to be. Sure, all three films in the sequel trilogy do share some similarities with Episodes IV through VI, but it’s not like they’re downright ripping off the plots of those films. Instead, these parallels only help to strengthen the sequel trilogy’s narrative while also providing some nice callbacks and solid conclusions to some of the series’ longest-running plotlines. And because these newer films have done a phenomenal job when it comes to developing their main characters, this paves the way for some incredibly powerful emotional moments. In other words, J.J. Abrams once again proves that he’s a natural when it comes to crafting that classic Star Wars atmosphere. And while The Last Jedi ended up providing some of the most gorgeous cinematography that the series has ever had, J.J. and his long-time cinematographer Dan Mindel continue to prove that they can deliver visuals and action sequences that are just as amazing by comparison.  

One interesting thing to note about Rise of Skywalker is that it’s the first entry of the sequel trilogy where the lead trio of Rey, Finn and Poe are all together for a good chunk of the run-time whereas the previous two films had them separated in various ways. This wasn’t a bad thing, for the record, but it is nice that this film finally gives these three a chance to work together and Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are all fantastic once again in their respective roles. Rise of Skywalker also does a wonderful job when it comes to furthering their overall character development, whether it’s Poe continuing to grow as a leader for the Resistance or Rey learning about her heritage and what that could potentially mean for the galaxy. All this great character development from the protagonists is matched perfectly by their foil, Kylo Ren, as Adam Driver continues to shine as the emotionally volatile Dark Side user whose complex character arc reaches its cathartic conclusion in this film. The four leads are then excellently backed by several of the sequel trilogy’s great supporting players, including Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux and Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, although fans of the latter will be disappointed by her severely limited screen-time. After that, the film adds in some fun new characters including Keri Russell as Zorii Bliss, an old acquaintance of Poe’s, Richard E. Grant as First Order General Pryde, who slowly works his way into becoming Kylo Ren’s sinister second-in-command, and Naomi Ackie as Jannah, who is revealed to be a former First Order stormtrooper just like Finn.

Moving over to the series veterans who notably make a return in this film, the biggest of the bunch is, of course, Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine. Regardless of how one feels about the decision to bring the character back, McDiarmid is once again terrific as the imposing Sith Lord, especially since he opts for the generally more subdued version of the character from the original trilogy instead of the cartoonishly over-the-top iteration from Revenge of the Sith. Another welcome return comes via Billy Dee Williams’ suave smuggler Lando Calrissian, who promptly continues to be one of the most charismatic figures in the entire Star Wars galaxy. But easily the most notable element of this film’s cast is how Leia ultimately factors into everything. While it was originally planned to give her a prominent role a la Han Solo in The Force Awakens and Luke in The Last Jedi, those plans ended up falling by the wayside after Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing in 2016 after she had finished working on The Last Jedi. However, instead of just giving Leia an unceremonious off-screen death as a lot of films tend to do whenever an actor/actress doesn’t return to reprise their role, J.J. manages to work her in via the use of unused footage from The Force Awakens. The overall implementation of this footage into the film is a truly fascinating feat to behold given how much work clearly must’ve been done to make it all possible. Nevertheless, it does its job beautifully and effectively gives the most iconic heroine in the Star Wars saga the emotionally fitting send-off that she damn well deserves.

I’m well aware that everything that I’ve said in this review isn’t going to fly well with certain audiences. Just like The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker has been an incredibly polarizing affair to the point where even critics are just as mixed towards it as audiences are. As alluded to earlier, while The Force Awakens may have managed to scoot by without getting dinged too hard for supposedly being ‘too much like A New Hope’, it’s clear that critics weren’t as forgiving towards Rise of Skywalker for doing the same thing. And yet, as someone who has been a fan of the sequel trilogy ever since the first teaser for The Force Awakens was released, I found Rise of Skywalker to be a perfect finale for this trilogy. As a film that’s truly grand in both scale and emotional depth, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker provides a wholly satisfying conclusion to both the sequel trilogy and the entire Skywalker Saga as a whole. Sure, some have argued that it attempts to undo a lot of the controversial plot-points from The Last Jedi, but the ways in which J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio conclude the story of Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Kylo Ren still feels consistent with what we’ve seen from the previous two films. And through it all, J.J. and his crew continue to go above and beyond when it comes to the film’s incredible action sequences and breathtaking visuals. Sadly, though, it seems like The Rise of Skywalker will end up being regarded as a ‘failure’ even though I’d argue that it isn’t the film’s fault. Instead, I’d attribute it more to the period in which it was released where the Star Wars fandom proved to be in a state of total disarray, thoroughly compromised by its utterly ambiguous expectations.

Rating: 5/5!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) review

(Disclaimer: I promise that there’ll be no MAJOR spoilers in this review)

When Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005, many assumed that this was the end of the Star Wars film franchise. After all, it was the final installment of the highly controversial prequel trilogy whose purpose was to officially close the gap on the story of how Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader. However, this all changed in 2012 when Lucasfilm was bought by Disney for $4.05 billion. Now the House of Mouse was in control of arguably the biggest franchise in all of pop culture and, sure enough, it immediately got to work on a new line of Star Wars films. It all began in 2015 when director J.J. Abrams returned audiences to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. As was the case with the previous first installment of a new Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, The Force Awakens was put under some of the heaviest expectations ever seen from the film fan community, as many hoped that it would deliver where they felt the prequel trilogy did not. Thankfully, the film did manage to meet those expectations, for the most part, as it was a major critical and commercial success upon its release. Oh sure, there are still the nagging criticisms that have been made by those who have accused the film of being a remake of Episode IV: A New Hope, but the film was well-received by critics and audiences and it became only the third film ever to gross over $2 billion worldwide.

One year later, Lucasfilm then initiated a new line of spin-off films (referred to as ‘Star Wars stories’) with Rogue One. Set in-between the events of Episodes III and IV, it focused on the Rebellion’s efforts to steal the plans for the Empire’s devastatingly powerful battle station, the Death Star. And overall, it proved to be another critical/commercial success for Disney, even after it had to go through some highly publicized reshoots to fix its ending. But now, the time has come for the next installment of the main saga, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. This time around, though, J.J. Abrams is not the one behind the camera. Instead, directorial duties go to Rian Johnson, and while this may technically be Johnson’s first big-budget outing as a director, he has made quite a name for himself in the film industry thanks to his work on several critically-acclaimed projects. This includes the 2005 neo-noir thriller Brick, 2012’s sci-fi action thriller Looper, and three of what many consider to be some of the best episodes of the iconic TV series Breaking Bad (headlined by the show’s antepenultimate episode, ‘Ozymandias’). And after the whole ‘TFA copied A New Hope’ incident, many fans are hoping that Johnson will deliver a fresh, new take on this legendary franchise. Does he do so? Well, I don’t know if I can call The Last Jedi that ‘fresh and new’, but what I can say is that Johnson does give us a highly satisfying follow-up to what was an equally terrific first installment of this new Star Wars trilogy.

At the end of The Force Awakens, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a young scavenger from the desert planet of Jakku, traveled to the remote planet of Ahch-To to find the elusive Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Having learned that she is capable of using the powerful essence known as the Force, Rey seeks Luke’s guidance in learning the ways of the Force in her efforts to realize her true potential. However, Luke is hesitant to train her at first after he had previously failed to protect his former protégé/nephew Ben Solo from the Dark Side, which ultimately led to him becoming the feared First Order commander Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Eventually, though, Luke does begin to train her in the Jedi arts when it becomes apparent that a connection has started to form between her and Kylo Ren, with the latter being shown to still be struggling with letting go of his past identity even after killing his father, Han Solo. Meanwhile, the Resistance, led by Luke’s sister (and Kylo Ren’s mother) General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), finds itself under attack from the First Order after their main base of operations is discovered. With the Resistance fleet at risk of being destroyed by the First Order, pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), ex-stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), and mechanic Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) enact a desperate plan in order to help the Resistance escape their foe’s wrath.

To put it quite simply, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has it all. In terms of visuals, it’s one of the best-looking Star Wars films to date thanks to the excellent cinematography from Rian Johnson regular Steve Yedlin and the franchise’s consistently strong visual effects. As one might expect, this results in some excellent action sequences that range from epic lightsaber duels to high-octane space battles. But just like The Force Awakens, this film’s writing (which was handled solely by Johnson for this installment) is just as strong as its visual game. As a follow-up to its immediate predecessor, the film does an excellent job of continuing the story that was established in The Force Awakens while also further developing both its new collection of main protagonists and the saga’s iconic returning characters. And really, Johnson deserves a lot of credit for getting so much depth out of what could arguably be described as a simple chase plot. If I had any sort of issue with this film, it’d be that it does admittedly feel a tad bit overlong due to its hefty two and a half hour runtime. Now, to be clear, it’s not like there were any parts of this film that dragged or anything because there weren’t any. It’s just that, without spoiling anything, by the time that the finale rolls around… there’s still about half an hour of the film to go. But again, this isn’t really that much of a shortcoming in a film that is solidly paced.

If I had to list what my favorite aspect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was, it would have to be its characters. Even when dealing with the franchise’s consistently high expectations, many of the new characters introduced in The Force Awakens proved to be just as endearing as the saga’s original heroes. Sure enough, this trend continues with The Last Jedi, starting with the new trilogy’s lead trio of Rey, Finn, and Poe. All three of them are great once again thanks in large part to the excellent performances from Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac, respectively. The same goes for the film’s main antagonist as well, as Adam Driver is fantastic once again as the fascinatingly complex Kylo Ren. And while there’s not really a lot of new characters introduced in this film, the ones that are do prove to be quite memorable, including Laura Dern as the Resistance’s Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo and Kelly Marie Tran as Rose, the latter of whom proves to be a delightful addition to this trilogy’s group of main protagonists. But, of course, we cannot forget about the iconic leads from the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke and Leia. After only having a brief non-speaking role in The Force Awakens’ final scene, Luke now takes on a far more substantial role in this film’s story where he gets some great new bits of character development that give us an idea of how much he’s changed since Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. And as for Leia… well, as we all know, this was sadly Carrie Fisher’s last time in the role following her death this past December. Not much more to say about this except that, for what is her last appearance as one of the most iconic sci-fi heroines of all-time, it may arguably be her greatest performance in said role.  

Well, given my stance on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I guess that it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that I quite enjoyed Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Now, granted, I don’t mean this in the sense that I found it to be a ‘fresh’ new take on the franchise as I’ve seen some critics opine (though, at the same time, that doesn’t mean that I think that Johnson’s directorial vision was neutered by Lucasfilm… as I’ve also seen some critics claim). When I say that I loved this film, I mean that more in the sense that it just simply delivered on everything you’d want from a great Star Wars film; a strong story, great characters, and terrific visuals and action sequences. If you loved The Force Awakens, then I’m sure that you’ll probably love The Last Jedi as it proves to be an excellent continuation of the story that its predecessor set up. And, sure enough, it sets up the groundwork nicely for the final installment of this new trilogy that will be coming in 2019, Episode IX, which will see J.J. Abrams returning to the role of director. And while I know that some feel that he’s ‘too safe’ of a choice for director after what Rian Johnson did with this film, the quality of TFA is more than enough to give me full confidence in my favorite director working today to once again deliver when it comes to this franchise. To paraphrase one of the biggest lines from The Force Awakens, I fully believe that J.J. “will finish… what [he] started…”

Rating: 5/5!

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) review

Oh boy… sometimes you come across a film or TV special that you look at and wonder, “Why?” Recently, I saw one of those kinds of specials… and it just so happens to come from one of the most iconic franchises of all-time. Yes, folks, today I’m reviewing the most infamous thing that ever came out of the Star Wars franchise. No, not the Star Wars prequels. No, not Star Wars Kinect. And no, not even Jar Jar Binks. I’m referring to the infamous ‘thing’ that is The Star Wars Holiday Special. In 1978, just one year after the release of A New Hope, someone decided that it’d be a good idea to make a Star Wars TV special starring most of the original cast from the film; Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc. It aired only once on November 17^th, 1978 on CBS. Since then, it has never been re-aired and it’s never seen a home video release. George Lucas himself, who had little to do with the actual special, has since distanced himself from it. He’s even stated that “If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it” Sadly, for good ol’ George, the internet has made this easier said than done. While the special has never seen an official release on home video, there have been numerous bootleg releases of it over the years and it’s now easily seen on video sites like YouTube. That is how I ended up seeing it in order to do a commentary for it that I recorded with my good pal and Sabers, Phasers, and Lasers, Oh My! co-host Alex Corey… and, well, for those who haven’t seen it, believe me when I say that it’s truly as bad as its reputation suggests.

The main plot of the special is that Han and Chewbacca are traveling to Chewbacca’s home planet of Kashyyyk (which would make its official series debut decades later in Episode III) so that Chewbacca is back in time to celebrate the Wookiee holiday known as ‘Life Day’, hence why this is called the Holiday Special and not the Christmas Special. Unfortunately, for them, stock footage of Star Destroyers and TIE Fighters from A New Hope are currently keeping them busy. Thus, most of the special ends up being about Chewbacca’s family, namely his wife Malla, their son Lumpy, and his father Itchy, as they impatiently wait for him to return. To pass the time, they end up watching all sorts of random skits and, basically, music videos. This includes Harvey Korman in drag as a four-armed cook, Harvey Korman as a malfunctioning robot that grabs his ass and sticks a finger up his nose (I wish I was kidding about that) as he tries to teach us how to build a translator device, Bea Arthur and hole-headed Harvey Korman (I WISH I was kidding about that one…) in a cantina on Tatooine that’s about to close for the night due to an Empire-initiated curfew, a music video featuring the band Jefferson Starship performing in a purple void, a circus troupe performance, an animated adventure starring Luke and company that was created by Nelvana Ltd., the same force behind the Droids and Ewoks cartoons from the 80’s, and a weird virtual fantasy sequence that’s, well, basically Wookie porn (Again, I wish I was kidding…)

This special is… unreal. For 90 minutes, we spend almost all that time in Chewbacca’s home watching his family just go through their daily routines. And, oh yeah, I forgot to mention… there are no frigging subtitles for a special in which the main characters are Wookiees, so you’ll never know what they’re supposed to be saying. And they really are the main characters of the special. Despite having the main characters of the franchise in it which, you know, is the reason why fans would probably watch this in the first place, Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO are barely in it. Both Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher appear in one brief scene each up until the finale and while Harrison Ford has a larger role compared to them… you can tell through his performance that he clearly doesn’t give a crap about any of this. Maybe this is the reason why he wanted Han to be killed off in Empire Strikes Back, something that didn’t happen for real until The Force Awakens. The guest stars of the special, including Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, and Art Carney, have more screentime than most of the main characters, and even then, none of them make any of this better. Harvey Korman gets the worst break of them all as the legendary comedian is stuck doing extremely embarrassing bit parts, all of which I listed earlier in the plot synopsis.

The whole special in general is incredibly boring. The so-called main plot of the special is bare-bones, to say the least, and most of the skits that occur throughout have literally nothing to do with anything with the A-Plot. They’re literally just there to pad out the runtime. Now, from what I’ve heard, the reason why this special is mostly just skits is because it was developed by filmmakers with backgrounds in variety TV. Still, there’s no denying that these skits were their way of trying to make up for the special’s general lack of narrative. And, as you probably guessed, most of these segments are quite terrible. The ‘circus acrobats’ sequence is weird and nonsensical. A lot of you on the internet, even if you haven’t seen this, are probably familiar with the infamous cooking scene in which Harvey Korman overacts like crazy when he starts to ‘Stir, Whip, Stir, Whip, Whip, Whip, Stir! WAH!’ That virtual reality sequence, featuring singer Diahann Carroll, is even weirder and just goes on for eternity. Seriously, I’m not kidding, it’s basically porn! A lot of people have said that the animated sequence is the ‘best’ part of the special and while I guess I agree with that, it’s still nothing special. Oh yeah, and this was the first time we were introduced to the character of Boba Fett. What a random place to debut one of the most popular characters in franchise history. The sequence where Harvey Korman plays a malfunctioning robot in an ‘instructional video’ is also very drawn-out but, boy, does it deliver some truly insane moments courtesy of the many ways in which the robot malfunctions. As I alluded to earlier, there’s literally a moment where, during one of his malfunctions, he grabs his buttocks. And the way in which the sequence ends consists of him sticking a finger up his nose to move out of frame. Yes… that happens in this special. Finally, there’s the sequence with Bea Arthur singing a song with Tatooine locals. I’ll just be frank… I zoned out by this point. Finish it all off with a disastrous musical number performed by a ‘clearly out of it’ Carrie Fisher and you have The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Well, I can now say that I’ve seen The Star Wars Holiday Special… and I can also safely say that I will never watch it again. As I’ve noted in the past, I’m one of those rare Star Wars fans that do like the prequel films. I recognize their flaws but I also feel that they’re seriously not as bad as a lot of the internet puts them out to be on a regular basis. This… makes those films look like total masterpieces by comparison. For those who haven’t seen it, this TV special is seriously just as bad as everyone has said. It’s completely nonsensical from beginning to end, with minimal plot and drawn-out sketches that are completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It has the main actors of the franchise but severely underutilizes them in favor of a cast of characters we don’t give a crap about and, at the same time, can’t understand at all because they’re a bunch of Wookiees and we aren’t given any subtitles. Though, to be fair, it seems like most of the main actors didn’t give a crap about this either, especially Harrison Ford… and who can blame him? It’s easy to see why George Lucas completely regrets this as it is easily the worst thing that has ever come out of the Star Wars franchise. Simply put, it’s one of the biggest misfires in the history of television.

Rating: 0.5/5

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) review

(Note: Fear not, those who haven’t seen the film yet, for I will be as spoiler-free as possible during this review.)

It was over 38 years ago when George Lucas released the first installment of his epic space saga, ‘Star Wars’, later retitled ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’, into theaters. Despite all of the problems that occurred during the film’s production, it became one of the biggest hits of all-time, spawning two equally critically and commercially successful sequels and creating one of the biggest and most beloved franchises in pop culture history. After 1983’s ‘Return of the Jedi’, it seemed as if the story of Luke Skywalker and his friends had finally come to a close. Lucas initially had plans for a sequel trilogy but those plans ended up getting scrapped. However, Lucas would soon return to the world that he created through the creation of a prequel trilogy, beginning in 1999 with ‘Episode I: The Phantom Menace’, which explored the rise and fall of the original trilogy’s main villain, Darth Vader AKA Anakin Skywalker. However, while this second trilogy was just as commercially successful as the first, the prequel films did not receive the same critical acclaim as their three predecessors. Many ‘Star Wars’ fans were especially disappointed with the films as they felt that Lucas had placed greater emphasis on visuals than story and characters, the opposite of what made the Original Trilogy so beloved. Regardless, the films were still big commercial hits and when 2005’s ‘Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ was released, once again we all thought that this was the end of the ‘Star Wars’ saga.

And then, in 2012, everything changed when Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and announced that new ‘Star Wars’ films were going to be produced. Not only was there going to be a brand new trilogy of films that would follow the events of the Original Trilogy, as Lucas had originally planned, but there were also going to be ‘spin-off’ films that would further expand the universe. In January of 2013, J.J. Abrams, fresh off of resurrecting the ‘Star Trek’ franchise with 2009’s ‘Star Trek’ and 2013’s ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’, was hired to lead off the new series of ‘Star Wars’ films. And over the next two years, Abrams began production on what has arguably become the most anticipated film of all-time; ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens’. Seriously, I don’t think there has been a film that has been this anticipated since, well, the last time ‘Star Wars’ made a comeback on the big screen with ‘The Phantom Menace’. And with that said, yes we are all very much aware about what happened the last time we ‘Star Wars’ fans hyped up a new film this much. That ended up backfiring big-time for most people and even though I was very excited for this new film, primarily because one of my favorite directors working today was directing it, I made an effort to keep my expectations in check hoping that, at the very least, this would not become another situation like ‘The Phantom Menace’ where most people would end up being very disappointed by it. But now that ‘The Force Awakens’ is in theaters, I can happily say that you will not be disappointed by what J.J. has given us.

It has been 30 years since the events of ‘Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’, in which the Galactic Empire had finally been defeated by the Rebel Alliance. But in the years since then, a new villainous faction has emerged in the form of the First Order to oppose the Rebel Alliance, now known as ‘the Resistance’. As the film begins, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is sent on a mission by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) to retrieve a vital piece of information that both the Resistance and First Order are after. When the First Order catches up with him, Poe is captured but is freed by Stormtrooper FN-2187 (John Boyega), dubbed ‘Finn’ by Poe, who defects from the First Order when he finds himself unable to follow their vile ways. The two end up getting separated and Finn soon finds himself coming across Poe’s droid BB-8, who is carrying the aforementioned vital piece of information, and its current companion Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger living on the planet of Jakku. With the First Order aggressively pursuing them, Finn and Rey embark on a life-changing adventure to bring the information that BB-8 is holding back to the Resistance before the First Order, and more specifically Dark Side user Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), gets it first. Along the way, their journey even sees them coming across legendary figures like the one and only Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his trusty co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).

There have been quite a few people that have made comparisons between this film’s plot and the plot of ‘A New Hope’. And yes if you really do look at it, it’s true that this film follows quite a few of the same beats of that film, like the fact that the two main factions are after a piece of information of great importance to both sides or how the film’s finale revolves around a powerful space weapon. But even with that said, unlike some of the film’s detractors, I didn’t mind at all the fact that this film is very reminiscent of ‘A New Hope’ in regards to its plotting because it just shows how much J.J. Abrams respects the original trilogy while also making sure that ‘The Force Awakens’ is its own story. In other words, ‘The Force Awakens’ is very much a new ‘Star Wars’ film. It all feels like a very fitting continuation of the story since we last left it in ‘Return of the Jedi’, giving the major returning characters from the previous trilogy further character development that respects what has been set up before while also establishing its new main protagonists who will lead the way for the rest of this new trilogy; Finn, Rey, and Poe. And I must say that in our current age where the internet could spoil anything about a film (I very much sympathize with anyone who unfortunately had something about this film spoiled by jackasses trying to ruin everyone’s fun), it’s nice to go into a film like this generally unaware of what’s going to happen and I will say that there were some things in this film, namely certain plot-points that I of course won’t at all reveal in this non-spoiler review, that I didn’t see coming.

One of the major reasons why fans loved the Original Trilogy, particularly from a modern-day perspective, was that it was primarily done with practical effects in a time when CGI wasn’t even a thing yet. As a result, one of the major complaints of the prequel trilogy, as well as the changes made to the ‘Special Edition’ versions of the original films, was the over-reliance on CGI. So fans will be very happy to know that this new film does not go down the same ‘CGI-heavy’ road of the prequel trilogy. After all, J.J. did the same thing with the ‘Star Trek’ films, opting to utilize as many practical sets as possible for a sci-fi film of that scale. And that is once again the case with ‘The Force Awakens’. Sure there are obviously still quite a lot of CGI effects in this film but unlike ‘Attack of the Clones’ and ‘Revenge of the Sith’, in which Lucas went as far as to just shoot the actors in front of a green-screen and not actually shoot on a set, the major set-pieces of ‘The Force Awakens’ were filmed in real locations and they definitely look much better because of it, resulting in some pretty awesome action sequences. Not only that, but the screenplay by J.J. and ‘Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ writer Lawrence Kasdan, as well as J.J.’s direction in general, really captures the same fun spirit of the original films through fast-paced action and witty dialogue.  

As many of us know, the cast is a combination of both returning members of the Original Trilogy and a whole bunch of newcomers. Fans of the original trilogy should be satisfied with the appearances of the original leading trio of the series, all of whom easily return to their iconic roles with ease, especially Harrison Ford, with Han Solo basically having the most substantial role of the original trio in this new film. And right from the get-go, the new cast of leads are well-established and all three work greatly off of the writing. John Boyega gets a great redemptive character arc as Finn, the former Stormtrooper who rejects the ways of the First Order but then perhaps gets a bit too in over his head as a result, Oscar Isaac brings a Han Solo-esque charm and wit to the role of Poe Dameron, whom Isaac himself dubbed as the ‘best freaking pilot in the galaxy’ (a claim that he basically does back up given his piloting in the film), and Daisy Ridley captures a lot of the same relatable qualities that Luke had in the Original Trilogy and brings that to the role of Rey. Now let’s talk about the main villain, Kylo Ren. Without giving anything major away, Ren has a particular connection to the ‘Star Wars’ lore that not only makes for one hell of a reveal, but it also brings quite a lot of depth to the character and his motivations. It’ll be very interesting to see how Ren’s story arc will play out in subsequent films.

‘The Force Awakens’ is a film that very much lives up to the massive hype that the fans built around it. Like with Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film squashes the fears of any skeptic/cynic who thought that Disney’s purchase of the brand would lead to its downfall. It’s a film that both continues the ‘Star Wars’ series in grand fashion while also honoring its previous installments. Under J.J.’s excellent-as-usual direction, the film is a rousing adventure full of awesome action, funny dialogue, great character moments, and moments that just simply feel epic given the legacy of this franchise. As you could see from this review, I didn’t make much comparisons to the last set of ‘Star Wars’ films, the much-maligned prequel trilogy, because I wasn’t willing to go down the same path that I know many other reviewers are; using this film as another way to bash the prequels. Instead of being stuck in the past and busting a trilogy that seriously isn’t as bad as the internet constantly puts it out to be, I kept my eyes firmly locked on the future and based on this first film, I can tell that we are in for one hell of a new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, with Rian Johnson set to direct ‘Episode VIII’ in 2017 and Colin Trevorrow to helm ‘Episode IX’ in 2019. But for now, I end my review with this message to the one and only J.J. Abrams. Thank you J.J. for giving us one of the most exhilarating film experiences in recent memory that proves just how special this franchise has been to many people and how it will be again for a whole new generation of fans. ‘Star Wars’ is back!

Rating: 5/5!

STAR WARS MONTH: Post #1 Original Trilogy (1977-1983)

The year was 1977; 33-year old California born filmmaker George Lucas, who had just recently set up his own production company Lucasfilm Ltd. due to his frustration with the studio system, was set to release his newest film, a sci-fi space opera by the name of ‘Star Wars’, on May 25, 1977. The film’s production faced a series of problems ranging from technical issues to poor weather conditions, making it seem quite doubtful that the film was going to be anything but a disaster. But of course, as we all know, that wasn’t what happened. At the time of its release, it became the highest-grossing film of all time until ‘E.T.’ in 1982. But nowadays, when adjusted for inflation, it’s currently the second-highest grossing film of all time domestically and the third-highest grossing worldwide. It’s led to the creation of one of the most iconic media franchises in all of pop culture, immediately spawning two equally successful sequels in 1980 and 1983. And today on May 4^th (or, as we ‘Star Wars’ fans like to honor it as, ‘Star Wars Day’), as Rhode Island Movie Corner begins its celebration of ‘Star Wars Month’ in anticipation for the upcoming ‘Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ this December, we’ll be looking back upon this highly revered film trilogy. It’s a trilogy that’s easily one of the best film trilogies of all time as all three films are truly excellent, a rarity when it comes to film trilogies.

STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977)

Honestly, I don’t know what else can be said about this film that hasn’t been said before. What started out as just a small-budget sci-fi film plagued by numerous production problems ended up becoming arguably the most beloved sci-fi film of all time. And even today, nearly four decades since its release, it still holds up incredibly well. That’s probably because of how Lucas took inspiration from both classic sci-fi stories like ‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Buck Rogers’ and the mythological writing of Joseph Campbell. The characters were based around the common archetypes of the genre; the young hero, the rogue, the damsel, the wise old wizard, etc. And even with all of the films that have come out in the years since ‘Star Wars’ that have utilized these same archetypes, the main characters in this film; Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Obi-Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi, Darth Vader, and so on and so on, still stand as some of the most iconic film characters of all time thanks to Lucas’ solid writing. Despite all of the changes that George Lucas has made to this film, namely numerous CGI additions, a lot of the film’s non-modern CGI effects are still very impressive for the time, resulting in a number of memorable action sequences from the Battle of Yavin at the end to the fight between the Millennium Falcon and a group of TIE Fighters. The bottom line is that ‘A New Hope’ is just a great movie anyway you look at it. There’s a reason why this franchise is still running strong today and ‘A New Hope’ is the one to thank for that. Quite simply it’s one of the best sci-fi films of all time and a hard one to top…

Rating: 5/5!

STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)

…But that’s exactly what its sequel did. Yes, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, this entry directed by Lucas’ former film professor at USC, Irvin Kershner, ultimately stands as not only the best entry in the ‘Star Wars’ film franchise but also one of the best, if not the best, sequels ever made. And it’s one of those cases where that esteem grew over time because it actually received mixed reviews when it first came out. Of course, like all good sequels, ‘Empire’ does a great job of continuing the story from where ‘A New Hope’ left out while also upping the scale in just the right ways. But at the same time, it also goes one step further by also going a much darker route than its predecessor. Now by ‘dark’ I don’t mean dark in tone and atmosphere; this is still a ‘Star Wars’ movie after all and there’s still a whole lot of fun action sequences and light-hearted humor. It’s more a case of a darker story, namely the fact that this one actually doesn’t end on a ‘happy’ ending. Seriously, in this one the Empire ends up winning the day. They defeat the Rebel Alliance on Hoth, Luke, Han, Leia and the rest of the gang stumble into a trap in Cloud City, and Han ends up frozen in carbonite and sent off to Jabba the Hutt. In fact, in regards to the latter, they were even considering the possibility of permanently killing off Han and Harrison Ford was in favor of it; but of course, that wasn’t what happened. But suffice it to say, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is the current high mark of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. The original ‘Star Wars’ is still a classic, but this one just takes it one step further.

Rating: 5/5!

STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

British director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle) was chosen to direct the final entry in the trilogy, ‘Return of the Jedi’, after Lucas was unable to get his friend Steven Spielberg to direct the film. This was because of a controversy involving the Writers and Directors Guilds of America over ‘Empire’ due to the decision to have the credits play at the end of the film rather than the beginning. For the record, end credits weren’t very common at the time and Lucas was only allowed to do it for ‘A New Hope’ because he was directing it and his production company bears his name. It even got to the point where the Guilds threatened to pull ‘Empire’ from theaters, but Lucas paid the fines, ultimately dropping out of both guilds as well as the MPAA. David Lynch and David Cronenberg were also approached as well but both declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts with other projects. It would’ve been very, very interesting to see what each of these three directors would’ve brought to the table but as is, ‘Return of the Jedi’ still delivers the same great ‘Star Wars’ that we’ve come to expect from the last two films. But ‘Return of the Jedi’ is also something else… incredibly underrated. I guess you can say that the film keeps up with the tradition of ‘the threequel curse’ as ‘Return of the Jedi’ is the least successful film in the trilogy in terms of critical reception. In fact, ‘Episode III’, one of the prequels, has a better RT score than ‘Return of the Jedi’. Let that sink in for a moment… Despite this, I still really enjoy ‘Return of the Jedi’ and think that it is, if not exactly better than either Episode IV or V, is at least ‘as good’ as those two films.

So why is this one not as popular as the previous two? Well, the main reason for that seems to be due to the Ewoks, the teddy bear-like creatures that Luke and co. meet while on the Forest Moon of Endor. More specifically, the backlash towards them comes from the fact that during the final battle, this primitive race is able to defeat the armed ‘best troops’ of the Empire. Personally, I’m not too bothered by any of this, though I recognize that this might’ve been a case of Lucas thinking more about merchandising than the actual story, which may very well explain the downgrade in quality of the prequels (more on those later this month). However, I still think ‘Return of the Jedi’ succeeds in closing out this trilogy. After the darker turns of ‘Empire’, this film lightens things up (in some cases, maybe a little too much (e.g. Ewoks) but that’s beside the point) while also effectively tying up the loose ends of the trilogy, namely in the wake of the big reveal in ‘Empire’ that Darth Vader is Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker. The finale sequence involving Luke, Vader, and the latter’s master, Emperor Palpatine, is one of the best finales that I’ve ever seen in film. The emotions are running high throughout, with Luke nearly turned to the Dark Side by the Emperor and Vader making the heroic sacrifice to save his son. For now, we’ll ignore the fact that in the Blu-Ray this sacrifice was basically ruined by one of Lucas’ ‘changes’. Still, despite that and the whole thing with the Ewoks, I still love ‘Return of the Jedi’; in fact, for a while it was my personal favorite film of the series. While nowadays I concur that ‘Empire’ is the best of the trilogy, I still think ‘Return of the Jedi’ is pretty great as well.

Rating: 5/5!

‘Star Wars Month’ is just beginning; Check back Next Friday for Post #2 in which I discuss some of the controversial changes made to the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy.

Star Wars Episode VII: First Cast Announcement

It’s been almost a year and a half since J.J. Abrams was first announced as the director of ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’, the first in a new trilogy of Star Wars films produced by Disney (not counting the spin-off solo films that they are looking to do, meaning that there will be at least one new ‘Star Wars’ film a year) and since that time, we’ve pretty much all speculated as to who would be in the cast, and let me tell you, there was quite a lot of speculation. I’ve seen quite a lot of posts online with rumors that various actors/actresses had been reading for parts and in fact, according to Saoirse Ronan, pretty much ‘everyone’ in Hollywood was reading for roles for this film. Aside from Ronan, other actors ‘reportedly’ testing for roles included Benedict Cumberbatch, Gary Oldman, and Michael Fassbender, and obviously that’s just to name a few. There were so many reports and rumors on the casting process that it was getting to the point where it was starting to get really annoying.

But now, we finally have our cast for the next entry in the ‘Star Wars’ saga as it was recently announced, and shown through a black and white photo (featured above) of the cast’s first table read, who will be in the film and overall, I have to say that it’s a pretty solid cast from top to bottom that includes both new and returning faces. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew will be reprising their roles as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Chewbacca respectively. And they will be joined for this film by John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Daisy Ridley, and Max von Sydow. Some of the new additions were amongst those reportedly up for roles, like Driver, Boyega, and Issac, but some, like Ridley, von Sydow, and Serkis, were not amongst the list of actors and actresses who were up for roles (at least from the reports I’ve seen). And of course, there were plenty of reports about how Hamill, Fisher, and Ford would be returning as well. With this announcement, we can finally lay the majority of all of these casting rumors to rest.

Top Row (L-R): Boyega, Ridley, Driver
Bottom Row (L-R): Gleeson, von Sydow, Issac

Now there’s not much I can say about this because as of right now we don’t know who these new cast members are playing. This was just an announcement stating who would be in the movie and not about ‘whom’ they would be playing. The only one whose role has sort of been determined is Adam Driver, who will apparently be playing a villain in the vein of Darth Vader. But even then, we don’t know ‘who’ this villain is nor do we know who everyone else (aside from the returning characters, of course) is for that matter. So right now, all we can do is speculate. But as for the cast itself, I really like the group of actors/actresses that they’ve picked to be in the film. I haven’t really seen a lot of the films that most of these actors were in (e.g. Oscar Issac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson), but I at least know who they are. The only member of this cast who is a complete unknown in my book is Daisy Ridley. Even after looking up her IMDB page, I really don’t know who she is but no worries, because I remember reading somewhere that Abrams wanted a cast of lesser known actors/actresses so it’ll be cool to see some new talent on screen. And on another note, I’m fine with having the older cast members in the film so that they can pave the way for the new cast to take over for future films.

Now of course as I’ve said earlier, we don’t know who these new members of the cast will be playing, but we can still speculate as to what their roles in the film will possibly be. Reportedly the film will center around three new leads (not Luke, Leia, and Han), and I’m guessing that those three will most likely be Boyega, Isaac, and Ridley. Driver, as stated earlier, will be the main villain. It does seem a bit obvious, but like a lot of people, I’m guessing that Serkis will probably be playing a motion-capture character. I mean, who knows, maybe he isn’t (after all, he has played some non-motion-capture roles in the past) but I think it’s pretty likely that he will be doing something that is motion-capture related because that’s what he’s known for. Plus, I’m interested in seeing what kind of character he might be if he’s doing motion-capture. As for Sydow, I’m guessing that he’ll either be A.) A ‘sage’ character similar to Obi-Wan (as portrayed by Alec Guinness) in the original trilogy or B.) Possibly a villain alongside Driver. Finally, with Domhnall Gleeson, I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing that he’ll be a character similar to Lando Calrissian.

Note: Not an official poster; I just really liked this fan-made one, even if it's just a 'Star Wars' version of the first 'Star Trek Into Darkness' poster.

But remember, we don’t really know much yet and for all we know, this could end up being another case like ‘The Phantom Menace’, which also had a really nice cast (Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, etc…) and yet look how that turned out. Now for the record, I’m not saying that I think that this is going to be another ‘Phantom Menace’. I want this new film trilogy to succeed and I do have a lot of faith in the cast and crew. J.J. Abrams as the film’s director is the main reason why I’m excited for the film as I really loved his two ‘Star Trek’ films (the first one being one of my top 10 favorite films of all time). It’s also co-written by Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, which is still the best entry in the series. And I like these new additions to the cast, even if I haven’t seen much of their work. It definitely feels like all of those involved on this film know what they’re getting themselves into and are looking to make the film as good as it possibly can. But again, we’re still more than a year away from the film’s December release and this is just a cast announcement so we’ll just have to wait and see. But for now, I’m very optimistic about how this film is currently shaping up to be based on who’s involved with it in front of and behind the camera.