The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars movie to premiere in December, a move that seems long overdue, since the franchise has always been a lot like Christmas: a timeless state of mind where we are always children.
It also seemed destined, especially with Disney taking over the franchise, to finally have a holiday release. Given the decades-long money-making power of Star Wars, this sequel trilogy was perhaps inevitable.
There is only one god and his name is George Lucas. And no other movie franchise can captivate the same fan base it repeatedly frustrates. No other movie franchise can set off a dozen think pieces and infinite Reddit threads just by releasing a 90-second teaser trailer. Their little complaints don’t really matter as much as the existence of the franchise itself, which is always inevitably successful in that it always inspires unconditional obsession. I find it unlikely that the excitement over The Force Awakens comes solely from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, unanimously considered as the best Star Wars movie, but one that came out in 1980.Ī better explanation is this: Star Wars geeks forget about the things they hate about Star Wars the minute a new movie comes out. The last movie from the original trilogy, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, is widely considered an inferior finale. As far as I can remember, the prequel trilogy had a mixed reception and was barely salvaged by Episode III: Revenge of The Sith, which was mildly praised for its inevitably dark plot and the conspicuous scarcity of the aforementioned Jar Jar Binks (people really hated that thing). Think about where all this excitement is coming from. It’s whether these bad reviews will matter in the long run that I seriously doubt. Unless it turns out to be the greatest space opera of our times, it will definitely get its fair share of bad reviews.
This is not to say that The Force Awakens will not be panned. Star Wars movies are the closest to critic-proof cinema as we’ll ever see in Hollywood. Star Wars is no longer a movie franchise. Whatever happens, The Force Awakens will be fine. Abrams’ trustworthiness, or Luke Skywalker’s role in the sequel trilogy, or if there’s a new Jar Jar Binks to ruin everyone’s lives, these matters will soon be moot. But Star Wars geeks and casual viewers alike have really very little to worry about.
MANILA, Philippines - As we feel the excitement build over the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, it is equally hard to ignore the trepidation surrounding it, especially for those who have fashioned each installment in the Star Wars franchise into totem poles of their lives, marking childhood, adolescence and adulthood with the finer details of the Galactic Republic (which, at some point, became an Empire), as if the meaning of existence somehow rests on Yoda’s inverted sentences and on the cryptic chirpings of R2-D2.
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