Rogue One, and the "disneyfication" of Star Wars

First off, I’ll admit to having enjoyed the movie. This opinion/review will not concentrate on the merits of the film per se, but rather take a swing at the broader picture—pun definitely intended.

The truth is Rogue One is a well-acted, slightly better plotted than other entries, and with acceptable special effects. Okay, that star destroyer did look like made out of white Lego plastic, and I wasn’t impressed with CGI Tarkin or Leia; but other than it was fun to watch. Darth Vader is a scene stealer, and that last confrontation in the dark hallway alone is worth the price of admission.

As an individual film, Rogue One could not stay on its own. It is the eternal curse of the spin-offs being dependent on the audience being familiar with the original story from where they come. Still, as part of a larger franchise it is somewhat of a departure from the canon Episode movies. First off, the cast includes some popular and familiar authors. Okay, they are not power-superstars with a $20 Million paycheck, but Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker are hardly the unknown cast that Mark Hamill, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Daisy Ridley or John Boyega were before their Episodes hit the screens. Also, the flick is somewhat of a throwback to the old kind of moviemaking, focusing more in the story rather than the special effects. When the original episodes were released in 70’s and 80’s, the effects did dazzle, but they only served the purpose of telling the story; whereas Episodes I through III suffered from the vision of man who just wanted to show off what the new technology could do, and thus Rogue One falls closer to the original mark.

Although an entertaining movie, I question its reason for existence. The story tells nothing new, but expands on details of things we’ve already learned. This experiment was not really necessary, just like the now common practice of splitting the last book of a franchise into two movies just so we could pay double the amount of tickets and have to buy two videos instead of one. This sad tradition started with Harry Potter and the Deadly Hollows and will not stop until people stop making those flicks blockbusters. Law of offer and demand, remember?

This movie is the result of what I like to call the “Disney Treatment.” A few years ago when Disney bought Marvel, we got so many different TV series, movies, cartoons, and games even before the ink had dried off. Because of tricky licensing deals they couldn’t put all the characters into one film, but nothing stopped them from making it happen in a cartoon series for Disney Channel.

I had a bad feeling about this. I feared something similar would happen to Star Wars, a franchise that featured a movie every three years, then take a 20-year holiday in between. Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm we can see Star Wars literally everywhere, from the Rebel series on TV, to the standard Episodes, but wait, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet! New movies in the form of “A Star Wars story” are lined up, I understand there are plans for more spin-offs, like from a young Han Solo, etc. Disney will continue to commercialize the franchise by inundating the market with products that would appeal to all ages, genres and even tastes. As long as they continue to create quality products the trend will stay healthy for years to come.

Well, I’m curious to find out how they plan to resurrect the most popular character despite its short screen time: Bobba Fettt. Now, that’s a ticket I’d buy.

PS: A mourning note as I just learned of Carrie Fisher's death. May the Force be with her.

The Force is strong in this one.

Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens

After seeing the movie for the first time, I left the theater with a desire to see the movie again. Yes, I think it was that good. The movie is not by any means flawless, but this time around, the ride to a far far away galaxy is one we can enjoy, a guilty pleasure, like chocolate. 

With J.J. Abrams behind the wheel, I confess that during the first twenty minutes I was expecting lens flares. Happy to report it was not the case. In fact, Mr. Abrams kept the Star Wars format to the letter: scrolling text at the beginning, a climax with actions in different places, and the ending with a long scene without dialogues. I hope that was choice and not just obedience to the contract.

We have three new lead characters, always three they are, and we follow the story through their eyes. Okay, maybe four if we count the new droid BB-8. Good choice to cast unknown because it steered fans away from expectations. We have new villain, and he wears a helmet and a red light-saber. The remains of the Empire has reorganized in what is now called The First Order, led by a character we have only met through hologram. It may be fitting, or a bad joke, but that digitally created character was played by Andy Sarkins.

Of course, fans of the original trilogy are pleased to see the comeback of siblings Luke and Leia, and Han Solo. The Millennium Falcon looks more decrepit than ever, but it still had it where it counts and it is by far the damn sexy ship.

SPOILER ALERT

Skip the following part if you haven’t seen the movie.

After the excitement subsides, you start to see script as a rehash version of Ep. IV, except everything is bigger in both range and scope. There’s a massive weaponized planet called the Star Killer, which is a Death Star on steroids, and to prove its power Star Killer destroys a planet (Alderaan anybody?). There’s a secret stored away inside a charismatic droid, and its search moves the story forward for quite a bit of the movie. We have a character unaware of The Force living in a desert planet, who also happens to be a marvelous pilot and not bad in hand-to-hand combat. Near the end we witness the passing of a wise old man. These are but a few, enough maybe to make the old fan giggle, and the new one wonder where all that came from.

There’s a few things I didn’t like. For example, Luke Skywalker’s original light-saber lost in Cloud City reappears, except now it is more than a simple object. It has the power to call to people who have The Force, it almost felt like a wand choosing a wizard in the Harry Potter world.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the movie is worth seeing. Twice or more. It had plenty of good new things so the reminiscences of the old don’t overshadow the story. It fact, it has the making of an epic story. And this is just the first of the three. 

But for the record, J J Abrams didn’t mess it up, in fact he infused the franchise with a breath of fresh air.

Revisiting Episode 1, except this time wearing glasses

Last night I took my youngest kid to see Star Wars Episode 1. Or should I say I used him as an excuse to see the movie again, but in 3D. Well, it was the first time he saw it in a movie theater.

The oldest boys have already grown out of the franchise and the youngest is only one who still likes it. When he was four or five years old, I set “starwars” as the password for my sons’ Windows account. Since he wasn’t exactly reading then, every time he wanted to play with the computer, he’d bring the DVD box to see the title and then type the password matching the letters one by one. Needles to say, it was a big event for him.

I remember the movie garnered really bad reviews when it was first released in 1999, hardcore fans in particular were really disappointed. Now it is different and people has gotten used to it. The new generation even likes it.

Now about this 3D version, for a change, George Lucas refrained himself from adding, expanding and/or changing the movie. I was afraid he’d digitally superimpose Hayden Christensen’s face over Jake Lloyd.

So, the movie was pretty much as I remember it, although the pod race scene felt a bit longer. Maybe George did play a little bit with it, after all.

On the other hand, I think the flick has aged really well. The story is still entertaining even if it kills a few sacred cows (what’s with the midi-chlorians?) and introduced some of the most hateful characters (Jar Jar Binks stubbornly survived all 3 episodes, go figure.)

Getting re-acquainted with Qui-Gon Jinn was nice treat. He’s my favorite old-republic Jedi. It was a shame he didn’t last more than this entry, although by Episode 3 were learn he discovered a way back even if we couldn’t seen him.

Spoiler Alert (just in case there is still somebody left in the planet who has not seen it):

Near the end of the duel scene, Darth Maul has the higher ground. How come Obi-Wan was able to beat him? In Episode III when the situation is reversed, Anakin jumps up as a near-complete individual only to land a crippled. Why did the same trick worked fro Obi Wan but not for Anakin? Somehow I think the only reason is because the screenplay said so.

I leave you with this picture that is meant to be an angry Darth Vader. Why he is angry or why do I relate it to this movie is beyond me. :-)