Not that it ever sleeps. But the arrival of a Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser, a second one, shook things up. I mean Chris Hayes on MSNBC, the host of a political news hour, devoted a whole quarter hour to this trailer! At one point today all of my feeds were only Star Wars. I wasn't sure if it felt celebratory or oppressive and came to the conclusion that it was definitely both.
The heighth of my own personal Star Wars mania -- everyone seems to go through it though many never come out of it -- was 1983. One entire wall of my young bedroom was devoted to Return of the Jedi with posters, magazine pages, collectible film stills, you name it, stickied on. Princess Leia, Jabba the Hutt and (the shame the shame) ewoks took up the most space. Sorry Han & Chewie!
Perhaps if they had shown Carrie Fisher in elaborate braids I might have teared up with nostalgia with 99.9% of the internet but Hans Solo never did it for me in quite the same way that Leia & Luke did. Not to discount Harrison Ford's movie stardom, deservedly enormous, but Indiana Jones and John Book > Hans Solo.
Also I seem to be the only person that completely remembers how utterly utterly terrible the last three films were. The lesson: Franchise Nostalgia trumps Experiental Disappointment. No matter how bad a Star Wars movie is, people will show up for the next one. This behavior can't be healthy if you want great movies to be produced in the world but hope springs eternal!
We'll do a Yes No Maybe So for the next trailer (one assumes we have several more to get through) but since this one has no story points, its length shouldn't fool us: still just a teaser. Herewith...
FIVE FAVORITE BEATS
1. "Chewie, we're home."
Look I said that Han Solo was only my third favorite Harrison Ford character. I didn't say he wasn't a marvelous character. Hearing Chewie's voice is just as nostalgia inducing as Ford's face.
2. The Establishing Shot.
More beautiful than anything in the last three movies (except for maybe Queen Amidala's makeup). It's just so beautifully clean. The expansion of the powers of computers in filmmaking made the new films and the old films, revised, way way too cluttered. Here was have a beautiful epic WESTERN expanse. It's the planet "Jakku" apparently but whatever. It reminds us that Star Wars was a space opera and a fantasy western and that's what it should still be if it's going to stick around.
3. BB-8
Okay, this isn't from the teaser from the Star Wars event today that introduced the teaser (good lord the build up) but he's adorable. He's Ewok cute...before it sank in that they sucked. He's original R2D2 beep-boop-boooooop cute. He will make Disney more millions eventually than the movie itself. Hello, merchandising.
4. New Characters / Fresh Blood
If the movies are going to succeed they can't do it on nostalgia alone. That's a bad foundation for an entire movie. Just look at the last 7 hours or so of this franchise. John Boyega was good in Attack the Block so I'm not worried about his "Finn" but the actress Daisy Ridley as "Rey" is an unknown quantity. Few celebrities are as naturally amusing as Carrie Fisher but please let this new character have a personality that's at least half as big as Princess Leia's. If she's only there because she's young/pretty/female that's not worthy of the Leia legacy!
5. Villains
Stormtroopers always make such wonderful evil propaganda tableaus. One thing the Star Wars franchise has always been good at -- even the horrible last three movies to some degree -- is the villains. Let's hope they come up with something/someone as exciting as Darth Maul or Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine or Jabba the Hutt again.
P.S. The title card "This Christmas" is also exciting if only because I may scare off smaller movies and Oscar hopefuls from that popular release date because Hollywood always tries to open too many movies in the last 6 days of December. Spread the wealth.