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STAR WARS IX
The Rise of Skywalker
By Joe Viglione
No
matter how big the audience for Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was always
the guest stars from the original series – Kirk, Spock, Sulu and the gang that
made certain Next Generation episodes more fun.
It was also the original Star Wars that made memories for generations of
film goers, and will continue to do so. The Rise of Skywalker is chock full of the original cast and that is the biggest reason why it will be welcomed into the Star Wars canon.
The
Rise of Skywalker – to this viewer’s eyes and ears – is the best of the new
trilogy, superior to the middle three prequels which – oh you know the story –
were designed to be Episodes 1, 2, and 3, were actually 4, 5 and six, but will
forever be -3, -2 and -1 they were just so poorly scripted yet visually
stunning.
Lucas,
and Disney, didn’t learn from that exercise in self-aggrandizing, thus 2018
brought us Solo: A Star Wars Story. Though certainly entertaining enough, it
failed at the box office, but may still obtain permission for sequels after The
Rise of Skywalker has its moment in the sun.
1927's METROPOLIS from Fritz Lang
So how
to articulate this motion picture’s grand moments without giving any plot
away? Breathtakingly huge places – be they
the wicked witch’s castle or the Wizard of Oz’s smoky cathedral draw audiences
in. Star Wars has done this Fritz Lang Metropolis thing better than most. Metropolis was filmed in 1927, almost one
hundred years ago. J.J. Abrams gives us
this depth and awe with the old death star, the remnants of which apparently
have fallen onto some planet. It’s a great moment and is not here as a “spoiler”
but as something to look forward to. As
are the violent waves surrounding it. Pure science fiction and worth the price
of admission. It is also reminiscent of
Rogue One which I feel is one of the best of the Star Wars films, surpassing
the three prequels to 1977’s original Star Wars - just drop the “A New Hope”
and start the entire series there. That
is the real into to Star Wars and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the best “prequel”
one could hope for. Why? Because it ties
up the loose ends from the 1977 masterpiece.
In my
review of The Force Awakens I noted “Carrie Fisher, Harrison
Ford, R2-D2, cp30 Chewbacca and Mark Hamill all make the most of their
appearances. That they aren’t given a higher profile (except for Ford,) is to
the film’s detriment.” So go back to the first paragraph in this review and
understand – Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty, Chekov …you get the
picture. Ray Davies and the Kinks’ 1981 epic Give the
People What They Want rings true in all aspects of entertainment. The people want Chewbacca, the people want R2-D2,
so the return of Billy Dee Williams and Ian McDiarmid level out the Star Trek: The Next
Generation feel of the new characters.
Along
with tugging at Star Wars fans’ heart strings with Carrie Fisher’s outtake
footage, which appears to be made precisely for this film, Mark Hammill, and
the Emperor, of course, ol’ Palpatine always looked like a 74 - 75 year old
man, and he actually is nowadays, McDiarmid having been born in August of 1944. How many times can you blow up planets and
death stars and battleships over 11 films?
The Ron Howard Solo project was decent enough, one of its main problems
was that it didn’t fit into the original Star Wars story as Rogue One did.
The Rise
of Skywalker starts off with a raging battle, and from this fan’s perspective,
play Rogue One, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Force
Awakens and Rise of Skywalker in order…you don’t need The Last Jedi, nor do you
need the Solo: A Star Wars Story. Force Awakens is almost an afterthought, but
necessary to introduce the new characters.
J.J. Abrams, however, does utilize the Matrix formula of pulling scenes
from other films – dusted off, of course, into the new cake mix. Moments from Avatar become so obvious…hey, if
James Cameron’s going to take his sweet time with the barrel full of sequels, “give
the people what they want.” Matrix
moments also infiltrate as an undercurrent.
The “feel” of other blockbusters (back to 1927’s Metropolis) is the
order of the day. It will go right over
viewer’s heads, and that’s what Disney/Lucas is counting on.
The two
elements so necessary for a perennial favorite – what made The Wizard of Oz and
Star Trek – and the Beatles and …you get the picture – so endearing are what
the Beach Boys sing about - “Heroes and
Villains.” Emperor Palpatine and Darth
Vader are two of the greatest villains, right up there with the Wicked Witch of
the West. And that other element is the Tin Woodsman, Aunty Em, the Wizard,
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion.
Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Obe Won
Kenobi – all part of the fabric of your memories of this film series.
J.J.
Abrams got it right bringing Max Von Sydow onboard for The Force Awakens. Killing him off so quickly was Disney’s fall
into “the Dark Side.” Sydow was perfect
as an Alec Guinness character this series so desperately needed. The contrast that Guinness brought to Vader –
they had it and they punted. Resurrect
Senator Lloyd Bentsen from the grave like Emperor Palpatine and he will say to Andy
Serkis and Adam Driver “I knew Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. They were friends of mine. And You Ain’t No
Darth Vader!” Snopes and Kylo Ren merely
watered down emperor, watered down Vader.
It’s the great villain that makes a great motion
picture, and a counterpoint – the beloved team: the Fantastic Four, the
Avengers, Luke, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Han Solo…that old axiom “the
original is still the greatest” rings true.
The Rise of Skywalker goes back to the future to end this part of the
saga. And all it really needed was Darth
Vader to bring it full circle. That was
so obvious.
In 2009 when Abrams rebooted Star Trek he put Spock
smack dab in the middle of it. He took a
talented actor like Eric Bana and gave him a substandard villain role to
play. So Abrams put his mark on both
Star Trek and Star Wars. Which is why
the similarities appear and are so blatant. And Abrams played it too cute with
both franchises. It is the introducing
of Star Trek: The Next Generation into the Star Wars legacy which warps the
concept – almost at warp speed.
With all that being said am I satisfied with this
film? Well, I will watch it again…and again…and that’s something I’m not doing
with Solo: A Star Wars Film, or even the rebooted Star Trek. Bringing the original characters back and
having enough dynamic moments that are new, different and exciting make it
work.
The question now is: can they make a new Star Wars
film that surpasses the original trilogy?
Given that the good-looking new cast relies more on their youthful looks
than any qualities that endear them to us (remember how awful decent actors
like Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen looked? The Scarlet Letter on them both for wooden,
terrible performances in one of the greatest film franchises of all time!,)
well, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
Dailey Ridley and Oscar Isaac (who is now 40) play their parts well. But
you don’t get that Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, R2-D2, Chewbacca magic, do you? Their presence is what makes The Rise of
Skywalker a winner. Emperor Palpatine’s
return is the magic missing from the previous two films. Darth Vader would be the frosting on the
cake. Guess J.J. left him out in the
pasture with Max Von Sydow. That’s too
bad, but the Rise of Skywalker is still good enough to be in the top tier of
Star Wars films as in, it makes a good bookend to the saga. Three stars.
THE FORCE AWAKENS
review by Joe Viglione
Star
Wars fans will be relieved that The Force Awakens is better than 1999’s
The Phantom Menace, 2002’s Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Revenge of
the Sith, but falls somewhere in-between those stories and 1983’s Return
of the Jedi, 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and, of course, 1977’s Star
Wars.
2015
seems a lot longer than the decade from Sith vengeance to this
reawakening, especially when 16 years came between Return of the Jedi
and The Phantom Menace.
Opening
with extreme violence, The Force Awakens teases with dashes of the 1977
original epic spliced into the script along with new characters making
their debut in the Star Wars universe. A new face like Oscar Isaac as
Poe Dameron makes the grade as does Billie Lourd – daughter of Carrie
Fisher (herself the daughter of pop singer Eddie Fisher and his first
wife, Debbie Reynolds) and Fisher’s ex-boyfriend, talent agent Bryan
Lourd (who left Princess Leia Fisher for another man! Such scandal!!!
that would spice up this Force Awakens, but I digress…) and perhaps the
very best new edition, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata – a fun character
that we hope returns in the next films. Oh, and lest we forget the BB-8
droid, also lots of fun.
So how does Abrams bring it all full circle thirty eight years after Star Wars first hit our collective consciousness?
How
about Jesus from 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told who morphed into
007’s major enemy Blofeld from Sean Connery’s own Never Say Never
Again(1983) ( as well as Dr. Paul Novotny in 1984’s underrated
Dreamscape,) the brilliant Max Von Sydow bringing that Alec
Guinness-styled wisdom and class to the film’s opening. A great move
that J.J.Abrams failed to sustain throughout this chapter. What the
director gives the people is what they want, the familiar exciting
lightsabers and death rays.
Carrie
Fisher, Harrison Ford, R2-D2, cp30 Chewbacca and Mark Hamill all make
the most of their appearances. That they aren’t given a higher profile
(except for Ford,) is to the film’s detriment.
Abrams
decides to dig into the series he said he never got into, Star Trek,
the safety net to merge audiences and get into science fiction lore (as
if the Star Wars series actually needed such a stunt). See the May 22,
2015 TMRZoo Barry Silverman article: “also admitted to …not getting…” the original series growing up, as it was “too philosophical for me”.
Take
some imagery from 1989’s Star Trek misfire The Final Frontier, lots
and lots from 1984’s great The Search For Spock, the crash landing from
1994’s Star Trek: Generations and so much more from Search For Spock –
from the beautiful red hues of planet Vulcan to Mark Hamill’s wardrobe
that makes this – truly – more The Search for Luke than “the force
awakens.” If you had any thought that J.J. Reboot, immersed in Gene
Rodenberry and George Lucas, was going to go brand spanking new on us,
those ideas will be cast aside as the film progresses from action scene
to action scene, keeping the action ahead of the story so that it
doesn’t get trapped into any “Clone of the Phantom Sith.”
With
the immense hype and propaganda leading up to this event, even this
long-time critic – my first reviews printed in 1969 – has jumped onto
this new Star Wars bandwagon (it would be foolish not to,) the build up
so intense that, well, it makes for a mighty bar for any film to reach.
If you’re looking for the Star Wars Holy Grail, well… though there are
many excellent moments and tremendous sets, it’s simply not here. What
is here is a reuniting of old friends and beloved characters, coming
back to your life in a precise exercise in making an entertaining two
hour and fifteen minute return to the Star Wars realm. Certainly more
satisfying that 1997’s Star Wars: Ewoks-The Haunted Village.
THE DARK FORCE AWAKENS
Andy
Serkis gets to play so many cool characters – from Caesar in Rise of
the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as well as
long-time Marvel Comics villain Klaw in Avengers: Age of Ultron and also
the voice of Gollum in 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring. Here he plays a terrific evilmaniac with the worst name since
Jar Jar Binks – Supreme Leader Snoke. Now had Jar Jar been voiced by
Zsa Zsa Gabor …creating Jah Jah Binks – all would be right with the
world, but I digress again. Here Snokes/Serkis has the luxury of some
of the best science fiction sets in Sci-fi history. Abrams does embrace
the wonderment of having a large, vast expanse (one of the highlights
of the Tom Cruise flick Oblivion) and the breathtaking immensity of
these wombs of the dark side are a huge plus for this film, bringing it
more towards the first three, where it belongs, than the travesty that
followed with that trio of Star Wars prequels from 1999-2005. Serkis
doesn’t disappoint as the menacing new heir to the throne of dark Emperor Palpatine.
Given
the importance to hundreds of millions – if not more than a billion
people on this planet – of Star Wars fans, this long overdue “Chapter 7”
– as stated – plays it safe, it is both a reboot of past achievements
and a prologue to the new adventures. Hollywood being Hollywood, and
the dollar being more important than new creative moments and intriguing
advanced innovation, the pace of the awakening of The Force thrusts
1999’s The Phantom Menace back into the dark ages, as if it never
existed. Thankfully.
Dangling
so many goodies in front of the massive audience, this reboot is merely
a prologue to what is yet to come. Disney must be on notice. With 42
year old Rian Johnson taking the director’s chair from the reboot
master, JJ Abrams, 2017’s Episode VIII has the opportunity to be the
place where the force truly awakens. This Chapter VII is merely the
placeholder putting everything back into its “new order.”
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