For those of you who don't know I'm a humongous Star Wars fan and I couldn't help ignore talking about the recent news involving the planned ninth entry in the Skywalker saga and threequel in the "sequel trilogy" titled as of now Star Wars Episode IX. Lucasfilm announced themselves that they were parting ways with Colin Trevorrow who was attached to direct Episode IX for a couple years now. He's no longer going to be involved directing this film which is slated to release on May 24, 2019. So what does this mean for the future of this movie and the entire saga?
Well, obviously, Lucasfilm is going to need to hire another person to helm this project and while I can't think of anyone else who should direct it all that I care about is that it's someone who not only really loves Star Wars, but also loves movies. When I see a Star Wars film I don't only expect to see a great Star Wars movie, but I want a great movie period. I want to be whisked away on an adventure that can remind me how powerful of an art form film can be in regards to storytelling and I've seen Star Wars do that many times.
So it should be someone who's fan of the franchise, but knows what it takes direct a great film. They need to give the film a great look to it and a story and characters that matter and remind us as viewers why we love Star Wars in the first place even though the spectacle is a big part of it. I'm excited to see more of the journey for the characters I loved from the Original Trilogy, but also the characters I fell in love with in The Force Awakens. If a director can really make me feel for these characters and place said characters on a journey with purpose that will have them grow, that's what matters and I want a good director to do that with a Star Wars movie.
I can't tell you how excited I am to see The Last Jedi, not because it'll have fun action and spectacle set in space. I want to be locked into the story and see what will happen to these characters next and that's what great movies in a franchise should do. Once one film ends in a series, in this case it's The Force Awakens, it should leave you wanting more out of the next chapters, The Last Jedi and Episode IX. Not because The Force Awakens was lacking and you needed more in that sense, but because everything about it was so good that you want more of the story.
So, one of the major positives about this story is that the film was in the development process. They were still in the process of writing a proper screenplay undergoing rewrites and with part of the official statement stating the visions between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm not lining up that should tell you everything you need to know. It is a bummer that they couldn't make something work, but at least this wasn't during the actual production of the film. This wasn't while they were filming period.
Most of you may know the whole deal about the Han Solo spin-off film having production troubles with Phil Lord and Chris Miller and then having Ron Howard take over. That film makes me a little nervous because I don't want it to be obvious that there's a tonal shift with Lord and Miller's vision compared to Ron Howard's. However, that might not be the case because from what I hearing it seems like Ron Howard was helping take over most of the film and redoing what Lord and Miller started. We'll see how that turns out. I really hope it's great.
Bringing it back to Episode IX, I wouldn't want the Han Solo fiasco to be similar to Episode IX's production because this is the film that will end this new trilogy as well as the entire Skywalker saga considering there hasn't been any more saga films announced. Whether there will more saga films after IX is another discussion for another time. Anyway, this movie needs to have an incredibly strong finish and if it's not at least above being good then it could disappoint a lot of fans, myself included.
This is concluding one of the biggest film franchises of all time and if it doesn't succeed in almost every capacity, it would crush me and other fans. Luckily, that won't be the case. With quality films like The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and even the promising look of The Last Jedi there's no doubt Lucasfilm's head's in the right direction. They don't want Star Wars to just be a great financial success, they care about quality products and I'm sure Episode IX will be one of them once they hire the right writer and director.
I wouldn't mind if J.J. Abrams came back since we've seen how he can make a great film in The Force Awakens and, heck, Rian Johnson's vision looks pretty darn promising. If Johnson were to step in again he would be more than welcome in my book not judging by how The Last Jedi looks but judging from his filmmaking track record as well. Some fans can only hope for something good and that's cool if you're one of those fans, but I know Lucasfilm will deliver.
Thank you for taking the time to read this editorial! I might do more of these in the future if spicy news comes out, but my main objective for this blog is to stick to reviews. And speaking of reviews I do have more coming very soon with IT coming out this weekend, so be on the lookout for that.
Also, since this is a Star Wars related post I'm happy to announce that next month in October I'll be starting my review series of every Star Wars film leading up to The Last Jedi, so stay tuned for that.
For more updates be sure to follow me in the social media links below:
As always, see some movies and all that good stuff. Take care and May the Force be with you. Always. :-)
Twitter and Instagram: @alexjcorey
As always, see some movies and all that good stuff. Take care and May the Force be with you. Always. :-)
Comments