One thing that Star Wars 7 is attempting to overcome is the impossibly high expectations it has placed on it.
No matter what JJ does with the film, there will be many people who will not be happy with the film as it will not meet their personal expectations.
However, I think, another Star Wars film, how cool is that. No matter what transpires on the screen it will be a fun film that we will debate and argue again and again like we have the previous 6
I’d like to say that The Stain of the Prequels is a marvelous title for a movie.
Yeah, that should have been the working title for #7. . . I think it’s probably a motivation for sure.
Same here, the Stain of the Prequels means that I’m not lining up this time. I’ll wait and see how the reviews shake out and ask friends what they thought, then decide. If I see it, it will be because it’s a good movie, not because it’s Star Wars.
I saw every prequel movie in the theater, even after I was bad and II was worse. By the time I got to III, I had heard that it was better than the other two, and by then I had invested enough in the crappy trilogy that I did it for closure. I’m determined not to be part of the problem this time.
I assume Disney bought Star Wars because they know that it’s basically impossible to screw up from a financial standpoint. They can throw a bunch of money at it and not really worry about whether it’s good or not. The prequels have shown that people will line up to see it anyway, because it’s Star Wars. They will have a healthy return on investment no matter what happens.
However, seeing how Marvel Studios has been doing well under Disney, I’m holding out to the hope that Star Wars will actually flourish. Then again, IMO Abrams is simply a competent director of action films with minimal substance. I don’t want Star Wars to get the Star Trek treatment.
I’m also concerned that, in their desperation to distance themselves from the prequels, they will try to retcon parts of them away. Don’t get me wrong, I hated midichlorians et al, but I don’t want Ep VII to spend half its time undoing stuff to appease the fans. Luckily, this seems unlikely, as I’m confident that Lucas made sure to include a “don’t screw with established canon” clause in the contract.
It could be worse. There could be no Star Wars 7 movie at all and then we would have nothing to discuss
This isn’t really true at all. There were plenty of people who were willing to try their hands at making the prequels. The problem is that George is a notorious control freak and micro-manager, and nobody wants to direct a movie when they have someone looking over their shoulder the whole time (just look at the behind-the-scenes footage of Jedi or Willow; he’s everywhere). What he wanted was a helmsman who was also a Yes-man, and that runs counter to most directors’ personality types.
Of course, after the first prequel, then he was in a corner. The money was good but the reception was poor. Don’t forget that the SW film that is most highly-regarded is the one that doesn’t credit him as director or writer, and he knew that if he found someone to direct the other two (just like he had in the original trilogy), if people liked them better, they would blame him for all the flaws with the first one. So at that point, he was in for a penny, in for a pound.
Now that he’s out of the loop completely, he can take credit for the visionary universe he created without worrying about the scrutiny the individual films will draw.
I had ZERO clue the prequels were disliked, let alone despised until Iten years later when I looked up reviews online.
After watching the RedLetterMedia reviews my perspective changed, but I went back and watched the prequels and they weren’t all that bad. They were just significantly childish and completely unlike the originals.
The first two Star Wars movies are in a class of their own, great characters, highly entertaining, driving plot, nice quips. Plus the story is told through ACTIONS not exposition, unlike the prequels.
The only prequel I am interested in is III. I happen to enjoy the dark themes and even the Padme/Anakin romance. I found it very believable actually, it makes sense sheltered princess would fall in love with the rogue from her youth wh who breaks all the rules.
I am sure Star Wars VII will be yet a different movie, simply because its an inevitable product of its time, and I don’t see why the prequels need affect it. It’s a movie, take it on its own merits. No need to cry about your “lore.”
As they say, “Show, don’t Tell”.
I have high hopes for VII. They’ve got Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote Raiders and co-wrote Empire and Jedi) writing and Kathleen Kennedy (E.T., Back to the Future, Jurassic Park) producing. Abrams seems restrained and respectful. And the story seems great.
Even Ford seemed genuinely happy to be back. IMHO there are many things in this film’s favour.
Very good point. I could recognize every single quote in SW and ESB. The prequels, not so much