It’s official. J. J. Abrams is helming Star Wars Episode VII, and I am officially relieved.
Last year in my five favorite films of 2011, I snubbed Abrams’ Super 8 for the corny Thor. I was a little underwhelmed by the third act of the director’s Spielberg homage. The monster seemed uninspired and pointless, the violence a bit too brutal and tone shifting; but there was still that moment, when the boy and girl are watching old home movies, and the girl tells him her secret and they both cry, that just grabbed me. It was intense, it was well acted, and it was a brilliant character moment.
Abrams is an upper case F Filmmaker. He understands that films are first and foremost about characters, something George Lucas understood in the 70s and 80s and kind of forgot after the CG revolution. The original Star Wars trilogy films were great because they had characters that interacted and changed. Luke initially despises Han, but then grows to like him as they progress in their adventure; Luke and Han fight over Leia and Leia dislikes them both, but then warms to both in different ways. Luke goes from whiny farm boy to dark warrior, Han from scoundrel to noble freedom fighter, Leia from sarcastic girl to graceful woman. I haven’t even mentioned Yoda and Ben, who start out as mad hermits and are both revealed to be almost angelic beings, or C3PO and R2-D2. Their relationship merits a whole separate article!
Lucas was definitely helped with these developments. Irvin Kershner brought a very character focused approach to The Empire Strikes Back, as did Richard Marquand to a lesser extent in Return of The Jedi. And let’s not forget Lucas’ co-screenwriters, Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. But A New Hope still launched these characters, a film Lucas made almost single-handed, and it’s clear that he already had a handle on what made them tick. If you doubt Lucas’ directing abilities just watch American Graffiti, a character-driven film that proves Lucas could deliver. It’s still his best work.
Indeed, something happened before the curtains opened on 1999’s Star Wars Episode 1. Maybe Lucas got too obsessed with the details, the designs and the ancient lore. Everything looked pretty, and the actors did their best, but can anyone tell me what Padme’s character arc was, or how Obi-Wan changed over the course of the three films? It’s impossible because the characters were completely stationary. Unlike real people or engaging film characters, they stayed exactly the same. Only Anakin, out of necessity, made a quick turn to the dark side in the third film, but that’s it. Everyone agonizes over trying to explain what went wrong with the prequels and it’s a simple answer: the characters didn’t change.
Abrams’ Star Trek reboot was what I wanted the Star Wars prequels to be, big and exciting and shiny but also completely character-centric. The fun wasn’t in the pretty ships and explosions, but the characters in those pretty ships flying through those pretty explosions, and bickering and clashing and developing all the while. A Star Wars cast I can care about is something that’s been missing since Return of The Jedi, and I know without a doubt that Abrams can bring that back. I’m glad he’s piloting, and I’m definitely going to be on board for the ride. All hail the new King of Star Wars. He’s a pretty cool guy.