Being a fan of something is a weird relationship. Despite the fact that you’re nothing more than a nagging little kid at a franchise’s knee, you simply cannot resist getting into something. Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Marvel…these are all world-renowned franchises that have devoted followings. This month it’s been all Star Wars around these parts, and now that the day is upon us we can finally go to our local theater and watch the film. I, personally, have not seen it yet, as I pre-ordered tickets for a Saturday night showing, and I’m completely fine with that. I’m a working adult and I’d rather take my time and enjoy the film amongst friends, hence the Saturday choice. What really annoys me, however, is the propensity of the dark side of fandom in relation to The Force Awakens. No matter how normal and “in” movie fans are, there are always groups of fans that will try and ruin the experience for everyone else. TFA is a film predicated upon the mystery of what it is, so that has caused a weird minority of fans to spoil the movie on all forms of social media. I, unfortunately, have been spoiled, which I wouldn’t care about all that much if I was asking for it, but it’s the way in which I was spoiled that’s really upsetting.
To understand where I’m coming from you have to go back to December 17th, 2015 (yesterday, as I write this). Part of my job is keeping an eye on social media, specifically Facebook, to correspond with clients as they comment on photos and status updates. Because of this, I get updates directly to my phone when someone comments on various Facebook business pages that I’m connected to. One such update happened yesterday, prompting me to log in and check the message. When I did that, the worst thing imaginable happened. It seemed as though someone spammed the page with a huge spoiler for The Force Awakens. I have not yet seen the film, so I don’t know if the spoiler is true, but if I were a betting man I’d go all in on it being legitimate.
You see, I was doing my job avoiding what I could. I stayed away from Reddit, I kept an eye on sources that were reporting potential spoiler locations on sites like ESPN but I wasn’t trying to be a dick about it. If I saw something, I saw something and that’s that. As Morpheus says, “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path”. I’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption at least ten times in my life but I keep watching it, not because I know what’s going to happen but because the journey is always satisfying. That same sentiment is something I believe in a lot of movies, but with Star Wars there was such a focus on keeping everything a mystery that made it part of the fun. I’ve been robbed of that in a really weird and specific way. But honestly, what kind of dickless son of a bitch does that?
Is there a certain kind of satisfaction in knowing that you ruined a communal experience for someone else? Do you need the attention? Did your parents abuse you or something and forever alter your definition of social norms? A sincere fuck you to anyone posting spoilers for the biggest movie of this generation. There’s no good reason for it, you’re not gaining anything and you’re just being a social media terrorist. No one likes you and you smell.
Maybe the thing that I saw won’t come true and someone out there is an absolute Photoshop maestro. Again, I have yet to see the film and this entire article could be a reaction to something that isn’t even relevant, but to those of you out there who aren’t cool about these things, get a fucking life. Seriously, crawl back into the crevice you were birthed out of and die, forever. Seriously. Nothing you do or say is worth anything anymore you heartless, no good, STD-infested, shark-skinned two-faced bald-dicked maggot fucker.
Welcome back to the Comic Binge ladies and gentlemen! The week of Awakening of the Force is finally upon us, and I have been doing some prep work throughout the week and even the last few months for this moment. I’ve never been a super fan by any means, but like almost any other person in the world, the Wars have held a special place in my heart because it truly is that awesome. Being that I’m a reader, I’ve always had an interest in picking up the Star Wars books to read, but I never knew where to start. What is now the Legends or Extended Universe stories, were so expansive and bountiful, that it was hard to find a place to jump in. Now with the Mouse’s actions to make all of that irrelevant, I have been working my tail off to try to read the newly canonized materials published in the last year or so. I got through some of the books but not all, and so I’ve tabled a few for post-movie hangovers of Star Wars cravings. However, I have accumulated all of the volumes that have been published so far of Star Wars comics that are officially considered canon. I’m a bit more optimistic with the comics than I am the actual tales of fiction in 300 pages of words, because I’ve only enjoyed one of those that I’ve read so far, which was Dark Disciple. I have also read Tarkin and New Dawn, neither of which really stood out to me as great stories, but they were decent enough to have read. I had to table the rest to do these comics, and I hope to pick them back up after I see the movie. Lords of the Sith will likely be next, so let me know what you think about the new Star Wars canon below, if you’ve had a chance to read any of the books yet! But without any further ado, here is my breakdown of the first half of the comics I’ve read in preparations for Episode VII this weekend!
First Star Wars comic that I got my hands on to check out was one that came out pre-canonization of the Mouse, and that is Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir. I obviously had reasons other than canon to read this book and Darth Maul is my favorite character in the entire Star Wars Universe. It’s really unfortunate that he was so quickly disposed of in the movies, but he lives on here and in the Clone Wars show, and for good reason. He’s a badass character and he really has a great story too. Son of Dathomir was actually a Clone Wars script that never made it to the show, as of its writing, and was produced into this great one-shot story of a comic. Darth Maul’s past is explored a bit and we see his mother for the first time, at least to my knowledge. Darth Maul is taken prisoner but escapes, and then it’s time for him to start wreaking havoc again. He is accompanied by two heroes/villains that look sort of like Boba, but not really. The overall book was a pretty decent read and I enjoyed the art. Anything that fleshes out the awesome character of Darth Maul is always a plus, so this is definitely a must-read for his fans. Otherwise, it’s still a great Star Wars book, definitely check it out. I do wonder if it was made canon because of its Clone Wars affiliation, or if my hope of his return with his metal lower half will eventually show up in the live action films again. That would be the day… If Kylo and Maul teamed up for an Episode IX, I would be in fucking heaven and a half.
Next up was Kanan: The Last Padawan, which spins off of another one of the canonized Star Wars shows in Star Wars: Rebels. Kanan is the jedi who accompanies Ezra and the crew throughout the show on all of their missions. This book gives a sort of history on how he became to be the “responsible” adult in the crew that he now belongs in in Rebels. Kanan has a very interesting backstory, and it was really interesting to read how his life spiraled out of Order 66 from Palpatine at the end of Episode II. Kanan is his chosen name, and he has been through so much that he has chosen to use his Jedi-half only when necessary. Instructed as a youngling, he quickly learned how to survive in a post-Palpatine world. I think this story had a lot of great drama, and introduced us to some great characters. I’m really bad at learning new worlds and people in stories, but I was totally invested in this book. The drama was top-notch and you really feel for this Jedi padawan that is left to his own devices after his people are destroyed and taken over by the new Empire. I would highly recommend it to those who are looking to expand their Star Wars horizons, and especially those who are a fan of the Rebels show. The art was pretty great in this book too, and it really made the book a good read. I am looking forward to more canon Kanan. Also this book had excellent covers, but really all of the books I’m reviewing here today had some pretty ballin’ covers, so I think it’s just the artistic value of Star Wars being put on display in many of the covers and their variants.
Last and pretty much the least in my Star Wars comic adventuring this week was the Princess Leia title, named after the character of course. I’m not sure if the two previous books spoiled me by the time I got to this one, but I was pretty unimpressed with the book in its entirety. There is no clear villain in the story. There doesn’t seem to be any clear plot or conflict that I picked up on, or at least anything that drew the reader in. It was pretty much a book for book’s sake, and that’s when you get comics like these. Fortunately, I think it’s a one-shot story like the Darth Maul book, so hopefully there won’t be more of this to suffer through. I’ll admit that this was the one book I was worried about when looking at the new titles coming out from Marvel Comics, but there are truly so many others that could go wrong like Chewbacca or Lando that I figured there must be good stories to tell. Mark Waid was behind this one, who is a proven writer at this point, but there just was nothing here to go off of. I was pretty bummed about the lack of story and awesomeness in this book, and there are not really any good surrounding characters to make up for it. To pile on to the book too, the art was pretty atrocious. It serves well for a cutesy type of look, but even if it was supposed to fit with Leia, it just gave the book no additional power at all. So overall, I was pretty disappointed with this book and there’s not much to highlight other than failures. I hope the other standalone character comics live up to hype of their names, because I don’t think I can take another one like this one.
As you may have noticed, it’s been Star Wars central around BingeMedia.net. Garrett has been going through each Star Wars installment in his Binge Aftertaste retrospectives and also revisiting each one in written form. But the biggest undertaking has been recording a commentary for each episode. When we initially flirted with the commentary idea, it seemed like a huge task but almost everyone in the BingeMedia offices wanted to participate in at least one, making the scheduling and execution of it that much easier.
And that’s the power of love.
Sorry wrong movie.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the commentaries, that listened to each one and shared it like crazy. And of course Sneak Juan Carlos for all of the sweet ass poster. We love you all. Here are links to each commentary.
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, and Mark Hamill.
Let me go on record and say I realize this will probably be the least read review I have ever written, which is saying a lot. Rest assured, I am going full on spoiler free with this review, as you will not see one plot point given. Except for this one. Despite my highest of hopes that it would happen, there is absolutely, positively NO appearance of Jar Jar Binks. Damn.
So what am I going to say in this review? I am going to give my thoughts on what is undoubtedly the most anticipated film of our generation. In 2012, Disney put all their eggs in this basket, paying over $4 billion for Lucasfilm, while simultaneously hoping to resurrect the Star Wars cash cow that enjoyed the highest of financial success in each of the four previous decades. I want to reiterate that the pressure on everyone to make The Force Awakens as good as can be, especially given peoples’ at times unwarranted hatred toward the prequels, is incoherently high. Press releases that promised no midichlorians, as well as a more practical approach to the film’s effects, seemed to calm people down, and all hopes were risen even higher that this would be THE definitive Star Wars film.
Have no fear, Star Wars fans. Director and co-writer JJ Abrams has brought a sensibility and aura to his Star Wars entry that will undoubtedly please those coming in looking for more of an original trilogy feel than the last. Sometimes too much so, as even story beats from that trilogy are rehashed. On top of that, some nice nods and sly winks are given, and Abrams takes extra care to give audiences a memorable ride through both nostalgia and modern keenness of each and every cinematic mind.
But what Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan -returning to the series for the first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi– knew they needed in order to make The Force Awakens successful, was an emotional anchor. And latching onto the bottom of this impassioned and wavy ocean, is the relationship between Rey (Ridley) and Finn (Boyega), which in all honesty is very well outlined. The decision to make the ‘space opera’ portion of Star Wars lore not lose any steam and move up there with Return of the Jedi‘s -and I would argue Revenge of the Sith‘s- emotional core was a great one.
But this would have not been pulled off had it not been for the performances of both Ridley and Boyega. Ridley in particular has such good emotional beats that it rivals Fisher at her best in Empire. Abrams puts her through the ringer here, as there are times her character has to turn sympathies around on a dime, as a hard hitting action scene was literally right around the corner from her emotional drawback feelings of the previous frame. But her character of Rey is a huge highlight and will no doubt be one of the film’s most talked about aspects. Boyega has his moments, but some of his beats unfortunately fell surprisingly flat with me, and he seemed to be the one actor here who is playing his wide-eyed fanboy tendency as opposed to his supposedly layered character. Speaking of falling flat, don’t even get me started on Driver.
As for the overall film itself, I couldn’t help but feel more than slightly disappointed in Abrams’ inability to tone down his directing style and focus on one storyline at a time. His style is so bombastic and so fast paced that the propulsive nature of The Force Awakens more often than not works against it rather than for it. Star Wars is at its best when it lingers and allows us & its characters to take in what was just seen and heard. The few twists that are in the story (nothing I will divulge here) are done without having characters who feel them. It’s almost as if Abrams wants to move on and give away all his tricks at a more rapid fire clip than do what needs to be done with new characters, which is develop them.
I am not even going to talk about how each of the returning characters are used, because experiencing them in The Force Awakens is part of its fun. However out of all the returns to this franchise, it is Kasdan’s which is most satisfying. The film’s dialogue flows more freely than it has since the original trilogy, and the sharpness of its wit is both surprising and welcome. Plus, instead of getting to know characters while revolving the story around senate hearings, Abrams makes it all about the entertainment factor. Is that a bad thing? The cinematic Star Wars universe, despite its multiple book and videogame built worlds, has never been much more layered than what was on its initial surface. So the world Abrams and company is creating works, even given its very own complete absence of layers.
Make no mistake about it. The Force Awakens, almost fittingly, makes me feel young again. So much so I am going to use the oldest critical description in the book to describe what I think of it. I feel there are times it will make you laugh. There are even times it will make you cry non-manipulated tears. Will it make you think? No, not really. As it shouldn’t. The Force Awakens is a fun movie. It is an entertaining movie. But on grounds of it not leaving any lingering effect on my emotions afterward, it was an indifferent film going experience. Far from unpleasant, The Force Awakens will please those who hold those ‘evil’ prequels in such low regard. But even with a fun source of comedy named BB8, Abrams comes within an eyelash of making The Force Awakens much more than a mildly memorable film, as opposed to one that qualifies as a Star Wars experience.
Welcome back to yet another addition to Binge Media’s Star Wars coverage. Though at this point, we are all getting exhausted of it. My bosses have dropped hints there is a little too much of The Force. Jason is more annoyed than usual. Even Anonymous Announcer Guy loses it in this week’s intro. Let’s not sever ties, though. Star Wars is on all of our minds, as the new addition to the universe is merely days away from being released. So of course Jason and I HAD to bring lead Adventure Amigo David Mayne in to finish discussing the released Star Wars features, specifically Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. We also predict what to expect from a little movie coming out called Star Wars Episode VIIThe Force Awakens.
Some things discussed:
How is the prequel trilogy like Indiana Jones 4?
How bad is Portman in this series?
Can the final half of Revenge of the Sith make up for a lackluster prior movie and a half?
How much are we looking forward to The Force Awakens?
Will Jason’s nightmare of discussing this franchise ever end?
Will Luke be bad?
Is the practical effects vs CGI factor THAT big of a factor?
Until December 18th knocks us on our asses, may the Force, and the beer, be with you.
One thing I have noticed around Binge Media is the lack of Star Wars coverage. So what did I do? After being away from each other’s microphonic paths (eww) for more than a year, the head of my former internet home Adventure Amigos himself, Dave Mayne, has brought his Star Wars (and beer oriented) knowledge and fandom with him for this series of three Binge Movie Aftertastes. Just like Luke Norris and I did with Rocky, Dave is joining myself and the lovely Jason Morris on an epic journey through the Star Wars franchise. all ending with an epic review of The Force Awakens, coming your way December 19th from Walt Disney Pictures.
For this first show, we will look at Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Setting the stage for the next thirty five plus years, the first two films of the franchise are generally looked at as the best of the series. But do we think so?
Some things we cover:
Why does Obi Wan Kenobi sacrifice himself while in battle with Darth Vader on the Death Star?
What was Han doing before joining the rebels?
Why is Yoda so high when we first meet him in Empire?
Why is Luke so damn whiny?
Colt .45, anyone?
Why does Jason’s son know more about this franchise than all three of us?
Why doesn’t Chewbacca get a fucking medal at the end of Star Wars?!
What in one of our opinions is the best performance of the entire series?
Who does Jason consider to be the stupidest characters in the whole saga (hint: it’s NOT the stormtroopers).
Why did Jason watch the saga out of order?
So strap yourselves in and get ready for another ride down Star Wars lane. Don’t forget to check out all of Dave’s douchebaggery on the Adventure Amigos and myriad of podcasts onDark Barn Radio.
After this, the prequel commentaries are over. Let that sink in for a bit.
They are sent out in style though, as Garrett, Kupka, Batch, and Moreno sit down to give a commentary for the Hayden Christensen Oscar reel known as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Some of the things discussed in this two plus hour bit of internet madness include:
What is a ‘high bar, low bar, high bar?’
What asshole let Obi Wan’s Boga sound like a dog’s squeaky toy?
Ooohhh, that ‘subtle’ symbolism Lucas attaches to Anakin turning to the dark side is AMAZING.
How’s Star Wars like Marvel?
How’d Lucas try to ‘inject’ Peter Cushing?
Mace Windu’s Dark Side.
Is Garrett a woman hater for hating Natalie Portman?
So HOW exactly did Padme hide the fact she was pregnant from the Jedi?
What’s a ‘face actor?’
Why are the Jedi ‘Skyping’ into their own council meetings?
What is Garrett smoking to see similarities between this movie and Rosemary’s Baby?
Jedi Sportscenter (trust us, it makes sense).
Lightsaber Dildos.
Grab your favorite alcoholic beverage, put on your best Vader brooding face, and watch with us the last Star Wars film to hit upon the masses until…well, you know.
1983 was the peak of my Star Wars fan craze. I was six years old, watching Saturday morning cartoons on an everlasting loop, and playing with Star Wars toys. I also had the books, the records -sometimes combined- and the wallpaper. I was not the mostly cynic person you know today. Advertisers, seeing the money to be had, would advertise Return of the Jedi every other commercial break. You could not watch The Smurfs without seeing a series of moving images involving Luke with a green lightsaber hacking away on Jabba’s barge. THIS, as they said, would be it.
Background: Raking in the benefits of spearheading two huge franchises (Star Wars and Indiana Jones) George Lucas was nonetheless in a stressful time of his life. He was coming off a divorce from the person many say saved Star Wars from obscurity, film editor Marcia Lucas, and still wanted to hand his series off to other directors so that he would not put up with the ‘burden’ of working with actors. After his war with the Director’s Guild forebode him from hiring his friend Steven Spielberg, Lucas asked The Empire Strikes Back‘s Irvin Kershner to come back for a second go around. But the former university professor turned Lucas down, citing a massively stressful shoot and mounting pressures that he did not want to live up to again. Lucas even famously had a meeting with a hot at the time commodity known as David Lynch. Lynch was coming off his hugely successful, Oscar nominated film The Elephant Man and was looking to do something in the science fiction realm. But something tells me the quirky Lynch did not see himself meshing well with the visionary but very hands on Lucas, and passed on the project. The fact he decided to take Dune instead is a topic to be discussed another day.
Less famously, Lucas took a meeting with Canadian B movie schlock director David Cronenberg. Now THERE’S a match made in hell if I ever saw one, and reports indicate that meeting didn’t get much past the hand shaking/greeting phase.
Enter Welsh filmmaker Richard Marquand. Coming off the character drama Eye of the Needle, in Marquand Lucas saw a man who knew how to work with actors and would allow Lucas to concentrate on the technical aspect of the film. Though future recounts by actors and crew members on the film say Lucas ended up doing a lot of the film’s directing. If he wasn’t telling Marquand how the Ewoks walk, he was getting in arguments with him over the film’s overall vision. Now there is a line a producer walks when producing a film. But you have to remember. This was Lucas’s baby (as Steven Spielberg will point out to him while the prequels were in the planning stage), and his hands on approach might be looked at as a filmmaking version of bullying. But if this indeed was going to be the series’ swan song, I don’t blame the man for wanting to get it right.
As for me personally, I believe I already outlined what my expectations were going in. I was all set to see Return of the Jedi on the big screen, and NOTHING was going to stop me. My father seemed to be almost as anxious as I was, and we were all set to see the movie we had waited three years to see. You have to remember. The end of Empire was a HUGE cliffhanger. I still was trying to wrap my head around whether Darth Vader was telling the truth about his father’s true fate, and we had no idea how -or if- Han was going to be fully rescued. Though I DO specifically remember a TV ad that had the funny exchange with Han and Luke in Jabba’s palace which goes like this:
Han: Together again huh?
Luke: Wouldn’t miss it.
Han: How we doin?
Luke: Same as always.
Han: That bad huh?
But this time, we were not going to the film alone. We dragged my mom to the movies with us. Now I was too young to know under what circumstances my father was finally able to get my mother to see the film with us. But I know for a fact she was not as excited as we were. Maybe it was sheer curiosity. No matter the circumstances, I have not heard the last of how she felt afterward.
What I Thought Then: Though I didn’t realize it at the time, Return of the Jedi was everything I could have asked for and more. It was bigger than life. It had huge space dog fights. It had massive amounts of new characters (MERCHANDISING!). And it had Luke being the one who brings balance to the Force. It was a tour de force (rim shot) of everything Star Wars. I don’t remember much about that late 1983 night at the movies. But I DO remember nudging my mother every thirty minutes or so asking when they were going to finally use lightsabers. The lightsaber battles were so exciting to me, that I did not care about Luke’s emotional tug of war with the Emporer.
I also had a love/hate relationship with the Ewoks. Though not in the way most do. They were some of the funniest things about the film to me. But one thing always disturbed me. People like to remember the Ewoks as being ‘cute,’ and ‘cuddly.’ However, I remember being traumatized by the fact that these ‘cute’ and ‘cuddly’ things were about to roast our heroes for dinner. It wasn’t until I saw the future Ewok movies and indulged in some book and record stories containing the furry creatures that I finally was able to accept them. Of course, the fact they helped our heroes in the end also helped.
As far as my immediate thoughts after seeing the movie, I don’t think I was really able to process what I had just seen. A fact which is startling to me, because three years earlier, at the ripe old age of three, I had questions galore. As I said in my last column, I could not stop talking about Empire in its aftermath. Here, I had underlining feelings, no doubt. But Return didn’t really register with me until months later, when I would read about it and process it. I am not sure if that makes it good or bad. All I knew was that Darth Vader ended up being something I was not sure I liked. What did I do right after the movie was over? Well, I slept like I was supposed to (we ended up going to a late showing.) And then, got up early to watch Empire on our front room VHS. Because I wanted to remember Vader as the bad ass he was.
What I Think Now: On its surface, Return of the Jedi isn’t any more complicated than the first two Star Wars films. But it took awhile for me to understand that there is something deep past its surface which makes it something so much more. Though I will say, in watching it now, I can point out one thing I think almost kills it, and that’s its acting.
Last week, I could not stop praising how good a job Carrie Fisher did in Empire‘s most dramatic scenes. She had to do a lot of acting with her eyes, and she did it well. It is a skill in acting which is harder than you might think. Having said that, the difference between her then and here is astounding. Fisher is terrible in Jedi. Don’t get me wrong. I am not discounting the work she does in Jabba’s palace. From being Jabba’s destroyer to having another swinging moment with Luke (of course, the slave outfit too), Leia has some fine moments. But after these scenes, Fisher is merely background noise. She has an embarrassing few lines when Luke is getting ready to leave to confront Vader, and her recount of the ‘I know’ line from Empire is cringe inducing.
Across the board, Return‘s acting is pretty insufferable. Though I don’t think it is all the actors’ fault. You need a sturdy hand when it comes to pulling off a science fiction storyline. It isn’t too often that you can see a behind the scenes tug of war come across onscreen. But I feel it is pretty evident the more you watch Return. Lucas is feeling forced to direct scenes he did not deem filmmable, and the result is not too pretty.
Though the good news is there is still plenty to love about Jedi without having to dwell on its inadequacies. The Emporer, a character we had heard about for two straight films, finally makes his presence known in Return of the Jedi. Played by Ian Mcdiarmid, the evil ruler is scary and menacing. He also has a laugh that is as maniacal as it is gleeful. The folly artists did a great job of echoing it every single time he uses it. The entire triangle storyline with him, Vader, and Luke is magnificent filmmaking, as the drama between them builds and builds until its climax. As a child, I did not understand that Luke was not going to fight his father unless he absolutely had to. I also did not understand how the evil one sitting in the chair wanted it to happen just as much as I did.
There are also quite a few subtle moments I did not pick up on before that I did in this last viewing. For example, right after Luke is captured and brought before his father, they have a discussion about how Vader is hiding the fact he was once Anakin Skywalker. The conversation ends with Vader sending Luke away, and there is a slight moment of what seems to be reflection. Vader, by himself, stands and looks into what seems to be nothingness, almost as if he is contemplating what he is eventually going to end up doing at the film’s climax.
There is also a slight bit of symbolism here that I had not noticed before. Right after Luke cuts off his father’s hand (following the best crescendo John Williams has ever composed), Luke is congratulated by the Emporer, and slowly looks at his own hand. As he does this, it is in the red lights of the throne room itself, symbolizing blood and the blood lines at war. I have no idea why it took this long for me to notice that, and whether it was Lucas or Marquand (or screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan), it is an outstanding way of outlining a family plight.
Earlier I dogged the scene with Luke & Leia when Luke reveals he has to leave. But there is one moment in that series of scenes which I love. After Luke leaves, Leia is crying and greeted by Han Solo, who comes out to see what is going on. After asking her if she is ok, she tells him she cannot tell him what was said. Han implies she told Luke, therefore showing a hint of jealousy. Seeing the situation as being hopeless, he throws his hand in the air and makes like he is going to walk off. Now the old Han, the one we met in Star Wars, would do exactly that. But this time, he turns back, and softly tells Leia that he is sorry. It is here that we know he is in love with her, and that he has in fact changed. I guess being encompassed in carbonite will do that to someone.
Overall, a revisit to Return of the Jedi merited a lot more positive feelings this time than bad. Despite some pretty bad acting, I still enjoy the hell out of it. It is a fitting conclusion to a series that indeed revolutionized cinema. Wait, were there more?
In Conclusion:Return of the Jedi marked the end of an era. Yes, there were more Star Wars movies to come. But I would never again be that innocent six year old child waiting with baited breath to see the characters I had followed for so long be either christened or damned onscreen. It marked a family outing that I still remember to this day, and isn’t that truly what going to the movies are all about? Memorable experiences?
I will get into my feelings about Star Wars leading up to Episode I: The Phantom Menace in next week’s column. But for now, I will say Star Wars defined so many childhoods I don’t feel one column each about all the films is enough. The Jedi would return. But the feelings of astonishment that came with being a child would not.
Regardless of whether you side with the Morenos or the BearcLaws of the world there’s no denying that we are living in the age of the franchise film. Since X-Men burst on to the scene in 2000, we have seen a steady annual increase in franchise films every year. Right now it seems as though every summer film that does well is part of something larger than itself, and there are varying levels of success that come along with that. Marvel, Fast & Furious, Hitman and Pitch Perfect represent a fairly broad spectrum of the types of franchises out there but most center on some sort of super-hero or heroine defying the odds to achieve their goals. The amazing thing about this year in particular was the resurgence of older franchises like Jurassic World, Mad Max and Star Wars. Outside of the aforementioned Star Wars, I do not know of a more successful film franchise than James Bond, and with the release of Spectre this week we are about to experience our twenty-fourth official Bond film, not counting some of the spinoffs. Much like Batman in recent years, I think the re-emergence of Bond as a great modern film hero has everything to do with the film that rebooted the franchise, Casino Royale, and of course the guy playing Bond, Daniel Craig.
Without having seen Spectre yet it does look to be very much in the vein of Skyfall and, of course, Casino Royale before it (for the sake of quality we’re going to overlook Quantum of Solace for the most part here). If this film has even half the quality of Casino Royale, then we may be looking at the greatest Bond run in history. Connery, to his credit, began as the original Bond (sort-of) and eventually starred in six official Bond releases; Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds are Forever. While the first three films are exceptional, to me there is a drop in quality as soon as we hit Thunderball. While none of the Connery films are outright bad movies, it is pretty clear to me that at a certain point the producers were more interested in pushing out the product than creating worthy follow-ups to the solid first three entries. So if you break it down (and ignore the unofficial spinoff/remake Never Say Never Again), it could be argued that about fifty-percent of the time Connery’s Bond films were pretty damn spectacular. Cut to now where the sample size is admittedly smaller but just as revealing. Across four films, one of which was inhibited by a writer’s strike, Daniel Craig may end up with at least seventy-five percent of his outings being good films. Of course this argument hinges on whether or not Spectre lives up to the pedigree of Skyfall but there is often a lot of animosity when the “Best Bond” argument comes up, claiming the distance between the performances is greater than it actually is. Connery was great in his time as the icon, but Craig is the stronger actor.
You have to also take into account the talent that is now around the Bond franchise to appreciate the type of films this franchise is now aiming to make. Since The World is Not Enough, the Bond franchise has been co-written by a guy named Robert Wade. While the Brosnan Bond films are pound-for-pound some of the worst outside of Goldeneye, I think it is interesting to note that despite putting out two horrible Bond stories that Wade was kept on the franchise. The producers must have thought something clearly worked with Wade’s perspective but the inclusion of Paul Haggis on Casino Royale, and then John Logan on Skyfall, really elevated the quality of the films into more serious fare. The Bond films are now about Bond as a fully-rounded character, which is something you could not really say about the older films. Typically the Bond films are pretty paint-by-numbers. There’s a tried and true formula that consists of getting gadgets, sleeping with the girls, getting captured by the villain while he explains his plan and then besting said villain. Outside of the criminally miscast On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond was never portrayed as vulnerable character until Royale, and you have to credit the writing for bringing out those sides of the character to be at the forefront of the films.
Craig was my true introduction to the Bond franchise and helped me realize that the versions I grew up with, aka the Brosnan years, were not a great representation of the character. After Royale and then into Skyfall, the franchise became a little more dynamic. I feel now like somewhere in the world there could be a guy like Bond. I think the opening foot chase in Casino Royale does a great job at taking a ridiculous idea of two guys fighting on top of a skyscraping-crane and building up to it in a pretty logical and action packed way. By breaking the conventions of what Bond stories typically were, Casino Royale marks a turning point in both this franchise and reboots in general. It is easy to forget just how awful the Bond films got at one point, and while Quantum of Solace was a moderate reminder of this it is nice to know that the team behind Bond seems to be committed to moving this franchise forward in new and exciting directions.
So what’s your favorite Bond actor? Film? Do you even like the guy? What have you got against him? Let us know below and, as always, Binge On!