Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

How do you go about resurrecting the most iconic movie series of all time, especially after its reputation has been tarnished by prequel films of, at best, mixed quality? It's a question that was confronted by a video game company called BioWare in 2003 when they made a game called Knight of the Old Republic. Their solution was to go back to basics, gathering a crew made up of new characters but riffing off familiar archetypes, visiting a couple of familiar locations and then fighting a strangely familiar final battle on a massive space station, but with a different context and their own unique, killer twist.

Whether J.J. Abrams ever played Knights of the Old Republic is unknown, but he certainly takes the same approach when it comes to resurrecting Star Wars. The Force Awakens is a film that cribs liberally from the original trilogy (especially A New Hope) whilst also establishing its own new, core cast of heroes and villains. This is a movie that sees the generational torch being passed from Luke, Leia and Han to a new trio of heroes made up of Finn, Rey and Poe Dameron, along with plucky helper droid BB-8, and does so with aplomb.

From the opening crawl - which doesn't mention tax disputes or politics - the creators of this movie are on high alert not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Character motivations are established firmly and communicated to the audience effectively. The villains and heroes are clearly delineated, action sequences are heavy on CGI but filmed with long, graceful shots which allow you to follow what's going on, and the music is evocative throughout. There are weaknesses, niggles and problems, some of them more pressing than others, but in the most general terms The Force Awakens is easily the best Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, both being a highly enjoyable stand-alone space opera film but also one that lays essential groundwork to be built on in the following movies.

The acting is strong across the board. The toughest job falls to Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as our new main characters, Rey and Finn, and both deliver credible, compelling performances (Ridley, in particular, not just steps up to the mark but smashes through it in several key moments). Oscar Isaac is also excellent as Poe Dameron, giving us a new, roguish pilot character but also one who is a patriot and professional soldier. Harrison Ford also excels as the older, more haunted and more conflicted Han Solo, driving the film on with his still-formidable charisma. On the villain side, Adam Driver takes a very different tack to Kylo Ren than some of the Dark Side antagonists we've seen in the past, one who is as nervous and occasionally uncomfortable in his training in evil as Luke was in training to be a Jedi. This gives Ren immense humanity and makes him an altogether more interesting (and dangerously unpredictable) villain. Andy Serkis gives a mocap performance as Supreme Leader Snoke which is downright weird and surreal, injecting a near-David Lynch's Dune level of bizarrity into what is a mostly straightforward action film. We'll presumably learn more about Snoke in future movies, but the hints we have here are of a rather different kind of evil than the Emperor or the Sith.

On the more disappointing side of things, Domhnall Gleeson is a rather one-note villain as the First Order's military commander, General Hux (I get the impression he was channelling Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin and falling rather short) and Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma is extremely under-utilised.

On the production side, the film has a lot of excellent design work, some phenomenal musical cues from John Williams and some satisfying lightsabre duels. If the original trilogy's lacked scale and the prequel trilogy's relied too much on CG fakery, The Force Awakens's duels are earthier, more grounded and feel like they hurt a lot more. The space and aerial battles are also excellent: one long shot of an X-wing gunning down a series of TIE Fighters outclasses every dogfight in the prequel trilogy in the space of a few seconds.

As mentioned earlier, there are issues. Star Wars has always had a flexible attitude towards scientific realism (i.e. pretty much ignoring it) but there are couple of moments where The Force Awakens seemingly abandons the most basic laws of physics and plausibility. These actually stand out because of the restraint and greater nods at realism elsewhere. There's also a couple of moments when the movie goes too far in its quest to avoid exposition. The film does a great job (as the original trilogy did and the prequels notably did not) of allowing audiences to fill in the blanks in the backstory themselves, but in one scene its refusal to explain what's happening led to some extreme confusion amongst the audience and made them think something far more apocalyptic had happened than actually had. There was also not a lot of explanation of the relationships between the Empire, the First Order, the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic and the Resistance. Some of this should be filled in upcoming films, but there was a bit too much left unexplained at this point.

Overall, however, The Force Awakens (****) does exactly what is asked of it. It delivers an entertaining (but not disposable) two hours of entertainment, fun, humour and occasional, deep character exploration. There's a couple of moments of real pathos and tragedy in this movie which I wasn't expecting, moments of humanity and a desire to wrong-foot and surprise the audience but always in a manner that is consistent with what has gone before. It's also, by far, J.J. Abrams's best movie. The film is on general release right now.

New STAR WARS trailer excites usually cool cynical people

The third and final main trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has been released. You may view it below.

The trailer has wracked up more than 14 million views on YouTube barely half a day after going online. It was accompanied by the release of tickets for the film in the United States. These have smashed all previous records by a factor of eight times, crashing cinema computer systems across the USA and unleashing hitherto never-experienced levels of mild inconvenience. The pre-interest in the film, which seems to dwarf even that of the prequel trilogy, means that there is an excellent chance that The Force Awakens could challenge Avatar for the title of most successful movie of all time.

The trailer - itself still holding back on telling us much about what the film is actually about - is the latest and apparently last step in a marketing campaign that has been relatively and unusually restrained by Hollywood standards. The film's storyline is still under wraps, only a few character names and their actors have been revealed, and the role that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) will play remains a mystery, especially given his total absence from the movie's official poster. For a film out in just eight weeks and accompanied by a vast amount of merchandise, this is a remarkable achievement.

The trailers have also done a good job of targeting the nostalgia nerve centres of old-skool Star Wars fans, daring them to hope that the new movies will be excellent. They've certainly done a good job of making everyone forget that J.J. Abrams's last movie was the lamentable Into Darkness, which should otherwise inject some caution into proceedings (until you remember that that was also partly down to the less-than-talented scriptwriters, whilst Lawrence Kasdan is working on the new Star Wars movies and thus that makes it okay again).

The Force Awakens is merely the first in a sustained assault on the wallets - but hopefully not patience - of the movie-going public. No less than three Star Wars movies will be released in just eighteen months, with Star Wars: Rogue One following in December 2016 and then Star Wars Episode VIII in May 2017. A Han Solo origin film will then follow in 2018 and Episode IX in 2019. Further Star Wars films are likely after that point, although no release date has yet been set for Star Wars: The Fate of Jar-Jar.

New poster for THE FORCE AWAKENS

Lucasfilm have released the final official poster for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

The poster still lacks the "Episode VII" subtitle, which many were expecting to appear on the final version, but it's definitely dramatically appropriate and in keeping with the tone of the trilogy.

The poster also gives us another look at some of the new hardware in the trilogy, such as the new generation of X-wings and TIE fighters, the slightly modified Millennium Falcon and, in the top-right, what appears to be a new Death Star-esque space station or weapon.

More will be revealed in a new trailer, due to hit tomorrow, and of course the final film which is just eight and a half weeks away.

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII starts filming this week

Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII is due to start on Monday. Director Rian Johnson and a crew will film for most of this week on the small island of Skellig Michael, off the south-western coast of Ireland.

The same island was used for filming of Episode VII: The Force Awakens, suggesting that the same location is being revisited.

It looks like this will be some early shooting down for scheduling reasons, with the bulk of filming not expected to start in earnest until after Christmas. Still, Episode VIII is now officially in production, alongside Rogue One which started filming a few weeks ago. The Force Awakens is in the final stages of post-production ahead of its December premiere.

JURASSIC WORLD director to shoot STAR WARS EPISODE IX

Lucasfilm have confirmed that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow will be directing Star Wars: Episode IX, following on from Episode VII: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams, and Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson.

Trevorrow was likely tapped due to the tremendous success of Jurassic World, which is now the third-highest-grossing movie of all time (outdone only by Avatar and Titanic). He was also critically acclaimed for his debut feature film, Safety Not Guaranteed. Trevorrow is producing the fifth Jurassic Park movie but revealed a few weeks ago that he would not be directing. This frees him up to shoot Episode IX.

Not much else is known about Episode IX, save that it will conclude the storylines begun in this December's The Force Awakens and will be based on a story treatment produced by Rian Johnson.

This leaves the Star Wars schedule for the next few years looking like this:

18 December 2015: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
16 December 2016: Star Wars: Rogue One
26 May 2017: Star Wars: Episode VIII
25 May 2018: Star Wars: untitled Han Solo movie
2019: Star Wars: Episode IX
TBC: Star Wars: untitled Boba Fett movie

Lucasfilm have also unveiled the poster for The Force Awakens.

STAR WARS Comic-Con Featurette

Whilst Lucasfilm and Disney have not released a new trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, they have released a new featurette/behind-the-scenes reel from the movie. It contains more glimpses of the actors, sets and props and emphasises how much is being down practically on the film as opposed to using greenscreen for everything.

The movie is released on 18 December this year. Meanwhile, Disney recently released details for the second Star Wars Anthologies movie, confirming that it will focus on a young Han Solo.

The release dates for the upcoming slate of Star Wars films are as follows:


Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - 18 December 2015
Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One - 16 December 2016
Star Wars Episode VIII - 26 May 2017
Star Wars Anthology II (Han Solo movie) - 25 May 2018
Star Wars Episode IX - 2019

Second trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE VII

Disney and Lucasfilm have unleashed the second teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Some more information has also been revealed about the film's backstory. The film will take place 30-odd years after Return of the Jedi. The galaxy is divided between surviving remnants of the Empire, including the First Order (who appear to be the bad guys in the first movie) and the descendants of the Rebel Alliance, who are now calling themselves "The Resistance". The film follows the adventures of Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger who survives by (apparently) salvaging derelicts on the desert planet of Jakku. She crosses paths with Finn (John Boyega), a First Order stormtrooper who appears to be on the run for reasons unknown, and a hotshot X-wing pilot named Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Eventually their paths cross with the legendary smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), his co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher). Arrayed against them are the First Order forces, apparently led by a Dark Side Force-user named Kylo Ren (rumoured to be played by Adam Driver).

The Force Awakens is released on 18 December this year.

Teaser trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Disney and Lucasfilm have unveiled the teaser trailer for The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the Star Wars saga, due in cinemas in December 2015.

It would appear we're back on Tatooine - the busiest backwater nowhere in the galaxy, it appears - and there's also some stuff going on with the Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters and X-Wings, which is sure to please everyone. There's a cute new robot for the little kids, but he looks more tolerable than Jar-Jar at this stage. There's also a villain with a lightsabre which has little lightsabre hilts, which is kind of adorable. It's hard to match the Darth Maul dual-lightsabre revelation from The Phantom Menace trailer, but it might be there's not much more to do with them. It's also unclear who the narrator is: it sounds a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.

In other news, pre-production is close to starting up on the first Star Wars stand-alone film. Directed by Gareth Edwards, this film is due for release in December 2016 with production set to get underway next year (before Episode VII is even released). According to one source, this first movie will be a heist film and will see a bunch of bounty hunters being employed by the Rebel Alliance to undertake a daring raid on the Empire. The rumour is that amongst the information they seize are the plans to the first Death Star, and this will dovetail the film into the start of Episode IV. The rumours are also that Max von Sydow's character from Episode VII will appear as a young man in this film.

Disney/Lucasfilm's masterplan is for five Star Wars movies to be released annually from 2015 to 2019, consisting of Episodes VII-IX (to be directed by Abrams, Rian Johnson and as-yet undisclosed director) and at least two spin-off films, one focusing on bounty hunters and the other possibly on Yoda's backstory.

J.J. Abrams unveils the new X-wing fighter

For many young Star Wars fans, the most iconic moments from the original movie trilogy were the dogfights between the Rebel Alliance's X-Wings and the Galactic Empire's TIE Fighters. As the massive sales of the later X-Wing computer games show, the fighters have remained hugely popular.

In a video today, director J.J. Abrams revealed the design of a new generation of X-Wing fighter. Coming from a generation (or two) further on from the originals, these X-Wings are sleeker and appear to split their wings on a vertical axis rather than horizontal (with the wings appearing to pop up from behind one another, a bit like some of the prequel trilogy proto-X-Wings). There's also no sign of a housing for an astromech droid, suggesting they are no longer needed or are stored internally, which, as R2-D2 can attest from the end of Episode IV, makes a hell of a lot more sense.

These new X-Wings appear to also be a homage to Ralph McQuarrie's amazing concept art for the original films. One of McQuarrie's ideas was that the X-Wings would have two large engines which would split, rather than four smaller ones that would not.

There's also something of a design similarity to the Z-95 Headhunter, a predecessor design to the X-Wing developed for the Expanded Universe which enjoyed great fan popularity before appearing in The Clone Wars (and thus becoming canon even for the new Star Wars continuity).

Three more directors lined up to helm STAR WARS movies

Star Wars: Episode VII is currently shooting in the UK with J.J. Abrams in the directing seat, but Disney and Lucasfilm are already preparing the next three movies in the franchise.

Gareth Edwards, the director of indie movie Monsters and the recent Godzilla reboot, will be helming the first stand-alone, spin-off film. This is widely rumoured to be a film about the perpetual fan-favourite bounty-hunter Boba Fett. It's already slated for release in December 2016, a year after Episode VII. Josh Trank, the director of the low-budget 2012 SF movie Chronicle and the forthcoming Fantastic Four reboot, has also been slated to direct a stand-alone, possibly for release in 2018.

Not quite locked yet, but almost, is Rian Johnson, the director of the well-received 2012 time travel thriller Looper. Johnson is rumoured to be writing and directing Episode VIII, already slated for release in late 2017, and is also writing a story treatment for Episode IX.

Disney and Lucasfilm plan to release a Star Wars movie every year from 2015 to at least 2019, with Episodes VII-IX alternating years with stand-alone films.

STAR WARS EPISODE VII hits development bumps

Production of the new Star Wars film, Episode VII, has hit a series of bumps in the road. Scriptwriter Michael Arndt has quit, with director J.J. Abrams moving to co-writing duties alongside veteran Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan. Abrams's own status on the film has also recently been in doubt, with rumours circulating that Abrams was keen on leaving the project. Production has also been delayed by several months, with filming expected to now start in the 'spring' rather than January 2014. What impact this has on the film's release date remains to be seen.

The first signs of trouble on the project appeared shortly after J.J. Abrams was confirmed as director. Abrams apparently began moves to delay the film's release to 2016. The need to start filming in early 2014 to hit the May 2015 release date meant that the pre-production window would be far shorter than Abrams was used to or comfortable with. Rumours began circulating in July that Abrams was unhappy with the relatively short (for a film of this magnitude) production timetable and was also not keen on relocating his young family to London for the shooting period. Abrams clearly decided to stay, but the fan rumour-mill is working overtime with speculation that greater script control may have been a condition of his remaining on the project; Abrams leaving and having to be replaced would have been a huge blow to the project.

Disney and Lucsfilm shot the 2016 idea down almost immediately. More recently there have been rumours that the film will need to be delayed anyway, to at least the end of 2015. Allegedly, these rumours have been coming from the Disney and Lucasfilm camp itself and may be a reflection of more crowded spring/summer 2015 release schedule (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Man of Steel II and Pirates of the Caribbean 5 are all pencilled in for that time period) as well as giving the production more time. However, officially spring/summer 2015 remains the target date for the film.

Arndt's departure is a new blow for the project. Arndt, who worked on Toy Story 3 and wrote Little Miss Sunshine, brought some artistic credibility to what could have been seen as a shameless cash-in film. Apparently Arndt's outline treatment was so good that it got both Lucasfilm and Disney really excited about the film, and got him hired as scriptwriter for Episode VII itself. The combination of Arndt writing and Abrams directing was regarded as promising: Abrams is noted for his visual flair but the quality of his own scriptwriting and that of his regular team (Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) can charitably be described as 'variable'. The news that Arndt is out and Abrams will now be writing himself is likely not to be welcomed with open arms by fans.

Lawrence Kasdan, who was already advising on the project and was tapped to co-write Episode VIII and possibly one of the planned prequel side-films, will also be stepping up to co-write VII with Abrams. There is some reason for cautious optimism here, as Kasdan co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. However, much of his work since Star Wars has been patchy (The Bodyguard is his only notable film since then) and Empire also had script input from veteran SF author Leigh Brackett (who is sadly no longer with us) as well as a fair bit of on-set improvisation from the cast and director Irvin Kershner.

Despite personnel issues, the film is still expected to begin shooting in early 2014. Rumours are also gathering that Lucasfilm and Disney may have announcements to make about the film (possibly including casting information) on 30 October.

J.J. Abrams will direct STAR WARS: EPISODE VII

Despite repeatedly saying that he would not direct Star Wars Episode VII: Absolutely Nothing to Do With Thrawn, Sorry, it was surprisingly announced yesterday that J.J. Abrams would, in fact, be directing the movie.

"Okay, George. So the main bad guy is a billowing cloud of black smoke and Luke has to defeat him by running around the corner and sticking a plug in the ground."

"Fine, but only if Jar-Jar's kids are in it. One of them can be a Jedi with dual-wielding lightsabres which he comically uses to smash up the scenery whenever the pace slackens."

"Deal."

Abrams had previously ruled himself out of contention, citing both his commitment to the new Star Trek movies for Paramount (Abrams's second Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, is out this year) and his overwhelming fandom of the Star Wars franchise preventing him from approaching a new film with the necessary detachment. Clearly these issues have been overcome, with Abrams agreeing to produce a potential third Star Trek movie (as well as being on board for a fifth Mission: Impossible film).

Star Wars Episode VII will be released in 2015 (possibly May). Michael Arndt is writing the script, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg co-producing.

Colour me cautiously optimistic. Although I have strong problems with Abrams's Star Trek work (so far), I enjoyed his work on Lost (though Abrams's involvement after the first season was limited) and Cloverfield, which he produced. Star Wars, if done right, could also be a better match for his skills.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK writer hired to work on new STAR WARS movies

It has been revealed that Lawrence Kasdan, the scriptwriter of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, will pen either the second or third film in the new Star Wars trilogy. Michael Arndt has already penned an outline for the whole trilogy and will be writing the script for Episode VII. The remaining film will be penned by Simon Kinberg.

Kasdan's involvement has excited fans, since The Empire Strikes Back remains widely regarded as the highpoint of the original trilogy and the entire Star Wars franchise to date. Return of the Jedi is less universally well-regarded, though the problems with the movie (such as the replacement of the planned Wookie army with Ewoks) are more often blamed on changes introduced by George Lucas himself. Kasdan's work since Jedi is less well-regarded, with his biggest hit being The Bodyguard. However, Kasdan's involvement does add some credibility for the fans hoping for a return to the form of the original trilogy.

Kinberg's track record is spottier, with concern being voiced over his position as scriptwriter for X-Men: The Last Stand, widely-acknowledged as the weakest film in the franchise to date. However, he did work on the better-received X-Men: First Class as a producer, as well as co-writing the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes. Kasdan and Kinberg will also produce the new films in addition to their writing duties.

Kinberg's links to Matthew Vaughn - who developed X-Men: The Last Stand before dropping out and later directing X-Men: First Class - have strengthened rumours that Vaughn will be working on one of the new movies as director.