There's been so much buzz on the Internet about J.J. Abrams helming of the next Star Wars movie that I suppose it's my geek duty to say something about it. After all, with Star Trek under his belt, Abrams is going to be the first director to add his creative input to two of today's largest sci-fi franchises.
I honestly believe that the strength of the next Star Wars movie lies much more with the script than with how it is directed. In a way, the prequels had it easy: All they had to do was answer and expand upon key questions left over from the original trilogy, such as how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, how Emperor Palpatine rose to power, and what the term "Clone Wars" meant. In contrast, the sequels that take place after the events of Return of the Jedi can go just about anywhere within the enormous Star Wars universe. Rumors have been circulating for years that George Lucas had an idea for three additional Star Wars films after Jedi, but nothing can be verified for sure until more news about Abrams' sequel becomes available.
That said, I do think that Abrams' suitability to direct the next Star Wars movie can be seen in his 2011 film, Super 8. Since the announcement was made, fans and articles have largely been scrutinizing Abrams' Star Trek reboot movie from 2009 to determine how Abrams will fare with his Star Wars movie. That's not entirely inaccurate; in fact, it has been argued that the box office success of Abrams' Trek movie hinged upon him making Trek more like Star Wars anyway. (I happen to agree with that opinion.) Yet Super 8 showed something that I think is even more relevant to long-time Star Wars fans--namely, that Abrams wrote and directed that movie to prove how talented he is at capturing the summer blockbuster aesthetic that was popular at the box office during the late 70s and early 80s, the years of the initial heyday of Star Wars. Read on for some additional thoughts on how this summer season creature features provides hints regarding the future of the Star Wars franchise.
To be sure, Super 8 is Abrams' love letter to Steven Spielberg (which was also produced by Steven Spielberg, no less). Sure, the popularity of the original Star Wars trilogy had a major impact on fantasy and sci-fi filmmaking during the late 70s and early 80s, but it was Spielberg's directorial approach to fantasy and sci-fi filmmaking that shaped the look and feel of other fantasy and sci-fi films from that time and in years since then. Super 8 even references Spielberg's film stock of choice when he was shooting movies when he was a teenager (ergo the film's title) and makes ample usage of one of Spielberg's recurring interests, modern UFO mythology, as part of its story.
Almost every scene in Super 8 is analogous to Spielberg's most popular fantasy, sci-fi and horror movies--particularly Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Poltergeist, and Jurassic Park. The dramatic themes, narrative structure, casting choices, visual style and goofy humor of Super 8 are almost identical to Spielberg's work; even the soundtrack, which was composed Michael Giacchino, sounds remarkably similar to the work of longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams. For those who have argued that Spielberg should have directed at least one of the Star Wars movies as part of his career, they're in luck--as Super 8 shows, Abrams is capable of being the next best thing to Spielberg when it comes to fantasy and sci-fi filmmaking. Furthermore, Super 8 was a hit at the box office, which showed that Abrams' ability to mimic Spielberg's cinema aesthetic also has cross-generational appeal.
On the other hand, there are problems with Super 8 that could also be present in Abrams' Star Wars movie. The biggest problem would be this: Can Abrams' bring something genuinely unique to the franchise to extend its appeal into a new generation of fans, or will he be too focused on recapturing the look and feel of the original trilogy to offer something other than a repeat of what has come before? I think that Super 8 is a fun movie, but the most remarkable thing about it is how closely it imitates Spielberg's style, not how good the movie is as its own story. In other words, it felt like it was a tribute to Spielberg first and a story second; as such, character development and plot details in the movie felt like they were determined more by how closely they emulated tropes from Spielberg's movies, not by their own narrative logic. Super 8 is a great example of Abrams' talent as a director but I thought that it felt somewhat hollow as I watched it, as if the spark of creativity was snuffed for the sake of creating an accurate and obvious homage to Spielberg's greatest box office hits.
I would like to think that with Abrams' experience with writing, directing and producing such a wide range of titles during his own career, he should be able to use his position as director to bring a new kind of creative energy into the Star Wars saga. It probably also helps that Abrams is not writing the sequel's screenplay--that responsibility has been given to Michael Arndt, who also wrote Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3. However, what Abrams will and will not be allowed to do with his Star Wars sequel ultimately rests with Disney, the franchise's new owner. I'm sure Abrams will give Disney exactly what it wants, but will that be what everyone else wants too?
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