10 Reasons Why We Should Temper Our Excitement For Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The sheer volume of fan talk and the amount of press coverage dedicated to Star Wars: The Force Awakens might have you thinking that J.J. Abrams' two-hour takeover of the Star Wars franchise is going to be the greatest film of all-time. And yet none of us have even seen the movie to know whether the hype is justified. Of course, the trailers, TV spots and featurettes promise a world reinvigorated by a new set of eyes. The footage we've had shows off a great deal to look forward to, not least the opportunity to bask in a universe that had lost its way under its own creator. Already you can see exciting new worlds, great new villains and whoop-worthy heroes both new and old. Still, rarely is a movie ever totally infallible, and there are things we know already about the new Star Wars film that could be causes for concern. In fact, there are several reasons to think it might be best to temper that excitement and lower those soaring expectations before the big day - December 18th - arrives. So, without further ado, read on for 10 reasons why it may be smart to remain just a bit cautiously optimistic ahead of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 10) Critics Aren't Allowed To See It J.J. Abrams is wont to keep the content of his films a secret as close to release date as possible, in order to save audiences from spoilers and keep the story fresh (especially if ardent, long-term fans like Trekkies or Star Wars obsessives are involved). This was the reason the filmmaker gave when it turned out The Force Awakens wouldn't be screening in advance for critics, even if that meant Episode VII skipping awards consideration. It sounds like a pretty altruistic reason to hold back a movie, and an odd decision for the industry in general when studios thrive on advance buzz. Perhaps Abrams' account is genuine though (it's not like the new Star Wars movie needs any added buzz). Still, keeping a film out of the sight of critics until just four days before its release (a lucky few will see Episode VII before anyone else at the December 14th LA premiere) has historically rarely been a sign that the movie in question is a home-run. 9) J.J. Abrams Went Into Production Without A Script He Liked No matter what film you're making, it never helps to go into production without having gotten the screenplay to its final workable stage. Abrams recently admitted that this scuppered his own Star Trek Into Darkness, but the director apparently thought the same problems wouldn't arise on The Force Awakens, a film which he also went to shooting without a script he was totally satisfied with. The story goes that Abrams asked Disney for more time on pre-production for Episode VII, but the studio turned his request down. It's not a foregone conclusion that the film will be weaker because of this, but aiming for a release date rather than making sure the project is ready to go first has more often than not proven problematic for films in the past. 8) The Effects We've Seen Don't Entirely Convince After the CGI-heavy prequels, kudos to Abrams for taking Star Wars back to its practical roots and doing as much 'in-camera' as possible. Of course, the whole thing was never going to be done entirely practically - this is an epic space opera, and the production team ignoring the fact that they now have computers at their disposal to do some of the effects heavy-lifting would have been like taking a painstaking step backwards. Still, going on what we've seen in footage so far, the blend of practical and CGI isn't totally seamless. Many of the shots from the film look gorgeous, but there are others that look a little bit video game-y. Nostalgia also plays a factor here - this is the first time we've seen X-Wings, Tie Fighters and the Millennium Falcon done in zeros and ones rather than crafted by hand. Does the sight of a CGI'd Millennium Falcon really compare to the sight of an obviously physical version of the craft? Based on this evidence, no. 7) The Overriding 'Cool Factor' Remember crossguardgate, the controversy that arose from the fact that the new Star Wars villain's lightsaber had an impractical hilt on it? Ewan McGregor certainly does, and he knows a thing or two about mistakes in the Star Wars universe: "If you know how to handle a lightsaber, like we did, you don’t need a hilt," said young Ben Kenobi, calling Kylo Ren's weapon "wrong." McGregor was being facetious, but he highlights a serious concern. J.J. Abrams is a filmmaker in love with the 'cool factor' of his movies. Look at his two Star Trek films, and you see the issue: cool weapons and cool characters doing cool things, even if it's illogical or impractical. Abrams is a fine blockbuster moviemaker, but not the most astute, and it can leave his films full of holes. Already we see Finn battling a stormtrooper with a lightsaber-resistant baton in an early TV spot - looks cool, sure, but in the process. it defies the internal logic of the universe and diminishes the power of its most potent weapon. Which isn't quite as cool. 6) The Plot Of The Original Trilogy Is Being Repeated All Over Again As Star Wars is a saga about a family, The Force Awakens is smartly playing up the concept of legacy and of what's going on with the Skywalker clan down the generations. This idea of Episode VII acting as an echo of previous films is a compelling one. However, did Abrams have to repeat the plot of the original trilogy so stringently? Like Lucas' original trio of movies, there is in The Force Awakens an evil Empire (renamed The First Order, but it has the same hardware), and an all-powerful black-clad villain and his shadowy master, facing off against three variously plucky and unassuming young folk, one of whom secretly has Jedi powers, and a wise old master apparently waiting in the wings (Luke Skywalker). None of this is to say Episode VII won't have original features of its own, but some of the core plot disappointingly just seems like they took the New Hope template and ran with that. 5) The 'Star Wars Cinematic Universe' The shared universe is a relatively new phenomenon in big-budget filmmaking. More than ever, studios are investing a chunk of their resources in setting up a series of interlocking movies that reference one another. With shared universes like the MCU, it's admittedly been to the movies' detriment as well as their benefit. Now, under Disney, Star Wars is no longer just a running saga of films following on from one another, but a collection of movies that reference each other. How do we know this? For one, it's suspected that Maz Kanata is introduced in Episode VII as Han's former mentor, to appear later on in the Han Solo spinoff movie. The danger of this approach is treating the film in question as a platform to set up future movies, as opposed to approaching the project as a quality standalone item of its own. Just see all manner of Marvel movies for how problematic this can be. 4) The Singular Vision Has Been Replaced By 'Collective Filmmaking' It was gracious of George Lucas to give up his creative stake in Star Wars after the prequels. We all knew it, and evidently he knew it in the end: Lucas had lost that spark that made him the man to continue overseeing this particular space opera universe. Now, Lucas has passed the reins onto J.J. Abrams, one of the more capable blockbuster filmmakers around. But hang on a minute, because Abrams isn't the only one who brought his 'vision' to The Force Awakens. Far from it, in fact. There was also producer Kathleen Kennedy, writer-producer Simon Kinberg and veteran Star Wars scribe Lawrence Kasdan. Even Simon Pegg was brought into contribute, as part of what has been called the new Star Wars 'brain trust.' Filmmaking by committee, rather than allowing a singular vision to guide the way, can be risky. Episode VII could turn out a solid example of this so-called 'collective filmmaking,' but there's a reason why many of the greatest movies of all-time had one uncompromising auteur alone in charge. 3) Abrams Isn't The Best At Twists We all remember Star Trek Into Darkness' Khan/'John Harrison' debacle, don't we? Or all the times Lost took us round in narrative circles just to arrive back at what we suspected was the case narrative-wise all along? J.J. Abrams is a 'master,' if you want to call it that, of damp squib plot twists. And there are reasons to believe he's going to display said 'mastery' all over again in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Abrams' problem is he presumes he can wrongfoot an audience that is often already ahead of him. If any of the fan theories, surrounding Kylo Ren and Rey being of Skywalker lineage, or of one veteran cast member biting the bullet, come true - and it's looking increasingly likely that this will be the case - then The Force Awakens will disappoint anyone looking for a shock storyline moment on the level of "I am your father." 2) The Cast Is Incredible - But One Key Member Is Untested The Force Awakens doesn't just have the best cast of any Star Wars movie to date - it boasts one of the casts of the year. For starters, it brings back all the actors in the parts you know and love (it's particularly nice to see the always-underrated Mark Hamill justly getting some top billing), then throws in great relative newcomers (Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Domhnall Gleeson), acclaimed veterans (Max von Sydow), Oscar winners (Lupita Nyong'o), mo-cap masters (Andy Serkis) and martial arts superstars (Iko Uwais). Then there's Daisy Ridley, the ostensible star of the movie who before Episode VII only managed to nab bit-parts. What we've seen so far in trailers and TV spots is some suspiciously wooden line delivery from Ridley, and before you go calling that unfair, know that J.J. Abrams - her director - according to Ridley herself said the same thing of her on the first day of shooting. This shouldn't be seen as a write-off of Ridley altogether, but the fact remains that she is the most unproven member of the main cast, and will have the most to do out of anyone. 1) Nothing Could Truly Live Up To These Expectations So, we come back to expectations and hype. Episode VII is one of the most anticipated movies ever, and is set to break box office records. Everyone's talking about it, having been pumped up by a year of advertising, and the talent involved has a lot of people just assuming it'll be something special sight unseen. And of course hype on this scale can't really ever be matched by the product itself. It's an inevitability that our expectations of Star Wars: The Force Awakens probably won't be met, not after all these weeks and months of tantalizing promotion. Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon like no other - even if The Force Awakens easily outdoes the prequels, it's going to take a lot to please all the fans that have been waiting years for a new Star Wars movie to come out. The best thing to do now might be to go in fresh, and pretend George Lucas' six sci-fi epics never happened.