The Road to Episode VII | My column @ Forces of Geek.com
Sometimes, J.J. Abrams’ “Mystery Box” approach to promoting a film can be frustrating. However, this time, he is running on all cylinders as the trailer gave us a lot without spoiling much of anything. I still have no idea what this movie is about, but the revealed footage made my imagination run wild with possibilities.
Kylo Ren standing over the scorched Darth Vader helmet and vowing, “Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish what you started.” Wow, just, wow. What does that even mean? Did Vader have a grand design that none of us are aware of?
Does Kylo know that Vader turned good at the end of Return of the Jedi? We’ve had Sith lords that deal in absolutes, but never a dark side wielder that is clinically insane. What else do you call someone who keeps someone’s thirty-year-old head on a pedestal?
The possibilities with the new baddie on the block seem to be endless.
“It’s true. All of it.” Five words uttered by a grizzled veteran, which says so much about the state of the galaxy. Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, it appears that the Force is now beholden to myth, legend, and nothing more than a tale to either inspire or scare children. That concept is fascinating because it augments the meaning of the film’s title.
Daisy Ridley’s Rey is clearly the main protagonist as this mere scavenger is destined for greater things. She displayed a series of emotions with great facial reactions that said more than any amount of carefully crafted dialog could convey. That’s one of the main reasons why the prequels missed the mark on such a grand scale because almost nothing could speak for itself.
If the footage we saw is any indication of Ridley’s talents as an actor, the silver screen truly has something special on its hands.
Speaking of The Force Awakens, this is the perfect term to describe the theatrical poster. While it’s a very busy design, it looks like a Star Wars poster, and it gives observers a lot to look at. While die-hard fans scour the web for any morsel of information or images from the film, it’s not marketed towards us because they already have our money.
As crazy as this sounds, there are a fair amount of casual moviegoers who probably won’t know there is a new Star Wars film on its way until they see the poster hanging up in the atrium en route to the concession stand. The imagery screams that an awakening occurs and evokes a multitude of emotions while gazing upon the original cast filling out the picture as the new cast is positioned front and center.
The Death Star looking orb on the upper right-hand side of the poster looks to be the heavily rumored Starkiller Base. The name is an homage to Luke’s proposed last name in George Lucas’ first draft of A New Hope. If this weapon’s capabilities are accurate, I have no idea how this thing can be beaten in a way involving an exhaust port. Learning the history of such a creation will be interesting to discover.
While the trailer can be examined and explored all day, this production’s unsung hero is how it looks and sounds. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous. Shots such as the camera panning as Poe Dameron and Finn bump into each other, the scope of Rey’s excavation inside the crashed Star Destroyer, and the detail of the aired dog fights is unlike anything we’ve seen in the previous films.
While the music wasn’t composed by the legendary John Williams, the remix of the Force theme, along with the voice-over by Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata, evoked the majesty of this beloved space opera.
My expectations are in check, but December 18th can’t come soon enough!
Ringside Logic 
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