Poll: Has the Force Left ‘Star Wars’?

Barely a little over a month ago, we asked you how excited you were for the upcoming ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’. Since that time, the production has been beset by major setbacks. Are you still optimistic for the film and the franchise, or do you have a bad feeling about this?

As you’ve probably heard, Harrison Ford was injured while reprising his Han Solo character. At first, it was reported that he’d broken his ankle. New rumors claim that he’s actually broken his leg and may be out of commission for as much as six months. With a firm release date of December 2015 seemingly written in stone by Disney, this sounds like an insurmountable problem for the film – especially since Han Solo is supposedly the lead character in this entry.

Speculation is rampant as to what will happen next. Will the film’s release date be pushed back to 2016? Will the script be frantically rewritten to work around Ford? No one knows for certain yet. Regardless, I imagine that panic is rampant at director J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company.

Originally, it was assumed that Abrams would direct the entire trilogy of new ‘Star Wars’ sequels. Late last week, however, it was confirmed that ‘Looper’ director Rian Johnson will helm ‘Episode VIII’ and at least write (possibly also direct) ‘Episode IX’. Was Abrams fired from future installments over the Harrison Ford fiasco, or did he walk away on his own? The truth on that may take a while to come out.

At least initially, the Johnson news was well received. ‘Looper’ was a box office hit and was well regarded by both critics and audiences. On the other hand, a backlash of ‘Looper’ haters has been brewing online this week. For my part, while I mostly liked ‘Looper’, I have to admit that its time travel story made little sense and was full of sloppy plot holes. Whether this will be a problem for ‘Star Wars’ is a big question mark.

As much as I wish I could be optimistic for the ‘Star Wars’ sequels, I’m so burned out on the franchise that it’s hard for me to care anymore.

Are You Still Optimistic for 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

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28 comments

  1. Alex

    I remember in the late 80’s, early 90’s when Star Wars was looked on fondly but wasn’t as omnipresent as it has been for the last 10-15 years or so. It made the release of the Special Editions (for better or worse) a remarkable and exciting event.

    I think Star Wars could do with stepping back. Take the Disney approach of locking it in the vault for a while. Build up some anticipation. I consider myself to be one of the biggest Star Wars geeks around, but I can definitely see the fatigue with the franchise. It needs just a bit of time out of the limelight.

  2. Lord Bowler

    Seems like they should have recast the roles entirely and just given cameos/homages to the original actors.

    When you’re dealing with actors who are senior citizens, there are things they just can’t do and no amount of CGI can fix.

    Look at X-Men: Days of Future Past. They utilize their senior citizens very well.

    Maybe Episode 7 opens with our actors, then flashes back with recast younger versions, and we don’t have to worry?

  3. Ryan

    I am sort of done with Star Wars.

    Star Wars (OT) was lightning in a bottle. I loved them as a child (even the ewoks), and I love them as an adult (minus the ewoks). However, the prequels were pretty terrible movies. At first, I let my love for the OT affect how I felt about the news ones…convincing myself “no, these are good, i swear!”. When I eventually took off my nostalgia goggles, I realized, just because the originals are good, it doesn’t mean anything new associated with them deserves the same love.

    So no, i couldn’t care less about any new Star Wars movies. If they turn out good, I’ll give them a shot, but they will need to 100% stand on their own.

  4. Ughh, Josh – I was hoping we wouldn’t fall for the erroneous “six month” story that was misreported by a Star Wars (non-official) website (Force News, I believe) and picked up by a ton of others. Ford is going to be out for six to eight WEEKS, not months. Yes, he broke his leg, but it’s nothing serious and is actually a bone in his lower leg – the cast he has is actually around his foot and ankle.

    Ford is already back in the States, in rehab and expected back on the set in August.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      I have an aunt around Ford’s age who broke her leg earlier this year. She’s been out of commission for way more than eight weeks already. In fact, her doctor just told her that she should stay off the leg for ANOTHER four weeks because it isn’t healing as quickly as he’d like.

      I absolutely believe that Ford could have been told not to run around or shoot any action scenes for six to eight months.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Yeah, but J.J. Abrams has terrible ADHD. His Star Trek movies feature a ridiculous number of scenes of characters running around here to there for no reason. So does Mission: Impossible III for that matter.

      • Chris B

        Awwww come on man, MI:3 is so much damn fun. Same with the ’09 Star Trek. Sure Into Darkness was a letdown, but don’t let it taint your view of Abrams entire filmography.

        • Josh Zyber
          Author

          I like M:I-3 and his first Star Trek, but honestly, watch those movies again with an eye on how many scenes they contain of characters pointlessly running all over the place. Tom Cruise does so much running in M:I-3 that he could have gotten a Nike endorsement out of it.

          You might say that it’s a recurring motif in his work, like the lens flares. I imagine that’s how Ford probably broke his leg – Abrams had him running around and then shone a bright light directly into his face, causing Ford to get disoriented and fall down.

          • Chris B

            Haha true enough, but I’ll still take the running and the lens flares over the prequel motifs. Which had the recurring themes of characters sitting and talking, slowly walking and talking, standing perfectly still….and talking.

            I truly think Abrams can pull it off, he grew up on Star Wars, knows what the fans don’t want because of the Lucas prequels, probably has a blank cheque budget wise, a dream cast…etc. I still beleive he can hit a home run with this one. I just hope the screenplay is up to snuff and it doesn’t have any revisionist time-travel nonsense in it that filmmakers seem to be using as a “get out of jail free card” these days. The history of the Star Wars universe is well established, don’t mess with it. Embrace it and build upon it!

  5. Dave M

    When Lucas sold out to Disney, I told myself that these were (officially) no longer the movies i had loved in my youth. Disney had made it very clear-and unashamedly so-that they were going to turn these into a commodity and recoup their four billion dollars as quickly as possible.

    So, intellectually, I understood all of this as the truth. And yet when I saw a ‘Star Wars VII – Summer 2015’ poster online, i giggled like a little girl. So I think I still love those movies and always will. Regardless.

  6. I am on the fence. But I would like to scold all the nay-sayers. Sure Abrams is doing part 7, and we’ve seen what he’s done with Star Trek, but Lucas is OUT. If we had the pre SE Lucas still at the helm, there would be no doubts the movie would turn out for the best. Will it all be awesome? Who Knows.

  7. Bill

    I believe Abrams will do to Star Wars exactly what he did to Star Trek. The thing that amazes me about Abrams is that he can do no wrong. He has had one critical success on TV and tons of failures. I’ve lost track of the number of Bad Robot TV series that never reached a final conclusion because the network has pulled the plug. Yet despite this record he keeps getting new opportunities. Lost was good but otherwise this guy is grossly overrated and much too adored.

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