Just when you think everyone on the planet loves Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you find someone who doesn’t. Normally I’d suggest we kill that person and get on with our lives, but since it’s James Cameron I figured we’d give him a chance to explain himself. When asked about the movie, he started off his preface on the wrong foot. We knew we were going to get a mouthful.
Well, George Lucas is a friend of mine. I don’t want to say too much about the film because I also have a lot of respect for J.J. Abrams and I want to see where they’re taking it next.
Uh oh. I wasn’t aware we were taking sides between Lucasfilm sans Disney and Lucasfilm avec Disney, but Cameron is clear about his preference.
I have to say that I felt that George’s group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before and characters you had seen before, and it took a few baby steps forward with new characters, so for me the jury’s out.
And it’s a big deal for Cameron to criticize the dawn of the new franchise. The original movies had a profound influence on the filmmaker. He wanted to do something, anything that sized up the subject of his idolatry. But he’s coming of age. He’s a veteran filmmaker. And getting older is watching your heroes die.