I don't know that I would call the CW's The Flash a smart show. I mean, it is perhaps the most comic-booky TV shows out there full of outlandish plots, cartoony villains, and ridiculous technobabble but over the course of its season and a half run, The Flash has become an emotionally intelligent show in which characters and their interactions are not only at the forefront but are navigated in a way that actually resembles actual human relationships. This is remarkable for TV (especially genre TV) where misunderstandings and "drama" are often manufactured and milked for seasons on end in order to generate story.
The Flash has always had heart. It been a warm show that has never shied away from being emotional (I seriously doubt that there has been a single episode in which at least one character does not cry) but much of its first season was marred by the fact that it kept one of its characters, Iris West, on the sidelines and out of the loop as far as the Flash's secret identity as Barry Allen her adopted brother/best friend/possible love interest. This not only marginalized one of the show's primary female characters but also generated a lot of artificial-feeling plotlines including a tiresome love triangle between Barry, Iris, and the Flash. The show did some course correcting late last season and reintegrated Iris so that she is now on the same page as everyone else and, more importantly, an important relationship with Barry that is no longer compromised.
I think The Flash learned a lot from this experience and now routinely does a good job of navigating these conflicts. For example in a recent episode, Barry learns that his Earth-2 teammate Harrison Welles had been working with the arch villain Zoom to steal the Flash's speed because Zoom was keeping his daughter prisoner as leverage (see what I'm talking about?) In a lesser show, this would result in a multi-episode arc about trust and betrayal and it would be mined for maximum conflict and drama. In The Flash, Barry takes a moment to process the betrayal but he also understands why Welles did it and appreciates that he might have done the same thing to protect someone he loved and he resolves to not only continue working with Welles but to make it their mission to help him rescue his daughter. You know, like a real mature adult human being and not a character from The Real Housewives. Even in an outlandish superhero show, it is satisfying to see characters navigate their relationships like real people and not drama puppets.
And the show has some intense and complicated relationships. Barry's mother was killed when he was little and his dad was unjustly locked up. He was raised by Joe and with Iris. Recently, Joe found out he has another son with whom they are all building relationships. Caitlin's ex disappeared in an accident and briefly reappeared before dying in another accident. For the most part, the show does a really amazing job juggling all of this in a satisfying way while being an immensely fun superhero show at the same time.
Another way that she show is emotionally intelligent is in how it handles its male characters. Barry and Joe, in particular are allowed to be sensitive caring men, and, in fact, do the bulk of the crying on the show. In fact, Joe always seems on the verge of tears. It's refreshing to see a show where the men are not expected to be tough unfeeling stereotypical males. Perhaps is the sign of a more relaxed, nuanced masculinity.
On a related note, the show has also gone out of its way to be female and gay friendly. With a couple of notable gay characters, an openly gay producer, multiple recurring out gay actors, and a cast that seems to be almost entirely musical theater people, this incarnation of The Flash might be the gayest superhero project ever. This is consistent with a generally inclusive and diverse vibe that the show has, with a lot of women and people of color playing important complex characters.
In the end, maybe the CW's The Flash is a truly Millennial show in a way that other shows with pretty young casts are not. It embraces the best of the values associated with the Millennial generation such as diversity, openness, and a relaxed, laid back masculinity. It is smart enough to get past superficial conflicts to the relationships and meaningful character interactions beneath.
The High Sparrow is a unique kind of character in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones: a man with humility and pure motives. Some of our more savvy players have tried to get close to him to learn how he can be manipulated only to be rebuffed. We are lead to believe that he really is that sincere in his beliefs. In a world where almost every character has an angle, where all of the institutions are corrupt, the High Sparrow is a man who is what he says he is: a simple man devoted to the Seven above all things. Or is there more to this mysterious character than we have been lead to believe?
Before we actually meet him in the flesh, we do hear about the High Sparrow here and there in the books. Martin seeds mentions of him for careful readers and his presence is established in Westeros at least as early as the War of the Five Kings. However, we know almost nothing about his backstory or any deeper motivations so all we have to go on is what little he tells us and his actions, which taken at face-value paint the picture of a pious and humble man.
Perhaps the most suspicious thing about him is his lack of a real identity. The other characters seem to automatically take his High Sparrow identity for granted due to the way that he presents himself and that he has thousands of loyal followers. No one in the books or show ever really vets him or asks him who is. You would think that someone who is essentially assuming the role of High Septon, would need to be somewhat of a known quantity but the High Sparrow seems to come out of nowhere and our characters conveniently fail to ask important questions about who he is.
Now, Martin's books and the HBO series from which they are adapted have got me a bit cynical but I can't help but think that this High Sparrow is not who he says he is. Humility aside, the Sparrow seems to have quickly amassed a consequential amount of power in King's Landing and the realm thanks to his ability to capitalize on Queen Cercei's misteps. He has an army of the devout and has effectively counterbalanced the political power of the Lannisters and other nobles. He seems to be playing the game quite well for a simple unwashed holy man.
But to what end? If we accept things on face value, the purpose of the High Sparrow's movement is to turn the Realm into some sort of egalitarian theocracy and rid Westeros of vice and corruption but from what we've seen this is not something that is likely to stick. The people of Westeros, particulalry King's Landing, really love their vice and corruption. If the High Sparrow were a serious reformer who's intent was to create long-lasting change, he would affect incremental manageable reforms easily supported by the masses. But what the Sparrow is doing instead is sudden and drastic and will face a certain public backlash. He's essentially destabilized Kings Landing and the Seven Kingdoms and created a chaotic situation.
Therefore, I think the High Sparrow is merely a tool being used by another. So, if the High Sparrow has a master who would it be? Who benefits from the Lannisters being neutralized and distracted? Who wants to see chaos in Kings Landing?
Despite the very public and showy destruction of his brothel by the Faith Militant, Littlefinger is the character who best benefits from this movement and one of the few people cunning and cynical enough to pull it off. And he is conveniently out of town when all of this happens. In the show, he absolutely takes advantage of the Sparrows to ensnare Cercei to the benefit of himself and his Tyrell co-conspirators. While we don't yet know Margaery's fate on the show, in the books at least she is quickly released from her imprisonment. One definitely gets the impression from the books that Cercei is getting the worst of it. Indeed, when Olenna Tyrell confronts him about the seemingly sorry state of their alliance, Baelish essentially plays his Sparrow card. He is at the very least involved enough to get get Lancel to the High Sparrow and likely a lot more.
Godzilla 2000 (1999)
Directed by:
Genre: Kaiju eiga
Welcome back to the increasingly misnamed Monster Movie of the Week (maybe I should change it to Monster Movie of the Year). With the return of Godzilla to popular consciousness, several Godzilla movies on the way and the resurgence of kaiju movies I thought I would take a look at the Shin or Millennium series of Goji movies, especially now that they are all finally on Bluray. In a way, when I started writing this column ten years ago, I was working my way up to these movies so it's great to finally get to them, even if it means temporarily skipping over the next two Rebirth of Mothra movies.
THE MOVIE
Back in the 1990's, with an impending American Godzilla movie, Toho Studios decided to kill off Godzilla and end their popular Heisei series of movies with Godzilla vs Destoroyah as a way to make room for the sure-to-be beloved American series. What we actually got, however, was Godzilla movie that, while a hit, was met with a resounding "meh" by American audiences and with derision and genuine offense in Japan. As one Toho studio executive put it, the new creature and movie "took the God out of Godzilla." Meanwhile, Gamera was enjoying a resurgence in popularity in Japan due to a trilogy of excellent movies which were often compared favorably to the contemporary Goji movies. Prior to this, Gamera had been a joke and certainly never considered on the same level Godzilla but by the late 1990's, he was a serious contender to the throne of the King of the Monsters. If Godzilla and Gamera were rappers, they would have been putting out a series of competing mixtapes.
Toho Studios is nothing if not competitive and in response to these insults to Godzilla, they decided to take their signature character out of his short-lived retirement and they built a new movie around him, Godzilla 2000, a stand alone movie which sought to bring Goji back to his awesome roots with high production values and a modern sensibility. It is a movie that is meant to be a defiant celebration of Godzilla as a Japanese pop cultural icon and a rebuke to the "pretenders" who would challenge the "real" Godzilla's supremacy.
Like most of the Millennium series, the movie abandons all continuity with the prior film series, except perhaps with the original film. Godzilla is known as a force that is "out there" and periodically comes ashore to attack. He's treated like a natural disaster and there are private and governmental apparati that are in place to study and deter him. Our first introduction to the character is pretty phenomenal and dramatic as we witness Godzilla attack's attack on a rainy island. We see right away with this movie that the filmmakers learned some tricks from the Hollywood movie and Godzilla 2000 and the subsequent movies have really improved the scope and scale of these films and they are more ambitious about integrating Godzilla and his human costars and environment and pursuing relative realism.
That's not to say that the movie features Hollywood-level effects. While they are certainly impressive for a Japanese movie from its time, there are some pretty bad shots in the movie. There is a particular series of shots of Godzilla on a beach that are embarrassingly bad. That being said, the movie does up the quality of its effects from the Heisei movies and even uses some sparing CGI to create effects that would otherwise be impossible such as animating Godzilla's eyes in close-ups and creating a photorealistic swimming Godzilla (which was done first in the 1998 American movie.) For the very traditional Toho Studios, this is a major step.
Even the story itself seems to have a bone to pick with the American Godzilla movie as the movie's main villain is a mysterious UFO which seems to be a jab and the creators of the 1998 movie who were best known for the alien invasion blockbuster, Independence Day. There are even some shots in the movie which seem like a callback to that movie such as the ship hovering over and destroying a landmark. Which the alien morphs into Orga at the end of the movie, it even briefly resembles one of the ID4 aliens. It seems like the creators of Godzilla 2000 were definitely working out some frustrations and this gives the movie an interesting subtext.
The main human story of G2K deals with a Godzilla researcher who along with his young daughter and a plucky reporter are tracking the monster's recent landfall and evading a competing government agency which seeks to destroy Godzilla. The agency has also discovered a mysterious object on the ocean floor which reveals itself to be some sort of millions-of-years-old alien ship which looks like a fancy bicycle seat or possibly a futuristic MP3 player. Once the ship frees itself it seems to show a particular interest in Godzilla and it seeks to use the monster's particular biology (Regenerator G-1!) to replicate a powerful body for itself in the form of Orga, a giant brute which attempts to become Godzilla, and the latest in a long line of Godzilla imposters and wannabes. Of course, Orga is defeated an the king lives to fight another day.
Prior to the release of the 2014 American Godzilla movies, Godzilla 2000 had the distinction of being the final Godzilla movie released in American theaters and even got a slightly different alternate cut of the movie for global audiences (and the below ugly poster.) While the Japanese version is not much different, the international cut has a notoriously goofy English dub ('Like crap through a goose!") Clearly, Toho had high hopes for the movie's American release and I'm sure they would have liked the "real" Godzilla to have had a successful run in the usurper's home country. Despite the fanfare, G2K was not well-received in the U.S. and its failure at the box-office precluded any of the other Shinsei movies from being released in the U.S.
Ugh.
THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS
In keeping with this movie's seeming mission to give us a new, badass Godzilla, the big guy gets a pretty remarkable makeover for his first Shinsei movie. While it has some of the muscularity of the beloved 1990's Godzilla suits, the head design is a departure from the rather feline look of the Heisei suit for a more evil and reptilian look. This Goji has angrier eyes and a frowning mouth full of jagged teeth. The head seems to be a descendant of the great King Kong vs Godzilla design which was also more dinosaur-like.
The "cornrows" of the 1990's suit are replaced with pointy scales which inform the texture of the whole suit. Perhaps the most controversial part of the redesign are the oversize purple-tinged spines which are sharp and jagged are which replace the traditional smaller leaf-shaped dorsal plates. The largest of these spines is so big that it almost forms a triangle with his head and his tail. It is a big departure from the more subtle designs of the past.
Despite an admitted air of Millennial "X-treme-ness," the G2K suit is my favorite incarnation of the character. I love the mean looking face and the mouth full of reptilian teeth as opposed to the neat mammalian maw of the 1990's Goji. I love the perpetual frown, which I think really captures something important about the character, a sort of epic crankiness. This Godzilla has a constant look on his face like "The f### you lookin at?"
I actually really like the spikes as well, which are part of an overall jaggedness in the design. I like that they actually look sharp and bony as opposed how they have looked dull and puffy in other suits. From an evolutionary perspective they would actually effective protection. Nobody will be jumping on this Godzilla's back. and they look truly impressive when Goji is powering up his atomic breath.
Unfortunately, this suit was only ever used in one other movie, Godzila vs. Megaguirus but it has become one of the character's iconic looks, having appeared in numerous video games and comics over the years. Despite Godzila's having had a few different looks in these Shinsei movies, this is considered his "Millenium" look. The latter movies in the series use a somewhat toned-down version of the suit with smaller white spines and some other visual cues from the 1990's movies.
This is the only movie to feature Orga, who seems to be more of a straw man embodying everything the filmmakers were annoyed about than a successful kaiju in his own right. As they say in the movie, Orga is a formless thing that manifests itself in order to try and "become" Godzilla. As noted above, Orga seems like the lovechild of the 1998 Godzilla and Gamera. He's got the face of Zilla and the turtle-like silhouette of Gamera. In any case, he was an entertaining enough foe for Godzilla to beat up on until he finally gets to beat the crap out of Zilla in Final Wars.
Of course, Orga's most memorable moment happens toward the end of his fight with Godzilla when he attempts to swallow Goji in a scene that is surprisingly creepy and gross. Orga basically flips open his jaws and reveals a wet, pulsating gullet which unfolds like an organic umbrella. Its a very cool sequence and the most imaginative kaiju work since Godzilla vs Biollante. Like Biollante, Orga makes the mistake of trying to consume Godzilla from the business end first. When will they learn to start with the tail?
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT
In any series of Godzilla movies the Atomic Breath reveal is always a big moment. The first America movie didn't even do it, and the 2014 movie saved it until almost the very end.. In this movie, we get it fairly early on when Godzilla first confronts the UFO. The effect is very well done with the spines lighting up orange and building up and then the mouth lighting up. Goji gives the slightest head jerk and unleashes the beam at the UFO. It's a small subtle character moment but I love that little head jerk her gives.
HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
It's been on DVD and digital download for years but just recently came out on Bluray. Sadly, it is not a particularly great transfer and there are what I think are the same extras on the DVD but the bluray does include both the Japanese and international versions of the movie.
SEQUELS
Most of the Shinsei movies have no clear continuity with one another but you can see the great Millennium suit in the movie after this, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. TRAILER
Not only is the CW's The Flash on a month-long hiatus(!), it leaves us with one mystery resolved (ish) and another outstanding. On last week's episodes, we finally saw the true face of Zoom, this season's big bad speedster, and it's Jay Garrick...maybe. But ever since we met the supposed Earth 1 Zolomon Hunter (who in the comics is Zoom's alter ego), it was not necessarily a shock to find Jay Garrick's face under that mask. The more intriguing mystery is the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask in Zoom's lair. Kudos to the writers of the The Flash for creating an ancillary mystery that somehow supersedes the season's main mystery. The show continues to be really smart about doling out enough information to keep audiences hooked.
At this point because we don't have all the information the Zoom reveal is frustrating and confusing for a couple of reasons. First, since we are dealing with alternate universes, most of our characters have at least one doppleganger running around. All season, we had a supposedly heroic Jay Garrick visiting from Earth 2 working with our Star Labs crew and helping to mentor the Flash. This Jay was apparently killed by Zoom when the last breach was closed and last week we saw his body dumped unceremoniously in Zoom's lair. We know that Zoom's killing of this Jay Garrick is consequential to Zoom's plan for some reason. So, unless there is a third Jay Garrick running around due to being a twin, being from yet another universe or time travel, it is likely that Earth 1 Zolomon Hunter is Zoom, who is somehow based out of Earth 2 in his efforts to steal the speed force from the multiverse's speedsters. Perhaps he was drawn to Earth 2 because its resident speedster is his doppleganger.
So, was Jay Garrick actually Zoom or Team Zoom the whole time? I hope not as this would essentially be a replay of last season's awesome Reverse Flash reveal. I doubt that they would do this exact story again. Despite the fact that they have seeded the story with some doubts as to Jay Garrick's honesty and integrity, I think Jay was who he said he was: the heroic Flash of Earth 2. I do think that sometimes when we were seeing Jay Garrick on Earth 1, it was actually Zoom pretending to be him, probably to manipulate Caitlin into creating Velocity 9. It would probably be worthwhile to rewatch some of Jay's episodes to see if there are some hints of Jay not actually being Jay. This would explain Zoom's line about how Jay's death "complicates" his plan. If he can no longer pretend to be Jay on Earth 1, he will have a harder time getting the Velocity 9.
Then, who is the Man in the Iron Mask? There is evidence that it is a blond Caucasian man. I'm wagering that since his face is covered it is someone we would recognize, so the suspects are likely yet another Jay Garrick, a version of Eddie Thawne, or Henry Allen. The only reason it would be Eddie Thawne would be that we have not yet seen his doppleganger but other than that there is no reason to suspect it might be him.
The iron mask might be a hint to Jay Garrick as the literary story of The Man in the Iron Mask features a wicked brother who keeps his good twin in an iron mask and this character does spell out the name "Jay" in a military code. The MitIM also seems really frustrated about something relating to Jay Garrick. This seems to be where it is going but, man, another Jay Garrick?
The more interesting option is Earth 1 Henry Allen, who has been awol after mysteriously and uncharacteristically taking off after being released from prison at the beginning of the season. I would like to think that this plot point is leading to something and not just the bad writing that it seems to be. Also, when Barry and company were traveling to Earth 2 through the multiverse portal, one of the images was of John Wesley Shipp in his 1990 Flash costume which cements something hinted at for a while: the continuity of the 1990 show actually exists in the CW Flash multiverse (as I assume would all of the various DC movies and TV shows from over the years). This is why Mark Hamil and Amanda Pays are playing essentially alternate versions of the same characters they did in the old show. So, if Zoom is collecting speedsters from the multiverse, it is possible that the Man in the Mask is actually the 1990 show version of Barry Allen played by Shipp and that Henry Allen's disappearance is somehow linked to the fact that he is the doppleganger of this version of Barry Allen (for all we know, Henry Allen's first name could actually Barry).
I think it has become clear to most people that we are currently approaching superhero movie critical mass and that this ride can't last forever. The market is pretty much saturated with these movies and sooner or later, audiences are going to have their fill. However, the good thing about the abundance of these movies and TV shows is that studios are digging pretty deep to give us weirder and more interesting characters and stories like Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Jessica Jones and the upcoming Suicide Squad. Marvel has always been pretty savvy about using wildly different genres and tones to diversify their movies and combat superhero fatigue.
Now Fox gives us Deadpool a movie that, while set in the X-Men Cinematic Universe(s), is about as wildly different from typical superhero fare as you can get. The first thing about the movie that stands out is that it is very much an "adult" R-rated action movie with tons of violence and nudity and almost non-stop use of the word "fuck." This certainly sets it apart from pretty much all other superhero movies which are made with an eye to being at least vaguely family-friendly. While this is not a selling point in itself, it does make the movie feel like a unique experience in the genre.
Deadpool himself is a unique and beloved character who has taken a tortuous path to having his own movie, which included a misguided stop in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Deadpool has the reputation of being sort of a hyper-violent Bugs Bunny in the Marvel universe. He's known for his wisecracks and for constantly breaking the fourth wall. In that sense the movie serves the character very well. Ryan Reynolds is really fun and terrific and you could even say it is the part he was born to play. I can't even say he's good in it because it seems so effortless for him as though Deadpool is an outgrowth of his public persona.
Also refreshing is Wade Wilson/Deadpool's relationship with his girlfriend Vanessa, which actually feels like a real human relationship instead of the generic love-interest relationships you see in genre movies. These feel like two very messed-up people who really share a genuine connection. It also helps that Reynolds and Morena Baccarin have wonderful chemistry together. Despite all of the foul language and graphic violence, this relationship is the most adult thing about the movie and one of the things that best differentiates itself from other superhero movies, in which female characters are little more than cardboard cutouts.
I'm also a fan of the sort of weird and indirect way in which the story unfolds. The movie uses flashbacks to tell a lot of the story somewhat like Iron Man 3 but in a more satisfying way which folds upon itself with lots of zipping around the plot. There comes a point where you almost feel like the movie is over but then it takes off in another direction. Overall, it is a well-paced movie.
Obviously, if you are a Deadpool fan you will be checking this movie out but if you are a more casual fan of superhero movies, Deadpool is definitely one to check out. I think it is a milestone in superhero movies and one who's apparent success will lead not only to it's own sequels but to studios seriously looking at more mature and R-rated content. While, one can make the argument that it is not wild or weird or queer enough, it is certainly a promising re-start to Deadpool's movie career and hopefully its success will lead to even more daring content in its sequel.
I don't know or care much about the Fantastic Four or their legacy as superheroes. I thought their prior two movies were dumb and that they weren't particularly interesting as characters. Then I saw the the trailers for last summer's Josh Trank directed Fantastic 4 movie and was intrigued by the sci-fi take on the material and the dark tone. I had also read that he was looking at Cronenbergian body horror as an influence which seemed interesting.
Then before the movie was released there were an avalanche of stories about the movie's troubled production such as Trank's "out of control" behavior on set and lots of reshoots. The media smelled blood in the water and the movie got a ton of bad press. When it was finally released all of the reviews and press seemed to feed into that narrative. It now has the reputation of not only being a flop but an embarrassingly awful movie.
I finally saw it for myself on Blu-ray recently and it is definitely a better movie than you would believe from its reviews and reputation. Now, it has some serious problems most of which are due to areas where it seems to have been significantly altered in editing with reshoots. There are some glaring inconsistencies in visuals, tone, and pacing but I am convinced that there is a good or at least more interesting movie buried in here.
I particularly like the way the movie shows how horrible and burdensome it would be to have super-powers. It seems like in every other superhero movie, the characters get off light. If you really think about it, being Spider-Man would be a gross and horrifying experience. Fantastic 4 actually spends some time on how disturbing and terrifying the character's powers would be and I really like that. I also dig the premise of the these characters working on a project that seeks to uncover the mystery of inter-dimensional travel. This is a fun idea, and a neat way to replace the 1960's era space origins of the characters. It's an interesting idea that actually works well cinematically and adds something unique to the movie.
Also, I don't know if this is a factor of the post-production fiddling but the movie is under two hours long, which feels fresh and wonderful when every super hero or genre movie aims for a butt-numbing two and a half hour run time. For this reason alone, the movie's reputation is puzzling. The short run time helps offset some of the movie's issues. A flawed long movie is one thing, but a flawed shorter movie can still be enjoyable.
In any case, I definitely recommend checking it out. It's not the trainwreck it is made out to be. I, for one, would love to see a director's cut or alternate cut of the movie.
If you are like me, you may have been a bit disappointed by the reveal that the mastermind behind Kylo Ren and the big boss of the First Order in The Force Awakens turned out to be yet another desiccated old dark side mummy. What's worse is that we find out very little about him in the movie and we are generic genre movie villain.
We know that he is a pale humanoid with deep scars on his face and head. We also know that Han and Leia are aware of him and that he was involved in turning Ben Solo into Kylo Ren. It was he who presumably ordered Ren to kill Luke Skywalker's Jedi trainees. He is not a member of the Knghts of Ren, but his apprentice Kylo leads them. Despite his gigantic holographic projection, he has been described as being about seven feet tall by people associated with the production. Strangely, for a movie that fetishises "practical effects," Snoke is a motion capture CGI character performed by Andy Sirkis, although from what we see in the movie he could have been realized with make-up. For an alien, he is extremely human-looking.
We learn some interesting facts from the movie's novelization such as the fact that he was active during the Clone Wars and that he has had other apprentices, if he is not a Sith Lotd he certainly operates like one. He was drawn to Ben Solo because of his Skywalker lineage. In fact, the book seems to emphasize Snoke's interest in the Skywalker family.
The above is literally all we know about him. A popular and convincing fan theory going around proposes that Snoke is the assumed-to-be-dead Sith Lord, Darth Plagueus, described by Palpatine in a chilling monologue from Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine hints that Plagueis had been his master and that he had been able to manipulate the force to survive death and create life.
Plagueus has an interesting history in Star Wars. Because he was described at some length and associated with the saga's most interesting character, fans have always been curious to learn more about him. Over the years, he has been the subject of a lot of fan art and speculation. He was the subject of an oft-delayed novel, Darth Plagueus which detailed his backstory and relationship with Palpatine. Of course, this was all wiped from canon during the Great EU Purge but he remains an interesting figure in Star Wars mythos. Most interestingly, it is strongly theorized that his experimentation and manipulation of the Force caused the virgin birth of Anakin Skywalker. In fact, this subplot was likely the whole reason that the idea of midichlorians was created, to give the Force a biological manifestation in order to explain how a Force user like Plagueus could use it to create life. This is one of Star Wars' most interesting and significant unexplored storylines.
So what is the evidence that Snoke is Plagueus? Plagueus was a Muun which are tall thin pale-skinned humanoids, seen briefly in the separatist meeting in Attack of the Clones. While, he doesn't exactly look like the Muun's we have seen on screen, he's close. We know Snoke was active around the time of the Clone Wars, which could be consistent with him being Plagueus (in his novel, Plagueus was killed toward the end of the events of The Phantom Menace but, again, this is no longer canon). Perhaps the best evidence is that the musical cue that plays while Palpatine tells Anakin the tale of "Darth Plagueus the Wise" is almost identical to Snoke's theme in the Force Awakens. Remember, John Williams has composed the scores for all of the Star Wars movies and it is doubtful he would just recycle an old piece of music for no reason. The music strongly implies a connection between these scenes.
So, let's say it is Plagueus, what does that mean for our story? It means that instead of a generic villain, we have a character who has already has an important stake in the saga. If we are picking up that interesting thread of Plagueus having essentially triggered Anakin's birth all those years ago, it would explain his interest in the Skywalker family. It would also provide some payoff for the long stranding mystery of Anakin's conception and birth. It would be a terrific reveal for the end of the next movie. Instead of "I am your Father" it would be "I created your whole family using the Dark Side!"
Now, according to interviews and info that has leaked out since the movie's release, we know that the Snoke character was one of the last things to be finalized for the movie. It was even revealed that the filmmakers had considered making Snoke a female character, so if he is Plagueis it was not the original plan for the The Force Awakens. It may be that in developing the character, Abrams and co stumbled upon Plagueis as an interesting piece of unexplored material with story potential.
So why are people pushing the Plagueis angle? Why can't Snoke be a new and original character? It's probably because Snoke is widely regarded as one of the weakest parts of the movie. A lot of us are hoping for the reveal that makes him a more interesting and important character instead of how he seems: a warmed over version of Palpatine and another powerful force user who just happened to be hanging around during the prior six movies. Patrick Garone Follow Me On Twitter
*****THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FORCE AWAKENS*****
I never thought I would see the day when a Star Wars movie had boring design and interesting characters. It's definitely a different animal from its predecessors and doesn't suffer the classic Star Wars flaws: stilted performances and bad dialogue. Overall, it is a satisfying movie that will not only please hardcore Star Wars original trilogy fundamentalists but in its compelling new characters and some thrilling action sequences will be fresh and entertaining for new viewers as well. For a movie series that has been so intertwined with its creator who has been involved as a writer, director, or producer on each of the six prior movies it is interesting to see a completely Lucas-free Star Wars movie. For better and for worse, The Force Awakens proves that J. J. Abrams is no George Lucas.
Abrams has a track record of directing big Hollywood blockbusters that have an emphasis on character and relationships, most evident in his two Star Trekmovies. The Force Awakens has that same emphasis on its characters and their relationships and this is without a doubt the best thing about the movie. Newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac (and the insanely adorable BB-8) are all excellently cast and give the movie a sense of joy and vitality. This is the first Star Wars movie I have seen where there is not a single bad performance (although Domhnall Gleeson's foray into Imperial bitchiness comes close as does Carrie Fisher's understated and weirdly lock jawed performance.) Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, in particular have terrific chemistry and form a sweet and tender friendship over the course of the movie.
It is a notable that this movie features a strikingly diverse cast for a blockbuster movie featuring a woman and an actor of color as its leads who are all well-developed three dimensional characters. While this shouldn't be a big deal, Star Wars is an important and beloved piece of popular culture so it is nice to see it finally reflecting the diversity of the world in which we live. Hopefully this movie's phenomenal success will serve as proof that audiences want to see more diverse casting in their movies.
The strength of its new characters and the excitement of returning characters such as Han Solo, Leia, and Chewbacca in solid supporting supporting roles makes The Force Awakens a uniquely satisfying Star Wars movie, It has a warmth and a looseness that were missing from the prequels. The movie is dramatically sound, sometimes funny, and it really "works" in a way that none of the previous movies have. It lacks the awkward goofiness of the original trilogy and the stiff formality of the prequels.
As good as the movie is, I do feel that it has one fatal flaw in that it relies far too heavily on nostalgia and essentially replays story beats from movies in the original trilogy. We start with another character on a desert planet. There is another Death Star (this being the third one in four movies). There is another trench run to destroy the Death Star. The First Order is run by a mysterious, scarred, and shadowy figure who is apparently a master of the dark side of the Force. Unfortunately, for every new and unique element that the movie brings to the table, it recycles three things as an act of obsessive fan wankery.
In the trade-off of J. J. Abrams for George Lucas, we thankfully lose a lot of Lucas' maddening bad habits but we also lose that hard-to-define quality that Lucas brought to Star Wars that made it so special. We lose his genius at creating a coherent and compelling visual world and we lose his facility for purely cinematic storytelling. The Force Awakens is certainly a good-looking movie but it does look and feel a bit generic at times. Strangely for a Star Wars movie, it has very unimaginative design. With the exception of BB-8 and Rey's speeder, there is not a single memorable original design element in this movie. And both of those two are essentially twists on iconic Star Wars designs. Other than the redesigns of original trilogy vehicles, every ship in the movie is bland and slab-like.
That carries over to some really unimaginative locations. Even in the prequel trilogy for which a lot of fans have an irrational hatred, there are a half a dozen really unique and memorable locales such the baroque splendor of the Naboo capital, the futuristic urban sprawl of Coruscant, the sleek and rainy clone facility on Kamino, the volcanic Hell of Mustafar, and plenty of others. The closest that The Force Awakens has to a memorable location is Jakku, which is essentially Tattooine with some crashed starships, The other locations are ill-defined and mundane.
Starkiller Base, in particular, is problematic. We are to assume it is some sort of pre-existing planet that has been converted into a Death Star-like weapon. So, it has a combination of a tech interior with a snowy forested exterior. It feeds off a nearby star which, apparently it will exhaust to power its weapon, at which point, who knows what happens. Can it travel like the Death Star? If so, what happens to the people who presumably live on its surface? Its poor design raises a lot of awkward questions. Compare that with the Death Star which after a few short scenes, tells you all you need to know about how it works, mostly in a purely visual way. Good design works without distracting you with questions.
Instead of the vast and diverse galaxy of the Lucas movies, the galaxy of The Force Awakens seems strangely compact, as though the events of the movie are taking place in one solar system. Once Rey and Finn escape Jakku they are almost immediately met by Han and Chewie, who are then met by other characters. The Starkiller weapon fires a laser that hits another planet which is an indeterminate distance away but feels like it must be nearby. What worse, Han is able to see the planet destroyed from Maz Kanata's planet. Instead of feeling like the story is happening on an epic and vast canvas, it feels small and inconsequential. This was also an issue with the director's two Star Trek movies, which seemed to shrink the cosmos and bend the rules of the established universe to expedite and facilitate the story.
Lastly, for a movie that seems intent on delivering fan service it seems to stubbornly insist on reinventing things that don't need to be reinvented. For example, it is weird that the movie creates a desert planet for Rey to live on when perhaps the most iconic world in Star Wars is the desert planet of Tattooine. It seems like the choice was to either use Tattoine or use an original planet but not to create a planet that is exactly like Tattooine down to having its own version of Jawas and moisture vaporators. Instead of using the already established Coruscant, the movie creates another urban planet as the capital of the Republic. The Resistance is based on a planet that looks a lot like the jungle planet Yavin IV from A New Hope but apparently is a different world. The Force Awakens does a lot of things like this. Instead of using any of the hundreds of classic Star Wars aliens that have appeared on screen, the movie insists on featuring its own original creature designs, most of which are pretty forgettable and look like they could come from an episode of Doctor Who. Abrams also did this on the Star Trek movies and it was a missed opportunity there as well.
For all the complaints about the prequels being mired in "politics" you at least had a good understanding of the different organizations and entities at play. The Force Awakens has a difficult job of at least giving a basic picture of the state of the galaxy post-Return of the Jedi and it doesn't succeed at helping you understand how these different factions work. Instead of the Empire, there is now a First Order, which is essentially the Empire with a new name. Why not just call it the Empire? The Rebellion is now the Resistance which apparently has some relation to a new Republic that is also a thing. While Star Wars has always been about dropping you into an existing world, this just feels like sloppy and overly complicated storytelling.
So, I have a lot of nerdy gripes about The Force Awakens but they are mostly small ways that the movie doesn't capture that sense of Star Wars despite the fact that it has a lot of superficial fan service. All that said, I mostly enjoyed the film which was filled with some really terrific moments. The movie also features some great new characters and performances which feels like a revelation in a Star Wars movie. I am excited to such a talented and charismatic cast carrying on the story. I feel very good about the next installment which I hold will go in a bold and original direction.
While The Empire Strikes Back was my first Star Wars movie, I was an eight year old boy when Return of the Jedi hit theaters and was exactly the right age to lose my mind over it. I'm not exaggerating when I say I saw it at the theater twenty times during its run. It was my primary babysitter during the summer of 1983. Even before the movie was released I remember sitting with my best friend and studying the Kenner action figure card backs with the upcoming figures in order to parse out story clues. What was a Gammorrean and why did it need to be guarded? It was the most toyetic of all the OT movies with more creatures, aliens, vehicles and more of just everything Star Wars.
The movie, however, leaves quite a bit to be desired. While it starts out strong with a fun section revolving around the rescue of Han Solo and is enjoyable for carrying both trilogies through to a satisfying ending, a lot of the movie feels lazy and uninspired. Much of the problem with the movie is in the fact that it rehashes elements of its predecessors. Jabba's Palace is an opportunity to do a bigger and better version of the Cantina scene. The movie's climax involves an attack on another Death Star but faster and with more ships. The movie feels a little samey.
And then there's the Ewoks. While the Stormtroopers have never been terribly effective, to see the Emperor's "best troops" easily dispatched by a bunch of teddy bears armed with rocks and sticks kind of ruins them and diminishes the Empire as a force for evil. The whole sequence-which is pivotal to the movie and trilogy-is silly when it needs to be serious.
The combination of a weak script which seems confused about what to do with its characters and a lot of actors phoning in their performances hobbles the movie. Ford and Fisher have traded in their great Empire Strikes Back chemistry for a vague romantic relationship which veers into a truly dumb and adolescent love triangle with Luke. I don't know how the carbonite affected Han Solo but he is really dopey in this movie. The two share a scene in the Ewok village that nears Attack of the Clones levels of melodrama.
However, like any Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi is more than the sum of its flaws. There is a lot to like about the movie and it still holds up as a rousing space opera adventure. While very derivative of Star Wars, the space battle at the end of the movie is truly spectacular. The Endor speeder bike chase also holds up as a terrific sequence which makes me sad that the movie has yet to make its way to a 3D presentation.
Perhaps Jedi's greatest contribution to the Star Wars mythos is Jabba the Hutt, a character who is among the series' most iconic. I am certainly not a practical effects fetishist (I wouldn't be sad to see the Yoda Muppet replaced) but the giant puppet that brought Jabba to life is one of cinema's greatest and most successful creatures. It holds up astonishingly well and could hardly be improved upon.
In terms of its connections to the larger saga, Return of the Jedi ties up storylines from all five of its predecessors and particularly connects to and reflects The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith (Ring Theory!), where Luke and Anakin's journeys strongly parallel one another. Most noticeably, Anakin's encounter with Dooku at the beginning of Sith on Grievous' ship strongly mirrors Luke and Vader's duel on the Death Star with Palpatine presiding over both.
Jedi also brings back prequel mainstay Palpatine in the flesh. He has lured Luke to him to test him against Vader and also caught the Rebels in a trap by feeding them bad information. Classic Palapatine! It's good to see that he is still doing what he loves.
Jedi has some of the more controversial Special Edition changes. Jabba's palace gets a new musical number which replaces "Lapti Nek," which is not bad but some of the ostentatious CG could have been toned down. The The Sarlacc gets CGI tentacles and a beak which is cool and makes it a little more active than just a toothy hole. The horrible There are some nice subtle touches added to the Blurays, such as a Dug skulking around Jabba's palace and blinking eyes on the Ewoks.
The movie's finale gets perhaps the biggest changes. The music on the Endor celebration has changed to a more somber and epic song befitting the conclusion of the saga and no takes us to the Empire's fall on several locations we have visited in the saga.
Perhaps the most controversial change is the swap of the original actor who played Anakin's ghost with Hayden Christensen which, on some level, is a hilarious troll to the original trilogy fundamentalist crowd. The argument against this is usually something like "How dare they replace that guy who was in the movie for two minutes with the guy who played that character in two movies! I loved what's his face! Childhood! Ruined!"
The Empire Strikes Back was my first Star Wars movie. I was only five but I remember it vividly and the parts of the movie are burned in my imagination; the dark and snowy imagery, the spooky duel in the Dagobah cave, the dramatic reveal of Vader's identity. It made a huge impression on me and I have been obsessed with Star Wars ever since.
Empire is widely considered the best of the Star Wars movies and is tonally a much different movie than its "gee whiz!" predecessor. It is the prototypical "dark sequel" and is slower, moodier, and more character-driven than Star Wars. It famously ends with a dark and traumatic twist.
After their rousing victory in destroying the Death Star, the Rebels are now on the run and hiding out on the inhospitable ice planet of Hoth. We learn in the opening crawl that Vader has become obsessed with locating Luke Skywalker after apparently learning his identity at some point off screen and he soon learns the base location and leads a memorable land assault in one of Star Wars most memorable sequences, the Battle of Hoth (later to become fodder for many many video games.)
Han, Leia, Chewie and 3PO escape on the Falcon (which is strangely unreliable in this movie) and Luke and Artoo head for Dagobah where a ghostly Obi-Wan has instructed him to find Yoda and complete his training. Meanwhile, after avoiding the Empire in an asteroid field the Falcon and her crew limps to Bespin where Han's friend Lando Calrissian runs Cloud City-one of Star Wars' most awesome and iconic locations. Han is betrayed and frozen in carbonite and turned over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett to be delivered to Jabba the Hutt on Tattooine.
When he senses his friends in danger, Luke heads to Bespin to rescue them only to face Vader in the series' most dramatic duel and Luke finally learns the truth about his father's identity. Battered and defeated, he is rescued by Leia in the Falcon as she makes her escape with Chewie, Lando and the droids..
Compared to the original movie The Empire Strikes Back is surprisingly heavy and features an ending that can be charitably described as a "bummer" and there are fans that prefer the more light-hearted entries in the series but Empire goes a long way towards enriching the world and (to an extent) developing its characters. That said, it still suffers the same flaw as all the Lucas produced Star Wars movies: god awful dialogue. This is mitigated somewhat by director Irving Kirshner's steadier hand directing actors but it is still an issue.
Where the movie really resonates is in developing a deeper mythology of the Star Wars universe and its mysterious Force. The chunk of the movie on Dagobah with Luke and Yoda really develop the Force idea from what was a sort of vague spiritual concept in Star Wars and speaks to a definitely Eastern philosophy with some profound implications.
Like the best parts of Star Wars, the most powerful sequence in the movie is a purely visual sequence: Luke's mysterious encounter with "Darth Vader" in the Dagobah cave. In this brief sequence Luke is drawn to a strange cave and is warned by Yoda that it is a place strong with the Dark Side. When Luke asks him what is inside, Yoda cryptically warns him "Only what you bring with you." When Yoda warns Luke that he will not need his weapons, Luke ignores him and ventures in where he encounters...Darth Vader. Luke beheads him in fear and anger. When he looks down at Vader's head he sees his own face beneath the mask.
As a five-year-old boy, I remember being simultaneously scared, confused by and in awe of this scene. While on the surface it was confusing to me, I think that I understood it in my gut what it meant. It's an example of the really powerful visual storytelling for which the series is known. The best thing is that no one ever talks about it, except Yoda referring to it obliquely as Luke's "failure in the cave." A lesser movie would spend time analyzing it or telling the audience what it means but Empire leaves it
In the context of the larger six film saga, Empire connects to the prequels in a number of ways. We finally see Palpatine and Yoda after a long absence. Since we have already spent a lot of time with Yoda, our introduction to him plays different than it did in 1980. Instead of asking "Who is this weird little creature?" now it is "OMG Yoda went nuts!"
In this movie, Boba Fett plays his most important role and production-wise this was his first live-action appearance (although he actually debuted in the Holiday special and also in some live appearances.) So began the weird cult of Boba Fett, a character with little screen time and importance. Oh, Star Wars fans, you are an intense bunch.
If you are familiar with the wonderful "Star Wars Ring Theory" which describes how movies in both trilogies "rhyme" with one another and allude to one another in very specific ways, you can see how Empire connects in a lot of ways to Attack of the Clones. Both movies feature Fetts, chases through asteroid fields, a ship attaching itself to a larger body to hide, a Skywalker getting his hand cut off, giant ground battles featuring walkers, romance subplots, Skywalkers abandoning their missions to rescue loved ones, etc. If you haven't already, check it out. It is a good read.
At the very least, both trilogies compare and contrast the journeys of both Skywalkers and the choices they make. It's hard for us old school Star Wars fans to see it fresh but watching the movies sequentially and seeing Luke begin to replicate his father's choices should fill the viewer with trepidation. In retrospect, Hayden Christensen does a good job of subtly channeling some of Mark Hamil's vocal and speech patterns. The two really do seem to be credible as father and son and when Luke takes off because he is compelled to go after his friends, it should bring up some red flags.
In terms of Special Edition changes, Empire was the least affected. The majority of changes expand and enhance to Bespin scenes to great effect. Other changes include alteration of Boba Fett's voice to match the prequels and a puzzling and unnecessary scene of Darth Vader walking to and from his shuttle. Perhaps the best change is replacing the original "Monkey Eye" Emperor hologram with Revenge of the Sith Ian McDiarmid. While his is a welcome addition I do wish the make-up was more in the style of Return of the Jedi rather than the Mrs. Doubtfire-looking Sith make-up.
What can you say about the original Star Wars movie? It's a film that is so beloved and was such a phenomenon upon its release and is such a classic with an amazing legacy that it is easy to forget George Lucas' somewhat quaint movie amidst a host of trilogies and spin offs. But, at the time of its release, Star Wars nestled itself into world consciousness and the imaginations of a generation of people. It's easy for people to forget that there is a movie in the middle of the maelstrom that is the larger Star Wars phenomenon.
One of the remarkable things about Lucas' first trip to the Galaxy Far, Far Away is how it succeeds as an effortless bit of world building. Modern movies tend to feature clunky world building in service to profitable "shared universes" and "connected franchises" but the universe of Star Wars seems to have sprung out of George Lucas' weird preoccupations and unexpected genre mash-ups and the result is visionary and compelling and unlike anything before it (despite its clear debts to other movies). It's a movie that starts in the middle of a larger story, throws you into a credible pre-existing world and trusts you to understand what is going on in a universe that is much more complex and rich than the simple narrative that unfolds.
Of course, much of the uniqueness of Star Wars rests with its bold and unexpected design thanks in large part to people like Ralph McQuarrie who were largely responsible for the movie's look. We are so used to the imagery now but so much of the Star Wars visual style was just completely weird and unprecedented in 1977. Ships like the Millennium Falcon, Imperial Star Destroyer or TIE Fighter would not have even been recognizable as spaceships. Darth Vader is a bizarre asthmatic samurai robot thing who fights with a laser sword. R2D2? A trash can robot on wheels, Jawas? Sandpeople? Space apes? It's no wonder they had a hard time getting this made. It's a really weird movie with an iconography that is almost completely fresh. Very few movies achieve this level of clear visual originality.
So it's no wonder that people went crazy for Star Wars when it was released. It was completely different and therefore compelling. And the story was fun and fast-paced and sweetly good-natured. Like Rocky the year before, it was the perfect remedy for late 1970's malaise and a contrast to the dark complex movies that dominated the decade.
How does it hold up now, almost forty years and five movies later? I'd say pretty well. It still presents a unique world and for the most part the 1990's Special Edition changes have added to the movie's visual world through opening up some environments and subtly fixing some effects issues. The only addition I find objectionable is the added Jabba scene which presents a weirdly fatherly and mellow Jabba the Hutt.
Now, the movie has its characteristic George Lucas flaws: poorly directed actors and painful dialogue. While fans are quick to point these out in the prequel movies they are all over the original trilogy as well. People tend to look at these movies with nostalgia blinders. They are classics and wonderful movies but not perfect by any means.
For example, the character of Han Solo has not improved with age. While many fans are Solo cultists, the character is grating to modern sensibilities. It's kind of like going back and watching Friends and realizing that Chandler is kind of an awful person. Han definitely comes off as kind of a douche. He's basically rude to everyone around him and disrespectful and dismissive. I mean, he literally refers to Obi Wan as an "old fossil." He's blatantly sexist to Leia and treats C-3PO with vaguely homophobic disdain. His wishie-washiness about participating in the Death Star attack also causes Biggs and a bunch of Rebel pilots to be killed. So, yeah, douche.
In terms of its place in the now six-film narrative, A New Hope jumps ahead twenty years after Revenge of the Sith. The Empire is now ascendant and we hear the the Senate which was such a big part of the prequels has now been disbanded. While the Emperor is given a shout out, this is the only Star Wars movie in which he does not appear.
The now-adult daughter of Padme and Anakin, Princess Leia has been dispatched by her father Bail Organa to Tattooine to find Obi Wan Kenobi, who is hiding out there and watching over Luke Skywalker. Upon her capture, Leia sends R2D2 and 3PO to find Kenobi, who has aged A LOT in twenty years (those suns, though) and doesn't seem to remember either droid despite having important interactions with both of them (although he does give R2 a rather knowing look.) Obi-wan's character is one that I feel is enriched by the prequels. Watching the movies sequentially it almost seems that Alec Guiness has some of MacGregor's twinkle in his eyes, although obviously it is the other way around. Anyway, Obi gives Luke a cursory Jedi training aboard the Falcon which is interrupted but their capture at the Death Star, last seen at the end of Sith under construction. I guess it takes twenty years to build a Death Star.
Leia is rescued and Obi-Wan and Vader engage in what is a strangely low-energy lightsaber duel during which Obi-Wan is killed and vanishes into thin air, the trick to which Yoda referred right at the end of Sith. Luke and the rebels attack the Death Star, blow it up and Vader escapes. Chewbacca doesn't get a damn medal.
I was just a baby when Star Wars came out and didn't actually see it until years later on home video after having already seen at least The Empire Strikes Back and possibly Jedi (back before VHS really caught on, you had to see movies in the theater or catch them when they ran on TV). I didn't have the experience of seeing the movie in the theaters until the Special Edition came out in 1997 but I definitely caught a lot of the Star Wars mania in the ensuing years, I just didn't have any context for it until I saw Empire but like many people my age, Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood even if it took me a while to catch up to the actual movie.
