Star Wars & Star Trek - Remakes, Sequels and Re-Imaginings

SPOILER WARNING - This blog post contains HUGE spoilers for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Solo, Rogue One, the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Trek:Wrath of Khan, Star Trek, Star Trek:Into Darkness, Star Trek Discovery



I am a huge Star Wars fan. I love the original trilogy and despise the prequel trilogy and most Star Wars fans would broadly agree with that view - original trilogy great, prequel trilogy bad. Things have got more complicated with the new Star Wars films. So far in chronological order of release we've had The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi and Solo. When I first saw TFA I liked it and enjoyed it more the second time I watched it. I loved Rogue One from the beginning and is my favourite of the new films. Solo I enjoyed while watching it but haven't given it too much thought since (apart from L3-37 - from the trailer I thought Lando Calrissian would steal the film but it was L3-37). Observant readers amongst you will notice I missed out The Last Jedi.This film has proven exceptionally divisive with many Star Wars fans demanding it be deemed non-canon (and so wouldn't really count in the story) and more recently have started a petition to get it remade. Some people just didn't like the film and Star Wars is very important to them so they made quite a bit of noise about it but it seems undeniable that some of these people don't like the fact that the Star Wars cast has become more diverse. There was a joke in the Family Guy Star Wars episodes where Mon Mothma appeared and it was explicitly stated that she was seemingly only the second woman in the entire galaxy and that was fair criticism at the lack of women in Star Wars. I can think of three female characters who have lines in the original trilogy - Leia, Luke's aunt Beru and Mon Mothma. Kelly Marie Tran (who played Rose Tico in TLJ) has deleted her instagram account because of the months of online abuse she received, purely because she dared to appear in TLJ.

Kelly Marie Tran hugging Star Wars fan
who had dressed up as her character

Personally, I was disappointed by TLJ. I think there are plot holes, there are whole sections of the film that could be cut, that the motivations of many of the characters made no sense, small things about how things would logically work annoyed me. But overall I liked it. And there are great parts in it. Daisy Ridley as Rey was again great and the best character in the new films, her deepening and increasing complicated relationship with Kylo Ren was handled brilliantly, her relationship with Luke Skywalker was really interesting (I also thought Mark Hamill and his portrayal of Luke was fantastic, with Luke being shown to be an imperfect and flawed person). So ten out of ten for Daisy Ridley and Rey.

TFA had also set up the possibility of an interesting backstory for Rey, left for years on a planet by her parents who Rey was sure were coming back - not unlike what happened to Luke Skywalker. There were many fan theories - was she Obi Wan Kenobi's child or grandchild, what about Qui-Gon Jinn's child? Kylo Ren revealed that her parents were, in terms of the larger story being told, insignificant - alcoholic bad parents who sold her and were of no consequence. This has again divided many fans but I loved it. Star Wars could be seen as the tale of the Skywalker family - Anakin Skywalker; a youngling with amazing potential who was brought into the Dark Side, killed his friends and helped set up a dictatorship where he was the enforcer of the evil Emperor and assumed the name Darth Vader. Vader's two children are taken away and hidden and ultimately return to bring down the Empire and help redeem their father. Obviously in TFA and TLJ the Skywalkers were still present (and with Kylo Ren essentially as the villain) but the main character was Rey and she is just a random person who became involved in the war. Kylo Ren explicitly stated that she had no part in this story and to the people watching the film this meant that you don't have to be a Skywalker to be part of the story and that's a good thing.

Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Adam Driver all excel in their roles - if Poe is a bit annoying at times and Kylo Ren a touch too moody. Kelly Marie Tran as Rose was a thoroughly likeable character who reinforced the previous message that anyone can be a hero. I am completely at a loss as to what anyone can have against her but that's not to say there would be any justification for the way she has been treated.

Then there are just some of the cinematic victories - the final battle on the salt fields that throw up red clouds, the battle between Kylo Ren and Rey against Snoke's guards, the fight between Finn and Captain Phasma surrounded by fire and explosions all looked amazing. And let's not pretend there was nothing to keep fanboys happy - they mention Admiral Ackbar, you see Nien Nunb hanging around, Finn still has the jacket he got from Poe in TFA and you can even see where it's been sewn up after Kylo Ren slashed it with a light sabre.

Where to start with the problems:

• Tracking ships through hyperspace - it can't be done and it doesn't make sense and this technology would completely change everything in their galaxy. It would have been much easier to say they had planted a tracking device on a ship or had a spy.
• Leia floating in space and using the Force to pull herself back inside was silly and looked ridiculous.
• The casino planet - completely bizarre sequence that while fun served no real purpose and raised so many questions about space travel - Rose and Finn have time to leave the fleet, go to a planet, spend a while there and get back all before their main ships run out of fuel.
• Snoke - it makes perfect sense that Rey kills him but I think it's weird to introduce him and then kill him without explaining who he is, where he came from and more.
• Admiral Holdo & Poe's mutiny - overall Laura Dern was really good but I think Poe causing a mutiny made sense, she seemingly had no plan. I agree that an admiral doesn't need to tell everyone what is going but these were special circumstances and without Holdo explaining there was no reason to think they weren't all going to die.
• Flying the ship at lightspeed into another ship - the real question is if this was always an option why have they never done it before? Couldn't they have destroyed the Death Star (and indeed lots of other things) this way?
• Finally, there is the big problem - and this was true of TFA - the story is very similar to the original trilogy. TLJ heavily relied on the escape from Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, both for the opening scene - escaping from the First Order - and the end battle which mirrored the Empire's attack on Hoth. But the state of affairs at the end of the film feel very much like the start of the original trilogy, a small group of rebels taking on a mighty empire. I was hoping that rather than seeing a rebellion it would be more like a war between two nations. The First Order is practically identical to the Empire in every respect and that did feel repetitive.  

So there are a lot of problems and I was disappointed, but it's not a bad film and like I said there is a lot of stuff to love in the film.

As I was writing this blog Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks, spoke of how he actually contemplated suicide because of the backlash to The Phantom Menace, which is just awful. Jar Jar Binks was one of the worst things about the prequels but that really was George Lucas's fault  and not Best's (not that he should be persecuted either). Lucas himself has previously talked about how making Star Wars was no longer fun.

Lucas directing Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks

Star Wars is really important to me. Films are really important to me. But let's keep things in perspective. A bad sequel or remake doesn't ruin the original thing you loved, you can ignore the stuff you don't like. It's okay not to like something but it's a shame to have something you love but spend more time being angry than happy about it.

That said, as much as I annoyed by the level of hate directed at TLJ, my feelings about the recent Star Trek films - and possibly Discovery - are quite volatile. I could write whole blogs just about the problems I have with Chris Pines' performance or how the best thing in them is when Khan is beating Kirk up*. I have seen Star Trek and Star Trek:Into Darkness - both were terrible aside from aforementioned Khan fighting Kirk. In my opinion there are only two genuine Star Trek characters in it: Scotty and his little alien pal, whose name is apparently Keenser, these two are the only ones who object to the terrible mission they were to be sent on. Scotty, rightly, pointed out that Star Fleet were explorers, not soldiers. Then there are the things that break all the rules set up in previous Star Trek shows - you can't teleport while at warp, you can't teleport halfway across the galaxy, it may sound like nitpicking but in scifi and fantasy you need to have rules about what technology and magic can or can't do otherwise you can do literally anything. The rules around teleporting fed into plots and how they were resolved and I would argue the inability to solve issues just by teleporting made for better storylines.

Then the things that don't make sense at all - why do they hide underwater at the beginning of ST:ID when they can teleport? When Kirk is kicked off Enterprise his escape pod just happens to land not only on the planet Spock was stuck but in the vicinity of him? Why on Earth does Khan's blood bring Kirk back from the dead? And don't get me started on twisting the ending of Wrath of Khan so it is Kirk who sacrificed himself.

But most importantly - Star Trek has a philosophy. Humans in Star Trek are better than humans are in real life. They don't have money because their society has evolved beyond that. On Earth there is no crime, no poverty, people live in peace and not only is humankind united dozens of other alien races have joined them in a Federation. Star Fleet, the closest thing they have to a military, is explicitly not a military. Exploration, science and helping people are seen as equally as important as defence. They worry about what the right thing to do is and whole episodes are devoted to thinking about the morality of their actions. But the new Star  Trek films have abandoned all that for blowing stuff up and lens flare. I often like reimaginings where the things are made darker and grittier but I don't want a Star Trek that is dark and gritty I want one that is hopeful, where being kind, compassionate and thoughtful is not seen as weak. Problems in Star Trek were not usually solved purely by violence but by cooperation, intelligence and trusting others and that is something that is very rarely shown in Hollywood.

I found this picture online and I'm convinced it must
have been edited to put in more lens flare

Even so if they are bad films and if they have changed what I see as the "philosophy" of Star Trek it's not the end of the world. Star Trek V doesn't make a lick of sense and less said about Star Trek: The Motion Picture the better. I'm watching Star Trek - Discovery right now and have similar concerns about abandoning the Star Trek philosophy but have been told by many people to stick with it and it'll be alright in the end. I have never tweeted JJ Abrams or Chris Pine letting them know of my disappointment and I think complaints that are limited to a boring plot, or breaking the "rules" of the universe or something like that need to be kept in proportion and not bombarded at the people who you hold responsible. Maybe save actual angry campaigns for some of the many things Hollywood has done that are really wrong and there are a lot of those.

* I tried to find a picture of Khan and Kirk fighting from ST:ID and well, there aren't any. There is footage of Kirk attacking Khan and Khan just letting Kirk hit him and there is a long fight between Spock and Khan so have I just invented this fight?

My Favourite Films Of 2017

I've decided against doing a top ten films released this year as it was getting to hard to rank them and ten would have limited my options too much. These films aren't even all films I saw in the cinema, one I watched on dvd and the other was a Netflix film. So in no particular order...

Logan

Be really careful holding his hand

This film is supposed to be Hugh Jackman's last time playing Logan, a character he has been playing for nearly eighteen years. If it is his last time then it was a very good ending. To me part of Logan's problem as a character is that he is too good, his healing powers and skeleton made him practically immortal surviving point blank gunshots to the head, numerous stabbings and even an atomic bomb, at some point it loses the sense of jeopardy. But early on in Logan it is shown that Logan isn't as strong as he used to be, his powers don't work like they did before, not only is he older, he's weaker. Logan starts the film as a driver, trying to keep a low profile, while he saves up money to buy a ship. Some recent disaster has seen the X-Men and Xavier's school destroyed and Logan now takes care of a very ill Charles Xavier. Xavier seems to be suffering from some sort of dementia and for a man as powerful as he is that is extremely dangerous. For a couple of decades, mysteriously, no mutants have been born.

Then someone tracks Logan down, a woman, who asks for his help, mainly for her "daughter", Laura, who is being hunted by a distinctly sinister organisation, and Laura has eerily similar powers to Logan and even an adamantium skeleton. Logan, who had done his best to avoid conflict, puts himself right in the middle to help her. The film is very violent and really shows what a fight with Logan would result in - missing limbs, torn out throats and more. The film shows the toll a life like Logan's can take, and not just his unusually long and bloody life but anyone who gets involved with conflict. At one point the characters watch the film Shane and we see the scene with the line, "there's no living with a killing" and Logan has killed so many. And it's not just even the people Logan has killed and the friends who have died but the innocent bystanders unlucky enough to cross paths with him who wind up dead.

In short the film is brilliant, going into areas most superhero films are unwilling to go, and not just the violence but the ideas of ageing, death, guilt and more.


The Babysitter

An odd Netflix film that I really, really enjoyed, it's a bit of a cheat putting something I didn't see at a cinema but it's my list so I can do what I want. I didn't realise until the end that it was directed by McG - which was probably for the best as that would have put me off - but looking back that makes sense. The film is about a nerdy youngster, Cole, who is perhaps a little too old for a babysitter, but still has one - the extremely cool Bee. Cole is somewhat infatuated with her. Determined to find out what happens after he goes to sleep Cole stays up and sneaks downstairs - to see Bee and her friends sacrifice someone to the Devil. What follows is a desperate battle for Cole's survival, fighting Bee and her deranged friends.It was a surprise just how good this was.

Atomic Blonde

Apparently Theron wouldn't be
a convincing superhero

Charlize Theron is one of the best actors in the world and is also quickly becoming an action superstar. Theron was the real star of Mad Max: Fury Road and I'm reliably informed was good in whatever number of Fast and Furious she was in. And then Atomic Blonde. I loved this film. I have always been interested in the Cold War and in particular the curious arrangement of the city of Berlin and how it became split between different superpowers and a venue for their war to be fought. Theron plays a British spy, sent to Berlin on a dangerous mission to retrieve stolen information, she must work with fellow British agent, and loose cannon, James McAvoy. Interesting as the setting is the film comes alive in first-rate fight scenes, and the already famous stairwell fight scene is unbelievably good. Incidentally Charlize Theron was considered for Captain Marvel but was thought to be too old (I mean she's only ten years younger than Robert Downey Jr) and while Brie Larsen will be fantastic it's a great what-if example of casting. An interesting feature of the film is that while Theron is very good at fighting she is not shown as indestructible, the film is told via Theron's recollection of events and the film starts showing Theron's battered and bruised body. While not for everyone I thought this was a really enjoyable film, if you like this sort of thing, see it.

Wonder Woman

I was worried about Wonder Woman. It's unfair but the film existed under a lot of pressure - basically would a superhero film centred around a female character be successful? Not would it be good...but successful - a successful film would help support the idea that such a film can draw a big audience. Would a commercial flop put an end to a Black Widow film or Captain Marvel or a stand alone Harley Quinn film and any other potentially interesting film based around a female character. It does feel ridiculous to even be thinking about this in 2017 when to me the obvious answer is make a good film and it will get an audience. So there was a lot of pressure. Fortunately Wonder Woman was amazing, Gal Gadot was great and most surprisingly of all I didn't hate Chris Pine. The film captured a lot of the pointlessness of the First World War with Gadot furious at the casual slaughter and disregard for soldiers lives - even from their own generals. The film has some astonishing scenes, Gadot venturing into No Man's Land and the subsequent battle being as good, if not better, than any action scene from another superhero film. The ending of the film is a bit of a letdown but that is a failing common on many superhero films but I would definitely watch the sequel.

Prevenge

I've loved Alice Lowe since Garth Marenghi's Dark Place and kept an eye out for her, she's popped up in all sorts of things from Sherlock to Hot Fuzz to Sightseers, always very good. Then she made Prevenge, a horror about a pregnant woman going on a revenge killing spree. It's worth pointing out Alice wrote, directed and starred in Prevenge while really pregnant. Lowe's character is pushed to commit these murders by her unborn child urging her on, demanding that she kill these people, the audience hears the voice of the unborn child and it is genuinely creepy as well as being "very articulate". The film is very good but the image of Lowe dressed up for Halloween to complete one of the murders will stay with me for a long time

Free Fire

Ben Wheatley is a very good director and has pretty dark sensibilities. This is undoubtedly the lightest of his films in terms of tone, despite virtually all of the film being a protracted gunfight. An illegal arms deal between visiting IRA members and weapons dealers goes badly wrong - for an unexpected reason - and all hell breaks loose - at one point one character shouts out that he has forgotten which side he is on and that is not surprising. It's an ensemble cast of very good actors - Cillian Murphy, Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer and Wheatley alumnus Michael Smiley. The film is pretty much shot in real time and while this is fun it does limit what can actually happen and I would say is my least favourite of Wheatley's films but one of the more enjoyable to watch (while it is brilliant you do not enjoy watching High-Rise).

Baby Driver

Jon Hamm isn't the star of the film or the best person
in it but he is still Jon Hamm so he gets to be in the picture

Possibly the best comedy film ever made. Easily the greatest action film in British film history. An insanely good geek film. A wonderful and poignant sci-fi comedy. These are my feelings of Edgar Wright's previous films (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World & The World's End) and if we also include Spaced - perhaps my favourite sitcom ever - my expectations were pretty high for Baby Driver. And it had Jon Hamm in it as well. Baby Driver is a brilliant film but, perhaps inevitably, I was disappointed.  The film is meticulously well made and this is not just limited to car chase scenes, the matching of visuals and audio is amazing and I am looking forward to watching it again to see all the things I missed.


Kong: Skull Island

One night I chose between seeing Kong: Skull Island and Get Out. I chose Kong: Skull Island and history will judge me accordingly. Having subsequently seen Get Out it is undoubtedly the superior film, I say superior, as I did enjoy KSI. It is extremely over the top and silly fun but I liked some of the things it said about Vietnam War (Samuel L Jackson's character is clearly struggling with America's defeat) and was interesting to see Kong shown as, effectively, a good guy. I also enjoyed John C Reilly's stranded American pilot. And yes Brie Larsen was great...she usually is.

The Death of Stalin

In my opinion you can make a joke about anything, no topic is off limits, but that doesn't mean there are no consequences. You take on a sensitive issue you have a duty to think about what you're doing, what point you're trying to make, and be prepared for criticism and saying "it's just a joke" is a pretty poor defence. That said, The Death of Stalin, is hilarious. The aftermath of the death of one of the world's worst tyrants does not immediately suggest comedy but it is easily the funniest film of the year and even manages to convey the terror and absurdity of living under Stalin. From the impossibility of finding a good doctor for Stalin (as he had all the good ones purged) to the horror of a radio producer being forced to create a recording for a concert no one recorded it was funny and terrifying. The cast is brilliant but it's hard not to single out Jason Isaacs for a brilliantly over the top performance as General Zukov, no one speaks in a Russian accent in the film, with Isaacs adopting a thick Yorkshire accent to, presumably, convey Zukov's place in Russian society. The film is a triumph from start to finish.


The Big Sick

This was the sort of true story of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife's relationship - specifically how quite early on in their relationship she ended up in a coma and how Kumail has to then deal with Emily's family. Kumail Nanjiana is a stand up comedian and actor, probably best known for being in Silicon Valley. The film is very funny and emotional, Emily's parents are played by the always wonderful Holly Hunter and usually terrible Ray Romano (who is actually very good in this). the relationship between Kumail and Emily's parents is strained from the beginning, this being the first time they've met. The film is a brilliant look at family and relationships - as well as dealing with Emily's parents Kumail has to deal with his own family who want him to marry someone from their community, to the extent that they cut off relations with another family member who didn't do this. There are interesting insights into what it's like being a Muslim in America, from the outright racist comments when Kumail is performing stand up comedy that he should join ISIS (to which Holly Hunter's character perfectly responded why are you recruiting for ISIS?) to the less overtly aggressive Ray Romano's character asking what Kumail thought about 9/11.  The film is a joy to watch and I would highly recommend it, it's better and more interesting that most romantic-comedies.

Blade Runner 2049

I love the original Blade Runner. I think I have seen two of three existing different cuts. It is a great film and one of the most influential sci-fi films ever made so I was a little anxious when I heard that a sequel was being made. First off, sequels happening decades later are rarely good and Ridley Scott has a bad record with his prequels to Alien. But when I heard it was Denis Villeneuve who was making it I felt a lot better. I love Sicario and Arrival and have heard good things about his other films. Then I heard it was to star Ryan Gosling who is an amazing actor and I began to think it might it good. I really enjoyed Blade Runner 2049. Gosling played K, a replicant working for the police as a blade runner, hunting down rogue replicants. K became involved in the hunt for a particular, a possibly miraculous replicant. I don't want to say too much as there is a lot of potential for spoilers but everything in the film is great from Gosling's portrayal of K to the extended cast (including Dave Batista who has made a very successful transition from professional wrestling to serious acting). Jared Leto is suitably inscrutable and sinister as Niander Wallace, the owner of Wallace Corporation who have taken over the manufacturing of replicants, Robin Wright is a great tough police boss and I especially liked Sylvia Hoeks playing Luv, Wallace's replicant assassin and fixer. The film looks amazing and isn't just retreading the same dystopian urban landscape of the original with K at one point visiting an abandoned city with toppled statues and fallen monuments. The resolution of the film is very satisfying and left me thinking about the film for days afterwards.



Dunkirk

I am a huge fan of Christopher Nolan. He is one of the few directors I can think of who hasn't made a bad film and even the worst of them - Interstellar in my opinion - is a really good film. I also feel Christopher Nolan has been consistently overlooked in terms of Oscars (the recent change in the Academy increasing the number of Best Picture contenders has been attributed to some by the shock in The Dark Knight not being nominated) and it will be somewhat annoying if Dunkirk wins as it will add further evidence to the idea that the academy does not respect sci-fi. Anyway, Dunkirk, a film told in three different perspectives - 1. Soldiers waiting to be evacuated from the beach  2. One of the "little ships" sailing to Dunkirk to help the soldiers 3. A RAF fighter pilot providing air support. The cast is first rate from Nolan regulars Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy to newcomers to Nolan Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh. Interesting the German soldiers attacking the British and French are never really shown but the impact of their attacks certainly are. The film is an amazing spectacle but the acting is also brilliant and Nolan's film is not so simple to show the British as heroes. There are moments of cowardice, betrayal, anger and worse, showing what can happen when your survival is on the line. Particularly memorable were Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy's performances, Rylance captaining one of of the little ships and Murphy a soldier who he rescues. Rylance is all stoic bravery while Murphy is suffering from shellshock and only wants to escpe. Even if it might annoy me, it would be a worthy Oscar winner.

The Last Jedi

In the few weeks we've had since the release of The Last Jedi there has been a lot of discussion about the film with a petition to have the film stricken from the Star Wars canon garnered thousands of signatures, something that none of the prequels did and they are all terrible films and a million times worse than The Last Jedi. I enjoyed the film but didn't feel it was as good as The Force Awakens or Rogue One. I had some problems with the film but don't understand the hatred that some people have shown towards it, the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey was very well done, and I liked the portrayal of Luke as a real person, not some omnipotent super being who is always completely right and moral. The battle scenes were impressive and there were some very good visuals, and I liked some of the nods to old Star Wars characters like Admiral Ackbar and even Nien Nunb. I won't go into too much detail about some of the things I liked and didn't like as that would lead to a lot of spoilers but overall it was good, not great.

Get Out

A last minute New Year's Eve viewing for Get Out, a film I had wanted to see for a long while. Get Out was written and directed by Jordan Peele who is not very well known in the UK but is part of a very big sketch comedy double act with Keegan Michael Key in America. I've watched some of their sketches and like many sketch shows are hit and miss, my favourite of their sketches is the discussion on a news programme between the two white news anchors and the black weatherman and reporter about the dangers of black ice, it quickly becoming a thinly veiled argument about race. Get Out is a horror film that is about racism in America, Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris Washington, a photographer who has been dating Rose Armitage for several months. Chris is black and Rose is white. Rose is taking Chris to meet her parents and at the beginning of the film Chris is anxious about how her parents will react to her having a black boyfriend. The trip does not go well for Chris beginning with an unpleasant encounter with the local police and things just get worse, and weirder, from there. At first the only black people Chris sees are those who work for Rose's family. While Rose's parents don't seem overtly racist they do make things tense, the father telling Chris how much he liked Barack Obama and things like that. When more guests arrive it gets worse. Then there are also odd things, like who is continually unplugging Chris's phone when he is trying to charge it? I can't really say too much more but it is a great film. There is an alternate ending on the DVD which is definitely worth watching with the commentary as Peele talks about how Trump's election changed how he wanted the film to end.

So those are my favourite films of 2017 and I think my favourite and best is probably Logan. There are lots of good films coming out soon I'm particularly excited about The Shape Of Water and The Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.