JJ Abrams Directs "Star Wars: Episode VII"

After a few days of online speculation and reports, it's now official that JJ Abrams is the director of Star Wars: Episode VII! The whole flurry of SW news recently is still a bit of a shock to me. In recent years, after ROTS, I've become a more subdued SW fan. I haven't been into watching the CW series, although I do hope to get into it at some point. I haven't attended any celebrations since then, either. But, one a SW fan, perhaps always a SW fan, and news of the disney-LFL deal rekindled a bit of the old excitement!

I honestly thought SW was a done thing, in the sense that the huge spectacle of the films, the foundation of the saga, was over and done with. But now, disney goes and revives it. Not that SW was doing badly, as CW was holding its own. But now, we have a chance to reshape SW into something different from what it was. As much as I love the PT, in hindsight I can see the problems with it. GL is a fantastic storyteller, but not a fantastic director or screenwriter. As such, the PT is a stellar story, almost incomparable to many stories nowadays, and yes, that includes Tolkien. But the way it was told detracted many people. There's so much going on there, from political upheaval, to personal struggles, to differing ideologies.

That's part of what SW is all about. Along with a sense of adventure, a good dose of humor, and amazing battles. And if we had to choose someone to bring that again to the big screen, JJ Abrams is a fine choice. Is he the best choice? Arguable, because what he did with Star Trek polarized some fans, but he brought back a sense of adventure to the series, and really revamped it and made it more mainstream. But, it lost a little bit of what Star Trek was. The sense of adventure was fully there, I think, but it just felt very new, very modern. Not completely what the older series was. And let's not talk about him destroying the older timeline, for the most part.

But still, what he did there was commendable. Mission: Impossible III and Super 8 were also stellar films. JJ Abrams also has a love for SW, and hopefully that'll make him more cognizant of what fans themselves want. I hope LFL holds enough control so that he won't destroy any aspect of the older SW films. JJ Abrams shouldn't be completely in charge of this, but a player in a larger universe. But his style, both visual and from a character standpoint, should bring a nice change to the SW universe.

There are others I could see taking command of the first film. Whedon would be an interesting choice, although his strength lies more with characters and dialogue, and we're not sure yet what characters we are and aren't seeing in EpVII. Spielberg would've been an interesting choice years ago, but now his films are more subdued, subtle, and personal, and I don't know how it'd translate to a huge epic, effects-heavy film like SW. Affleck, rumored to be among the choices, would've been very interesting to see as well, I think. An up and coming director, with a skilled hand as evidenced in this year's Argo. I don't have a complete grasp on his style of filmmaking yet, though.

All things considered, JJ Abrams is a safe choice, and a wise choice to direct this film. I'm excited, and as a longtime SW fan, that's a good thing.