The idea that Star Wars: The Force Awakens could be the best Star Wars movie yet isn't all that implausible if you're willing to admit that there is no such thing as a perfect Star Wars movie.
Before my matinee showing of Miss You Already began on Friday morning, I bought a ticket to a 1:00 pm IMAX screening of Spectre to, well, watch the trailers. Regular readers know that I do this from time-to-time when a significant release drops so I can experience various "big" trailers on a huge theater screen. Of course, the primary goal this time out was to sample that new domestic Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. Since the trailer was going out attached to domestic prints of Sony's Spectre, this would be the first opportunity actually to see the trailer in a movie theater. I was reminded of how much of the trailer's storytelling is done purely through visuals and how much of the emotional oomph comes from the reworked versions of the John Williams themes.
But what came through this time around was the apparent scale of the film, the sheer vastness of the images on display even though thus far we've seen little-to-no "outer space" footage. The primary marketing goal of Walt Disney for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is to convince general audiences that there is still a need for Star Wars in a world already beset by mega-franchises, and this trailer, more than any other piece of marketing thus far, makes that case. But even as I remember the various trailers that offered somewhat false hope thanks partially to potent musical scores (Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek, etc.), it also offers another tantalizing possibility. Is it so unreasonable that Star Wars: The Force Awakens might be the best film in the long-running franchise?
At a glance, the notion of The Force Awakens being the best Star Wars film yet appears to be the kind of hyperbolic "bar set too high" situation that could get it into trouble. But even in recent franchise history, such a high water mark is not unprecedented. Out of eight Harry Potter films, my favorites happen to be the seventh, the fifth, and then the eighth. Fast Five soared well above the previous critical highs of the previous Fast/Furious movies to turn the franchise into an A-level series. I happen to think Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the best of the Star Trek movies, and if you prefer Wrath of Khan you must admit that part 6 is pretty close to the top.
Even if you don't think Saw VI is the best of the seven film series, you can make a case for almost any of the five Mission: Impossible films being the best of the bunch (for me, it's a tie between 1, 4, and 5). And speaking of Spectre, as we have been over the last few weeks, GoldenEye jolted the series back to life after a six-year absence and delivered what I (and at least some of my peers) would argue is the franchise's best film. Or maybe you think Martin Campbell's other 007 entry, Casino Royale, which also jolted the franchise back to life after a four-year sabbatical, is the best of the bunch. And as much as I grew up loving Tim Burton's Batman and as much as I still love it beyond compare, I would be lying if I didn't admit that Chris Nolan's Batman Begins is an objectively better picture.
Point being, it is possible for The Force Awakens to top its predecessors. It is entirely possible that J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and company can use the Star Wars iconography and modern filmmaking tools and advances to craft a film that learns from the mistakes of the previous six chapters while offering improved special effects, modern filmmaking sensibilities, and superior acting from a game cast. This is especially true if you can divorce yourself from the notion that any of the Star Wars films are inherently perfect motion pictures. I love all six Star Wars movies, but I won't pretend they are unimpeachable masterpieces.
Obviously I don't think I need to spend too much time arguing what did or didn't work in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. Even as someone who defends the prequel trilogy more than most, I won't pretend that they don't suffer from stilted acting, overly expository dialogue, and an oddly stationary camera among other much-discussed issues. They told an interesting and all-too-timely story, how a democracy willingly turned itself into a totalitarian regime as a result of fearmongering and subtle political machinations, but the characters just aren't as iconic as the original cast of heroes and villains. There is lots to love about the prequels (the opening 23 minutes of Revenge of the Sith is as good as anything in any of the six films), but they are good movies that had the misfortune to follow films that had been treated as holy gospel by the fans.
And I think even most of the hardcore fans will argue that Return of the Jedi stumbles between the somewhat campy but enjoyable opening attack on Jabba's barge and the dynamite three-part action finale. Mark Hamill is terrific, but almost everyone else is underserved and visibly bored. I have little problem with the Ewoks since they are a Vietnam analogy, the action sequences are fantastic (the final Death Star run is genuinely terrifying on a big screen), and the emotional climax aboard the Death Star works as a series finale. But the picture laser-focuses (understandably) on Luke Skywalker's arc at the expense of everyone else.
So if you're looking for would-be comparison points, it is not unreasonable that The Force Awakens might be better than the prequels (at least in the eyes of most fans) and potentially a more disciplined and generous film than Return of the Jedi. That leaves the idea of this seventh film merely being better than the first two Star Wars films. Star Wars is Star Wars, and the sheer "We've never seen anything like this before!" wonder combined with the "This is the movie we needed!" made it easy to hide a somewhat disjointed first half and a cast of young actors not remotely giving their best performances.
I adore the film, as I frankly adore all six Star Wars movies, but saying that it's impossible to top Star Wars is a little like saying that Dr. No is the absolute best James Bond movie. George Lucas gets endless credit for crafting a timeless and primal hero's journey tale with instantly enjoyable characters (along with John Williams's astonishingly potent score), but it is not the best-acted Star Wars movie nor the most emotionally-engaging Star Wars movie. That one goes to Irvin Kirshner's The Empire Strikes Back.
I have long argued that the second Star Wars film, which scaled down and focused on the intimate, raised the bar a little too high for what otherwise is a series of enjoyable pulpy space operas with periodic political subtexts. But even that film has a romance that, well, isn't as Bergman and Bogart as we've been led to believe, and Harrison Ford is arguably better in, say, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yes, I know I'm nitpicking, and frankly I would prefer if The Force Awakens not have any core romance at all right off the bat. So if we're honest, all The Force Awakens has to do is be as intimate and well acted as The Empire Strikes Back, as viscerally primal as Star Wars, as razzle-dazzle huge as Attack of the Clones, and as politically potent as Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith. That's a tall order, but it's not an impossible one and frankly not an implausible one.
Abrams and company also have the benefit of hindsight, of seeing what went right and wrong with the first six films, and in the knowledge that the Star Wars iconography (to say nothing of the Star Wars music) will resonate in a way that Lucas couldn't count on back in the first three films. Heck, we've already seen a three-part fantasy trilogy that topped the original Star Wars films, specifically Peter Jackson's massive and massively moving Lord of the Rings movies. I might even argue that the last couple Harry Potter films resonated in a more robust fashion than either of the "last" Star Wars films, but that's a conversation for when Episode 8 drops in several years. Point being, it is possible to top the Star Wars films because you can argue that they have already been topped here and there over the last forty years.
The point of this is not to bash the prior Star Wars films, as again I probably like The Phantom Menace more than you, or to raise the bar impossibly high for the new one. I always walk into every Pixar film hoping it will be at least as good as A Bug's Life or every James Bond film hoping for a film at least on the level of Tomorrow Never Dies. But watching that trailer on a giant IMAX screen, feeling that reworked "Force Theme" echoing in my bones as the raindrops bounced off of Kylo Ren's jagged lightsaber, I realized that yeah, there is no reason The Force Awakens couldn't be objectively better than what came before. Fast Five was the best of its series, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were better than Batman, and GoldenEye and Casino Royale are arguably the best 007 films in a long 24-film history.
So yes, without engaging in hyperbole or holding "best Star Wars movie ever" as the bottom run for success, it is entirely possible that Star Wars: The Force Awakens could be the best one yet. Either that, or that was just one hell of a trailer.
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