The Hype: The first Star Wars movie in a decade...without George Lucas having anything but a cursory level of involvement. J.J. Abrams directs, and alongside the original cast of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Warwick Davis is John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong'o, Gwendoline Christie, Greg Grunberg and The Raid stars Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman. Why It'll Probably Deliver: J.J. Abrams is a consistently solid director, and he's got plenty of experience in the sci-fi genre. Plus, Damon Lindelof has been let nowhere near it, so the narrative issues of some of Abrams' movie and TV work shouldn't be arising, especially as legendary Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan has co-written the script. And that insane cast, and the clear focus on practical effects over abusive use of CGI. Why It Might Not: Because Star Wars fanboys, like any fanboys, are incredibly fickle, and even if the movie's a 7/10 or above, they'll probably still find plenty to whine about as not fitting into their "superior" vision of the universe. Probably no 2015 film is going to be as heavily scrutinised for flaws as Episode VII, so even if the movie's a masterpiece, expect plenty of the net nerds to rip it to shreds for things that don't really matter. Then again, maybe they're right and plot just might be terrible... Which 2015 movies do you have the most confidence in actually succeeding? Shout it out in the comments!
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
