Star Wars Spin-Off: 10 Lessons Gareth Edwards Must Learn From Godzilla

8. Humour

Anyone who has seen both Monsters and Godzilla will take note that neither film has much in the way of laughs. Both films attempt to tell serious stories with serious stakes, and to enhance the feeling of danger and dread he elected to keep the laughs down to a minimum. While understandable, this is kind of unfortunate, especially for Godzilla's sake. Edwards elected to craft a Spielbergian blockbuster, but forgot to inject it with the right amount of humor to alleviate some of the tension throughout. Go back and watch Jaws or Jurassic Park and you'll see that both films are actually quite funny in some moments. This gives them a sense of fun that parallels the terror. The climax of Jaws is scary, but it is also an exhilarating ride from beginning to end. Godzilla, for all its attempts to mimic Spielberg, forgot to do this, and the result is a film that forgets to acknowledge the innate silliness of the concept. Of course, Edwards made the right call taking it seriously, but weaving in a sense of humour would have balanced that out quite nicely. It is even more important for his Star Wars film to keep it light. For all the serious character moments this film might involve, the appeal of Star Wars comes from the balance of drama and fun. Characters should crack jokes and make light of situations; Star Wars has been doing it since A New Hope. We all know Lucas went overboard with the goofy antics in the prequels, but the original trilogy struck the perfect balance. If Gareth Edwards wants to make a great Star Wars film that respectfully calls back to the originals, he should ease up on the seriousness a bit. Humor compliments sincerity, which means it's all about...