"How do you reinvent Star Wars? How do you flip the script and subvert expectations for a long-running, much-loved cosmic saga? The truth is, nobody really knows, because other than George Lucas, no one has really tried. The prequels, for all their beige politics and clunky dialogue, were at least the Star Wars creator's brave if misguided attempt to rewire the mainframe: a widescreen tragedy about the corruption of democracy, wrapped in a toybox of podracers and CGI frogmen with comedy accents."
"Elsewhere, experiments have been patchy. The excellent Rogue One took a gritty war-movie detour, only to end with a Vader cameo. The Last Jedi flirted with real subversion, then got bludgeoned into retreat by a panicked studio. And Disney+ has provided everything from samurai-inspired anime shorts (Visions) to Ewan McGregor brooding in a desert hut (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Bold strokes, yes but ones that have usually been followed by a hasty retreat back to the warm embrace of lightsabers and Skywalker surnames."
"Which brings us to Star Wars: Starfighter, introduced to the world this week via a first-look picture of Ryan Gosling looking distinctly sun-soaked floating on what appears to be the Mediterranean Sea. On the face of it, the new film looks to be the least adventurous new franchise addition since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. But it's not just the oddly Ikea-ish, flat-pack-ready title, which feels as if it really ought to be one of those Hollywood placeholder monikers."
George Lucas remains the primary figure to attempt a major Star Wars reinvention, with the prequels framing a widescreen tragedy about democratic corruption amid toybox spectacle. Subsequent experiments have been inconsistent: Rogue One adopted a gritty war-movie tone but concluded with a Vader cameo, while The Last Jedi introduced subversive ideas that were later curtailed by studio reaction. Disney+ offerings have ranged from anime-inspired Visions to a character-driven Obi-Wan series, yet bold moves often give way to a return to lightsabers and Skywalker surnames. The newly revealed Star Wars: Starfighter, featuring Ryan Gosling, appears conservative in tone and title.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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