Thursday 10 September 2015

Guest Blog: 'Star Wars VII: 100 Days To Go'





Star Wars VII: 100 days to go
By Chris Clark

A week ago on Friday we – or at least the geeks that care slightly too much – were lucky enough to experience Force Friday. This was the unveiling of new Star Wars toys worldwide.

As if the anticipation of the December 17 release weren’t enough, Disney thought it wouldn’t hurt to give us clues to what will feature in the upcoming sequel. This includes action figurines for the frightfully affordable £9.99, toy space ships for the slightly greater £40 and a Sphero BB-8 Droid with smartphone/tablet app interface for a ‘Christmas-to-be-remembered’ £149.99 (sold out on Amazon US, but Amazon UK still have a few).

For those more concerned with the big screen than festive gifts, the focus will be the on-screen chemistry of the new actors and the excitement their characters will add to the multi-billion dollar franchise. Chemistry was certainly a key disappointment in the last three Star Wars movies with Ewan McGregor’s painfully delivered line “I saw him killing younglings” and Hayden Christensen’s somewhat subpar acting.
Of the new actors, John Boyega is perhaps the most intriguing. I’ve only come across him once in Attack the Block which, although was superb and Boyega deserved the praise he got, didn’t catapult him to global fame in the way I expected; I’m sure Star Wars fame will give him the accolade he deserves.
We’ve got 100 days to go until the big release on December 17 in the UK, which is 24 glorious hours before viewers in the US. Strangely, France will get their eyes on the film on the 16th because of a law requiring all new films to be released on Wednesdays.

Nonetheless the unfairness of overseas laws regarding release dates shouldn’t overshadow the excitement of our seeing it; unless of course we all read French blogs and reviews the night before our own viewing.
So far, Disney and Lucasfilm have made a gargantuan effort to quash suspicions that Disney would ruin the franchise. Even I, being fairly anti-Disney when approaching film reviews, admit that their work on Marvel films has often been successful.

The Star Wars PR beast has given us a great ride. I still sometimes watch the England Rugby Sevens advert featuring Darth Vader. Hopefully we’re in for some more treats before the big day, until then I’ll be saving to buy myself a Sphero Droid.