By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed
Just lately, Disney shocked Star Wars followers in all places by saying Starfighter, an upcoming movie starring Ryan Gosling. Proper now, no one is aware of a lot of something about this film aside from its title and star. Nonetheless, I’m able to make a prediction worthy of Qui-Gon Jinn: Starfighter goes to be the cinematic Chosen One, bringing stability to the deeply uneven world of Star Wars cinema.
Why am I keen to make such a daring prediction for this film based mostly on nothing however its identify and the identify of its star? For one factor, the identify Starfighter implies that this film will give attention to a pilot somewhat than the Jedi and Sith that the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was so obsessive about. To change a phrase from the killer Star Trek podcast, Biggest Era, it seems like Disney is embracing the thought of “Star Wars as a spot”…in any case, the galaxy far, distant is ripe for various sorts of tales somewhat than lame retreads of what got here earlier than.
The failure of the Star Wars sequels left many followers questioning the place these motion pictures went incorrect…like, how may Disney screw up a follow-up to essentially the most well-known sci-fi motion pictures ever made? There are many narratives floating round, together with criticisms that the flicks failed as a result of they revolved round Rey, a so-called Mary Sue character. However the reality is that these motion pictures failed as a result of they gave us an infinitely crappier model of the Authentic Trilogy, with Jedi preventing Sith and rebels preventing an evil empire.
Starfighter doesn’t appear to be it should revolve round that drained formulation; as a substitute, it should doubtless give attention to authentic characters on this acquainted fictional universe. That is thrilling as a result of it jogs my memory of the unique Mos Eisley Cantina scene from A New Hope…a scene which is so thrilling exactly as a result of we all know that every of those loopy critters has their very own wild story. Hopefully, Starfighter will give attention to an analogous character…somebody who’s simply making an attempt to outlive and in any other case couldn’t care much less about franchise icons like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
Plus, Starfighter is assured to present us one thing that the Star Wars franchise has at all times excelled at: killer outer area battles. The ditch run cemented A New Hope as the primary true sci-fi blockbuster, and the Battle of Endor was simply one of the best a part of Return of the Jedi. Assuming it can provide us one thing extra spectacular than the weak sauce area battle of The Rise of Skywalker (admittedly a really low bar to clear), Starfighter may restore this franchise to its former glory faster than 12 parsecs.
Ought to Starfighter break the theatrical Star Wars hunch and develop into a crucial and business hit, it should encourage Disney to create extra content material constructed round authentic characters somewhat than creating infinite movies and exhibits based mostly on what got here earlier than. That’s the primary purpose why I see this film because the cinematic Chosen One: it has the potential to remind audiences and executives alike that Star Wars is a fictional universe with infinite narrative potential. The one technique to squander that potential is to do the identical factor time and again to diminishing outcomes, which is what Disney has been doing, successfully working this franchise into the bottom.
When a franchise has been run into the bottom like this, it has nowhere to go however up…on this case, to the celebrities. We nonetheless don’t know a lot about Starfighter, however for this old-school fan, it’s sufficient to know that we’ll be getting a enjoyable solo movie constructed round an authentic character. Solely by ending the infinite nostalgia-baiting of years previous can Disney give a franchise set an extended, very long time in the past the higher, brighter future it deserves.
