Back in December, director J.J. Abrams said that because of his loyalty to the Star Trek franchise he'd just rebooted, he had no desire to be involved in any of the new Star Wars films. "I declined any involvement very early on," he said at the time. "I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them."
Things have apparently changed.
"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
Abrams has done some good stuff, and some dreck. But honestly, I'd just as soon he stayed clear of Star Wars. Aside from having a very particular style which could cast a shadow over any later movies, he just doesn't really seem to have all that strong a sense for consequence and detail- series like
Lost and movies like
Cloverfield were full of little things that
seemed meaningful, but didn't really add up to all that much when you got to pull back and look at the whole.
After the multitude of mis-steps in the details and lore of the "prequel" trilogy, I'd just as soon have a director who crafted such things with some care and left a trail of breadcrumbs future directors could follow than one who cast out a whole bunch of red herrings and left his successors stumbling to find genuine relevance and resonance.
But, well, y'know, it's not up to me, so... Here's hoping my assessment is off.
