Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII (Pre-release)
While I have been critical of TFA at times - I have kinda shied away from the idea that it's a "remake" of ANH, there are definitely some strong similarities that go a little too far at times... I do think this guy managed to put new angle into TFA copying not (just) ANH, but parts of the entire OT... he managed to sum it up quite nicely. While I don't agree with everything 100%, it is an enjoyable watch and puts a different spin or perspective to it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pueu2wu0M5s&feature=youtu.be
(...and despite my criticisms of TFA - I still enjoyed the heck out of it).
First of all, why the creepy Unsolved Mysteries music vibe?
Personally for me, you could say anything was a rip off pulled from any film in the world. It's nothing new that people go seek help from elders or fill in the blank... good vs. evil battles... they happen in ALL films... infiltrating a base... it's done ALL THE TIME. So all that aside...
The ONLY thing I felt was similar was a Death Star-like base made a lot bigger, being an actual planet it seems vs. being a completely engineered station. The rest is garbage claims because of said elements you see used in films all the time. There will always be personal conflicts, information to hide, sneaking into places, disabling systems/shields. Yes these things are in other Star Wars films, just like lightsaber duels... so isn't every film then copying each other?
I felt a lot of the stuff in the film was new to me. I think there were wonderful homages paid to the OT for sure, but I don't think anything backtracked at all. I think it was beautifully orchestrated and had a great balance of keeping the new characters at the forefront while making it feel very much at home with what we love by at least including some of our favorite characters on the sidelines without being too much in-your-face.
- There will always be a new evil to sprout up after bringing down another
- There will always be a base where the bad guys are stationed
- There will always be a menacing leader to bully and push others around or torture to get what they're looking for
- There will always be secret information needing to keep hidden from the other side
- There can be no conflict without 2 sides of extreme differences
- There are such thing as more than one place with the same living conditions as another (i.e. deserts)
AND - There can only exist only so many weather conditions and vegetation on planets
I can see where people are arguing aspects of the film being a "rip-off" but I can't see it that way because there are literally hundreds of other films that have similar elements in them that anyone could argue was a rip-off from another film idea. You could make that claim with so many movies. "Oh my gosh some old guy is training a young man to be a warrior on this TV show. That's such a rip-off of Luke being trained by Yoda." Come on...