A week after Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World, The Book Of Henry) stepped down as director of Episode IX it seems that Disney did not take long in finding his replacement. Experienced Star Wars director J.J Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8) will be stepping in to direct Star Wars: Episode IX (2019), with screenwriter Chris Terrio (Argo, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice) co-writing alongside him. Head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy issued the following statement:
"With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy"
Of course with this hiring there comes pros and cons. Which I will be laying out in this post:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its success
There is no shadow of a doubt that Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) was an iconic moment in Star Wars history. It was the big introduction to the franchise for a whole new generation, it redeemed the franchise to quite a few fans after the poor reception of the prequel trilogy and, most importantly, it's the third film to make $2 Billion worldwide. And so, taking this into account, it makes sense to hire J.J. Abrams to direct the third film in the new Star Wars trilogy, as whatever he did for Force Awakens clearly worked, and so the studio is eager for the next two films to be just as successful as Episode VII. And, perhaps, Abrams can achieve that.
Abrams as a visual director
As a visual director, Abrams is spectacular! This is pretty clear in Star Trek (2009), with the opening being the most visually inspired scene that the Star Trek franchise has seen. The Force Awakens, where Abrams was able to make Star Wars look fresh whilst also keeping the classic style. And even his Spielberg tribute film Super 8 (2011), which was able to capture the look of a 70's Nuclear town. But it's also Abrams's work with practical effects which made The Force Awakens really stand out visually from previous Star Wars films. The use of practical effects made the scenes feel very alive and organic, unlike the Prequel trilogy, which depended heavily on CGI and felt too fake. Because of this, hiring Abrams seems like a really good idea as he can bring his experience with this visual style into Episode IX.
Abrams as a writer
Whilst The Force Awakens did very well visually, it should be noted that it did have its fair share of flaws. Particularly Story-wise. Many critics and fans complained that the film is very similar to that of A New Hope (1977). Which, over time, has become more and more obvious to fans. It's even sparked worry that The Last Jedi (2017) will be similar to The Empire Strikes Back (1980). In fact, Script issues can be seen in many of Abrams's films. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) also suffered from this issue, as the film felt quite disjointed in places, making many critics and fans feel like it didn't match up to the previous Abrams Star Trek film. Because of this, J.J's hiring can also be seen as a bad idea since we might not get an original story.
Chris Terrio
Now, whilst Abrams does have issues with script-writing, his co-writer, Chris Terrio, could help him out on that. Terrio is an Oscar-winning writer, earning the reward for Argo (2012), a highly praised-film. Terrio also co-wrote Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) alongside Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) which, whilst not a critically loved film, I thought they did quite a good job structuring that film together. However, whilst I did like Batman V Superman, even I must admit that the film had some issues which could have been fixed at the script stage. it should also be noted that Terrio is the co-writer for Justice League (2017), which has undergone re-writes by Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Serenity) so that should raise a few alarms with Disney and Lucasfilm on the hiring of Chris Terrio. Whilst it hasn't been confirmed on how extensive the rewrites have been. If it isn't as extensive as the media is portraying it to be, and Justice League proves a critical hit, then Lucasfilm should breathe a sigh of relief for hiring Terrio.
Conclusion
In my honest opinion, I'm a little disappointed that Kennedy has hired Abrams to direct the final film in this trilogy. I think it would have been better to have a different director and get a fresh new perspective on the story. However, I understand why she would hire Abrams to direct, due to the immense success of The Force Awakens. Also, perhaps Terrio can help not making this film a copy of Return Of The Jedi (1983).
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