Star Wars Old Cast To Return?

With reports out that the trio of main actors from the original triology of Star Wars movies – Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hammill as Luke Skywalker – will reprise their roles in the 7th movie of the franchise, there are comments both for and against this move. An aging trio will be looked upon to act as a transitory bridge from the old trilogy to the new one with the first movie, episode VIII supposed to come out in 2015. And while a lot of fans seem to love that idea, I am not so sure of it myself.

Well if the 3 had minor supporting roles which are more like a nod to the franchise’s origins I think that might work. The main cast of much younger characters could be the children (or grandchildren) of Han & Leia and uncle Luke having trained them in Jedi school. It’s actually been way too long from Return of the Jedi (1983) to now to actually have them in it and be the main storyline – as much as some of us would have wanted them to be. The only clear way I see is to have them play character roles, perhaps even have then appear throughout the next 3 movies who advice and help but not be the main heroes.

I’m looking forward to more movies from that franchise but am skeptical as to how well it’s going to be done. Having said that I’m not one of those who hated the prequel trilogy and that’s also because I don’t happen to worship the original trilogy. They aren’t that  great! even though I do like them a lot. So let’s see what’s gonna happen.

Update:  On February 5 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed the development of two stand-alone films, each individually written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. On February 6, Entertainment Weekly reported that Disney is working on two films featuring Han Solo and Boba Fett.

Men In Black 3

I have loved the first two Men In Black movies and seen them several times on cable since their releases. Set 15 years after the first movie and 10 after the second (as in true release) Men In Black 3 is the second sequel and most successful in terms of revenue. Released in May of last year, the movie sees Barry Sonnenfield and Steven Spielberg returned as director and executive producer respectively with Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones returning as Agents J & K with Josh Brolin appearing as a younger version of K. Jermaine Clement plays past & present versions of the villain Boris The Animal, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve & Michael Stuhlberg have supporting roles.

So what do we have in MIB3:

  • Boris the Animal escapes from a maximum security prison base on the moon by having his girlfriend (Nicole Scherzinger and does she really have such bodacious bosoms) deliver a cake to him, in which hidden is his organic and alive weapon. He seeks revenge on earth and especially on agent K who captured him back in 1969. Boris also lost his left arm in the confrontation with K. K is also responsible for the deployment of the ArcNet, a defense system that protected Earth from invasion and ultimately led to the Boglodites’ extinction.
  • Agents J & K have a confrontation with Boris who withdraws but warns K that he is “already dead”. When J tries to do research on Boris back at the MIB hq, he finds that some of the information is denied to him. When questioned he is told by both K and, new head of MIB, O to leave it alone.
  • Boris gets a device to travel back in time to 1969 o help his past self kill K and prevent the ArcNet’s deployment. As a result J finds himself in an alternate reality (J is the only one who remembers the two realities) where K has been dead for 40 years and there is an imminent Boglodites invasion with no ArcNet to protect earth. Using a similar device to travel to 1969 and save his partner. He meets up with agent K’s younger self (Josh Brolin) who mistrusts him but when J tells him the truth he is convinced. The get the ArcNet, in the form of a small disc-shaped device, from an alien named Griffin and protect him from an attack by Boris.
  • J, K & Griffin travel to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the Apollo 11 rocket is preparing to lift off and land the first humans on the Moon. K has to plant the device on the rocket and once it is in earth’s orbit the device will auto-activate.   Griffin uses his abilities to convince the local military personnel, which includes a colonel, to allow them access and aid them in their mission. Both the versions of Boris attack the agents while they are reaching the top of the rocket’s support structure. J knocks off the current version of Boris from the top of the structure while K shoots off the younger version’s arm and and he too falls off the structure, and place the ArcNet device on the rocket just before it launches. Future Boris is incinerated by the rocket’s exhaust.
  • As J makes his way to meet K, he sees the past version of Boris ambush K and the colonel and shoots the colonel dead. K then kills Boris and turns around to see the colonel’s young son amed James approaches the scene looking for his father. K, who neuralyses and comforts the child, and J who sees them from afar realizes that the young boy is J. Sad at seeing his real father’s death J is comforted to know that K was a kind of surrogate dad to him.  returns to the present day, where K is still alive, and joins him at a diner, subtly thanking the older agent for all that he has done for him. As the movie ends, we see a smiling Griffin sitting in the same diner.

Most critics & fans have praised the performance of Josh Brolin which was shrewd casting I must say. I enjoyed the movie but miss the fun of the first one. Still enjoyable and I give it a 7.5 outta 10!