Up until this point, I have been cold to J.J. Abrams and any of his projects. They all have the whiff of gimmick about them. He has seemed, in his relatively short career, as a younger, hipper version of P.T. Barnum, desperately seeking to outmarket everyone else in the Hollywood circus.
His television shows have been the best examples of his worst instinct. FELICITY was designed with an annoying bookend device that allowed for narration throughout the show. ALIAS saw Abrams pioneering the mystery plotting that became more famous later in his hit series LOST. While supporters of LOST claim that Abrams has an end in sight, it’s fairly clear that most of this stuff is made up as the show continues, cleverly stringing the viewers along on a rapidly evaporating mystery. Remember the last few seasons of THE X-FILES?
Then came CLOVERFIELD, which was a marketing campaign in search of a movie. Like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the marketing for CLOVERFIELD was so saturated and so mysterious that the film could never really match the hype. Even though I moderately enjoyed the final film, I have never had the desire to rewatch it. It was an event motion picture rather than an actual motion picture.
In reality, it was all just a bunch of Slusho.
So far, the closest Abrams has come to distilling a complete and true entertainment experience – one devoid of gimmicks – was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3. While it was not difficult to outdo the horrible second film in the unnecessary trilogy, Abrams managed to increase the sense of danger and create a palpable tension. It also ushered in the unfortunate hand-held camera technique that has almost ruined action films in the last decade.
Abrams’ newest project is a shiny reimagining of STAR TREK. As I have said before, I am not a fan of STAR TREK in any of its versions. From all accounts, it looks like Abrams has managed to do the impossible, namely, to inject some actual life into what is intrinsically a boring and dramatically inert concept.
And he’s done it without the gimmicks!
More than ever before, Abrams is pulling back his Wizard Of Oz curtain and allowing fans to hear his thoughts more directly. He has done several keen and lively interviews for the press surrounding STAR TREK’S impending release. Most interesting to me is this one conducted by Charlie Rose recently. Check it out:
Abrams now has some very clear ideas about how to approach character development that he certainly did not have when he collaborated with Michael Bay on ARMAGEDDON. He’s also warm and engaging and quite funny. So far, he has shown a predilection for huge blockbuster entertainment. Hopefully he can take that intellect and style and use it on more personal projects, and not just the next flea circus.
But for now, I’m warming up to the guy a little more.
11 Comments
Umm, have you ever watched Lost? No? SHUT UP!
@ Carmelita – LOL man you LOST fans sure are fanatical!! Why can’t you see that the series is running around in circles in pursuit of its own tail?
Does Abrams have that much involvement with Lost anymore?
Didn’t he just let his writers, specifically Drew Goddard and especially Damon Lindelof just run with the series to any finish point they wanted. Isn’t it their baby now?
“While supporters of LOST claim that Abrams has an end in sight, it’s fairly clear that most of this stuff is made up as the show continues, cleverly stringing the viewers along on a rapidly evaporating mystery.”
Due, I am ahuge LOST-Fan. And I can assure you that a clear end is in sight – and it makes sense. BUT theres no doubt that the series would look different if they would restart it. Six seasons is toooooo long for such a high quality concept show like LOST. 4 seasons would have been enough. With no fill-up episodes (like Expose) or even charakters (like Eko – who was a great character who added a lot to the mythology but in the end just like an extra chaper of a big story).
“Does Abrams have that much involvement with Lost anymore?
Didn’t he just let his writers, specifically Drew Goddard and especially Damon Lindelof just run with the series to any finish point they wanted. Isn’t it their baby now?”
Well, Abrams is still the executive producer – but yeah, among LOST-fans Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelo are seen as the heads, the makers behind LOST now.
Mission Impossible 3 is one of the best action films of the decade, since then I’ve been intrested in most of Abrams projects.
i am too a huge fan of the show becuase it has (at least i think) the best writng on tv now and is able to entice the fans and ive never had anybody who actually watched all the seasons and said its a bad show its well directed and well thoguht about and if you watch it you can tell certtian characters were meant for something and were put in place two seasons before it actually tells us and i think thats clever writing but either way jj abrams is still one of the many great directors (once again my opinion on his style) in this era but i just think there are many more directors out there that suck wayyyyy more then him and i agree that the new star trek is turning a new leaf and put life to the characters and a really fun movie to watch while being repsectable
Ray- Im a big Sci-fi fan.Never really a big trekkie though ( Did like a few Trek films like Part 2 and 4.) I enjoyed his new Trek film giving it an 8 out of 10. The Twilight Zone is probably my all time favorite show but Lost is right next to it. It is the real deal and I really believe one of the greatest achievments in TV history. J.J Abrams is the next big thing of this generation. Is he perfect ? NO but he has some serious talent.
chuck
chuck
@ Chuck – Yeah, the guy has some serious talent. But I think this new TREK film is the first time I really saw it in action, rather than simply tease with great marketing.
@Ray – I second that mate. With each progressive movie he is given to direct and produce he is slowly honing if not showcasing his and his staff’s talent. Way to go JJ and company. This one really surprised me. I love the new Star Trek.
The only people who say LOST is a failure are the people who haven’t watched it enough. The characters are great and it has a huge online community which is fun to be a part of. Even if the show does end up as shit (which I know it won’t because they have an end date and they have said several times that they know how it will end, the only thing that is written as they go along is the story) the ride was still a blast. Whenever someone says “Lost sucks” or “What a stupid show” I just pity them because they have no idea what they are missing out on. If you took the time to actually watch it you would soon find that you’re bias would disappear, and who knows, maybe you’ll actually get involved in theorizing. The show is so much fun!
Why do you think Lost fans defend the show? If it was stupid, no one would watch it.