Avatar director and all-round sci-fi buff James Cameron has weighed in with his thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the most diplomatic way possible.
Cameron, a close friend to George Lucas, told Hannah Litchfield (via Collider) that he considers the original six movies more innovative by comparison, while The Force Awakens “was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before.” It’s a far cry from direct criticism, of course, and during the interview Cameron noted that he has “a lot of respect for J.J. Abrams.”
Here’s what the esteemed filmmaker had to say about Disney and Lucasfilm’s franchise revival:
“Well, George Lucas is a friend of mine and he and I were having a good conversation the other day about it. I don’t want to say too much about the film cause I also have a lot of respect for J.J. Abrams, and I want to see where they’re taking it next, to see what they’re doing with it.
“I have to say that I felt that George’s group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before and characters you had seen before, and it took a few baby steps forward with new characters. So for me the jury’s out, I wanna see where they go with it.”
Disney’s overhauled Star Wars universe continues later this year with the release of Rogue One. James Cameron, meanwhile, is busy fleshing out Avatar into a bona fide cinematic franchise, with Avatars 2, 3, 4 and now 5 expected to launch between now and 2023.