this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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Fringe wasn't bad.
Fringe was good when there were still mysteries about it, when you were never sure what was going on. It kind of dragged out in the later seasons and whatever they did with the Observers was just… whatever.
Force Awakens, despite its unoriginal plot, was also somewhat good when it came out because of all the unanswered questions and the potential it had. JJ Abrams seems good at sparking things and planting mysteries (“mystery box shows”), but not so great at actually answering those mysteries. Force Awakens didn’t really start to look bad until Last Jedi came out and everyone realized that there was no plan and nothing mattered, but that was more on Rian Johnson than JJ Abrams. Yes, Abrams/Disney should’ve had something worked out beforehand, but Johnson seemed to go out of his way to just shut the story down midway through a trilogy and left nothing to move forward with.
The problem is Abrams was never sure what was going on in Fringe, or any other project, either. The mystery of Fringe or Lost gets completely ruined by the fact that there isn't a solution and never was.
I will forever be confused at how the most hated line from the sequel trilogy wasn't "a good story for another time." It was so classic Abrams in all the worst ways that I very nearly left the theater and I still feel a tinge of rage ever time I see that scene.
If anything, Abrams should just make trailers, I think that could actually be something he’d be really good at: driving up hype. He wouldn’t actually have to deliver on anything (which is where he falls apart), just set up a mystery (“Is this a good movie?”) and then he has nothing else to do with it.
This would actually be a brilliant use of his skillset. He very evidently doesn't research anything about the source material or care what the film is about, which fits modern movie trailers perfectly.