Things have been slowly crescendoing all week and, if the past 12 hours or so are any indication, we’re all going to have a lot more Star Wars in our life for the next little while, for better and for worse. Late night has been all about The Force Awakens all week—all fall really.
But late night has been feasting on Star Wars regularly since the new trilogy was announced. What’s going to be really annoying is that we now live in a world with Star Wars-branded everything. Not only can you buy any Force Awakens product under Tatooine’s twin suns (including fruit, for Chrissakes! and vegetables!), but every political action group and politician in existence is trying to co-opt the series, or its fandom, to score a few easy buckets or make a few bucks. Not to mix metaphors or beloved children’s movies, but for the next 9-∞ days, Star Wars will consume everything in its path like the Nothing in The Neverending Story because, thanks to Disney, Star Wars is a never ending story.
But hey, the review embargo lifted a few hours ago and practically everyone loves the movie—it’s currently sitting at 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the French love it. And Grierson & Leitch love it too. I teared up reading Leitch’s review but I also teared up watching three of the trailers. I, for one, welcome our new/old Star Wars overlord and all the branded content that follows.