Film Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

I got a childhood memory that just popped back. Actually, I had heard of Star Wars before I watched the movies. They were talking about Return of the Jedi in the news, it had just been released in theaters. The one shot they chose to show was Anakin without his mask. Talk about spoilers lol.

 

I didn't realize it being cg was in question. What's impressive to me is that it's a moving prop, and not some movie making shenanigan i.e. soccer ball tied to string (i'm onto you Hollywood).

 

While I do find it awesome and would totally put that in my room I assume it costed quite a buck.

 

oh jeez

 

Sad that Lupita won't be on screen herself, but we'll see how the mocap goes -- could be really cool!

 

Haven't watched the new trailer yet (waiting until my theater gets it so I can see it on the big screen) but I love that everything I've seen this far has Daisy Ridley with some sort of vibroblade rather than a lightsaber. Rep those non-Force users yeah

 

I'm surprised no one has commented about the movie yet... =3

I haven't seen it myself, but I live probably in the most relaxed state you can find. There's usually no one waiting in line at Black Friday for three days, no one waiting in line for movies for long periods of time, even huge ones like Lord of the Rings...

My local theater had like a hundred people waiting for the movies midnight release this Friday, for the whole day. I didn't get to see it, I might not.

 

The cinemas in my town were ridiculously small when I moved in, trying to attend a Harry Potter movie on opening night was a nightmare. But now we have this brand new huge ass cinema and I went to an early screening. There was no line and the room was only half full.

I just wanted to see more Han Solo and that I definitely got. So my non spoiler review is Han Solo 10/10.

 

I've gone on record of not being a fan of the Star Wars franchise. I recognize the original trilogy as good films, and I don't have the disdain most people have for the prequels. It's really those rabid fans that keep me from wanting to embrace the franchise. To better explain this, watch The People vs George Lucas, and you see both the good and the very, very bad things about the fandom.

But, I have to say, I like The Force Awakens. I liked it a lot. Saw it Friday and then again on Saturday with a friend and his family. Still not a franchise fan, but I'm a fan of the film.

A lot of the great moments came from the new characters. Seeing how they interacted with each other and with the world around felt real. They even seem to have a lot of depth in the movie, even though looking back on it, on paper, they are kinda two dimensional.

And I can appreciate that a lot of the fan service was made to feel genuine in the film. I say feel, because in reality, they're put their to please those rabid fans. I can at least admire the effort of making those moments feel organic. However, there were two things in the film that were paying fan service that really slowed down the film and made me go "okay, I get it, you're trying to make people happy; can we get back to the story now, please".

Spoiler

The first time was with a lot of the stuff with The Millennium Falcon and Han. It felt like it was paying a lot of fan service that really slowed the movie down. The second time was in this film's version of the cantina scene. There was at least some effort to keep the story going, but it was just so obvious that it was there because it's such a memorable scene in a New Hope.

I honestly feel that they could've cut these scenes shorter, making time to really focus on the new characters are adding more dimension to the story. But, it didn't ruin the movie for me. It just messed up the pacing.

And I honestly feel that there is a subtext to Kylo Ren that is a giant middle finger to those rabid fans. Only one other person I've talked to about it caught onto that as well. If that subtext was on purpose, I would have much more love for this film.

The Force Awakens is kind of a safe film, and that's a good and bad thing. It's good because it's setting up the architecture for a new story and setting up a lot of possibilities. The downside of that is that it's obviously being safe to please the rabid fans instead of taking risks and doing something new.

Now, I'm really looking forward to Episode 8, which will have a director that really understand moral ambiguity and can get a lot of dimension out of the characters, which is what this franchise really needs.

 

Spoiler

Boy oh boy did they take a page (or many) from A New Hope.

Not that this fact makes The Force Awakens a bad film, but I'm just a lot more excited for the next films than I was for this one.

I really like how they handled Luke's disappearance; it reminds me of Yoda's exile and Obi-Wan's failure to keep Anakin from the Dark Side. As for his appearance in the film...expected. Wish it was more substantial.

Finn's a character whom I already really like the arc of, however I'm worried about what they'll do with him now. As far as I can tell, he's developed fully. Not sure where to go from here, but that can be a pleasant surprise.

I do like Rey, but she really feels too much like Luke all over again. They need to try harder next film to differentiate her. Show us what she has on her own that hasn't been done already.

The cameos did feel dragged on, and it felt too obvious that Han was going to be the Ben of this film. Still, I was admittedly gripped by that scene.

I think the most divisive character is Kylo Ren, and I can safely say that I love what they did with him. It truly feels like the first time I've seen a film character really stuck between Light and Dark Side, and unlike Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, he's already done something very, very evil.

So all in all, not quite as good as the original trilogy, but far more enjoyable overall than any of the prequel films (a big part of this is having a bunch of characters I really like, when the prequels basically only gave me Obi-Wan and Yoda.)

 

Spoiler

I really don't think it's fair to compare Phasma to Boba yet. She's only had one film: Boba had three, and didn't need to really be shown in action until Episode VI, which was the embarrassment for him. Also, it's not like Finn, Chewie, or Han know how to do what she's made to do.

In terms of battles, I actually think Episode VI has the best Lightsaber battle so far with Luke and Vader. It's not overly flashy like the prequels and there's a lot of tension in every move. If you don't already know the ending, you're not sure how it's going to play out, despite one character's (increasingly waning) reluctance to kill. A few movements are a bit cheesy, sure, but I prefer the live-action stunts to obvious and aging CGI. Not to mention the music is great.

The Prequel movies have some impressive battles, yes, but many are just too much style with too little substance. Episode III to me has the most excessive Lightstaber fight of the entire series in Obi-Wan vs Anakin. Again, I liked it, but....there is literally a moment where they rave their blades around and don't even try hitting one another. The fight just drags on for way too long as well. It should have been like, half as long.

If anything, Episode I has the best duel of those three films because of the amazing choreography demonstrated by Ray Park as Darth Maul wielding a Double-Bladed Lightsaber. It's clear the guy is a martial artist, and he actually has a sense of what a fight should look like. Also introduced one of the best pieces of music in Star Wars.

Just my two cents on your post.