Star Wars: The Force Awakens

[benji]

Anyway this amazing comment I found on a review of the film is more important than anything related to it:

The Prequel Trilogy is dynamical, not mechanical. It hides some pretty weird ideas about mythology and colonization (really: ALL the humans are bad guys in the PT). The kind of grand joke is that a rescued slave becomes the main enforcer for the colonizing humans. Humans only become 'good' (integrative) because of one very big plot-point: the Rebels are born the moment Palpatine names Vader and the jedi get slaughtered wholesale.

And weirder, Annakin isn't close to being 'the chosen one' of the prophecy. If you listen to the story closely, he's the result of tinkering with nature: he's the spawn of somebody named Plaguesis (a taboo name). And his children are the reason the Emperor is defeated. Lucas creates a prophecy and a mythology he subtly tells us is entirely false. It's pretty daring and radical as a response to the simplicity of the OT.

And there's hundreds of gags that fill in the blanks: he has Kiera Knightley sub for Portman throughout Phantom Menace, and then opens Clones with Portman's voice thanking her underling...then a few seconds later the girl with the voice is bombed and the 'real' Portman/Amidala gets out of another ship.

When we look back in 40-100 years, these PT films will be taken on the level of Kubrick; they're complex takes on humanity, storytelling, tribalism, ethnic division and mythology.

That was Lucas's plan it seems, to deliver something that seems to be one thing (Jar Jar appears to be a stereotype, when actually HE'S the one stereotyping everyone else in his dialogue: Jar Jar is part of a race that got kicked off the surface of his planet by the colonizing humans.) From every non-human POV in the film, even Jar Jar, comes a natural distrust of humans. And maybe that's why people hated these films. They're uncomfortable from a human point of view.

[Sauru]

i walked out of the moving giving it a 7.5

i have to bring my kids to it tomorrow morning so we will see if a second viewing changes my opinion at all. it was ok but had a few things that really bothered me and made no damn sense. i personally feel Rey was the best new character in the movie and kylo ren was crap.

[JaoSming]

8.5, enjoyed, but I didn't go in with huge expectations, and surprisingly spoiler free.

[Cpt(K)]

I haven't seen it myself yet. Didn't want to endure the crowds on opening night, but from reading this thread it shouldn't be horrible.

[[Q]]

Watched it in IMAX 3D this morning to avoid the crowd. I dont watch a whole lot of movies anymore, and not a whole lot of movies that i do watch are that enjoyable to me... but man this one hit me right in the feels. People might say "2 hours is too long for a movie" but honestly i feel ripped off when i watch a movie that's an hour long. anyways, I'd give it a solid 9, obviously nostalgia gave it a little bit of a boost, but halfway through I realized that I really like their replacements for the original 3 characters. I'm definitely invested in these new characters so I'm looking forward to the next one.

Weird to see Oscar Isaac as a good guy as I have watched him as a bad guy in Machina and he'll be playing Apocalypse.

[Kevin]

Finally going to watch it in the 23rd. All the reviews that I've seen rated it either as an 8.5 or a 9.5 so that should be something to look forward to.

[benji]

J.J. could film a jar of mayonnaise for three hours and get an 85+% RT.

[Andrew]

Caught it this afternoon, really enjoyed it. I'm with Q; while I don't mind a movie that's only an hour and a half, I'm not against two hour films either, and I didn't find myself bored or glancing at my watch. I'm glad I saw it, especially without knowing any spoilers.

[[Q]]

That was a big reason why I wanted to watch it soon after the release due to the high spoiler risk for the movie. I watched it spoiler free plus I had only seen the trailer maybe once and knew nothing about the new characters, so I was pleasantly surprised

[shadowgrin]

Overheard someone say he had a feeling of deja vu after watching it.

Obviously since Abrams did the same thing with Star Wars as his Star Trek films, he just copied past situations from previous films in the franchise and just interchanged the characters. It was excusable in Star Trek since it's an alternate reality but just ridiculous now the way he did it with Star Wars.

The father and son fight of Luke against Darth Vader, loser falling off.
Luke believing there is still hope for his father to change.
Luke finding Yoda for Jedi training.
Empire looking for a couple of droids.
Luke living in a desert planet and tiring of his daily routine in life and wants something more.
Bad guy renegade Han Solo deciding to help the good guys.
Every Death Star seems to have a fucking weakness, shitty engineering imo.

Those were just the obvious ones, pretty sure I could find a lot more if I tried.

If any of you say it's Abrams way of paying tribute to the original trilogy, fuck you, it's one thing to pay homage and another thing to copy stuff that comprise the whole movie itself.

[[Q]]

don't act like any sequel to a box office hit hasn't completely copied the plot of the 1st movie

[benji]

Furious 7 didn't copy The Fast and Furious. Rather, it a set a new standard for the standards of film.

[Patr1ck]

Lucas did that with the prequels and the official trilogy. They mirror each other a bit. So, I'm not surprised that Abrams followed the same formula.

[bigh0rt]

Furious 7 didn't copy The Fast and Furious. Rather, it a set a new standard for the standards of film.

I can only hope that The Force Awakens is as good as Fast 7.

[shadowgrin]

Considering how Han Solo left Chewbacca in TFA, it is not as good.

[[Q]]

Furious 7 didn't copy The Fast and Furious. Rather, it a set a new standard for the standards of film.

Justin Lin pulled that franchise out of the grave and they've been able to build on it since #4 and actually gained momentum/longevity by adding another superstar in The Rock

I could see Star Wars becoming a big thing by VIII especially if Rey & Finn get cast in other big time movies. It's tougher because they're doing a whole line change for the cast as opposed to adding to the existing cast.

[Kevin]

Just watched it last night. Going to give it a 9 or 9.5 (pushing it, I know). It lived up to its hype, unlike Live 16 but I guess there could've been more lightsaber fights but eh, it's okay.

[benji]

I could see Star Wars becoming a big thing by VIII

Yeah? You think Star Wars might be a multi-billion dollar franchise by then? Sounds overly hopeful in my opinion.

[buzzy]

Nah. Won't catch on.

[benji]

It really does scream "latest Disney fad" to me. Like Frozen. Or The Avengers.