The Box Office Awakens - No spoilers... I think.
Alright! So, I vowed not to pay to see this movie, but someone bought my ticket -not at my request- so I didn't have to feel obligated to stay if the movie turned real lame. To keep this short and to the point, lets begin.
Like: The Original Cast
The cast! thank you guys for coming back. Yes, I know Disney threw money at you to make it happen against your will, and they did so because old skeptical Star Wars fans wouldn't go see a movie with all new cast- but yawl made it worth while.
Dislike: End
The scene at the end with Rey and Luke... that scene went on too long. It hadn't been an emotional film up until this point, and no one's heart muscles had been worked enough to feel an emotional release at this scene. It was too long (her arm must have been stiff).
Like: Rey & Fin
This worked out really great actually. It wasn't too much, it wasn't sappy, unbelievable, or contrived. Rey wasn't too badass (they could have added a bit more detail about her day-to-day life). Fin wasn't too stereo-typical-lead-black-actor, they kept him pretty well grounded, the same way they did Lando.
Dislike: neo-Imperial Officers
Gah, there was no reason to make them adament flag-waving Nazis. At least with the old Imperial officers they were efficient and complicient, but not really gung-ho. Yes, I'm speaking about General Hux specifically. Imperial officers shouldn't be touting from the podium with a big red banner blowing in the back. Even the new Indiana Jones movie capitalized on the fact that Nazi-inspired antagonists are out-dated and unimaginative. The uniforms were spruced up to resemble this Nazi "SS" aoura that is really out of place here. Again, overdone and unimaginative. I'm glad they kept the accents though! I saw some ethnic officers there for the first time.
I feel that although General Hux didn't quite fear Kylo Ren as much as the others feared Vader, some officers definitely had the appropriate level of fear and intimidation in their bones- and for damn good reason!
Like: BB-8
Aww, you're a cutie. I didn't want to like you, and I didn't want you to replace R2 & C3Po in the film, but you stole my heart. I laughed at all your jokes.
Dislike: No droids
Seems like everyone had some screen time except the two droids mentioned above. In Empire of Dreams, we learned that the two droids kinda help tell the story. Here, they were last minute side-pieces.
Like: Chewy's Bowcaster!
Wow! Thanks for showing what an awesome weapon the bowcaster had always been. I didn't like how tactical Chewy was in his last action scene, he's not a SWAT team member for crying out loud, he's a howling Wookie.
Dislike: Kylo Ren
At first, excellent, I LOVED the outburst of anger where he goes at his console with the light saber. Thats his best scene. When he takes his mask off though, he's a panzy, and it didn't seem to me that he had mastery of very much, just some basic stuff that young Obi Wan definitely had mastered in his training phase of Episode I. Kylo Ren -and i hate to say this- was worse than Hayden Christensen-, with H.C. you could clearly see a very believable troubled, twisted youth. Kylo Ren, nah. He didn't really display his troubles empathetically enough. Oh, he was ugly too, and how'd he keep his hair up in that helmet? He SHOULD have been played by Cillian Murphy! That would have been awesome.
Like: Cameos
There were a few cameos, but not too many to be annoying. We didn't see the Rock (God bless him), dressed up throwing Storm Troopers around. They kept it very very tasteful and didn't get just any old big name actor in there (*cough*Mace Windu*cough*, although it was awesome he volunteered). I'm sure in a few more months they'll reveal Lady Gaga was in there somewhere (and I'd scream with glee that they got one over on me).
Like: Scene Transitions
They kept it classic!
Dislike: Captain Phasma
A lot of great potential kinda wasted here. I was first annoyed that it wasn't a dark trooper- but Phasma missed the opportunity to show off how badass she really is. She could have done that in the Jakku village slaughter scene. Loved her suit, and her voice was ok.
Like: Storm Troopers
They're real this time! no CG junk. WTH though, no more clones? No Temuera Morrison??? I like that they weren't totally incompetent and seemed pretty tactical. I didn't mine their goofy joke scenes too bad. Improved Storm Trooper suits were pretty dang good. I like that they also finally gave them their correct names! Two letters, and some numbers. Yes, I know they did it in... one? scene in all the old trilogy?
Dislike: Final Saber Duel
Abysmal. It was as impotent as the light saber duel between Darth Vader and Obiwan in A New Hope. Fin does fine, but when Rey took the wheel it nose dived. I know in the movie she's never weilded one before, but the way they chose to do the scene was very underwhelming. In the final bit, she lunged a lot, and that's Fencing, its kinda like they gave both her and Kylo Ren a day's crash course on it and cut them loose, and it was pretty emotionless. Compare it to the closing saber battle of Return of the Jedi, or the (waaay too long) saber battle at the end of Episode III. They spent far too little time on it.
Like: Comedy
Dude, the comedy was cute. Han Solo and BB-8 ruled it. The humerous affirmations Chewy gives is also boss. The banter between Han Solo and whoever he's talking to always makes it great. Its a reminder that without Han Solo's expert advise and winning character in A New Hope, Star Wars would be relegated as a joke.
Dislike: Yo, music?
John Williams where were you? You had the beginning of the movie, and the end, and that was it. Truth is, the movie was cut so high-paced there wasn't any time to FEEL the emotions cued by the music. Not having that here DID kill the Degoba Swamp boredom of Empire Strikes Back, but it also robbed this film of very much emotion.
Like: Seamless
The technology here didn't really clash too much at all with the old Star Wars triology, not the same way that the new ones did. I appreciate that. If you're a gun nut like me, you'll see the weapons were more or less slightly modified from the original trilogy. The storm trooper blasters, Rey's pistol (same origin as Han Solo's pistol).
Like: Meeza....
NO JAR JAR! WHOOO!!!
Like: 3D!
The 3D for this movie was absolutely the best I have ever seen. This movie was absolutely incredible in 3D and well worth the extra money. It wasn't just one or two scenes, it was about 30% of the movie, with some real eye-popping stuff. Great job.
Final thoughts:
The movie was worth seeing (twice). I don't think I'll buy it and watch it at home at some point in the future, but yeah, I'd see it again in theaters. I didn't feel cheated, at first time around, I left pretty awed and excited. What this movie did great was that it shattered the terrible flaws of the first trilogy, and the LAMEness of the second. However, in doing so, -and of course in his absence- is this movie had no George Lucas feel to it at all. It read like a (very well done) fan fiction novel. This wasn't Star Wars, but it wasn't some awful reboot either. The movie was cut too fast paced (Episode III was also really), and there was never any time (or reason for that matter) to stop and reflect. The movie had very few still or slow-panning shots. We had an abscense of focus on local customs or life (they did throw in two little critters in the movie, like the buzzard pecking away to its heart's content). The movie didn't feel very "galactic." The emotions and drama wasn't there. The character development was lacking. There wasn't a lot of stuff burning your eyeballs at once (Episode III, Transformers 1), but the movie was so hustled that you didn't get time to soak in anything. Imagine how different your life would be if all you had known was being a storm trooper, and now, you have to make something totally different. Wouldn't you be feeling empty and alone? Wouldn't you be hesitant to shoot one of your own? an emotional breakdown?
Another thing a coworker pointed out; this whole story was pretty much recycled from all the previous ones. Can someone tell me why they can't email plans and maps to each other instead of having to hussle some droid across the universe. Yes, I know it could fall into the enemy's hands, but in A New Hope, the empire already had the plans! Why is finding Luke so important, restore balance? Yes but how? It's short-sighted.
I'm shocked that with such a weak antagonist that they didn't debut some other villan, a Darth Maul, a Greivous, something. IG-88? A Fett? Kylo Ren was the weak link in the movie, and he nearly broke it. But the constant bones to the old one, the absence of disappointments, the Han Solo charm, the pretty decent storyline, and the reverence of the franchise- robs you of grounds to hate this movie. It's family friendly, its not dark at all, and its pretty doggone fun. I don't walk away with any existential questions of myself, so I can't give it an A, but its definitely a solid B. It lives up to everything you love about the old ones, and doesn't step on any toes to do it. You can tell they took their time with it, and that's deserving of recognition. I was surprised at times, and that's a rare thing!
Like: The Original Cast
The cast! thank you guys for coming back. Yes, I know Disney threw money at you to make it happen against your will, and they did so because old skeptical Star Wars fans wouldn't go see a movie with all new cast- but yawl made it worth while.
Dislike: End
The scene at the end with Rey and Luke... that scene went on too long. It hadn't been an emotional film up until this point, and no one's heart muscles had been worked enough to feel an emotional release at this scene. It was too long (her arm must have been stiff).
Like: Rey & Fin
This worked out really great actually. It wasn't too much, it wasn't sappy, unbelievable, or contrived. Rey wasn't too badass (they could have added a bit more detail about her day-to-day life). Fin wasn't too stereo-typical-lead-black-actor, they kept him pretty well grounded, the same way they did Lando.
Dislike: neo-Imperial Officers
Gah, there was no reason to make them adament flag-waving Nazis. At least with the old Imperial officers they were efficient and complicient, but not really gung-ho. Yes, I'm speaking about General Hux specifically. Imperial officers shouldn't be touting from the podium with a big red banner blowing in the back. Even the new Indiana Jones movie capitalized on the fact that Nazi-inspired antagonists are out-dated and unimaginative. The uniforms were spruced up to resemble this Nazi "SS" aoura that is really out of place here. Again, overdone and unimaginative. I'm glad they kept the accents though! I saw some ethnic officers there for the first time.
I feel that although General Hux didn't quite fear Kylo Ren as much as the others feared Vader, some officers definitely had the appropriate level of fear and intimidation in their bones- and for damn good reason!
Like: BB-8
Aww, you're a cutie. I didn't want to like you, and I didn't want you to replace R2 & C3Po in the film, but you stole my heart. I laughed at all your jokes.
Dislike: No droids
Seems like everyone had some screen time except the two droids mentioned above. In Empire of Dreams, we learned that the two droids kinda help tell the story. Here, they were last minute side-pieces.
Like: Chewy's Bowcaster!
Wow! Thanks for showing what an awesome weapon the bowcaster had always been. I didn't like how tactical Chewy was in his last action scene, he's not a SWAT team member for crying out loud, he's a howling Wookie.
Dislike: Kylo Ren
At first, excellent, I LOVED the outburst of anger where he goes at his console with the light saber. Thats his best scene. When he takes his mask off though, he's a panzy, and it didn't seem to me that he had mastery of very much, just some basic stuff that young Obi Wan definitely had mastered in his training phase of Episode I. Kylo Ren -and i hate to say this- was worse than Hayden Christensen-, with H.C. you could clearly see a very believable troubled, twisted youth. Kylo Ren, nah. He didn't really display his troubles empathetically enough. Oh, he was ugly too, and how'd he keep his hair up in that helmet? He SHOULD have been played by Cillian Murphy! That would have been awesome.
Like: Cameos
There were a few cameos, but not too many to be annoying. We didn't see the Rock (God bless him), dressed up throwing Storm Troopers around. They kept it very very tasteful and didn't get just any old big name actor in there (*cough*Mace Windu*cough*, although it was awesome he volunteered). I'm sure in a few more months they'll reveal Lady Gaga was in there somewhere (and I'd scream with glee that they got one over on me).
Like: Scene Transitions
They kept it classic!
Dislike: Captain Phasma
A lot of great potential kinda wasted here. I was first annoyed that it wasn't a dark trooper- but Phasma missed the opportunity to show off how badass she really is. She could have done that in the Jakku village slaughter scene. Loved her suit, and her voice was ok.
Like: Storm Troopers
They're real this time! no CG junk. WTH though, no more clones? No Temuera Morrison??? I like that they weren't totally incompetent and seemed pretty tactical. I didn't mine their goofy joke scenes too bad. Improved Storm Trooper suits were pretty dang good. I like that they also finally gave them their correct names! Two letters, and some numbers. Yes, I know they did it in... one? scene in all the old trilogy?
Dislike: Final Saber Duel
Abysmal. It was as impotent as the light saber duel between Darth Vader and Obiwan in A New Hope. Fin does fine, but when Rey took the wheel it nose dived. I know in the movie she's never weilded one before, but the way they chose to do the scene was very underwhelming. In the final bit, she lunged a lot, and that's Fencing, its kinda like they gave both her and Kylo Ren a day's crash course on it and cut them loose, and it was pretty emotionless. Compare it to the closing saber battle of Return of the Jedi, or the (waaay too long) saber battle at the end of Episode III. They spent far too little time on it.
Like: Comedy
Dude, the comedy was cute. Han Solo and BB-8 ruled it. The humerous affirmations Chewy gives is also boss. The banter between Han Solo and whoever he's talking to always makes it great. Its a reminder that without Han Solo's expert advise and winning character in A New Hope, Star Wars would be relegated as a joke.
Dislike: Yo, music?
John Williams where were you? You had the beginning of the movie, and the end, and that was it. Truth is, the movie was cut so high-paced there wasn't any time to FEEL the emotions cued by the music. Not having that here DID kill the Degoba Swamp boredom of Empire Strikes Back, but it also robbed this film of very much emotion.
Like: Seamless
The technology here didn't really clash too much at all with the old Star Wars triology, not the same way that the new ones did. I appreciate that. If you're a gun nut like me, you'll see the weapons were more or less slightly modified from the original trilogy. The storm trooper blasters, Rey's pistol (same origin as Han Solo's pistol).
Like: Meeza....
NO JAR JAR! WHOOO!!!
Like: 3D!
The 3D for this movie was absolutely the best I have ever seen. This movie was absolutely incredible in 3D and well worth the extra money. It wasn't just one or two scenes, it was about 30% of the movie, with some real eye-popping stuff. Great job.
Final thoughts:
The movie was worth seeing (twice). I don't think I'll buy it and watch it at home at some point in the future, but yeah, I'd see it again in theaters. I didn't feel cheated, at first time around, I left pretty awed and excited. What this movie did great was that it shattered the terrible flaws of the first trilogy, and the LAMEness of the second. However, in doing so, -and of course in his absence- is this movie had no George Lucas feel to it at all. It read like a (very well done) fan fiction novel. This wasn't Star Wars, but it wasn't some awful reboot either. The movie was cut too fast paced (Episode III was also really), and there was never any time (or reason for that matter) to stop and reflect. The movie had very few still or slow-panning shots. We had an abscense of focus on local customs or life (they did throw in two little critters in the movie, like the buzzard pecking away to its heart's content). The movie didn't feel very "galactic." The emotions and drama wasn't there. The character development was lacking. There wasn't a lot of stuff burning your eyeballs at once (Episode III, Transformers 1), but the movie was so hustled that you didn't get time to soak in anything. Imagine how different your life would be if all you had known was being a storm trooper, and now, you have to make something totally different. Wouldn't you be feeling empty and alone? Wouldn't you be hesitant to shoot one of your own? an emotional breakdown?
Another thing a coworker pointed out; this whole story was pretty much recycled from all the previous ones. Can someone tell me why they can't email plans and maps to each other instead of having to hussle some droid across the universe. Yes, I know it could fall into the enemy's hands, but in A New Hope, the empire already had the plans! Why is finding Luke so important, restore balance? Yes but how? It's short-sighted.
I'm shocked that with such a weak antagonist that they didn't debut some other villan, a Darth Maul, a Greivous, something. IG-88? A Fett? Kylo Ren was the weak link in the movie, and he nearly broke it. But the constant bones to the old one, the absence of disappointments, the Han Solo charm, the pretty decent storyline, and the reverence of the franchise- robs you of grounds to hate this movie. It's family friendly, its not dark at all, and its pretty doggone fun. I don't walk away with any existential questions of myself, so I can't give it an A, but its definitely a solid B. It lives up to everything you love about the old ones, and doesn't step on any toes to do it. You can tell they took their time with it, and that's deserving of recognition. I was surprised at times, and that's a rare thing!