Star Wars: The Force Awakens Reviews (SPOILER-FREE THREAD)

[Trekker4747]

Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens

My Grade: A


It's been a few years since the last Star Wars movie came out, ending a rather disappointing trilogy (to say the least) that served as a prequel to the classinc 1970s/80s Sci-Fi movies. Since then the movie franchise has changed hands to a new studio and a new creative team.

Naturally, there was a level of nervousness when it came to this new set of movies after the Prequels, and for some reason this concern centered around Disney now owning the property even though how marvelously (heh) Disney has handled the Marvel franchise of movies and shared-universe stories.

The movie is set some 30 years or so after the evens of the Original Trilogy and the Galactic Republic is being faced with opposition from a reorganized, and renamed, version of "The Empire" from the Original Trilogy, so our characters are faced with new, but similar, challenges as the original characters.

Stop me if you've heard this one:

A lone Astromech droid is entrusted with information to aid those fighting for the Republic to defeat a group of British Space Nazis. The droid comes across a young loner looking for more in their life and teams up with a group of other characters in order to get those plans to those who need them, culminating into a big battle against a powerful enemy.

Yeah, the movie is virtually a note-for-note retread of A New Hope, though it has some elements of "Empire" in it.

Yet... Somehow it works. The new take with the new characters in a virtually similar situation does managed to at times feel different and fresh and there are enough differences in order to keep it interesting. Our main character is a young woman named Rey who lives on a desert like (Not Tatooine) planet as a scavenger when she comes across the little droid and is entrusted with its mission, she's aided by a defected storm trooper who takes the name "Finn", finds a ship and some help with space-traveling veterans in order to get the droid to those who need it.

The movie has a good series of action beats and visuals and an interesting look at this "new" generation in SW universe where the idea of "old technology" continues, though it seems they've finally mastered making quality, color, photorealistic holograms.

In watching the movie it's important to look at it from the perspective the story is about our main character, Rey, and her journey through the challenges being thrown her way. As much of a retread as the back-drop story is; it doesn't matter.

I saw the movie in 3D, I don't think it added much personally.

The FX in the movie look fantastic, though some of the creature effects in it had a "quality" to them that didn't work, almost looking like something from a current-gen video game than a movie. It's bizarre we can have some movies where creature effects are blended in well and look like real objects and then there's this where some of the alien creatures look like, well, computer effects.

The movie also has a lot of genuinely funny moments in it. Things that made me truly laugh, and no "funny" racist caricature had to step in poop or get electrocuted in order for it to happen.

And, for me, it was a relief to have the opening of the movie match the others. Sadly, no 20th Century Fox fanfare (obviously) but the Lucasfilm logo followed by the "A long time ago..." opening and then the SW theme blares and we get the title and the scrolling text establishing our story.

And nothing about taxation and trade blockades.

It's honestly the most "excited" I've been about a Star Wars movie.... Ever. Maybe since TPM, but I wasn't entirely excited for that so I may have to go back to the Re-Released OT. But, I'm not exactly a "life-long" Star Wars fan like many, I didn't really see the movies all-the-way through enough to grasp and remember them until jr. high/high school.

But, I really liked this movie. I look forward to seeing it again, and will see it again.

I look forward to the sequels.

I think J.J. Abrams did a good job there. When he took over Star Trek one of my gripes about it was that it made ST feel almost more like SW than Trek, so when he took over SW I felt he'd be a good fit. Turns out he is.

But, after this movie establishes his take, and does so with a slightly recycled story, I hope more risks and challenges are taken in Episode VIII. Still look like Star Wars, naturally, but let's hope there's some new a different story beats and points rather than a rehash of Empire.

And please, god, no taxation or trade blockades as story drivers.

 

[tomalak301]

I keep hearing the Taxation and blockade thing as a reason why the prequels weren't as good, but whenever I think of the reasons why the prequels weren't good, that isn't something that comes to mind? What was wrong with a little Republic politics?

 

[Trekker4747]

I keep hearing the Taxation and blockade thing as a reason why the prequels weren't as good, but whenever I think of the reasons why the prequels weren't good, that isn't something that comes to mind? What was wrong with a little Republic politics?

The opening crawl sets the mood and tone of the movie, and the opening crawl of ANH speaks of, essentially, a battle between good and evil. Freedom fighters going against a powerful government preparing to unleash an unstoppable weapon. A do or die moment for these freedom fighters. It makes and impression, it establishes things. The crawls in V and VI continue this. Hell, even VII does it.

Episode I opens with.... trade blockades. It has all of the excitement of the news-ticker on CNN. How do you get people excited for a space-saga that deals with conflict and a literal battle between good and evil by opening it up with tax and trade?

When I first saw it made me go "WTF?" because I wondered where this could possibly go anywhere interesting. Episode IV opens with a battle between the rebel ship and a Star Destroyer, continuing the theme of this opening crawl.

Episode I? Opens with a ordinary, uneventful, landing of a ship and two Jedi Knights sitting down for coffee in order to talk about taxes. Now, sure, that leads into an action beat but because the first of many racially insensitive stereotypes send in the attack droids, but it's a lot different than ANH throwing us right into the action.

So it's by no means the only flaw with TPM, obviously, and the flaws in it have be rehashed and discussed for 16 years now. But it is the *first* flaw in the movie, it sets the tone and it goes down hill from there and -to me- sets the tone for the problem with the entire PT. The entire sequence of events is set off by trade blockades and we even get the "benefit" of seeing exciting scenes like we're watching Space CSPAN with bickering people in a senate chamber. WOOO! Star Wars!

Odd thing is, it contrasts with the "Star Wars is for kids" notion ballied about in defense of the PT in order to justify the slapsticky humor and nonsense around Jar Jar and such. How is it in the same movie you can have the "for kids" humor of a gibberish-speaking space bunny stepping in poop and electrocuting himself but then have a senate chamber scene?

Are kids going to be *that* entertained by a senate scene? Hell, are event he most boring of adults going to be entertained by it?

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.
While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....

That's how it begins. Where's the excitement in that? In reading it again it seriously *does* read like something you'd see on a news channel ticker, or in the opening paragraphs of a news story. Trade blockades, stalled shipping routes, and an impotent congress. Excitement!

The "taxation crawl" is just, for me, a microcosm we can point at in order to sum-up the problem with the prequels. It takes all of the problems lined out in the Plinkett summaries/reviews and even the "Cinema Sins" reviews done the last week or two and condenses it down into one thing. The opening crawl was about a goddamn trade blockade!

 

[Greylock Crescent]

TPM didn't need to begin with an exciting crawl. It didn't need to begin with an in medias res sequence. Its politics would have been just fine ... if the rest of the film had better executed Lucas' vision of the story.

 

[RAMA]

Quite disappointing despite some entertainment value. JJ did a much better job with the ST movies. My first impression was that the movie felt like neither trilogy before it despite replicating 80% of the Episode IV plot. It had good FX but nothing magical or striking. The villains were subpar and the new characters were weightless and completely overshadowed by the old cast. The best thing that can be said is that it was better than the prequel trilogy but not by much.

A generous 6.5/10

RAMA

 

[tomalak301]

I keep hearing the Taxation and blockade thing as a reason why the prequels weren't as good, but whenever I think of the reasons why the prequels weren't good, that isn't something that comes to mind? What was wrong with a little Republic politics?

The opening crawl sets the mood and tone of the movie, and the opening crawl of ANH speaks of, essentially, a battle between good and evil. Freedom fighters going against a powerful government preparing to unleash an unstoppable weapon. A do or die moment for these freedom fighters. It makes and impression, it establishes things. The crawls in V and VI continue this. Hell, even VII does it.

Episode I opens with.... trade blockades. It has all of the excitement of the news-ticker on CNN. How do you get people excited for a space-saga that deals with conflict and a literal battle between good and evil by opening it up with tax and trade?

When I first saw it made me go "WTF?" because I wondered where this could possibly go anywhere interesting. Episode IV opens with a battle between the rebel ship and a Star Destroyer, continuing the theme of this opening crawl.

Episode I? Opens with a ordinary, uneventful, landing of a ship and two Jedi Knights sitting down for coffee in order to talk about taxes. Now, sure, that leads into an action beat but because the first of many racially insensitive stereotypes send in the attack droids, but it's a lot different than ANH throwing us right into the action.

So it's by no means the only flaw with TPM, obviously, and the flaws in it have be rehashed and discussed for 16 years now. But it is the *first* flaw in the movie, it sets the tone and it goes down hill from there and -to me- sets the tone for the problem with the entire PT. The entire sequence of events is set off by trade blockades and we even get the "benefit" of seeing exciting scenes like we're watching Space CSPAN with bickering people in a senate chamber. WOOO! Star Wars!

Odd thing is, it contrasts with the "Star Wars is for kids" notion ballied about in defense of the PT in order to justify the slapsticky humor and nonsense around Jar Jar and such. How is it in the same movie you can have the "for kids" humor of a gibberish-speaking space bunny stepping in poop and electrocuting himself but then have a senate chamber scene?

Are kids going to be *that* entertained by a senate scene? Hell, are event he most boring of adults going to be entertained by it?

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.
While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict....

That's how it begins. Where's the excitement in that? In reading it again it seriously *does* read like something you'd see on a news channel ticker, or in the opening paragraphs of a news story. Trade blockades, stalled shipping routes, and an impotent congress. Excitement!

The "taxation crawl" is just, for me, a microcosm we can point at in order to sum-up the problem with the prequels. It takes all of the problems lined out in the Plinkett summaries/reviews and even the "Cinema Sins" reviews done the last week or two and condenses it down into one thing. The opening crawl was about a goddamn trade blockade!

Maybe it could have been a better crawl, but this is Star Wars we're talking about. You hear the theme song start and then the first part of the Crawl is "Episode 1 The Phantom Menace" and I remember at the time I was very excited. We were finally starting to see how this series began. I think starting it with a republic and then showing how the republic fell and the rise of the emporor was a very start thing to do.

 

[Set Harth]

Who needs worldbuilding when you can have nonstop action and things that go "pew, pew"?

 

[Trekker4747]

Who needs worldbuilding when you can have nonstop action and things that go "pew, pew"?

And disputes in congress over trade blockades!

 

[RoJoHen]

For it's not so much the trade blockade that I had a problem with. It's that the trade blockade was happening between two forces I had never even heard of before.

Trade Federation vs. Naboo

Who are these people, and why should I care?

I still maintain that Naboo should have been Alderaan. At least that would have given something to latch onto.

 

[JD]

I really don't think any of the ideas or concepts in the PT were bad, it's execution that is the problem. I think there was some merit to the idea of the whole SW saga starting with a fairly small conflict. I also don't think the Senate scenes were a bad idea, the whole prequel trilogy was about how the Republic became the Empire, you can't tell that story without politics.

 

[DarKush]

For it's not so much the trade blockade that I had a problem with. It's that the trade blockade was happening between two forces I had never even heard of before.

Trade Federation vs. Naboo

Who are these people, and why should I care?

I still maintain that Naboo should have been Alderaan. At least that would have given something to latch onto.

I do think that it should've been Alderaan instead of Naboo as well. But mainly because it would add to the tragedy that happens in Episode IV. I mean that foreshadowing would hang over the planet.

But as for not caring because I don't know them, I get that, but sometimes if the story is effective enough you get invested and you care. I can't say that TPM did that though, with either the Trade Federation or Naboo. To be fair, I can't say I'm all that into the First Order or the Resistance at this point either.

In the prequels I think the Separatists provided material for a greater threat. But I guess the point of Episode 1 was to sort of start small, with an event in a out of the way-maybe backwater even-planet and watch it metastasize into a galaxy-spanning conflict. I don't think Lucas pulled it off that well.

If it had been up to me, I would've started the Clone Wars in Episode I. Episode II would've been all about the war and Episode III would end the war and the republic would fall.

 

[Ithekro]

I have figured that we've have Anakin become Darth Vader in II or the beginning of III and have the third film be Obi-wan and Padme on the run to hid her and her kids so that Vader and the Emperor never know about Luke and Leia, or assume they died while on the run.

 

[Unicron]

Edit: Derp, wrong thread. Sorry!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Wow, this thread died. Guess everyone else has seen it. I'm planning to go later tonight...any as-non-spoilery-as-possible suggestions for scenes that might make good bathroom breaks if needed?

 

[Turtletrekker]

May I suggest a large jacket and an empty Gatorade bottle?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Not really my style. Ah well, soon enough I'll be able to read the other posts in this forum.

 

[DWF]

For it's not so much the trade blockade that I had a problem with. It's that the trade blockade was happening between two forces I had never even heard of before.

Trade Federation vs. Naboo

Who are these people, and why should I care?

I still maintain that Naboo should have been Alderaan. At least that would have given something to latch onto.

We at the time only knew one person from Alderaan and that was Leia, so it's not like we know them either. The blockade was a way to remove Valorum from office without any of it getting back to Palpatine.

 

[The Old Mixer]

My bladder served me well.

 

[wulfio]

I personally liked seeing the scope of the Star Wars universe in the prequels. I also didn't mind all the politics and exposition(aside from michichlorians).

What bothered me about the prequels was the daytime soap dialogue, lack of direction, and the accidental heroism. The narrative could have definitely used tweaking(but what film couldn't benefit from that?), and maybe the movies could have taken themselves a little less seriously at times(the Star Wars we fell in love with was fun). And there was also a Vader sized hole throughout the saga that should have been filled by Maul.

But overall, if the dialogue was sharp, and there was a director that actually pulled great performances from the actors, the prequels would have been great. I saw an edit of Phantom Menace where they took out the silly alien accents, and replaced it with alien jibberish, and then subtitled dialogue that was more in line with compelling villains; Neimoidian being ruthless, cunning, and deceitful instead of spineless and daft for example. And then all the accidental heroics was cut to look like intentional heroics. It was an infinitely more enjoyable TPM.

 

[Turtletrekker]

^Was this the legendary "Phantom Edit"? I would love to see that.