Star Wars: The Force Awakens [** SPOILERS FROM POST 4472 ONWARD **]

johnny_ultimate

There's a lot of the Star Wars you loved in The Force Awakens, but also a lot of the Star Wars you think you loved but never really existed. JJ Abrams has basically made the film he was always destined to make - the bold, brash, sweeping space opera that George Lucas never really had the skills to do full justice to. It's ridiculous, it's silly, it's shamelessly melodramatic - and it's glorious because of it. The 'big moments' - of which there are several

(the moment Han steps onto that bridge...)

- hit with the sort of wildly overdramatic weight I always imagined was in a New Hope, but adult revisits have found strangely lacking. This is up there with The Empire Strikes Back in the way the beats hit with the forceful impact they deserve.

Here's what's particularly great about The Force Awakens: the earthiness, which is of course a strange word to use in the context of a galaxy far, far away. But from the off - is that actual blood?! - there's a sense of physicality that was I would say pretty much entirely absent in the prequel trilogy. The sand, the trees, the snow - they feel real, albeit CG enhanced for epic storytelling licence (

little of that computer nonsense necessary for the Skelligs though!

). It's all enhanced by Abrams kinetic direction, which retains enough of what made the originals work well visually while bringing the new director's trademark swooping and restless camera maneuvers to the table. There's enough nicely poetic imagery to justify the excitable and almost giddy camerwork employed throughout. I think Abrams is the best at what he does, and he's at his best here.

And it's, thankfully, delightfully 'human' too, despite the range of robots and aliens being paraded about (mercifully not to the dulling excess seen in Return of the Jedi). So much of the drama is built around the sort of friendships, family relationships and indeed enemies that drove the best film of the original trilogy. It builds on what was there before, but goes new directions too (stormtroopers who are actually individuals is a surprisingly thrilling subversion). I'm going to say this straight out, no apologies: Kylo Ren is the best villain the series has seen. Apart from it being a bit silly

when he first removes his mask

, here is a character who feels much more conflicted, interesting and damaged than Anakin Skywalker ever did. And Rei

promises to be a great action hero going forward, already showing the sort of confident badassery we only saw glimpses of in Luke.

I should probably go to bed, but a few stray observations. While the practical/CG use is mostly well balanced, there is at least one CG creation too far IMO, who is a little bit 'Marvel-y' for my liking. BB8 is BB-great (so, so sorry). It's funny. The space action is a bit ho-hum at times, but the lightsabers make up for it and then some. The score only boasts one or two memorable new additions, but moves along nicely enough. The film has literally the perfect amount of C-3PO. The final half hour is glorious. One or two callbacks feel a bit forced and 'wink wink, nudge nudge', but for the most part they're well earned and well played.

Imperfections and blemishes, there are a few. Maybe more than a few. But this is nonetheless vintage Star Wars - the sort of giddy, confident blockbuster adventuring that is at risk of extinction. Original? Nope. Intelligent? Hell no. Thrilling, romantic, exhilarating? You're goddamn right it is.

tommyboy2222

Whyohwhy? wrote: »

Good film, proper stars wars feel about it. Just left feeling a little underwhelmed. But with the massive hype it's a little hard to live up to it fully I suppose. No one will be disappointed though.

Daisy ridley is great. Driver pretty good too. Boyega not terribly bad, but nothing stand out. Hamill was fantastic...

If Disney continues in this vein, we'll be alright.

Now, off to the thread where I can really discuss it!

You taking the piss about Hamill ? :pac:

Ridleys acting was fine.

However her character : fly the Millenium Falcon - easy, fix the MF - not a bother, Jedi mind trick - yep , win a lightsaber duel with no training - of course !!!

Thought Kylo Ren was cool until he took off the mask . Reminded me of Adam Samberg !!

Oscar Isaacs underused. Hey I woke up at night and ye were all gone !!! C'mon

entropi

So much wow I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a while...

ibFoxer

I rarely (if ever) post here but right now it's deserved- Empire has always been the pinnacle for me. Tonight I got a new benchmark. There will always be fans that don't rate it as high and that's perfectly okay, but for me, it's 10/10, hands down.

Into The Blue

david75 wrote: »

It actually works fine as a stand alone film on it's own..if you look at it ANH & ROTJ also both work as standalones...

There's LOADS new about this..the only thing it takes from the trilogy..themes. family, friendships, connections and the happiness but heartache that can bring..some winks and nods and chuckles to the past also, but we'd be freaking out if they weren't there, and theyre barely there..just enough to pay homage, not intrusive at all.


it needs to look and feel like the OT in the aesthetic, and you'll be delighted it does once you've seen it

it's a remake of a new hope! Info hidden in a droid, empire looking for said droid, goodie dressed up as storm trooper doing a rescue, the new improved death star getting blown up in the end

geecee

Gotta say whilst I enjoyed the movie... I am VERY disappointed with the overall plot (was there one?) Bring back the trade federation... All is forgiven!

Sleepy

I could nit pick til the cows come home but that's true of the original trilogy too. It feels like Star Wars and it's a lot of fun. Think we'll only see those who think they could top it (despite zero film experience) complaining.

Star Wars is definitely back.

Anyone else catch the blink and you'd miss it cameo from

R2-KT

? Thought it was a lovely touch!

ShaneU

Whyohwhy? wrote: »

Good film, proper stars wars feel about it. Just left feeling a little underwhelmed. But with the massive hype it's a little hard to live up to it fully I suppose. No one will be disappointed though.

Daisy ridley is great. Driver pretty good too. Boyega not terribly bad, but nothing stand out. Hamill was fantastic...

If Disney continues in this vein, we'll be alright.

Now, off to the thread where I can really discuss it!

Deserves an oscar nomination imo

errlloyd

Movie is basically:

Bunch of tourists want to visit Kerry, but can't find an up to date map.

It's a reality we deal with on a daily basis.

ktulu123

Amazing! Can't wait to see it again in the morning

Into The Blue

ktulu123 wrote: »

Amazing! Can't wait to see it again in the morning

Yeah, definitely needs another watch.. Will wait till Friday

McDermotX

Masterstroke as well from Abrams getting the lads from The Raid onboard. As he himself said, they were 'incredible'.
Nobody else could have played the parts

especially when they done absolutely feck all of any note, beyond stand there. The incredible part must have been the bit cut out, or the part were they got the film some more exposure in Indonesia :P

Star Lord

Pretty much everything J_U said. Especially:

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

There's a lot of the Star Wars you loved in The Force Awakens, but also a lot of the Star Wars you think you loved but never really existed.

I never had much love for the originals, as I came late to the party, and knew the story before ever seeing them, and was always a little disappointed with them. This one though, it has the magic that I'd wanted the originals to have, and that was almost completely missing from the prequels (though I'll always love Darth Maul) and it has that magic in spades.

claireblossom

Oh my god I'm so happy, SO SO HAPPY. This is everything I asked for and more, yes we can nit pick all we want but the same can be said of the originals, not one for crying at movies but my god the tears were flowing,

been a fan since my Sister brought me to see episode IV rerelease when I was really small, my first memory of the cinema is her reading the opening crawl to me, I loved everything about the franchise (although as i grew older, the prequels not so much :L) but I wished there was a girl Jedi wielding a lightsaber that I could identify with and "play" Star Wars with (yes I know about the Clone Wars but we didnt have Sky so i couldnt watch it) and now I'm 22 and I finally get my wish, that final show down was epic, the whole movie was brilliant, the perfect mixture of old and new, I dont think anyone could have done a better job, i can't wait to see it again, and for the next one

Oh I'm welling up again, STAR WARS IS BACK

Whyohwhy?

Into The Blue wrote: »

Yeah, definitely needs another watch.. Will wait till Friday

Aye, screen one in the savoy for me,,will wait till after Christmas though, local cinema I seen it in was too small, was just happy to see it right at the release(was surprised it wasn't sold out only got the ticket at 7pm, would be next to impossible to avoid spoilers had I of waited.

claireblossom

Whyohwhy? wrote: »

Aye, screen one in the savoy for me,,will wait till after Christmas though, local cinema I seen it in was too small, was just happy to see it right at the release(was surprised it wasn't sold out only got the ticket at 7pm, would be next to impossible to avoid spoilers had I of waited.

i'm so glad that i saw it at midnight too, i think THAT spoiler will be the new 'Snape Kills Dumbledore', and almost impossible to avoid, especially for me, because as i run my work's social media accounts so can't avoid facebook/twitter, warning all my friends to stay the hell away from the internet and to see it as soon as they can

Drumpot

I'm very tired and movie started late because cinema didn't anticipate the crowds. I will reflect tomorrow, but my first reaction was not blown away and not overly disappointed which isn't bad considering my expectations.

I am disappointed in that don't know if I can bring my 6 year old to see it as there was an action scene that

wouldn't look out of place in an action horror with those crazy animals killing people on the space ship

.

I am not convinced they had to

kill off that major character

. This doesn't make the movie poorer or reflect on the movie , its more I just didn't want that to happen!

It definitely had more charm and a classic feel that the prequels lacked. I think it will benefit greatly from the prequels disappointing so much. I didn't mind that it

pretty much rehashed a lot of the older movies

.

I will go and see it again and may enjoy it more with less expectations, but overall, my initial reaction was a solid 7/10.

tommyboy2222

Did anyone see Caddle Faddle and Chris O'Dowd at the rebel base ? Maybe my tired eyes were playing tricks on me :pac:

Slydice

Back from Cinema.

AWESOME!

Sooooo goood!

Enough reading this post!!!! Go to the cinema!!! GO GO GO!!!

Can't sleep after that.

Well done JJ, Cast, crew and Disney!

tommyboy2222

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu8QiK7cBEY

Looper007

I loved it, it's not quite Mad Max Fury Road awesome or game changing but it's far better then Jurassic World. The Force Awakens can say it feels like a Star Wars film unlike those horrible prequels. Although it's not quite in the same ballpark as the 4,5,6 for me personally. It's still a rocking good time, although

They Killed Han Solo

which broke my geeky heart :pac:.

Not quite a game charger but a return to form for Star Wars. In Daisy Ridley as Rey, they have the perfect

new young Jedi

although I didn't like

They had Rey kick Kylo Ren's ass at the end

they blew their load on that far too quickly. Ridley is going to be huge. Adam Driver is great as Kylo Ren although it was quite obvious

He was Solo and leia's son

but I do like that

After Killing Han Solo, Ren ain't going to be redeemed and Ren's clearly a little loco

. John Boyega as Finn was great too and is clearly going to be

cocky Wise cracking but good hearted Han Solo type

for this trilogy. I really hope going into the next two films that Writer's and Rian Johnson and whoever else is directing keep on with

Rey and Finn budding romance

I liked it as it had a touch of Solo and Leia about it.

Harrison Ford gives his best performance in years and far better then his one in the last Indy film, Fisher not so much for me. I did think Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson were sadly wasted. The First act of the film wasn't great but once

Finn and Poe escape the Death Star 2.0

is when the film got great.

On First viewing, I see Force Awakens settling somewhere in my top 20 best films this year, it's already puts the prequels to shame not quite as awesome as the first three. But it's got potential to get better.

Kylo Ren

I really enjoyed it. It'll probably start to diminish in my mind as I start to really pick it apart but as I was watching, when I left the cinema and as I sit here now at 5 a.m still thinking about it, i felt and feel its specialness.

Kylo-Ren stole the show for me.

strandroad

I enjoyed the movie so much!

But I expected

an original story! This was practically the original trilogy "reimagined", which made it super predictable

and therefore more of a nostalgia lovefest.

Loved how simple the visuals were, down to the cr*ppy credits lettering. Back to the 80s baby...

Into The Blue

Technocentral wrote: »

Is Yoda's ghost in it?

in the reimagined form of a wee know it all pirate.. Even down to her being 1000 years old

.ak

Absolutely loved it. It is beautiful and so well put together, some elements were really spectacular. There was some massive surprises in it that honestly caught me off guard so in that regards it was brilliantly fresh.

My only gripes, and they're pretty small, and just to get them out of the way are:

The whole thing is a bit too fast paced for my liking, so much of the movie is just too "we have to do this" rather than "why are we doing this", and thus never built any suspense. I felt the movie was being played in 1.5 speed.

I wasn't a mad fan of the direction of the star fighter battles. Too much CGI and again too fast paced and tracking camera angles feels too fake.

Aldo regarding the CGI, I know we can't get away from it, but

i thought the supreme leader looked terrible. Looked like something from the hobbit. It will age so badly. The characters design isn't even that complex, they could've made him with puppetry like they did with the background characters. I also thought the falcon CGI made it look pretty poor.

Other than that I thought it was fantastic. I absolutely loved the 3 new main characters, if I'm being honest I thought they were better than the OT cast who just seemed to serve as a distraction for the overly giddy fanbois. I love kylo ren's character, the struggle he portrays is the perfect journey to the dark side. I'd go as far as to say he's portrayed that aspect better than anyone else on screen yet.

Jawgap

Saw it last night and loved it. I'd recommend it for fan and newbie alike.

The twists were in keeping with the film series and not outlandish; and the 'big' event was a genuine surprise.

They obviously set out to cram as much from the original trilogy into this one film and there's lots of nods to those films - but you don't have to be 'in the know' to appreciate them, or to put it another way I don't think you miss anything if you haven't seen any of the previous films.

I like that a lot of the main characters are young so there's plenty of scope to roll this series out over more than the three planned.

Also Skellig Michael - Bord Failte, I'd say, are creaming themselves at the way it's presented, it looks brilliant. I'd say the place will be hammered by fans over the next few years.

Domhnall Gleeson was very good, which came as a surprise (to me anyway) - I didn't think he'd be believable as a general.

If you put a gun to my head and asked me to list some criticisms, I'd point to the pacing - too fast to allow proper characterisation (but this, I suspect, has been done to tee things up for the next one), you almost have the sense they could've put less into this film and it woudn't have compromised it, some of the CGI looks like CGI for CGI's sake (but it looks glorious).........and the design of the X-wing looks like they trimmed a bit off it, which is a tiny bit of an annoyance as I always say it as a 'bruiser' rather than a fly-weight!

I can see myself going again over the Christmas hols!

mark13

Can't decide between heading to a 2d or a 3d screening, was the 3d any use?

uck51js9zml2yt

For tbose who haven't seen it yet. Me included.
The story is

Universe in trouble. Good guys save universe. Good guys die...the end

I'll confirm after the 12.00 viewing in the light house today

Jawgap

mark13 wrote: »

Can't decide between heading to a 2d or a 3d screening, was the 3d any use?

Went to 3D and it was grand - I doubt you miss anything by seeing it in 2D.

At one stage a Star Destroyer looked like it was in the cinema and there's a few nice shots of TIE fighters and X-Wing zooming in from the periphery.