The Force Awakens (spoiler thread)

[PDB]

I'm going to back mofo and farstarbuck here and say I really enjoy it.

I had in-laws for babysitting so the wife and I finally got to see it yesterday. Its not as good as Star Wars/A New Hope (my fav) and Empire but miles and miles ahead of any of the prequels. I know people have a problem with the recycled SW/ANH plot. I really didn't have a problem with any of that except maybe Death Star 3.0 and even that wasn't the focus of the ending like it was in SW and ROTJ. All in all glad to see all the old characters. Nice to see Ford, actually caring. Loved the 3 new characters and the actors did very well. The direction was right on. There were a few story issues but the pace helps smooth some of those over.

Finally, the wife is not a fan fan of SW and sci-fi but is a child of the 80s and loved not only the nostalgia trip but the new characters. I think see raved about it more then I did.

[ilovewaterslides]

It's nice to see that we share the same opinion PDB! Plus, ANH is my favourite as well, then goes ESB, TFA and ROTJ

[PDB]

High-fives waterslides!

[The Aluminum Falcon]

Count me in among the fans of Force Awakens!

Really, I thought it was an excellent space adventure movie- simple, fun, and swash-buckling with a great amount of heart. The characters are acting human again, something we haven't seen from the franchise since '83! I was glad that an effort was clearly made to make the dialogue more natural and conversational, as opposed to the stilted nature of the prequels; reviewing the original trilogy, a great deal of appeal is certainly in how much like NORMAL people the characters are, despite inhabiting a strange galaxy far, far away.

Rey and Finn are quite endearing protagonists. I liked how the former was actively defying the traditional hero's journey by her unwillingness to leave home, a wonderful counterpoint to Luke and Anakin Skywalker's desire to "get off this rock." I do hope that the spunky Poe gets expanded in the sequel, as he lit up the screen whenever he appeared; I expect, whiel Rey is training, Finn and Poe will go off on some adventure. Kylo Ren was a great bad guy in the making. I loved that he was on a villain's journey, just as much as Rey was on the hero's.

As for claims that it too closely follows ANH, I have to say: the movie was exactly what it needed to be. After four (YES, 4, not 3) sequels of questionable merit, it's no surprise the franchise felt it needed to return to its roots and "play-it-safe" while still taking a decent amount of risks (the handling of Luke and Han). Consequently, the movie is "formula," so to speak, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! Aliens, Creed, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and every James Bond movie ever made(!) are all examples of sequels adhering to the formula of a quality original; that, as in the case of Force Awakens, doesn't make them bad. This movie even introduces a brand new set of characters we've never heard anything about before! I find claims that the Star Wars prequels are "better" because they are "original" to be utterly ludicrous; the Phantom Menace was just as much a copy of A New Hope as the Force Awakens, though it managed to capture none of the excitement of the other two films.

That said, I hope that 8 will now have the courage to branch out in exciting, new directions.

For the record, I saw The Force Awakens on 70mm! Though it still looked like a digitally finished movie, the film gave it a nice gritty veneer that I associate with Star Wars.