Star Wars Review - no spoilers

[RWS]

Watched the eagerly anticipated movie earlier this morning, and it was.... great! I saw the 3D version, and I was hesitant about that, but the 3D did not interfere much with the enjoyment of the story. It was well done.

The new characters were interesting, had lots of charisma, and makes me look forward to future episodes. Unlike the prequel characters. Though I did not like Gwendolyn Christies role, I was hoping for more from her, being a GoT fan.

I will definitely see it again, especially since my younger daughter (who did not want to see it), called me during the final climactic battle at 2am, and I had to walk out and missed 5 minutes of it! But I'm a Dad, and my older daughter filled me in afterwards, but still wish I coulda seen it! So have to see it again on the big screen. Next time I'll do 2D, so I can focus more on the story and characters instead of the images. Even tho the 3D was not overdone, I still found myself trying to focus at times and checking out the 3d effect in scenes, rather than focusing on the story and dialogue. That's my ADD problem... So next time.... 2D for sure! : -) My reasoning for 3D was that I'll be seeing it in 2D for years to come, so may as well watch it on the big screen in 3D while I can.

Either way, it's a great movie! I give it a sure 3.5 out of 4, and maybe a 4, but I gotta let it sink in a bit (and also need to see the 5 minutes I missed towards the end).

Funny thing that happened, is that while I'm driving home with my daughter and her 2 friends, I kept mentioning how dark everything is tonight... Then I realized I still had my 3D glasses on over my glasses!! That was funny...

 

[mudwhistle]

3.5 isn't all that good.

 

[strollingbones]

mudd its outta 4

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Critics are saying it may be the best Star wars yet. Last I looked it had a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes

 

[longknife]

I've seen lots and lots of 5s

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

I've seen lots and lots of 5s

Out of?

 

[TheOldSchool]

Outstanding movie. It did justice to the Star Wars name and then some.

 

[Sgt_Gath]

It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely blew me away - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."

The plot became rather clunky and convoluted after they arrived on the forest planet, for example, with way too many things going on at the same time and way too many contrived coincidences driving the story forward. The climax reeled me back in, but the middle portion still needed to be streamlined.

It suffers from Lord of the Rings style "multiple ending-itis" as well. The scene at the end needlessly dragged on and could have easily been saved for the sequel. There were simply better ways they could have handled that.

It also makes some absolutely baffling decisions in terms of longterm story telling and narrative structure.

Spoiler

Seriously, what in the Hell is the point of building up Kylo Ren as being such a bad ass, if they're just going to have Rey mop the floor with his beaten and bloody ass in the third act? She hasn't had a lick of training, and she's already kicking the living **** out of absolutely everyone. What the Hell kind of "hero's journey" does that even leave room for?

I mean... I know the whole "gurl power" thing is all the rage these days, but tone it down a notch, for God's sakes. This chick's power level is just ridiculous for the first movie in a planned trilogy. She's easily pushing "Legolas in the Hobbit" ratings of absurd plot-contrived invincibility here.

There's a reason why Luke lost his first duel with Vader in ESB. Even if Vader was defeated by the end of the first movie, he wasn't outright embarrassed like Kylo was in this film. It takes away from the villain as a credible threat for the heroes to struggle against.

Fin, meanwhile, is all but worthless. He's basically just this movie's Jar-Jar Binks (only, you know... actually funny and endearing, rather than insufferable lol).

I also didn't like how they handled the giant doom station. Blowing it up was too predictable. The heroes should have simply crippled it (still causing earthquakes and all the rest), and forced it to hyperjump away, to be saved for a sequel.

For that matter... Did they blow up Couruscant, or what? They never actually used that name (they actually referred to it as the 'Hosni system'), so I'm thinking no. I know Abrams has a bit of a track record for underplaying atrocity (i.e. that whole fiasco with the giant space ship wiping out an entire city in 'Into Darkness' and no one seeming to give a damn, for example), but if they really blew up the capital of the Republic, and everyone just shrugged that off, that'd be absolutely ridiculous.

Overall: 7 out of 10

A good start, but it still needs work. Abram's usual crap also needs to be reigned in a bit.

 

[TheOldSchool]

It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely blew me away - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."

The plot became rather clunky and convoluted after they arrived on the forest planet, for example, with way too many things going on at the same time and way too many contrived coincidences driving the story forward. The climax reeled me back in, but the middle portion still needed to be streamlined.

It suffers from Lord of the Rings style "multiple ending-itis" as well. The scene at the end needlessly dragged on and could have easily been saved for the sequel. There were simply better ways they could have handled that.

It also makes some absolutely baffling decisions in terms of longterm story telling and narrative structure.

Spoiler

Seriously, what in the Hell is the point of building up Kylo Ren as being such a bad ass, if they're just going to have Rey mop the floor with his beaten and bloody ass in the third act? She hasn't had a lick of training, and she's already kicking the living **** out of absolutely everyone. What the Hell kind of "hero's journey" does that even leave room for?

I mean... I know the whole "gurl power" thing is all the rage these days, but tone it down a notch, for God's sakes. This chick's power level is just ridiculous for the first movie in a planned trilogy. She's easily pushing "Legolas in the Hobbit Trilogy" ratings of absurd plot-contrived invincibility here.

There's a reason why Luke lost his first duel with Vader. Even if Vader was defeated by the end of the first movie, he wasn't outright embarrassed like Kylo was in this film. It takes away from the villain as a credible threat for the heroes to struggle against.

Fin, meanwhile, is all but worthless. He's basically just this movie's Jar-Jar Binks (only, you know... actually funny and endearing, rather than insufferable lol).

I also didn't like how they handled the giant doom station. Blowing it up was too predictable. The heroes should have simply crippled it (still causing earthquakes and all the rest), and forced it to hyperjump away, to be saved for a sequel.

For that matter... Did they blow up Couruscant, or what? They never actually used that name (they actually referred to it as the 'Hosni system'), so I'm thinking no. I know Abrams has a bit of a track record for underplaying atrocity (i.e. that whole fiasco with the giant space ship wiping out an entire city in 'Into Darkness' and no one seeming to give a damn, for example), but if they really blew up the capital of the Republic, and everyone just shrugged that off, that'd be absolutely ridiculous.

Overall: 7 out of 10

A good start, but it still needs work. Abram's usual crap also needs to be reigned in a bit.

How do you do the "spoiler" thing? I want to respond but I don't want to spoil anything.

As for all the coincidences, I would say there's a pretty know understanding that we're so supposed to accept that the Force guides everything and that Star Wars is supposed to be pretty silly.

 

[Moonglow]

Watched the eagerly anticipated movie earlier this morning, and it was.... great! I saw the 3D version, and I was hesitant about that, but the 3D did not interfere much with the enjoyment of the story. It was well done.

The new characters were interesting, had lots of charisma, and makes me look forward to future episodes. Unlike the prequel characters. Though I did not like Gwendolyn Christies role, I was hoping for more from her, being a GoT fan.

I will definitely see it again, especially since my younger daughter (who did not want to see it), called me during the final climactic battle at 2am, and I had to walk out and missed 5 minutes of it! But I'm a Dad, and my older daughter filled me in afterwards, but still wish I coulda seen it! So have to see it again on the big screen. Next time I'll do 2D, so I can focus more on the story and characters instead of the images. Even tho the 3D was not overdone, I still found myself trying to focus at times and checking out the 3d effect in scenes, rather than focusing on the story and dialogue. That's my ADD problem... So next time.... 2D for sure! : -) My reasoning for 3D was that I'll be seeing it in 2D for years to come, so may as well watch it on the big screen in 3D while I can.

Either way, it's a great movie! I give it a sure 3.5 out of 4, and maybe a 4, but I gotta let it sink in a bit (and also need to see the 5 minutes I missed towards the end).

Funny thing that happened, is that while I'm driving home with my daughter and her 2 friends, I kept mentioning how dark everything is tonight... Then I realized I still had my 3D glasses on over my glasses!! That was funny...

Did you forget what movie you saw? and needed the ticket stub to remind you?

 

[Sgt_Gath]

It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely blew me away - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."

The plot became rather clunky and convoluted after they arrived on the forest planet, for example, with way too many things going on at the same time and way too many contrived coincidences driving the story forward. The climax reeled me back in, but the middle portion still needed to be streamlined.

It suffers from Lord of the Rings style "multiple ending-itis" as well. The scene at the end needlessly dragged on and could have easily been saved for the sequel. There were simply better ways they could have handled that.

It also makes some absolutely baffling decisions in terms of longterm story telling and narrative structure.

Spoiler

Seriously, what in the Hell is the point of building up Kylo Ren as being such a bad ass, if they're just going to have Rey mop the floor with his beaten and bloody ass in the third act? She hasn't had a lick of training, and she's already kicking the living **** out of absolutely everyone. What the Hell kind of "hero's journey" does that even leave room for?

I mean... I know the whole "gurl power" thing is all the rage these days, but tone it down a notch, for God's sakes. This chick's power level is just ridiculous for the first movie in a planned trilogy. She's easily pushing "Legolas in the Hobbit Trilogy" ratings of absurd plot-contrived invincibility here.

There's a reason why Luke lost his first duel with Vader. Even if Vader was defeated by the end of the first movie, he wasn't outright embarrassed like Kylo was in this film. It takes away from the villain as a credible threat for the heroes to struggle against.

Fin, meanwhile, is all but worthless. He's basically just this movie's Jar-Jar Binks (only, you know... actually funny and endearing, rather than insufferable lol).

I also didn't like how they handled the giant doom station. Blowing it up was too predictable. The heroes should have simply crippled it (still causing earthquakes and all the rest), and forced it to hyperjump away, to be saved for a sequel.

For that matter... Did they blow up Couruscant, or what? They never actually used that name (they actually referred to it as the 'Hosni system'), so I'm thinking no. I know Abrams has a bit of a track record for underplaying atrocity (i.e. that whole fiasco with the giant space ship wiping out an entire city in 'Into Darkness' and no one seeming to give a damn, for example), but if they really blew up the capital of the Republic, and everyone just shrugged that off, that'd be absolutely ridiculous.

Overall: 7 out of 10

A good start, but it still needs work. Abram's usual crap also needs to be reigned in a bit.

How do you do the "spoiler" thing? I want to respond but I don't want to spoil anything.

As for all the coincidences, I would say there's a pretty know understanding that we're so supposed to accept that the Force guides everything and that Star Wars is supposed to be pretty silly.

Like the quote tags, basically. Just put "spoiler" in brackets before and after what you want to hide.

The "force did it" thing only gets you so far though. You can't let it be an excuse for flat out lazy writing. lol

 

[TheOldSchool]

Thanks

Spoiler: SPOILER

Ren was pretty injured during that fight. He took a shot from Chewbacca's Bowcaster which you could see from earlier was pretty powerful. And then I think Finn landed a couple blows on him too. I think he would have taken her out pretty easily if not for that. And Ren is also not fully trained.

I loved Finn

I completely agree about the Starkiller. It was cool how it sucked power from the sun, but the final battle was just waaaaay too similar to A New Hope. I wish it would have been different, but I'll take a competently executed Star Wars movie any day after the disasters that were the prequels.

I don't think that was Coruscant. I've never heard or read any reference to the Hosni system in Star Wars. I'm sure they would have mentioned it. The new senate didn't necessarily have to be on Coruscant, especially if the Rebels didn't defeat all of the empire and never got to their capital.

 

[Sgt_Gath]

Thanks

Spoiler: SPOILER

Ren was pretty injured during that fight. He took a shot from Chewbacca's Bowcaster which you could see from earlier was pretty powerful. And then I think Finn landed a couple blows on him too. I think he would have taken her out pretty easily if not for that. And Ren is also not fully trained.

I loved Finn

I completely agree about the Starkiller. It was cool how it sucked power from the sun, but the final battle was just waaaaay too similar to A New Hope. I wish it would have been different, but I'll take a competently executed Star Wars movie any day after the disasters that were the prequels.

I don't think that was Coruscant. I've never heard or read any reference to the Hosni system in Star Wars. I'm sure they would have mentioned it. The new senate didn't necessarily have to be on Coruscant, especially if the Rebels didn't defeat all of the empire and never got to their capital.

Spoiler

Fair enough. Personally, however, I would have preferred a draw at the very least (with them getting separated at the last minute by that giant chasm, or something).

It just seemed to me like Rey was having everything come to her, way, waaaay too easy. It's kind of going to take tension away from her inevitable rematch with Ren if she's already kicked the guy's ass once, and it wasn't even all that hard.

I mean... Imagine if Luke had beaten Vader in the Empire Strikes back. That just wouldn't have worked.

I also liked Fin a lot. It's just that they seem to be shaping him up to be nothing more than Rey's kind of irrelevant sidekick. I think he can do better than that as a character.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Thanks

Spoiler: SPOILER

Ren was pretty injured during that fight. He took a shot from Chewbacca's Bowcaster which you could see from earlier was pretty powerful. And then I think Finn landed a couple blows on him too. I think he would have taken her out pretty easily if not for that. And Ren is also not fully trained.

I loved Finn

I completely agree about the Starkiller. It was cool how it sucked power from the sun, but the final battle was just waaaaay too similar to A New Hope. I wish it would have been different, but I'll take a competently executed Star Wars movie any day after the disasters that were the prequels.

I don't think that was Coruscant. I've never heard or read any reference to the Hosni system in Star Wars. I'm sure they would have mentioned it. The new senate didn't necessarily have to be on Coruscant, especially if the Rebels didn't defeat all of the empire and never got to their capital.

Spoiler

Fair enough. Personally, however, I would have preferred a draw at the very least (with them getting separated at the last minute by that giant chasm, or something).

It just seemed to me like Rey was having everything come to her, way, waaaay too easy. It's kind of going to take tension away from her inevitable rematch with Ren if she's already kicked the guy's ass once, and it wasn't even all that hard.

Spoiler

Well she was getting a little dark side-ish there towards the end. The dark side is an easy power source. If she'd killed him Snoke might have had a new student.

That whole last battle scene could have been better but I was still plenty entertained. I can't believe it'll be another 2 years before the next one.

 

[Moonglow]

Severe lack of frontal nudity in the movie...

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.

Congrats. Get ready for some spectacular stuff.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.

Congrats. Get ready for some spectacular stuff.

I hope so. I can't remember the last movie I went to that I didn't immediately regret paying to see. Course I don't goto movies often.

I had planed to watch all the other movies in order before I saw this one but between tv, the Internet & radio I was scared to have it spoiled.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.

Congrats. Get ready for some spectacular stuff.

I hope so. I can't remember the last movie I went to that I didn't immediately regret paying to see. Course I don't goto movies often.

When the crawl starts, you'll feel like a 10 year old again.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.

Congrats. Get ready for some spectacular stuff.

I hope so. I can't remember the last movie I went to that I didn't immediately regret paying to see. Course I don't goto movies often.

When the crawl starts, you'll feel like a 10 year old again.

I've heard people say the got tears from it. I'm like wtf lol