This movie will always be special to me, so I'll have to try and not be bias. The build up to this movie was amazing. I wasn't born until after the original trilogy was complete, but they remain the best Star Wars movies to me as I grew up with them (well, some pretty crap versions recorded off the TV. I was about 15 when The Phantom Menace came out and I really got caught up in the hype for that. But this was different. This was being brought back to childhood in a way that the prequels never could. This was a return to Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C3PO, and R2D2. It was the promise of all these characters again, and ever since I heard this movie was being made, I was excited. When the 88 second trailer was released a full year before the film was released I cried the moment I saw the Millennium Falcon. Yes, that's right, I'm a big man baby! I must have watched it ever day until the next trailer came out, and then I cried again (come on, "Chewie, we're home." Who wouldn't shed a tear). I withdrew from the internet in the days surrounding its release to avoid any spoilers. The problem was that I wasn't going to get to see it until after Christmas and it was released on the 18th December. The reason we weren't going to see it was because we had two small children, and babysitters are precious and more-so around Christmas. Added to that is that it was our wedding anniversary and my wife informed that there was no chance in hell she was going to spend our anniversary in a galaxy far, far away. We had one night out without the kids and it was not for Star Wars. Now, she's as much as a nerd as I am and played this very, very well, because the anniversary came and so did two surprise tickets to the movie.
And I loved it. From the moment 'Lucasfilm' came onto the screen to very last roll of the credits. There is nothing quite like sitting in a darkened theater and seeing those magic words 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' appear on screen. It sends chills up my spine. The Force Awakens really felt like Star Wars in a way that the prequels never quite captured. The return of more practical special effects really added a depth to the movie that CGI just doesn't capture. The Star Wars universe has a very lived in feel to it. You can easily imagine civilizations stretching back eons and TFA really captured that well.
The opening scene is one of the best in the entire Skywalker Saga. We catch a flickering look at the First Order stormtroopers, before we are taken to Jakku where we meet Poe Dameron receiving part of a map from the late-great Max von Sydow's character, that leads to the missing Luke Skywalker. The new droid addition, BB-8 informs them the First Order are on their way - and now it all kicks off. Now this film is now nearly 5 years old so I am not going to go into the depths of the plot, because you've probably all see it anyway...and if you haven't you don't want to be reading about the plot. Kylo Ren's introduction in this scene is amazing. He is menacing, we learn he is somebody of importance with a connection to an important family. We also see his power in managing to stop a blaster shot in mid air with the force. We also see Captain Phasma and see both her and Kylo's ruthlessness in slaughtering the villagers. This is also a good introduction to Finn who clearly has a problem with this mass murder.
Rey was an interesting character, if a little flat in comparison to the other new characters. I do agree that her instant ability with the force was just bad writing, there should have been a slower build up to this. She was instantly able to do things it takes others years to do. I get that she's powerful, and after the Rise of Skywalker, we know why, but it could have been handled better.
Now, the classic characters. They basically did a reset to Han and Chewie and we met them almost as they were in A New Hope. They're back to smuggling. Again this is just lazy writing and completely undoes the character development that had happened over the course of the original trilogy. However, I felt that Han's death at the hands of his son was handled well and was a very emotional scene. I really feel that Leia was wasted throughout this trilogy, but what could they have had her do in fairness? It's not like they could have had Carrie Fisher running around like a Jedi for all the films. The disappearance of Luke was a great way to move things forward and that end scene is again, one of the great Star Wars scenes.
Legion Rating: 8.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment