Star Wars!

[citrinesunset]

I was very determined to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the theater. I saw Episodes II and III in theaters, and I wanted to continue the tradition.

This created a dilemma, however. I don't particularly enjoy going to the movies. I'm very easily distracted, and people moving/making noise near me while I'm trying to watch something bothers me. I'm not someone who enjoys being a part of an audience. Normally, I would have waited a few weeks for the crowds to die down more. But I'm working full-time now, and I'm on vacation at the moment, so I didn't want to wait too long.

As it so happened, I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning, and it was right across the street from the movie theater. So it seemed like a pretty convenient opportunity to go to the 10 AM showing.

I ended up getting in line for my ticket at around 9:40, and the place was already getting pretty busy. I was really disappointed that I didn't have time to get popcorn. The concession line was so long it was ridiculous. But I probably saved myself an extra $15. The theater was surprisingly busy for a weekday morning, and I had to sit closer to the front than I would have liked. Overall, it worked out pretty well since I had most of the row to myself.

As for the movie itself....



I...liked it, but wasn't overwhelmed. I can't say that it really lived up to the hype for me, but I did enjoy it and was glad I went and saw it. To be fair, I'm not the best judge because while I will always consider myself a Star Wars fan, I haven't been hardcore into Star Wars since I was 16 or 17, and my tastes have changed over the years. I guess I was hoping that this might rekindle my youthful enthusiasm, but I don't think I was really expecting it to.

Overall, I think I'm a lot more cynical these days about movies that I can tell are heavily manufactured, and that was the sense I got from this. Like, it's really obvious that BB-8 was probably designed with toy sales in mind, and that a lot of the movie was constructed as a homage to the original trilogy and to fans' nostalgia. But it's a really loving homage, so I can't fault it. It didn't feel manipulative or cheap to me. And I did really love seeing Mark Hamill as Luke again, even if he's in the movie very, very briefly.

I like the new characters a lot, and I especially love Rey. This feels like the most progressive SW film when it comes to the depiction of female characters. We have a female lead character who isn't sexualized. There's a non-sexualized female general in charge of the stormtroopers. There are a lot of female extras playing pilots.

I also liked Kylo Ren a lot. I hadn't been fully convinced on Adam Driver playing the villain, but I thought he did a good job.

I do wish that the plot had been fleshed out better. I feel like a lot of stuff was either under-explained or intentionally left out for the next movie, which was kind of annoying. I have no idea who the new bad guy who's training Kylo Ren is supposed to be. I couldn't figure out if the Starkiller Base was a space station that had been terraformed or a planet that had been hollowed out and turned into a space station (I think it was the former? I couldn't really tell, though).

I've seen a lot of people compare this movie to the prequels, usually in the sense of talking about this one being a lot better. I can't really compare them. I never hated the prequels. I think this movie is better-made and has better performances, but overall, it's just quite different. Which is good, I think.

I may try to write some fic if I can find the time. I've fallen in love with Finn/Rey/Poe.

Overall, I wasn't blown away, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Comments

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I was quite disappointed in the movie. Not that I really cared if it turned good or bad - but I wasn't expecting it to be such a lazy story. 80% of the story is episode IV (with a hint of V).

And for Christ's sake, could they just stop making death stars?!

[sheenianni.livejournal.com]

Yes, this!!!! Thank you :D

I just saw it today - I didn't hate it, but it felt like they took a B+ fanfiction and filmed it. It wasn't terrible, it had some great moments, but overall I see this as the weakest movie of all Star Wars, including Ep2. As citrine said, there was a lot of stuff that went unexplained, so once that's cleared up in the two sequels, I might change my mind about this one... they did create some potential here, but as of now, I have to say I was mostly disappointed.

I did love Han, the new droid, the Leia-Han(-Luke) history, Rey and a couple things here or there... The new Big Bad Snoke (???) seems like a pretty underwhelming villain so far. I did like the idea of Kyle Ren (?) trying (and failing) to be as "good" as Vader.

Just please in the sequels, no more Death Stars/Star-eaters/whatever?

[citrinesunset.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that a lot will be explained in the next two movies, but there's such a fine line between leaving some things open-ended and having the story feel underdeveloped. There's so much that wasn't explained. I'm tempted to read the novelization of the movie just to see if that has much more insight.

[sheenianni.livejournal.com]

The novelizations can really be great! I really liked the novelizations for Episode II and III, and this one has been said to be quite good and clear up some of the WTF moments from the movie.

Anyway, I'm hoping that once the sequels come out, they'll add more depth to this movie. I wish we didn't have to wait another two years (I think) for the next one though.

[citrinesunset.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I was disappointed, but I was definitely underwhelmed by a lot of it. I agree that the story was pretty flimsy.

And LOL, you'd think after the first two Death Stars got destroyed, they'd come up with a new strategy.