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Saw it today. Best Star Wars film since Return...or even Empire. No spoilers, but while the plot is incredibly derivative, it is more than made up for by the absolute love for the originals shown by Abrams. There are hat tips aplenty. In fact, there are layers of them. it is a true fan film. The new characters are good (no f**king Jar Jar), the cute characters are not overdone (n f**king ewoks) and the returning characters are just wonderful. The CGI is used well too - these don't have the soulless feel of the prequels.
I talked about this today with a mate of mine who is the same age as me. He saw it yesterday. We were both the perfect age in 1977 and saw it when it was released. We both felt the magic of that first film & we both felt the magic this time. We both teared up a couple of times in this one as we were transported back to our childhoods.
My nephew is the same age now I was when I first saw Star Wars. He is a massive Star Wars fan. I managed to find an original (if slightly worn) 1979 Millenium Falcon to give him for Christmas - one of the ones made for the figurines to sit in. He'll be the only kid in school with one. Last week he saw his first rock concert - AC/DC. This week he sees his first new release Star Wars film. I am SO glad it will be this one. Hopefully he will experience some of the exhilaration we all felt back in 1977.
This film was clearly designed to get Star Wars fans old & new on the same page for the story as it unfolds. I suspect the biggest danger for whoever does the next one is living up to the sheer joy & nostalgia of this. It won't be easy.
Many of the over 40 fans left after Phantom Menace with many of us not even watching the next two. The idea was to bring back those fans with a peace offering. This movie wasn't meant to break new ground or take risks. It was supposed to recreate a favorite recipe from our childhood. I expect the next movie to blaze a different path. In a sense, this movie killed the ghost of Jar Jar Binks, but it also killed Han Solo, the most beloved character from IV-VI, as an indication it would tell a new story.
lol, frankly the movie bored me to tears-- they might as well have called it Star Wars the 2016 Remake. better than the prequels but that's not a high bar.
yeah, yeah, I understand JJ Abrams meant this to be a homage to the original trilogy but really, he could have done a bit better than almost literally replaying EVERY SCENE (desert planet/death star hallway/cantina/death via falling/x-wings going down a canyon) with the almost exact same plot and no character development. going for the easy applause scenes.
also suffers from "villain sucks" department, with kylo ren and an eminently forgettable Emperor replacement.
and because of that, the heroes suffered as well: han solo deserved a better end than what looks like a poorly thought out domestic altercation.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
lol, frankly the movie bored me to tears-- they might as well have called it Star Wars the 2016 Remake. better than the prequels but that's not a high bar.
yeah, yeah, I understand JJ Abrams meant this to be a homage to the original trilogy but really, he could have done a bit better than almost literally replaying EVERY SCENE (desert planet/death star hallway/cantina/death via falling/x-wings going down a canyon) with the almost exact same plot and no character development. going for the easy applause scenes.
also suffers from "villain sucks" department, with kylo ren and an eminently forgettable Emperor replacement.
and because of that, the heroes suffered as well: han solo deserved a better end than what looks like a poorly thought out domestic altercation.
Like! My exact thoughts when I left the movie theater.
Many of the over 40 fans left after Phantom Menace with many of us not even watching the next two. The idea was to bring back those fans with a peace offering. This movie wasn't meant to break new ground or take risks. It was supposed to recreate a favorite recipe from our childhood. I expect the next movie to blaze a different path. In a sense, this movie killed the ghost of Jar Jar Binks, but it also killed Han Solo, the most beloved character from IV-VI, as an indication it would tell a new story.
That's exactly it, perfectly stated. Disney has a massive empire (no pun intended) that it's planning to put out here.
(A decent chunk of that empire is currently in production.)
They had to restore the franchise to commercial viability and fan acceptance after the prequels. They succeeded spectacularly IMO.
Having said that, I'm going to expect a lot more from Episode VIII and IX and Rogue One.
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
Han had to die, so he can move back to a cooler franchise, the reboot of Blade Runner! He (Rick Deckard), will be busy blasting replicant ass!
Han may(!) be dead but that doesn't mean that Harrison Ford isn't going to be in Episode VII
Oh, spoiler alert, he will be ;-)
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
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