Rejoice! The Force Awakens Is A Real StarWars Picture!

[fearsclave]

Caught it yesterday. Considerably better than the prequels, but not quite up to the original three movies. Disney did a good but uninspired job of reverse engineering a formula out of the original three. It remains to be seen whether they'll do anything original with the next two flicks. It was a good sequel/reboot, if nowhere near as jawdroppingly good in that department as Mad Max: Fury Road. Am glad I saw it, enjoyed it, doubt I'll want to watch it a second time. 7.8/10 IMHO.

 

[yaddy306]

They need to bring Lucas back to the drawing board and save this Disney Franchise.

Yeah, right.

They need Lucas to "save the franchise".
The movie made a billion dollars in 12 days, and it doesn't open in China (2nd largest film market in the world) for another 12 days.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I am with fearsclave on this one.
I thought the new movie was way better than the prequels (Episodes I to III), but I was still a tad dissapointed. The plot was close to the original, but I don't really fault it for that, since I think that was a good way for a reboot to get underway, and who can fault a Star Wars reboot for emulating a classic Star Wars story. I did think that the whole plot and story arc was weighed down a bit by trying to be so connected to the original flicks though. Still, the kids and I enjoyed it, and so did I. 8/10 for me.

 

[perdurabo]

Yaddy306 your bound to make money when everyone is going to see it. Plus no advance screening, except for your snobby Hollywood friends. Simply no original story telling in this film. Rushed piece of trash. Yea you better hope Lucas pulls them out of this, if you are a Star Wars geek. If not, No Harm, No Foul. Typical Run of the mill adventure movie with Star Wars theme.

 

[perdurabo]

Fearsclave is right, not as good as Mad Max Fury Road.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

No-one was expecting this to compete with Fury Road, and many people kept their expectations low, thus a lot of people are just really happy with what we did get.
Perdurabo is the perfect example of someone who grew up with the Prequels and now has nostalgia glasses for those the same way the rest of the fan base does for the Original Trilogy. Thankfully every generation from now on will also have Episode 7/8/9 to give a huge range of styles with which to judge Star Wars within itself. This is the first generation that will actually be able to judge the prequels objectively because they haven't idolised George and they aren't in shock because of Jar Jar.
If nothing else, George Lucas became progressively more toxic toward the old movies. As the years went by he just kept changing more and more, all the while refusing to restore the original theatrical release. The only thing that would happen if George were to be involved with another Star Wars is that we would end up with something designed to be unrelatable to the originals, and with terrible actors to boot.
As is, we have a stiff plot with a great actors and a complex story about human relations. After the rest of the character arch is filled in later we're going to have a much better grasp on why people are the way they are here, which is pretty much how every Star Wars has ever been written.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I have to say though, Episode 1 is quickly becoming my favourite of the Prequels simply because it contains the most of positives and the least negatives of that set of movies.

Duel of the Fates is the best Lightsaber fight ever, Darth Maul is the best Sith since Darth Vader, it wasn't all filmed on a Green Screen, and Hayden Christiensen isn't in it, and they aren't far enough into the story to do anything that conflicts with the original trilogy. You can watch it on its own and believe it takes place within the same universe.

And after that I'm betting people would be best off watching the Clone Wars cartoon instead of Episode 2/3. I've heard good things about the extended conflict with General Grievous I have a hunch most of the positives people see in the Prequels are being injected by The Clone Wars cartoon instead of coming from the movies themselves.

 

[sablebrush52]

Very interesting discussion here. I never said that this was the greatest work in the history of Cinema. And as I indicated, it borrows a lot from the first StarWars film, but I stayed general to avoid spoilers. I found it a romp and still find it so. Bringing Lukas into the story writing would be a sure fire way to tank the property. He can't write dialogue. The scenes between Padme and Annakin were among the worst ever committed to film, and the audience in the theater expressed its disgust with a romance between the two in no uncertain terms on the occasions when I saw it.

Did the reboot cover new ground? No, but they didn't shit on it as the Prequels did with poorly thought out characters like Jar Jar, the coke bottle glasses wearing buck toothed "evil oriental" traders, big nosed "Jews"' child molestation, or that incredibly stupid duel between Yoda and Count Doofus. One would have to have the brains of an insect after it hit the proverbial windshield to think that it was anything less than appalling.
Nor, thank goodness, did the film plod endlessly along, like the prequels. It could have used a judicious trimming - 15-20 minutes by my reckoning, but the propulsive cutting rhythm that marked the original trilogy was very much in evidence here.
I'm hoping that the next film will cover some new and interesting ground, and that the next installment of the Skywalker story will venture forth where no StarWars geek has gone before.

 

[perdurabo]

@Frozenchurchwarden Thanks for the compliment, but I saw the Originals in the Theater. My son grew up with the prequels. You are right, he gravitates toward the prequels and is just warming up to the originals at 12 years old and loves the new movie.
I have always loved the Director cuts to all my favorite movies. Therefore, when Lucas started to change his work it didn't bother me. It's his vision and not mine, so I haven't acted like my childhood was raped and taken from me like others of my generation have done. The prequels were great for what they were. Ewan McGregor, Ian McDarmid, and Liam Neeson were the best actors. They are character actors and you can tell that they had an easier time Acting at nothing than the others, because of their stage acting experience. I Think the prequel hating is passe'. No further comment needed,
As far as the new movie, those who love it, great! But to say that this movie was the film that we have all been waiting for, naw, it ain't. Not even close. Rebooting wasn't what Expanded Universe readers wanted. Since all Expanded Universe was Stamped and Approved by the Creator of Star Wars(Lucas did use Expanded Universe in the Prequels), something close and in the same nieghborhood was wanted. Yes, I read the Timothy Zahn books to the New Jedi Order because I never expected Star Wars 7. Yea, I'm a geek I know, Star Wars is my thing. In the end it's all film. You like it or you don't. There is no going back now, at least we got another SW film out of it, Plus more to come.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I'm reading through the Thrawn Trilogy right now, it will always be the first (and probably best) "Episode 7", but in the end I'm glad they wiped the Expanded Universe.
The best thing to come out of Disney getting their hands on this is the ability to put the property into as many different hands as possible.
Through the 90's we were so protective of the franchise that it's hard to say that getting a flood of content both good and bad is better than keeping it with any one director, but given what has happened with practically every sci-fi franchise in the last 15 years it's clear that there is no one person in this industry who has a firm grasp on what they're doing.

I hope they shotgun Star Wars at us and greenlight as many movies as possible. Then, when the dust settles, we'll know who's good at it.

That experiment basically has to happen at least once because it's the only way to try and make links between directing style and how the franchise should feel. Keeping it with one or two people is just going to give us one or two more interpretations that may or may not be right for the franchise, and it's always possible that someone much better could be just around the corner.

The problem with saying that this is George's vision is that George had the least input with the best movies in the franchise, it was never strictly his vision that people loved.

We were always going to get a mixed bag no matter who's in charge, there's no way to recreate what happened with A New Hope and Empire Strikes back so we just need to see as many different takes on it as possible to find out who really is the best, and with the 50th anniversary looming (2027), I'd like to see someone (or maybe two directors to avoid burnout) take a stab at going through 9 scripts in one pass to actually make something that is coherent from one end to the other.

 

[perdurabo]

@FrozenChurchwarden Thrawn Trilogy is BA. And yes even I stopped reading Expanded Universe because there was no end in sight. Besides I got what I wanted from it, New Jedi Order being the crown achievement. Check it out if you haven't already, it's a little dedication, a lot of books in that series.

 

[voorhees]

Going in I had high hopes, maybe too high.
After letting it settle on my mind a few days, Kylo Ren came across as a brat that threw dangerous/destructive tantrums and the near romance between Finn and Rey made me nauseous. I am going to see it again and get a better opinion on the rest of the movie but so far I was left empty. I was more interested in Captain Phasma's character overall and the flashback/lightsaber sequence with Rey was oddly engineered and the characters by chance happened upon the the same location of Vader's light saber. You might say "the force" had something to do with it, maybe.

 

[iamn8]

I finally saw it yesterday morning. It is absolutely a "real" Star Wars movie and MOST definatly in desperate need of the next in this trilogy. I'm bothered when movies end this way. Obviously it's a very good Star Wars movie. JJ Abrams is a wicked good director/producer. I wonder what Lucas thinks.

 

[brewshooter]

I did think that the whole plot and story arc was weighed down a bit by trying to be so connected to the original flicks though. Still, the kids and I enjoyed it, and so did I. 8/10 for me.

Peck's opinion is pretty good summation of how I felt. Thoroughly enjoyed, probably too many nods to the original and trying to have all these ties in that sometimes didn't make total sense, but plenty to make me excited to see the next one.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/31/george-lucas-attacks-retro-star-wars-the-force-awakens

“They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that,” he said. “They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway, but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that any more, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”

Well that's as much as I'll ever need to hear from him again (at least on this subject).

As far as Star Wars is concerned you'd be just as well off asking asking Tim Burton to write a space opera as trying to get anything that resembles the original out of George.
And sometimes I wish he would do sometihng completely unrelated, aside from a few bad acting choices he had some bright points that might have done reasonably well if it weren't shoehorned into an existing story.

 

[sablebrush52]

What's interesting to me in the Guardian article is that Lukas has stated that "There is nothing more boring than a visual effect" and his criticism focuses on the effects, not on character relationships. He just reads like seller's remorse.
Is the picture retro? Yep, and I'm happy with that for now. Did the picture borrow heavily from A New Hope? Yep, so much so that it's a near remake. That said, I, and apparently a whole lot of others, were entertained with the new release.
Will I be happy with more "remakes"? Hell no. The train is rolling again and it needs to head to new destinations. Just don't get too serious and self important. That's what poisoned the prequels.

 

[perdurabo]

Ha Ha the Lucas Haters. I find that we've had a tad bit too much Marixsim in our education. The owning of another man's art is quite disturbing. If I eyeroll anymore my eyes might fall out of my head. Enjoy your pipes ladies and gentlemen. I think Buffalo Soldier is on the menu this fine rainy afternoon.

 

[elpfeife]

I,for one, have not seen it yet. I've been advised to watch the 3D version. Anyone have an opinion on that?

 

[perdurabo]

I've heard the 3D did not do it justice. You miss visual details. I didn't see the 3D, so this is hearsay. I saw it twice, it's much better the second time. Pay attention to what dialogue there is. It'll give you clues to where 8&9 could go.

 

[sablebrush52]

Ha Ha the Lucas Haters.

Ha ha, the labelers. It' a forum. People here get to contribute their takes and debate. They're not required to pass your litmus test.
BTW, what's your professional film making experience?