Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

A

Aspiring Mogul

I've said many times that I'm not a JJ Abrams fan, and he has met my expectations again. :no:



When he did Star Trek, he had nothing but iconic references and stole scenes out of previous movies. Now, he's done the same.

There is even a scene taken from the opening scene of the first Indiana Jones movie, and, of course, he has a giant planet destroyer ... which can be destroyed by the rebel fighters attacking a small node in the complex. I would have thought that, after going through three of these, the engineers and architects for the Empire would have figured it out.

As a hard-core sci-fi fan, JJ Abrams did not deal with the obvious flaw in having a death star - any interstellar civilization can destroy a planet by forcing the planet's sun to go nova.

I also don't buy the idea of the female scavenger - and one of the lead characters - figuring out how to fly the Millenium Falcon, and I'm not overly impressed by her ability to take up a light saber and beat a senior Dark Force Lord, who would obviously have been far more experienced in handling the weapon.

That said, it's not a bad movie, but it's just not a good movie. There were scenes that were fun to watch, and the action sequences were good, especially when the rebel fighters came to the rescue of Han Solo, Chewie and company. But it's obviously not in the League of The Empire Strikes Back.
 
I liked it. Enjoyable and worth seeing.

Personally, I preferred Star Trek which was amazing but this was good.

The test was my partner and 15 year old daughter, neither of whom like sci fi. They both enjoyed it.
 
I am not an Abrams fan and I did not like the first Star Trek. The second was kind of good. But this movie was really good for me, and better than I thought it was going to be.

Abrams in the past would use a lot of overdone editing and overdone camera movement with too many face close ups.

Here he pulls back and subdues himself a lot more, and I think he has improved on this one.
 
I honestly haven't seen much of J.J. Abrams previous work. Never watched Lost or the Star Trek movies (however I did think Mission Impossible III was outstanding).

I have some complaints about The Force Awakens. I recognize that it's not much more than a thinly veiled remake of A New Hope, but it sure as hell was fun to watch. In spite of my minor complaints I still think it's better than Return of The Jedi and all three prequels.
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
That's not a very high standard to meet. :D
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Which should mean that it's on the right track again. We got three mediocre Star Wars films, and now we're back to "good" Star Wars films. The ONLY reason it was a soft-remake of the original film was because it had to be in order to make the Prequel haters feel a lot better about the future of the franchise. Getting back to basics, and what made the original films good. If they pull that sort of idea again for Episode VIII, then we have a problem. But I have a much stronger feeling that Episode VIII will deviate greatly onto its own path, and do much more what Empire managed to do.
 
I thought it was fairly good too. Certainly better than the prequels. Well made and entertaining enough.

I recall a complaint about Return of the Jedi was that it was a case of been there, done that. In other words, another
Death Star
movie. It was a criticism which I thought had some validity back then, but which I also felt was no big deal, either. Well, here we go again with another
Death Star
movie. Which again I feel is not really a very big deal. BUT, okay, come on, guys, that's three
Death Star
iterations. How many times are you going to go to that same well? Is that really all the Star Wars universe gots?

So was there, like, a meeting that went something like, geez, those prequels were a disappointment, huh? Yeah. Well, what can we do to bring that ole Star Wars magic back? Hey, I know! What did the prequels lack that the originals had?
Death Stars
, man! Lot's of
Death Stars
!

Which again, is not a big deal, really. It's only Star Wars, after all. But I am thinking, three
Death Stars
is pushing it, already. Or is IX going to be the fourth
Death Star
movie?

:P
 
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richy said:
I thought it was fairly good too. Certainly better than the prequels. Well made and entertaining enough.

I recall a complaint about Return of the Jedi was that it was a case of been there, done that. In other words, another
Death Star
movie. It was a criticism which I thought had some validity back then, but which I also felt was no big deal, either. Well, here we go again with another
Death Star
movie. Which again I feel is not really a very big deal. BUT, okay, come on, guys, that's three
Death Star
iterations. How many times are you going to go to that same well? Is that really all the Star Wars universe gots?

So was there, like, a meeting that went something like, geez, those prequels were a disappointment, huh? Yeah. Well, what can we do to bring that ole Star Wars magic back? Hey, I know! What did the prequels lack that the originals had?
Death Stars
, man! Lot's of
Death Stars
!

Which again, is not a big deal, really. It's only Star Wars, after all. But I am thinking, three
Death Stars
is pushing it, already. Or is IX going to be the fourth
Death Star
movie?

:P
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Richi,

It's
the fourth Death Star movie - one in the prequels, one in A New Hope, one in Return, and, of course, this one. And I'm sure the next one would be number five.
 
I'm a fanboy. I thought the trailers were 'out of this world' good but the movie itself was enjoyable. I thought JJ did what he had to do and am looking forward to the next one.

And how to do black bars? Haven't figured that out yet...[/COLOR]
 
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Aspiring Mogul said:
Richi,

It's
the fourth Death Star movie - one in the prequels, one in A New Hope, one in Return, and, of course, this one. And I'm sure the next one would be number five.
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You can't count the prequels because one: the Death Star itself wasn't seen until the end of Attack of the Clones, and we saw it being built in Revenge of the Sith. And two: the Trade Federation ship that Anakin blew up may have a sphere shaped center, but he only slightly blew it up like they did in Jedi, by flying into it. At least unlike A New Hope, Jedi, and The Force Awakens, the Trade Federation ship isn't JUST a sphere.

And why should that be a big enough reason to denounce the whole film. Like I said, they HAD to get back to form so that the majority of fans would approve of their new direction. Besides, in real life I think one WOULD build something bigger and more destructive, because the Empire and First Order are ego-maniacal dictators who don't have a clear sense of logic.

Also, ANYTHING that is built as big as the Death Star or Starkiller Base automatically must become a sphere: because any amount of matter that large will naturally pull itself into a sphere by virtue of physics. So if they wanted a different devastating weapon, it would HAVE to be smaller, or at least in multiple smaller pieces.
 
Acting must be a perishable skill.


And I hope Abrams never ever attempts to put Ridley into a slave costume.
(Where'd she get those midichlorians from, anyways?)
 
With a few CGI-monster exceptions, the film looked very good aesthetically.

The story was a mess. Very disappointed in this regard. Looked like the Michael Bay of Star Wars movies.
 
I think this was the worst film in the franchise and I'm surprised that there are ANY star wars fans out there that like it
 
mussonman said:
I think this was the worst film in the franchise and I'm surprised that there are ANY star wars fans out there that like it
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Hi Mussonman,

The Force Awakens is a terrific reboot of a stagnant franchise. But it is also pure sensory spectacle, devoid of substance or subtext.
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That says it all for me, and that gives me all the more encouragement to continue my dream.
 
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That's a good review.

The way Dalton puts its makes me feel more admiration for Lucas, even for what he did with the prequels.

On the other hand, I resent this:

The Force Awakens is essentially Harry Potter in space.
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That's an insult…to the Harry Potter series. Although I suppose the influence of Harry Potter on the new Star Wars is apparent.

But this is good:

If George Lucas is Bowie, J.J. Abrams is Duran Duran.
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:P
 
mussonman said:
I think this was the worst film in the franchise and I'm surprised that there are ANY star wars fans out there that like it
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On what grounds can you honestly say "The Force Awakens" is worse than "Attack of the Clones?"

It also just beat out "Titanic" in domestic box-office in only 2 weeks, and it is leagues a better sit than any of the "Transformer" movies: just in case you were going to make that tired comparison.
 
At least Attack of the Clones was GOING for character development. Attack of the Clones wasn't a glorified reboot of A New Hope, and Attack of the Clones made sense throughout. I wasn't left with a thousand questions during Attack of the Clones, I was just bored. With The Force Awakens, I was bored, angry, and could feel my childhood being raped.

And Box Office doesn't make a difference on a film's quality. Avatar is the highest grossing film ever and has not a single memorable moment in it and even the public was a solid: "Meh. It's Pretty. That's it."
 
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