[civilian_number_two]

Hey,

Chef has a new series of essays out on The Force Awakens, and no doubt they are more interesting and articulate than what I will write, but here are some of my impressions of an overall uneven film.

- The characters, by and large, are better in this one than in the last one. Rey was fun and rebellious in the last movie, but the movie itself was barely a reboot. Everything was just "hey more Star Wasr!"so it was hard to care. In this one her story is more interesting, and not entirely a Luke Skywalker clone (although it seems old force users are doomed to become cackling evil maniacs or cynical loners, so I guess she has a sad future ahead). Luke is criticized by a lot of people, but I think the application of his new force power is played really well, and he is given a chance to be involved in the new Resistance without being overwhelmingly deus ex machina. Leia's role felt like fan service, and Holdo was amusingly pointless ... but I like Poe Dameron. He is almost right as the Han Solo replacement, a hotshot superhero in his own mind. More of that might have added to the better action scenes. As for Finn and the new character Rose ... WHAT THE FUCK.

- There is a side quest storyline that takes up about 30 minutes of screen time and accomplishes virtually nothing. It seemed like it was put there to give Finn something to do. Much of the middle of this movie was just keeping time until the conclusion could happen.

- The Hoth-like battle on the salt flats was visually interesting. The scene ended poorly, when one character stops another character from shutting down the weapon that could knock down the door that was keeping people safe. I know there was meant to be some kind of message there, and that's lovely, but yes, in war sometimes it is about destroying the other thing, not juts keeping your stuff safe.

- Rey's side-by-side battle with Kylo was enjoyable to watch. And two people fighting for the same cause but for different reasons made it one of the better action scenes of the series. There was more going on than just lights and noises. It got a bit sloppy at the end, but that was a solid effort.

- Once again this movie seems to be a placeholder, keeping time so they can get to the big finale. It's not easy to escape the notion that there really isn't a lot of story to tell in this Star Wasr thing.

Final analysis: I would have removed the side quest, the puffin-thingies, probably Rose, maybe Holdo. The story was about Luke/Rey/Kylo and of the rebirth of hope for the Resistance. That should have had more focus, and no I don't mean the kid at the end holding a broom like it's a lightsaber. Enough with the lightsabers already.

[Chefelf]

A good analysis overall. I think we may disagree about Poe though. Just released part 5 of my review and realized I should post here if anyone ever still checks it out.

Hey, this is my first post in like five years!

[Chefelf]

And I guess I touch on it in my The Last Jedi review but I think The Force Awakens had problems but overall I just felt that it was the first Star Wars movie in a long time that was actually any fun. It was nice to have well done dialogue, humor, and interesting characters even if there were some a lot of things about the plot that were a little annoying.

[civilian_number_two]

So far of the new Star Wasr movies, I enjoyed Rogue One the most.

[J m HofMarN]

civilian_number_two, on 06 March 2018 - 12:12 AM, said:

So far of the new Star Wasr movies, I enjoyed Rogue One the most.

I'm not pleased with the deconstruction of Luke Skywalker. To me it feels like the new movies should have kept some of the brighter tone of the prequels, and the prequels should have taken on the dark and increasingly desperate tone of the new movies. They snapped back in the wrong direction, but the new movies are at least enjoyable on a fundamental level, as cinema, which the prequels never were.