I got round to seeing The Force Awakens the Monday before Christmas, having been determined to see it at the cinema and to make every effort I could to do so. Like pretty much everyone who grew up with the original trilogy I'd been burned by the prequels, so, even though George Lucas' fingerprints weren't going to be anywhere near the new films, I was still pretty nervous about what to expect.
Ahead of the film's release I watched the official trailers but otherwise tried to avoid any possible spoilers or news about the film. While I obviously didn't want the story spoiled before I went to see it, I also didn't want to run the risk of having my expectations raised or lowered above what the trailers managed to achieve.
I'd initially planned to post my thoughts up not long after seeing the film but with all the preparations for Christmas and sorting things out afterwards, I didn't get a chance to finish writing until now. While I had planned this to be about my first impressions of the film, realistically my views are probably going to be coloured by the various opinions I've been exposed to since seeing the film. Just in case you haven't seen the film yet, I must say I'll be discussing plot points of the film, so come back later if you don't want it spoiled.
So, the big question then, what did I think of it? My first thoughts were that it was just OK, although I'm now leaning towards somewhere between OK and good.
I liked most of the first two thirds of the film, where we got to meet Finn, Rey and Poe Dameron and see their stories develop, as well as catch up with Han Solo and Chewbacca.
There were a few things I didn't particularly like about the film. First off, the last stage of the film is another "we've got to stop the superweapon" plot, which makes you feel like the First Order (or indeed, the writers) haven't really moved on from the original trilogy. Hopefully that'll be the last we see in this trilogy. In fact, while the odd throwaway reference to the original trilogy is fine, The Force Awakens went a bit too far in places in referencing or re-using plot points from the original trilogy to the point where critics comments about this being a reboot feel on the nose than I was expecting.
I'm also not overly convinced by Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. Maybe his casting will make sense once the rest of the trilogy has played out (from the sections of the film where we saw Ren articulate his struggles with being drawn towards the light side of the Force, I'm guessing that he's going to be around for the other two films as his story is resolved) but he wasn't what I expected to see once the mask came off - maybe I was expecting someone who looked more, well, villainous.
One of the biggest flaws for me, story-wise, was when Ren kills Han. Personally, I didn't feel invested enough in their relationship when it happened and, maybe because my enthusiasm over the first two thirds of the film was wearing off at this point, found Han's death oddly un-moving. If this had happened in the next film when we had perhaps seen more of their relationship, I may have found it more involving but as it is, it just didn't generate any response in me.
Lastly, one thing that really bugged me was Supreme Leader Snoke. Given that JJ Abrams' had said as much as possible was going to be done without CGI, I was surprised that, for what is presumably going to be a major character as this trilogy progresses, CGI was being used and was so obviously CGI. I would have expected the character to have gotten top notch CGI treatment or to be CGI enhanced make up or animatronics.
Don't get me wrong, although there's a long list of negatives there than positives I enjoyed the film
As the story progresses over the next couple of films, here are some of the things I hope to see:
1) Rey not turn out to be related to any member of the Skywalker clan, especially not be Ren's sister or Luke's daughter. This seems like it would just be too obvious a route to go down.
2) How many times will Finn's lies get him (and the other characters) into trouble
3) Whether there's any more background of Poe Dameron's return from the crash to come (e.g. possible re-capture and tracking/brainwashing by the First Order)
4) In the First Order's raid on the bar, what was the Stormtrooper who fought Finn using that the lightsabre couldn't cut through it? As far as I can recall so far in the Star Wars films (and admittedly I'm trying to block any recollection of the prequels), lightsabres pretty much cut through everything.
What did you think of the film? What are you hoping to see in the films that follow?
Ahead of the film's release I watched the official trailers but otherwise tried to avoid any possible spoilers or news about the film. While I obviously didn't want the story spoiled before I went to see it, I also didn't want to run the risk of having my expectations raised or lowered above what the trailers managed to achieve.
I'd initially planned to post my thoughts up not long after seeing the film but with all the preparations for Christmas and sorting things out afterwards, I didn't get a chance to finish writing until now. While I had planned this to be about my first impressions of the film, realistically my views are probably going to be coloured by the various opinions I've been exposed to since seeing the film. Just in case you haven't seen the film yet, I must say I'll be discussing plot points of the film, so come back later if you don't want it spoiled.
So, the big question then, what did I think of it? My first thoughts were that it was just OK, although I'm now leaning towards somewhere between OK and good.
I liked most of the first two thirds of the film, where we got to meet Finn, Rey and Poe Dameron and see their stories develop, as well as catch up with Han Solo and Chewbacca.
There were a few things I didn't particularly like about the film. First off, the last stage of the film is another "we've got to stop the superweapon" plot, which makes you feel like the First Order (or indeed, the writers) haven't really moved on from the original trilogy. Hopefully that'll be the last we see in this trilogy. In fact, while the odd throwaway reference to the original trilogy is fine, The Force Awakens went a bit too far in places in referencing or re-using plot points from the original trilogy to the point where critics comments about this being a reboot feel on the nose than I was expecting.
I'm also not overly convinced by Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. Maybe his casting will make sense once the rest of the trilogy has played out (from the sections of the film where we saw Ren articulate his struggles with being drawn towards the light side of the Force, I'm guessing that he's going to be around for the other two films as his story is resolved) but he wasn't what I expected to see once the mask came off - maybe I was expecting someone who looked more, well, villainous.
One of the biggest flaws for me, story-wise, was when Ren kills Han. Personally, I didn't feel invested enough in their relationship when it happened and, maybe because my enthusiasm over the first two thirds of the film was wearing off at this point, found Han's death oddly un-moving. If this had happened in the next film when we had perhaps seen more of their relationship, I may have found it more involving but as it is, it just didn't generate any response in me.
Lastly, one thing that really bugged me was Supreme Leader Snoke. Given that JJ Abrams' had said as much as possible was going to be done without CGI, I was surprised that, for what is presumably going to be a major character as this trilogy progresses, CGI was being used and was so obviously CGI. I would have expected the character to have gotten top notch CGI treatment or to be CGI enhanced make up or animatronics.
Don't get me wrong, although there's a long list of negatives there than positives I enjoyed the film
As the story progresses over the next couple of films, here are some of the things I hope to see:
1) Rey not turn out to be related to any member of the Skywalker clan, especially not be Ren's sister or Luke's daughter. This seems like it would just be too obvious a route to go down.
2) How many times will Finn's lies get him (and the other characters) into trouble
3) Whether there's any more background of Poe Dameron's return from the crash to come (e.g. possible re-capture and tracking/brainwashing by the First Order)
4) In the First Order's raid on the bar, what was the Stormtrooper who fought Finn using that the lightsabre couldn't cut through it? As far as I can recall so far in the Star Wars films (and admittedly I'm trying to block any recollection of the prequels), lightsabres pretty much cut through everything.
What did you think of the film? What are you hoping to see in the films that follow?
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