*** Official Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Simon Massey]

Took me a while to think how to review this and try to be objective

The incredible expectation for the film makes it tough to review and perhaps time may well lead to a change in how well it is viewed. Objectively, Abrams leans heavily on the original trilogy to drive the plot, not just including countless references to them, but also familiar story beats -

Spoiler

a vital piece of information hidden in a droid, an attack on a seemingly impregnable base with one flaw

- the list is endless such that the film could very well be a Greatest Hits package of the originals.

And yet the film just works, principally because Abrams recognises what made the original films tick - the characters and the interplay between them, the relentless pace and above all the fun and exuberance that made those first three films so special. Everyone going into this was looking forward to seeing the original characters, but what is perhaps most surprising is that every major new character is equally compelling and the dynamics that he has created between them leaves the audience wanting so much more.

In Kylo Ren, they have somehow managed to create an antagonist every bit as interesting as Vader, if not quite as downright cool and menacing, and his backstory and future are so ripe for development, it leaves Episode VIII a somewhat daunting prospect for the filmmakers who need to get this one right, especially given what happens here. Both Oscar Isaac and John Boyega seem to be having a great time and they embody in many ways the wish fulfilment of the audience to be transported to that galaxy far far away - it's hard not to grin at Poe having so much fun flying an X-Wing fighter or TIE fighter ("Wow this thing really moves!") or the moment a completely untrained Finn fires up a lightsaber to fight (and full credit to the filmmakers for making lightsabers feel dangerous again).

With Daisy Ridley, they have found a wonderful central protagonist for the new trilogy. Rey's background may still be unknown (though there is clearly an obvious link the filmmakers want you to make wrongly or rightly) but her growing awareness and more importantly her growing belief in her own strengths and abilities make for a compelling through line to the film right up to the final shot that underlines the journey she has been on.

None of the returning characters feel shoehorned into the plot at all, and each get their moments (or in one case, a single moment) to shine. And perhaps unsurprisingly, Harrison Ford carries the lion's share of the film, but it is hard to overstate how good he is here and how much fun it is to see Han and Chewie in action again.

Fun, exciting, tragic, adventurous, full of wonder and awe, this is a reminder of what Star Wars was all about and while the central story may well be the sticking point for many, it feels harsh to criticise when it has been reworked so well to suit the introduction of a new set of characters. Episode VIII can't come quickly enough.

 

[Tim Glover]

I will post a short review as we got in about 2am!


I have a syndrome called Overly Tense and Anxious First Time Movie Watching Can't Chill & Relax Disease.


So after I see today on IMAX I will have more thoughts.


First Draft analysis?


Very good! A few issues that have been chatted about here.


Solid 8.5/10 for now. More thoughts later.

 

[RobertR]

I quite enjoyed it, even felt emotional about it. It's been a long, long time since I've felt this good about a Star Wars movie. It had heart as well as great action. Rey is a wonderful new protagonist, and I loved how her abilities were introduced. Infinitely superior to how the whole Anakin story was handled. Really looking forward to more of her!

 

[Tim Glover]

Ok I am Altering my initial Review. Pray I don't alter any further.


2nd time? LOVED IT. 10/10....


Seeing in IMAX truly made the score and all the screen just come alive.


My nitpicks are still there but less so and what worked the first time REALLY even connected more.


I'll post more in the discussion thread but I simply can't wait to see where the story takes us.

 

[spshultz]

We saw this in RealD 3D and I don't think I'd want to see it in 2D. They really did a fantastic job with it. It wasn't maybe Avatar levels of 3D awesomeness but it really helped you feel the broad scope and depth of the visuals. I'd really like to check it out in IMAX 3D.


None-the-less I really enjoyed this movie. I think JJ totally nailed the feeling of Episodes IV, V and VI and I'm excited to see where they go with the story.

 

[Bryan Ri]

I saw it over the weekend, in IMAX 3D. I'd like to see it one more time before giving my review, but...


I loved it! More to come!

 

[Rick Thompson]

I enjoyed the film, but didn't think it anything special. It seemed more a series of setpieces than an actual film with an actual story. The only surprise is -------------. I won't say what because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen the picture. Everyone who has seen it knows what I'm talking about.


I give the picture a B-, maybe a B. It's missing some element that would have put it over the top.

 

[Dr Griffin]

Though I'm not one of the huge fans of the series, I did see the original three when they came out. There were some tugging scenes in The Force Awakens: Han and Leia's reunion, R2D2 coming back to life and making its familiar sounds. I thought the movie was pretty great, and look forward to what's next.

 

[Kevin Lamb]

My review: I was blown away.


I'm not going to rank this film in terms of quality (not sure I'd even rank it ahead of this year's Ex Machina if we're just speaking in terms of quality) but I'm not sure that I *could* give it a proper score/rating.

All I know was that I had a cinematic experience on par with the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Better than Return of the Jedi. Better than anything else, including all LOTR/Hobbit with the possible exception of FOTR. But I'm leaning toward TFA over FOTR. Again, I'm talking "cinematic experiences," not "which film was better?"

No film series will ever touch my soul the way Star Wars has. And watching this new film on opening day with my 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son is going to go down as a lifelong moment for me. We all loved it. I loved all the characters, old and new. I loved the mood, tone, humor (actual HUMOR in SW again!), production design, drama and excitement. It felt more "Star Wars" to me than anything that came after The Empire Strikes Back. I can't believe that this day has come after everything that came of the Special Editions and prequels.

And I absolutely adore the fact that this film fits with the previous six films OR perfectly fine with ONLY the original trilogy. Brilliant work by Abrams.

 

[Doug Wallen]

My son and I viewed this at a late showing on Friday. There were just a few people in the theater. It was like watching at home on a very large screen. i was a bit fearful as I had had such high expectations of the prequel trilogy and was let down. I tried to temper my excitement with a more "lowered" expectation. I had read the positive statements here on the forum. The closer the time to watch, I began to feel myself get excited. The opening minutes fueled that excitement which was capped off when we got our first glimpse of the ship.


From that point on, I embraced the story. I did find many coincidences ( even found quite a few of those "shoe-horned" into the prequels), but it did not ruin the story. I do believe that the villain needs to be formidable in the coming features, a worthy opponent, something I don't feel was the case in this film.


For this 58 year old fan, I finally felt like I had seen a worthy sequel to "my" Star Wars.

 

[Reed Grele]

Gave it a week, and saw it again on Christmas Eve. This time in Milford, CT (3D IMAX)


I have to say that it was more of a satisfying, emotional experience the second viewing. Perhaps it was the sudden "shock" of having so many new characters introduced to me all at once the first time. As I went in "cold", I was not prepared for what I was about to experience.


May I suggest to anyone who had some of the same reactions that I had in my first review, try seeing it again. Perhaps I was in a more receptive mood, being that it was Christmas Eve, or that because I had had some time to digest all the new names and faces. Even though I enjoyed it the first time, I now think that the filmmakers hit this one out of the ballpark!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've viewed the movie three times already and each time I enjoyed it more than previous viewing. There is so much to digest that I think multiple viewings increases your opportunity to appreciate how good this film is, particularly, as it pertains to the humor in the film and some other subtle nuances you might have missed if you only viewed it once.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I was not going to see this until January but ditched family to see it today.


It was awful, I'd rather watch the Phantom Menace again than this . It followed too many beats from ANH without the payoffs and the excitement. I liked Finn and Rey's characters but Finn felt pointless by the end. Really liked BB8 but the highlight of the movie was Han and Chewie. Visually and musically it felt like Star Wars and the humour was good but it was mind numbingly dumb. Adam Driver was okay as Kylo Ren with the mask on but horrible in scenes without it. Neither Ren nor Snoke came close to being as effective or menacing as Palpatine and Vader were. This movie had the worst lightsaber duels out of the entire series.

Spoiler

Luke was a complete waste. I was hoping that when Chewie landed the Falcon at the end it was going to be Luke to save them. Instead, we get him standing on a cliff and he doesn't say a word. It didn't make sense that he would run and hide when one student went bad.

People cheered at the end and I sat there in stunned silence, worst movie I've seen all year.


2/10

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Went to a Christmas day showing with a group of people. Saw it in 3-D 4K laser projected. The show was sold out and the crazed Star Wars fans (I'm not one) were out in force. Our group was surrounded by people in full costume, Chewbacca, Storm Troopers, Han, Luke, and the Princess were all there. Chewie did a little dance to much applause and laughter at the front of theater before the lights went down. I'll keep my review brief and spoiler free. This was, in my opinion and in the opinions of the group I saw the film with, by far the best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back. I'm only a "Luke" warm fan of this franchise. Like anybody born in the 1960s and that saw the original trilogy when they first hit theaters seeing a Star Wars film in a theater is a nostalgic journey. Two of the group I was with also were with me when The Phantom Menace came out and recalled leaving the theater after that film feeling like we never wanted to see another Star Wars film again.


Happily this was a totally different experience. This film had both the look and more importantly the feel of the first two Star Wars films. Yes, in terms of the writing it owed a giant debt to the first Star Wars film but this actually worked to the films benefit and if the idea was to indoctrinate younger fans that were not born when the first films came out I think this may work quite well. This did feel like not only a sequel to Return of the Jedi but also like a "reboot/remake" of the first film.


I will say though looking around the theater much of the crowd were over 40. There were some teenagers mixed in but most of the audience were likely fans of the original films would be my bet. I would say based on their size and height that the folks that turned up in costume were adults.


So, here is the main thing I would say about the film, as an entertainment, a big budget popcorn flick, a trip down memory lane and a fun ride...well...this ticked all those boxes. In terms of the old characters this is definitely Han's movie. The rest of the gang is here but the focus is certainly on Mr. Solo both in terms of screen time and plot. My guess is that the next film in this new "trilogy" will be Luke's film and that by the third film the focus will be squarely on the new characters.


This was on the whole a very good night out at the movies.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I saw it this morning and don't plan on seeing it again. Overall I give it 2 stars for being too derivative of A New Hope and about 30 minutes longer than it needed to be. Added in with too many badly-rendered cgi characters, unrealistic physics when objects (read: a certain spacecraft) repeatedly crash into the ground without being damaged, a tired recycled plot, and typical over the top JJ Abrams action sequences makes this less of a Star Wars film and more of a confusing horrible mess of a b-grade sci-fi film.

 

[MattBradley]

Gave it a week, and saw it again on Christmas Eve. This time in Milford, CT (3D IMAX)


I have to say that it was more of a satisfying, emotional experience the second viewing. Perhaps it was the sudden "shock" of having so many new characters introduced to me all at once the first time. As I went in "cold", I was not prepared for what I was about to experience.


May I suggest to anyone who had some of the same reactions that I had in my first review, try seeing it again. Perhaps I was in a more receptive mood, being that it was Christmas Eve, or that because I had had some time to digest all the new names and faces. Even though I enjoyed it the first time, I now think that the filmmakers hit this one out of the ballpark!

Agree 100%! I left the first viewing not knowing I really felt about this movie. Left the second viewing knowing I love it! The new cast is great and I am excited to follow their adventures!

 

[Mike Frezon]

My son and I went to a 12:30pm showing of The Force Awakens yesterday on the BIG screen at one of the big local cineplexes.


Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to walk into the theater until about 12:20pm. The ticket-taker was nice enough to tell us the obvious...that seating was now limited and that we may be forced into one of the first two rows. She was nice enough to add that if that didn't work out for us to come back out and that we could trade-in our tix for a later showing.


We went in and there were not two seats together anywhere in the theater except tows 1 & 2 which were completely vacant. Even row three was full. We gave it a try and once we saw Maria Menounous (a personal fave) about 3000 feet tall in front of us--and completely distorted--we decided this would not work. And the neck strain would have been ridiculous after about ten minutes. Why do they even HAVE those seats?!?


So we were told the next available was a 3:30pm 3-D and a 4:40pm 2-D presentation. After some phone calls with my wife who was mall-shopping while we were at the movie, I went back to the counter and asked if there weren't any tix available for the 1:20pm showing (for which a line was already forming). The same clerk we had spoken with before said, "Sure!" So we got two tix for that and got in line (and even got a $2 refund on the "convenience fee" I had incurred for ordering online).


When in line we realized we were heading into a 3-D showing as the glasses were being distributed by theater personnel who checked our tickets while also still in line. We were quickly whisked into the theater and we got EXCELLENT seats in the dead center of the 2nd row of raised seating. Score!!


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I've read a great many of the comments made on the forum already about this film. It seems to me that if I were to categorize the bulk of criticism it falls into two camps: The Force Awakens is too much like Star Wars (A New Hope). Or, that it doesn't measure up.


I am a casual Star Wars fan. I don't know the arcane details of the films such as the names of all the races, languages, planets, etc. I know nothing about the ancillary world of fan fiction and what is "canon" and what is not.


I appreciated the original trilogy as a "western in space" serial and suffered through the horribly wooden dialogue and acting in the prequels until I felt vindicated in the final act of Revenge of the Sith that I guess it had all been worthwhile.


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So I was totally entertained by The Force Awakens. The mix of established characters with new was well done. I imagine how badly things might have turned out if the characters from the OT were front and center and forced to carry the day in a story in which things hadn't advanced much since the end of Return of the Jedi. There was also the real risk of a film which took itself way too seriously because of the legion of fandom. But that didn't happen either. The clunkiness of the storm troopers, the schmaltz of the relationship between certain key characters and, above all, the humor was all present and accounted for.


Mostly, I guess I was pleased to see a Star Wars film made using the tools available in today's film technology. But it didn't go overboard and adhered to the look of the previous chapters. The 3-D was done really, really well and enhanced the experience (much like I was enthusiastic when seeing the last Harry otter movie in 3-D. Even though I don't go for 3-D in my home HT.).


Sure, the story WAS very close to the original film in many ways. But I think it also acted as a nice set-up piece for some interesting story to come. I am sure this is being discussed to death in the SW VII Discussion Thread. I've been staying out of that bad boy (up until seeing the film) except for the occasional need to step in for some moderating tasks.


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The out-and-out fun of the film and the experience of seeing it with such an enthusiastic audience totally overcame all the anxiety attached with our pre-show experience. All of our post-movie dinner conversation focused on the film and the story and the fun.


A great time. A blast!

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Brad here. Like a lot of folks here, I've avoided all articles and whatnot about this film until I actually got to see it. Saw it at, appropriately enough, the AMC mega-theaters at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) Orlando, FL. Kyrsten and I were celebrating our 13th Wedding Anniversary over at the now-monstrous and still growing Disney Springs. We had a 9PM dinner reservation at the nearby Texas de Brazil restaurant so we ate first and ended up at the 11:45 (2345) showing in 3D TFX.

We were not disappointed in the least. My observations:

A very nice job of integrating the Star Wars legacy characters in the film while launching into the careers of the new characters. You never got the feeling that a legacy character was shoe-horned in.

Spoiler

I've heard a lot of chatter from Star Wars fandom on how the death of Han Solo would be a strong plus in any new Star Wars movie. And JJ Abrams couldn't have handled it better.

Maybe I'm a little out in left field on this or showing my age but Adam Driver as Kylo Ren bore some resemblance to a young John Travolta. And I mean that as a good thing. Adds something to his character at least as far as this 70s-80s era film fan sees it.


I got the impression that TFA was actually not only a sequel to The Original Trilogy but also the trilogy of sequel novelizations by Timothy Zahn (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) although this was never mentioned in the film or directly referred to. But one of the plotlines of the film would tie in nicely to these novelizations. Just my honest opinion on this and I think anyone familiar with the Zahn stories might agree.


I'll have more but my laptop needs to be plugged in.

 

[Alf S]

I took the kids to see this Sunday morning at our newest theater in town. It has the only 4 K laser projector in the U.S. so they say and boy was it great looking presentation!


The theater did things up right. The screen, called the Grand Infinity, is huge, reminds me of the old school giant screen theaters, They projected the Star Wars logo on the giant curtain and had all kinds of sound effects, laser lights, spot lights etc whizzing around before the show. The kids really enjoyed the whole thing.


As for the movie, we really enjoyed it. Was it top notch cinema with an deep story, not really, did they defy physics as some said above, yup, but it's just a fantasy si-fi popcorn flick and none of that bothered me at all. Brought back memories of what seeing the New Hope was like back when I was a kid in 1977. That's all I could ask for and this movie delivered in full.


I'd give the movie an B+ overall and odds are we will purchase the disc when it arrives this spring.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I have seen The Force Awakens for the 18th time in a theater!


NB - the other 17 times were back in 1977. My memory ain't what it is use to be but some things seemed different this time.


The strengths of the film lie with the new characters and, thankfully, the much improved dialogue. Ford is excellent as Solo and looks like he is having a lot of fun. All the new actors are welcome additions and there is a good sense of humour running throughout the movie. Daisy Ridley is a real find! I had no issues with any of the effects, practical or CGI.


Given the franchise pressures this film was under, JJ delivers a solid corporation approved installment. He also cements his reputation as the reboot king but sadly continues to show he hasn't learned much from his previous efforts. What he does well, he continues to do so. Few can match his ability to deliver a - Spinal Taplike - film pace of 11 for long stretches at a time.


But the price is a surfeit of added emotional depth.


Cutting the monster/cantina sequences in half and using that time to have Han and Ben meet even briefly before the catwalk scene and their final moment together would have carried so much more dramatic heft. He could also avoided replicating the Chewie medal snub moment by using that reclaimed time to have a moment between Chewie and Leia at the end. I mean seriously, Chewie and Leia just waltz by each other with nary a shared moment of grief of any type? Finally, why not have Finn face off with Captain Phasma instead of Stormtrooper Nobody?


Responses by movie goers to the film replicating beats from the previous movies cover a wide spectrum on the yay and nay sides. For myself I was fine with most of it except for the Starkiller base. Even by the loose science of Star Wars this Death Star stretched credulity with echoes of JJ's Star Trek reboot's transwarp beaming nonsense.


Please Disney, after Rogue 1, please place a moratorium on any form of Death Star plot elements. 3 times is two times too many. It's high for some fleet on fleet engagements!


The Force Awakens is a good movie, and most importantly a fun time. It could have been so much better with just a few tweaks to beef up character moments.


I put it third behind Empire and a New Hope.