Star Wars: The Force Awakens...

[gurneyhalleck1]

The other Star Wars thread went to the phantom zone with derailment talking about the prequels. It mostly was everyone except Gurney liking Episode III! Hey, can't accuse me of being a follower now, can you!? LOL

Anyway...I went to see the new Star Wars flick today. After all I have heard, read, and understood about this new movie, and the fact it had JJ Abrams (whom I can't stand!) directing it, I was inclined not to go watch it and save $40. Well, my boys wanted to see it so badly, my wife had a "why not? Don't be a stick in the mud!" kind of attitude, and everyone seemed hip...add to it all the fact I've never once missed a SW film in the theater, and I decided to bite...

I actually went in HOPING that it'd be the stellar, epic, glorious yarn that everyone has made it out to be.

Here was my observation list (some are the same as others in TAW)

secret info given to a droid that could change everything! (yawn, been there, done that, A New Hope)

a "star-killer" super station that can blow up planets (yawn again, seen that thing before called "Death Star")

characters were flat. Even Harrison Ford lacked spunk, interest, passion, or anything of his former self. He seemed like a grump AARP Star Wars token throw-back. Even his death was bland and didn't do much for me. Spielberg would've made us cry like babies if he could've controlled the scenes. Peter Jackson possibly, too. But JJ Abrams is cliche.

Kylo Ren--most uninteresting, cheesy, dufus-like villain I've yet seen. He didn't scare me, interest me, draw me in, create mystique, or arouse my curiosity. He seemed like a token "bad dude in black" as a nod to Lucas.

The "First Order" was never really explained well or given to us in any logical detail, so they seem like a meaningless entity to me. They're some kind of wannabe nod to the Empire of old. Remnants left over. Big deal. They didn't scare me. I saw no philosophy or interest there.

Supreme Leader Snoke---for all his bragging about very little CGI, this Snoke thing looked like a giant CGI copy of the Guardians from Green Lantern (2011 flick). He seemed phony and cheesy and not at all threatening. Dang, Ian McDiarmaid as the Emperor when I was a kid scared the poo out of me!

Silly quips. Annoying and too many of them.

Splitsville--to echo what Rusmeister said, the whole Han and Leia splitting up not being able to make it work was kind of sad and unnecessary. They followed the same tired and bland "tragedy happens to couple, couple can't cope, couple try to make it work but can't, couple split up over tragedy" pattern. Predictable and boring.

Han, Leia, Luke Skywalker---tokens. They were put into the flick to fill bums in seats. Leia was unnecessary and boring with crud dialogue. Sounded worse than Lucas prequels. Han was the best, but bland. Luke....the dude didn't even speak. Ugh.

Where was Lando!? Ok, I'm just being silly here.

What was the point of the film? It just seemed like JJ Abrams being JJ Abrams--homage, homage, homage, quips, unnecessary action and lasers, let them eat cake, filler, filler, filler.

The film offered very little that is new to us. Nothing here cannot already be experienced by watching A New Hope. The New Yorker had a brilliant article this week about how some people SHOULD look at the prequels again and cease the hate. Lucas has been lambasted and loathed by pretty much everyone except Mellody Hobson LOL for the past 20 years. He's received a lot of hate. And to some degree I get it--rethinking and rethinking and rethinking his own vision, changing things over and over, and people can't stand his prequels. I think the prequels hate is almost a fad. People want to hate the prequels because it's just cool to hate on them. It's like Justin Beiber or the Kardashians. Once you find they're hate material, loathe em!

Well, the New Yorker article pointed out that people should at least respect the fact that Lucas was usually trying to try new things and go into new territory. The prequels weren't the same exact formula from the old trilogy. He tried new approaches, new characters with totally different values and problems. yeah, too much CGI and bad casting and other issues were there to screw things up, but the stories were WAY better than The Force Awakens.

The Force Awakens didn't have Lucas, it was Star Wars, and it was going to have original cast. It couldn't lose. Americans are just that simple a people.

"No Lucas? Old cast? Star Wars? I can overlook a bland script and poor acting as well as intense predictability! It's Star Wars, man! Oh JJ Abrams is in charge! Yippee!"

I just don't understand what people saw in this flick? I'm going to be interested to see if Abrams can ever actually go out on his own and create something cerebrally-stimulating AT ALL. Take Star Trek the reboot he did. Typical of Abrams. You take something that has already been made--Star Trek...and you repackage it with lots of quips, one-liners, huge budget, fancy CGI, action up the ying-yang, but really no depth, and don't carry on the vision in a meaningful way, and people gobble it up. When he tried to make the SECOND Star Trek film, Into Darkness, again it had some nods and relied on Roddenberry's infrastructure, but it was his attempt to carry it somewhere, and it fell flat! I'll be fascinated to see what he attempts to do with Star Wars next. I just can't believe Kasdan was involved in this boring script.

My kids asked me, "daddy, what was your favorite part of the movie?" I told them I honestly could've think of one. Hell, even the prequels everyone hates in here had cool moments for me. I can point out cool stuff in Clones or Phantom Menace even! Not in this one.

Self-fullfilling prophecy movie-going----"dang it! This movie IS going to be epic!" and so it is.....

 

[GregConstantine]

Gurney, we don't always agree, but you are spot on about the new star wars movie! I agree with you 100%! I'm also glad to see that not everyone is drinking the JJ Abrams kool aid!

 

[Orthodoxjay1]

I have yet too see the new Star Wars, just trying to arrange time with all the family, I hope your wrong Gurney about the new one, however your like the go to guy on Star Wars around here, so you might be right . Anyways if I can't get family to tag along I'm going anyways, it's Star Wars!

 

[buzuxi02]

My brother loved it. But said if a person never saw the originals, he can just start with this film, no need to know about the past films. I did find it odd that he told me they are rebuilding the death star all over again.

 

[GregConstantine]

"I'm going anyways, it's Star Wars!"

Guerney, this is why people like it despite it being bad!

 

[ArmyMatt]

I am going in a few days, so we shall see. I heard that it is both good and bad from friends.

 

[rusmeister]

Well, I got a little bit of the old thrill at the opening blast of music and the text crawl, to be fair. And early on, at least, there was a real sense f "no guarantees", which kind of faded as newbie characters began to do impossible things.

One of the least discussed, yet for me most unrealistic plot points, was the sudden attack of morals for "Finn" and his sudden and complete freedom of thought. I'm a teacher, plus, I've witnessed the bamboozling of my nation ver my lifetime by education. Conditioning via education is VERY powerful. I very much like the idea of returning to ordinary humans after the "clone" nonsense, but you can't turn that conditioning at the first sight of blood and an atrocity. Yes, an American soldier in the Vietnam war COULD quickly develop qualms and even defect, if told to torch a village, or whatever. But that is because he was brought up in a solidly, if nominal, Christian country where the public sense would have already taught him what good and evil are. But a stormtrooper deliberately conditioned from childhood? It's projections of assumptions of a moral upbringing on what is supposed to have been one aimed at doing exactly what those troopers were doing.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I'm with you, Gurney. I was unimpressed. I like JJ Abrams stuff, but this just seemed like a bad ripoff of the original. New faces/names - same situations.

 

[Wgw]

I myself saw it last week, and enjoyed it. The criticisms Gurney offere are valid, and the music in particular left much to be desired, but it was still very good. Indeed, people in the theatre were audibly crying.

 

[Kristos]

I agree - but my kids liked so it - so I'm happy

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

Maybe it's because I went in with really low expectations, but I really liked the movie. I even like emo Kylo Ren. He's a real three dimensional character unlike Darth Vader who had no depth. He was just bad thru and thru until like the last five minutes of his life, and as we all know, life ain't really like that. Having worked in a maximum security prison for 10 years, I find Kylo Ren to be much more believable - nobody is a monster all the time.

I even liked the scene where Han died when he put his hand up and caressed his son's face even as he was dying. His last act in life was to basically tell his son that he loved him no matter what, and if that ain't deep, I don't know what is.

If Rey is not Luke's daughter, that they will set up some kind of love triangle between Rey, Finn, and Ren. Like Finn, Kylo Ren is very obviously taken with Rey. The reason he took off his helmet for her is because he needed her to see him as a person. He even says to her, "Don't be afraid. I feel it too." He's attracted to her and assumes she feels the same way.

 

[Orthodoxjay1]

I agree - but my kids liked so it - so I'm happy

The little ones liking Star Wars, that pretty cool

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I can't fathom how anyone could be emotionally invested in this movie to the point of tears? Movies like Last Samurai, Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, something with emotional bonds, that I can see, but this film was far too silly and thin as well as rushed to make me feel anything?? And I tear up easily at movies!!

I myself saw it last week, and enjoyed it. The criticisms Gurney offere are valid, and the music in particular left much to be desired, but it was still very good. Indeed, people in the theatre were audibly crying.

 

[Wgw]

I can't fathom how anyone could be emotionally invested in this movie to the point of tears? Movies like Last Samurai, Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, something with emotional bonds, that I can see, but this film was far too silly and thin as well as rushed to make me feel anything?? And I tear up easily at movies!!

Well, both the juvenile and adult viewers sobbed audibly when Han Solo was terminated.

That said, they would have sobbed more had I written it. I believe in killing characters for dramatic effect.

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

throwing down my light saber right here to say Rey is the child of Leia and Chewbacca! Did you see how they hugged in the movie? Tell me there's not something going on there.

And of course there's this:

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Wow, they must be on meds or something. The only possible reason I could imagine is that they grew up with Han Solo and were upset to see him go in that fashion. For me, the whole flick had a poorly developed plot. This nerdy wannabe Vader Kylo Ren seems more like a marcher in a gay pride parade and a high school geek. The First Order itself seems like a weak bunch of goofs. How hard would it have been for JJ Abrams to just lay out some background on this First Order bunch? Spend all of 40 seconds telling us how they came about and what they want. How hard would it have been to have Kylo Ren have dreams, flashbacks, thoughts of Han and Leia, show how he came into the mess he's stuck in? How hard would any of this have been?

Rarely do I say something like this, but seriously I think I, a sixth grade teacher, a nobody, a dad, a typical shmuck, could've written a better script....and that's sad. Abrams is doing nothing but using the past to ride a wave.

Like I said, crying during this? My kids are pretty heartfelt, insightful, affectionate, caring kids and they didn't even come close to crying in that flick!

Well, both the juvenile and adult viewers sobbed audibly when Han Solo was terminated.

That said, they would have sobbed more had I written it. I believe in killing characters for dramatic effect.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

QFT 100%. Most Americans today, like you said Rus, are totally brainwashed one way or another. It's not easily removed, and if it is undone, it takes time and much effort, not an instant moment. And are we to understand Finn had no idea what he was going to be doing down on that planet? He thought he was going down to the planet to cultivate gardens and lay sod? Plus they said he was a sanitation department worker on that snow planet? He got shifted instantly into infantry? LOL

If these stormtroopers would've been VOLUNTEERS and not conscripts, then that might've made sense. Finn could've had a "a didn't sign up for this!" epiphany and disgust. I could see that. But ripped from your parents and mind-controlled? Could this First Order really function like that anyway?

I also like how Rey became an instantly powerful Jedi acolyte who could saber fight with Kylo Ren. Interesting stuff. So Luke Skywalker in ANH meets Obi Wan, can barely handle a lightsaber, doesn't fight Vader at all, and can only use the Force to help him concentrate while piloting an X-Wing, as opposed to a girl on a junkyard planet has NEVER even been told about the Force much less how to harness or utilize it, can become Darth Maul over night.

Makes sense!

It's fascinating how I'm hearing that people actually cried during this flick, also? Think about when they came out with Lord of the Rings. Despite its myriad flaws, at least Peter Jackson casted wisely, then nurtured Gandalf over 2 hours for us in a wonderful way making us actually CARE about him. When he dies on the bridge of Kazad-Dum, the "fly, you fools!" part, the way it went down, it was powerful and worth dropping a tear or two over. There is a build-up of a character, a nurturing, a development, a trust and like about him, and then when he dies it is done powerfully and tenderly. JJ Abrams managed to make the legendary Han Solo scarcely interesting, and despite 3 full films of Han, I didn't care that he died!?!?!!! Truly something was awry. It's as if that Han scene was JJ's attempt at Gandalf falling with the Balrog of Morgath. If so----as the youngster say now "epic fail."

Well, I got a little bit of the old thrill at the opening blast of music and the text crawl, to be fair. And early on, at least, there was a real sense f "no guarantees", which kind of faded as newbie characters began to do impossible things.

One of the least discussed, yet for me most unrealistic plot points, was the sudden attack of morals for "Finn" and his sudden and complete freedom of thought. I'm a teacher, plus, I've witnessed the bamboozling of my nation ver my lifetime by education. Conditioning via education is VERY powerful. I very much like the idea of returning to ordinary humans after the "clone" nonsense, but you can't turn that conditioning at the first sight of blood and an atrocity. Yes, an American soldier in the Vietnam war COULD quickly develop qualms and even defect, if told to torch a village, or whatever. But that is because he was brought up in a solidly, if nominal, Christian country where the public sense would have already taught him what good and evil are. But a stormtrooper deliberately conditioned from childhood? It's projections of assumptions of a moral upbringing on what is supposed to have been one aimed at doing exactly what those troopers were doing.

 

[buzuxi02]

I don't know but to make this thing work , tht female main character has to turn heel and become ruthless. No one wants to see a heroine jedi. She should turn to the dark side and put on Vader's mask and clean house.

 

[Wgw]

Wow, they must be on meds or something. The only possible reason I could imagine is that they grew up with Han Solo and were upset to see him go in that fashion. For me, the whole flick had a poorly developed plot. This nerdy wannabe Vader Kylo Ren seems more like a marcher in a gay pride parade and a high school geek. The First Order itself seems like a weak bunch of goofs. How hard would it have been for JJ Abrams to just lay out some background on this First Order bunch? Spend all of 40 seconds telling us how they came about and what they want. How hard would it have been to have Kylo Ren have dreams, flashbacks, thoughts of Han and Leia, show how he came into the mess he's stuck in? How hard would any of this have been?

Rarely do I say something like this, but seriously I think I, a sixth grade teacher, a nobody, a dad, a typical shmuck, could've written a better script....and that's sad. Abrams is doing nothing but using the past to ride a wave.

Like I said, crying during this? My kids are pretty heartfelt, insightful, affectionate, caring kids and they didn't even come close to crying in that flick!

My main objection to the film was the lousy music, but it was to be expected given John Williams retirement (and let us be fair; the Episode III score was a bit dull).

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Man, I hate to be the fly in the ointment, but I loved Episode III's score! LOL

The music didn't bother me in the new flick, but every single other thing did! LOL

A church friend of mine said on Facebook, "the best dialogue in the entire movie was said by Luke Skywalker!"

My main objection to the film was the lousy music, but it was to be expected given John Williams retirement (and let us be fair; the Episode III score was a bit dull).