These were the tickets I'd bought a while back when I found out I was responsible for getting my family out to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). In case you missed it in my prior Star Wars posts about Growing Up Star Wars back in the 70's and 80's, Star Wars was for me (and a lot of us) a family affair. So, I couldn't be too surprised when my mom and brother (everyone lives in Austin. Don't knock it til' you haven't had to travel on a holiday in five years.) separately suggested we get together to see the movie. In the end, once we added on JuanD, there were eight of us, total, out to see the movie. Jamie, her dad, my dad, my mom, Jason, Amy, Juan (Solo), and myself.
I now have the official Alamo Drafthouse collector's glass and magazine and all that.
Oh, yeah, spoilers below the "read more" break.
I don't have a lot new to add. It was nice to see it again, and - with less mental overhead devoted to just keeping up - I got to just enjoy a bit more of what's there on screen, especially when the X-Wings come into play. And, yes, I wore my official Star Wars X-Wing t-shirt.
The plot has some silliness, sure. And, yes, I'm well aware many folks out there are miffed it echoes Episode IV a lot. Look, if echoing plot lines bothered me, I couldn't go see a single superhero origin story movie, or watch any horror movie ever made after Friday the 13th. But, yeah, it's hanging on the same framework as Episode IV in many ways, and if any more despotic galactic armies build spherical planet-smashing weapons that can be destroyed by a scrappy underdog squad, well... those despots have a lot of soul searching to do.
My suggestion is to try looking at what the differences are, because within that framework, what's different seems significant. Kylo Ren is no Darth Vader. Han Solo is no Obi Wan.
I continued to enjoy our new heroes, and while I'm loathe to overly speculate, I did think I picked up a bit more where things are headed for their future.
A few notes;
- They didn't say Leia didn't become a Jedi, but they did say in Return of the Jedi that she more than had the potential to do so. So... What up, General Leia? Can you force-choke a man or not?
- Rey has a very bouncy run. That's not a criticism, but that girl has some spring in her step. Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it, and now I'm pointing it out to you.
- That Kylo Ren is just a basket case, isn't he?
- The ship-to-ship fight choreography in this is just amazing.
- Not enough Poe.
- Juan and I were in agreement that the tentacle monsters on Han's freighter seemed weirdly out of place
- Apparently if I watched Game of Thrones, I'd know that the actress playing Captain Phasma is 6'3"-ish. I kinda hope we're headed for more Finn V. Phasma in upcoming installments
I dunno. I enjoyed it again. It's an excellent vehicle for moving merchandise, sure. It's fun, it's quippy. It has amazing design and fun characters. It has some good moments.
I'm tired and going to bed now.
I find that the criticisms of it repeating Episode 4 sort of miss the entire point of the saga as mythology completely. I also find that they miss the major differences this time out, Finn in particular, who has no parallel in the original trilogy and brings a completely new angle to the saga. I have to somehow find the time to go see it again. And at the end of the day, if it has me saying that, a guy who was well over the Star Wars thing and at one point actively wishing this would suck because JJ ruined my Star Trek, then it's a huge success. Oh, and I guess it made a ton of money too, but whatever.
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