Airspeed wrote:I've just noticed that Swanoir is as old as the first film
We look forward to your report.
Sadly, 25-odd years ago, a burglar took my entire collection of SW figures and vehicles....CREEP
That's right Mike! I was two when the original Star Wars was released, although the first one I saw at the cinema was The Empire Strikes Back.
That's tragic news about your figures, I've still got all of mine luckily. Now I've become what they call an 'AFOL' (Adult Fan Of Lego), and my Star Wars Lego collecting is starting to rival my Flightsimming in scale (and cost!).
Now for the 'review'...
Well, for those of you who are going to see the film, I'm not going to say very much so as not to give anything away. One of the reasons I wanted to go to the midnight showing was to guarantee no spoilers beforehand and I think it's important people can make their own minds up.
Overall I liked it. There were some fantastic moments in true Star Wars tradition that will please old-school fans like myself. Just seeing Han and Chewie back on the big screen is worth the ticket price in itself!
However...my main issue I had was with the predictable plot. I found it perverse that Lucasfilm/Disney have spent months jealously guarding the details of the plot and yet ultimately nothing happened in the film that I hadn't already guessed would happen. There was literally nothing unexpected or surprising in the storyline. I was really looking forward to some clever plot twists and red herrings, but at the end of the day the action rumbled on predictably as if it was on rails!
I honestly can't say any more with getting too specific. My seventeen year old son loved it and we had quite a heated argument in the car on the way home at 3am about it! His girlfriend and my wife, neither of them Star Wars fans, both really enjoyed it too. I think I just went in with ridiculously high expectations that were always going to be impossible to meet.
I actually found the new characters very good, which I didn't expect. Even BB-8 wasn't as irritating as I thought. The effects sequences are fantastic (we saw it in good old 2D, I can't stand 3D) and as to be expected from JJ Abrams, the pace was relentless from start to finish.
In summary, I think my issues with The Force Awakens are purely personal and not a reflection of the quality of the production overall. I'll never be able to recapture the experience of being a ten year old boy watching Return of the Jedi for the first time. But I would heartily recommend you watch it, especially while it's in the cinema if you can.
Ultimately, I think this movie will split opinion and stir up a bit of debate, but not necessarily in a bad way. I'm definitely looking forward to Episode VIII.
Oh, and Jar Jar ISN'T in it
