What did y'all think of Star Wars? (NO SPOILERS)

I just got back from the midnight screening and all I have to say is holy shit.

They actually managed to pull it off.

I had my doubts going in. I knew it would be good, but they achieved the impossible. It takes the grandness and richness and slickness of the Star Wars universe and meshes them together to make what could seriously be considered the greatest entry yet. It's classic Star Wars updated for the modern area with a break neck pace and extra grittiness that wasn't found in most of the previous films, at least not as much.

The vibe in the cinema was amazing. You could literally feel the energy radiating off everyone. We broke out into applause frequently. Suffice to say I loved it and I will be seeing it again shortly.

Now I'm heading off to bed.

Thoughts?

I'd say it's more typical JJ Abraham movie than something that real Star Wars fan (as in someone who read all of the expanded universe stuff) would enjoy.

I have to wait until like the 24th or later to watch iiiit *sob* I can't wait, and I'm glad I've been seeing nothing but positive reactions to it!

Anybody who spoils anything will be duly dealt with btw with teh green lightsaber hammer :3

Ok, i only read i just got back from the midnight screening. You lucky bastard, that's all i have to say. ARGggggg !!

It's not like he has to follow the expanded universe.

No one said he had any obligation to the die hard star wars fans, he doesn't.

An early New York times review mentioned that the fact that we see a black man, a Latino, and a white woman all holding lightsabers together makes it the most "utopian" movie of the year.

Good. I find entertainment without a strong female character, or starring characters of different races offensive. :P

It just another movie..

Did they phrase it like that?

I just hope it's really good. I think the cast's genders and ethnicities are irrelevant in the context; unlike the rumors about Dark Tower.

@MlauTheDaft: yes they used the word utopian. I love how racial equality in film takes center stage over anything else, including content, especially in this day and age.

Most of the early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, giving it a score of 97% (which will probably drop a bit as time passes). My favorite is this excerpt from a "professional" reviewer:

"This mediatic circus has entertained me moderately, wishing the film would be a little shorter. What can I say? Not really my cup of tea."

I think I am seeing it next week.

@Allicrombie: Finn being black does provide a good opportunity to expand stormtrooper lore; they're obviously not clones anymore.

It's fine. Didn't really blow me away. It's basically a remake of The New Hope.

That's sarcasm right? It reads like sarcasm.

The expanded universe stuff was written by different authors, with some boundaries placed by George Lucas right? It's not like those books were necessarily good. I read quite a bit of those books, and some of the stuff when i think about it were a little crazy (for example, a Luke Skywalker clone, animals that could negate the force, etc)

Again not saying Disney or JJ Abraham needed to conform to every single aspect of the expanded universe but an adaptation of the major (and fan favorite) characters and plot point would be appreciated by the fans. But what they did do is pretty much taking all of the SWEU and trashing it. Imagine if someone taking your favorite franchise and striping it of good characters and story arcs ; surely you can see why some die hard SW fans would be turned off.

Boring but inoffensive.

Way too predictable, storytelling too wooden and often feeling forced. Some good acting, poor pacing with some scenes adding nothing of value to the narrative. They rehashed too much from A New Hope.

@Maroxad: A few reviewers are calling it a remake of "A New Hope" for a new generation.

I guess they could have used some of the good ideas. I think i remember reading in the comics at a book store a long time ago where one of the characters used a double bladed lightsaber, which might might have been derived for Darth Maul.

@LexLas: Yeah we had an early screening down here in Australia. And since we're ahead of the rest of the world, we got the long end of the stick for once!

It's just as well they *were* there otherwise I'd have walked out! That sort of stuff is very offensive!

Overall I loved it! Think the new characters were cool with Rey being the standout (really great performance). Some scenes were absolutely beautiful. Had a similar experience with lots of applause in the cinema, which was nice :). No annoying characters this time hehe. The one negative I thought (and it seems to be the general criticism) is that they took a few too many ideas from the old movies. Perhaps they wanted to play it a bit safe, I dunno. But it was problematic imo. The action sequences were great and it felt less CGI infested than the last trilogy (the CGI was ofc also better).

Btw Leia looked weird. I hardly recognized her.

@Allicrombie:

I just read the review, and the reviewer wasn't in any way saying that racial equality takes center stage over everything else. Granted, it's stupid to celebrate that kind of diversity as if it's new to the franchise (after all, the prequels most certainly had a diverse cast of characters). But stop making shit up. That review was NOT saying that racial equality in film takes center stage over anything else.

@Sushiglutton: Yeah I can see why people would think that. But I'd rather do that than engage in all the stupid politics and boring dialogue that episodes I and II are nefarious for.

Also, I don't know what everyone else thought about this: but I thought it was fantastic that they decided not to go the easy route of taking major names for all the roles. They had non-American, small time actors from England, Ireland, Indonesia, etc, and put them in one of the biggest film franchises of all time. Hell, there were three actors fro the Raid films in there, which most people will never otherwise see.

I honestly thought that this was one of the film's strengths, really: having such a well rounded cast that brought so many actors together like that instead of grabbing the biggest names they could find and sticking them together for an easy bet.

@ShadowsDemon: Wait, there are actors from the Raid movies in this? Freaking LOVE those movies especially the 2nd one. The Raid 2 might be my fav action movie of all time!

Yeah, but that wasn't exactly a bold decision, that's a no brainer. It's hard to have someone like Brad Pitt taking a major role in a movie like this, because then people are just gonna see Brad Pitt and not the character that he's playing. They probably didn't WANT huge stars in all of these roles, because those kinds of huge stars can easily carry too much baggage with them that makes it harder for the audience to accept it.

Yeah it had a much better tone than I and II for sure. It's just that when you start to list real similar plot points, that list becomes a bit to long ;). The cast was fantastic and I agree it was good they had focused on bringing in fesh faces. The new characters actually outshined the old in this movie, which I didn't expect. My favourite was Rey, but Finn and Kylo Ren were also fine.

I'm a bit sceptical of Snoke though, in particular the design of his face. Looked like a very standard CGI-villain lol.

They were in the movie but super briefly. Seems like some scene(s) was cut, because there was really no point hiring those actors for a tiny glimpse.

Yep. Iko Uwais was there, as was Yayan Ruhian, who plays Mad Dog in the films. As noted, their roles weren't huge, but they had lines in a freaking Star Wars film. Simon Pegg and Lupita Nyong'o were in the film, but I barely even noticed either of their presences.

It's not just about screen time, it's about having a credit and acting alongside such huge actors in such a huge movie. It's an entryway into Hollywood for these people. Besides, I'm sure all of us would kill (not literally, obviously) to be in a Star Wars film. I certainly would.

It was too predictable. It felt like I was watching Episode 4 tbh, they took way to much stuff from there. The movie just felt like they were trying hard to play it safe to avoid offending anyone by throwing in things we're familiar with and mixing it in with a politically correct cast(not that I dislike them, I'm just saying) and ultimately there wasn't really anything memorable in it. Also, I didn't like Kylo Ren much(which is funny because from the trailers I thought I would like him the most). Anyways, all in all the movie wasn't bad. I enjoyed it but was a little disappointed at the same time.

I'm going to the 10:15 pm premier tomorrow. I don't know how some of your get tickets to early showings. Teach me your secrets.

Live in Australia, where we're 17 hours ahead of the US and open early.

I'm seeing it Friday.

As an aside, pretty cool that 2015 is a year where sequels to Mad Max, Rocky, and (potentially) Star Wars are some of the highest rated films of the year.

I read it as if it took center stage to the reviwer, not the film.

Watching it on Tuesday but I have to say I'm afraid all this hype comes from diehard fans from the OT who will go wild over anything with Ford in it regardless of the actual movie's quality...

Eagerly looking forward to seeing this tonight. Having to go to the local Cineworld, Odeon would have been preferable, due to less demand. Then again sod it, it is Star Wars.

Im going to see it tonight! So exited.

Read the actual review. The reviewer was not in any way acting as if racial diversity took center stage.

I know sarcasm doesn't always come across effectively in text form. It just seemed like a really odd comment in a professional movie review, as if such diversity is so rare in movies that it has to be celebrated at every opportunity. But now you can relax, all is right with the world again. Have a lovely day!

Complete shit

No one who is a fan of the franchise should like it.

Not only does it destroy the original characters but it makes weak politically correct puppets out of the new ones.

It's poor JJ Abrams fanfiction

Honesty I think the critics who are giving this a 95% approval rate on RT are rating with fan goggles. I'm seeing the movie this weekend, and I'm excited about this movie as a event (or a phenomenon), but not necessarily as a movie, I'm just not that excited for the movie itself. I've exposed myself to lots of spoilers cause I don't really mind them, they don't affect my enjoyment for a movie.

From what I have heard, the plot of this movie takes way too much from the original trilogy, particularly the first star wars, and it's way beyond homage at this point. It is trying hard to be inoffensive and does everything extremely carefully so that nothing in the movie really stands out that much. Movies like this have low replayability and once the hype wears off, I wonder if the backlash will start？

Just saw it, like many people said it takes so much from the first movies that it feel like nothing new. Nothing in the movie stand out for me. Was it a bad movie? no it wasn't, but they played it too safe in a sense.

You're not completely wrong. I think it's nostalgia for a lot of people. The original trilogy started almost two decades before I was born, so I don't have that sense of wanda that the older does. Essentially it's a sequel to episode 6 32 years later.

In saying that, I do think it held up on it's own. If it was a standalone film I'd still be in awe.

I dont exactly see why people are making a big deal out of a "diverse"/"politically correct" cast whatsoever.

Either as a positive or a negative.

Anyways, I would rank them like this 5>4>7>6>3>2>1, with 7 being mediocre and the ones below being poor to terrible.

Since when is self expressing yourself in pop culture mandated to be PC?

This.

Calling it utopian does infer a rather cynical view of american culture, IMO.

I thought it was a great movie. It didn't drag on and had me engaged the entire time, and I loved the mix between new characters and the old.

One thing that really bugs me is the whole First Order vs the Resistance thing. In the movie they talk about a Republic.....but where are they? Why isn't the galactic government sending in forces to deal with the First Order? To me the first Order feels more like a military cult than a force that could contend with a galactic government.

But maybe that's just me.

It was good. I recommend it. And it really does raise many questions.

There are quite a few undertones that I am looking forward to seeing come to light.

The movie succeeds because it does what it was supposed to do. It sets up the foundation of the series.

At least see the movie before you whine about ratings from critics.