Star Wars: The Force Awakens (17 Dec 2015) - Discussion Thread

How did you rate this film?


  • Total voters
    197
As opposed to the fans who felt betrayed when they saw the $*%£show *%&^fest that was the prequel trilogy.
 
Once he sold it he had zero say in it (unless the deal somehow stated that he did). Disney have ruined Star Wars further but he'd already ruined it with the prequels being nothing like the originals.
 
I'd disagree they ruined it further.

Force Awakens was fine if a bit of a retread.
Rogue One was superb IMO
Solo was fine.
Last Jedi was poor.

They were all better than the CGI crapfests that were the prequel trilogy and let's not even get into the "Holiday Special" or Caravan of Courage.
I don't even like Return of the Jedi that much.

We all have our opinions though. If you don't agree with mine it's OK to be wrong.


:p
 
George’s criticism’s of the new films aren’t really issues with the films themselves though. If you actually read it, he was upset they didn’t use his treatments and that the filmmakers weren’t breaking boundaries effects wise.
Which amusingly is what people hated about the prequels. George’s writing and his OTT use of CGI.
Can’t win.
 
You can understand why he did things differently with the prequels. Why make the same films again? It's hard to say, but for me personally I just wanted something that looked and felt like Empire/Jedi. I wanted Xwings and Tie Fighters and Star Destroyers etc. He also made a massive mistake with not having C3P0 and R2D2 not more involved. He constantly went on about how the original film was kind of told from their point of view.
 
From a commercial standpoint alone, Bob Iger would've had to have been clinically insane to go with George's micro-universe ideas. People hated the midichlorians and disliked the prequel's directions in general; Bob wanted to bring back the star wars we all knew and loved and make the big money- which he did.

It's just a shame they went so far backwards with it. A nice middle ground would have suited just fine (which is what I hope for in Episode 9).

Its also a shame in general that Star Wars is so reactionary as opposed to creative; its been that way now for decades. Constantly modifying their approach based on the previous film, in order to do the impossible: keep fans happy.
 
Stick with the TV series, that's where the real invention and development comes from. Clone Wars and Rebels are two examples and the Mandalorian looks very promising. It's clear that's not needed/wanted in the movies now (and I'm OK with that), but at least there is an outlet for it.

This is still one of my favourite moments across all of Star Wars canon and it's not in any of the movies (big Rebels spoilers below):

 
Last edited:
5066535.jpg

As part of my Christmas viewing I had a sudden urge to rewatch The Force Awakens. A long time ago (7 years) in my old flat not far far away from where I am now. I was feeling nostalgic for that build up to Xmas 2015 when everyone was in breathless anticipation of the first new star wars in a decade. I'd bought loads of lego sets and books for my son for and the countdown to the big day was overshadowed by my countdown to the other big day. I'd failed to avoid the trailers including that superb final trailer and couldn't wait.

Putting aside my disdain for the sequel trilogy as a whole, I thought this got off to a pretty great start. The overall tone, the slick combination of practical and CGI effects, the energetic pace- all good. And BB-8 is a fantastic new addition to the Star Wars droid pantheon that gives the film a unique flavour. Yet as the 'story' progresses it begins to fall apart and even my nostalgia for 2015 couldn't overcome that. What struck me this viewing was just how bizarrely JJ Abrams directs and edits his characters. They often pull daft expressions; react in nonsensical ways to things; say and do stupid or inexplicable things; and change their attitudes on a dime- often in the same scene. Rey for example will go from sweet and kind to angry and annoyed, for no reason whatsoever. It's kind of a shame because I really like her for a lot of the time, and there was potential for her to be one of the saga's best heroes. Finn's arc still makes no sense. Other dialogue is cringe-making. I still hate the way the film presses the reset button on everything and the less said about Starkiller base the better, but we've covered that ad nauseum so I wont go into that.

A few scenes still really stand out as superb:
  • The early Falcon chase on Jakku; still goose-pimplingly good.
  • The 'dream sequence' is superbly directed.
  • The lightsaber duel is the best in the trilogy. Raw and emotional and gorgeously shot.

Unfortunately this viewing does confirm that TFA is amoung the worst films in the saga, down the bottom and not far above Rise of Skywalker, Solo and The Phantom Menace. The Last Jedi is the better film simply by default.

5/10
 
5066535.jpg

As part of my Christmas viewing I had a sudden urge to rewatch The Force Awakens. A long time ago (7 years) in my old flat not far far away from where I am now. I was feeling nostalgic for that build up to Xmas 2015 when everyone was in breathless anticipation of the first new star wars in a decade. I'd bought loads of lego sets and books for my son for and the countdown to the big day was overshadowed by my countdown to the other big day. I'd failed to avoid the trailers including that superb final trailer and couldn't wait.

Putting aside my disdain for the sequel trilogy as a whole, I thought this got off to a pretty great start. The overall tone, the slick combination of practical and CGI effects, the energetic pace- all good. And BB-8 is a fantastic new addition to the Star Wars droid pantheon that gives the film a unique flavour. Yet as the 'story' progresses it begins to fall apart and even my nostalgia for 2015 couldn't overcome that. What struck me this viewing was just how bizarrely JJ Abrams directs and edits his characters. They often pull daft expressions; react in nonsensical ways to things; say and do stupid or inexplicable things; and change their attitudes on a dime- often in the same scene. Rey for example will go from sweet and kind to angry and annoyed, for no reason whatsoever. It's kind of a shame because I really like her for a lot of the time, and there was potential for her to be one of the saga's best heroes. Finn's arc still makes no sense. Other dialogue is cringe-making. I still hate the way the film presses the reset button on everything and the less said about Starkiller base the better, but we've covered that ad nauseum so I wont go into that.

A few scenes still really stand out as superb:
  • The early Falcon chase on Jakku; still goose-pimplingly good.
  • The 'dream sequence' is superbly directed.
  • The lightsaber duel is the best in the trilogy. Raw and emotional and gorgeously shot.

Unfortunately this viewing does confirm that TFA is amoung the worst films in the saga, down the bottom and not far above Rise of Skywalker, Solo and The Phantom Menace. The Last Jedi is the better film simply by default.

5/10
I cannot beleive you hold TPM in such low regard. It is obviously not with out problems but to group it with the dross of the sequels...
 
I cannot beleive you hold TPM in such low regard. It is obviously not with out problems but to group it with the dross of the sequels...
To be fair I'd put TPM above Solo or JJ's second sequel. I just still find it turgid and uninvolving. As a child of the original trilogy, The Phantom Menace felt [jar]jarringly flat and time hasn't helped with that. It's not till we get to Attack of the Clones that the story begins to get interesting.
 
To be fair I'd put TPM above Solo or JJ's second sequel. I just still find it turgid and uninvolving. As a child of the original trilogy, The Phantom Menace felt [jar]jarringly flat and time hasn't helped with that. It's not till we get to Attack of the Clones that the story begins to get interesting.
Nothing wrong with a slow build up ( Andor). I enjoy being in a massive feeling universe with millions of moving parts and it has plenty of cool action, plus, admittedly some not so great. Get rid of JarJar and find a better actor for Anakin and I would not have much to complain about.
 
Last edited:
Nothing wrong with a slow build up ( Andor). i enjoy being a massive feeling universe with millions of moving parts and it has plenty of cool action, plus some not so great. Get rid fo Jarjar and find a better actor for Anakin and I would have much to complain about.
Slow and boring aren't the same thing. For example you can't compare Andor's intelligently written and intricately plotted slow burn with TPM's mind-numbing meander from childish slapstick to deathly dull, badly scribbled politicking. Aside from introducing Anakin, it's a nothing-burger of a plot, and really just an excuse for George to vomit (fast-ageing) CGI all over the screen.

Back closer to topic, on balance I've always thought TPM and TFA effectively cancel each other out. Both are crummy trilogy-starters in entirely separate ways, but each also have a handful of positive elements that make them at least semi-watchable. TPM wins on world-building I'll grant you that, but its also less fun to watch. I suppose the choice is either torture by eye-rolls (TFA) or being bored into a coma (TPM). Suffice to say there are better places to be in the Star Wars universe.
 
I'd happily watch TFA again, even though it's now tainted (for me) with the upcoming failures of Rise of Skywalker. Conversely, a fairly recent TPM watch made it seem quite dire, unfortunately, two standout setpieces aside.
 
I'd happily watch TFA again, even though it's now tainted (for me) with the upcoming failures of Rise of Skywalker. Conversely, a fairly recent TPM watch made it seem quite dire, unfortunately, two standout setpieces aside.
As a movie experience, it hits many of the right notes doesn't it. That 'flat' feeling of the prequels is suddenly replaced with vitality and energy. As a Star Wars story however, I find it's pretty dismal and, as you say, the follow up films didn't help its cause. I had hoped a Christmas nostalgia viewing might rekindle my admiration for The Force Awakens, but sadly not. However, its not unknown for me to flip-flop. I often do especially with The Last Jedi and with the prequels.
 
As a movie experience, it hits many of the right notes doesn't it. That 'flat' feeling of the prequels is suddenly replaced with vitality and energy. As a Star Wars story however, I find it's pretty dismal and, as you say, the follow up films didn't help its cause. I had hoped a Christmas nostalgia viewing might rekindle my admiration for The Force Awakens, but sadly not. However, its not unknown for me to flip-flop. I often do especially with The Last Jedi and with the prequels.
The key thing is that Abrams realised that a huge amount depends on what you get from the actors and the importance of making the chemistry work. Something sorely lacking from the prequels. He righted the ship in that respect, as that was probably the big task that the first film needed to do. But - as history has shown - not having an actual plan after that was a huge problem.
 
The first hour and a bit was great and still stands up well. The potential for the sequel trilogy to be special was there at that point. Sadly, however, it went downhill as it did not build good enough character arcs, the world building was non existent and some very questionable story decisions were made.
 
I always enjoyed TFA and the 4k UHD disc is superb to revisit (actually the 3D version is also very good), and I regularly watch the Falcon flight scene for that purpose.

For me the best thing it did was bring some fun and energy back to the films after the sombre and serious tone of the prequels. It was also good to see real puppets / sets / props/troopers compared to green screen and CGI in the prequels. Highlights were Han & Chewie back together, the Falcon flight in Jakku, the forest lightsaber battle, the return of the "sights and sounds" of Star Wars including John Williams.

The Starkiller base plot was poor and felt like it was there to just serve a purpose of moving the characters through a story and bringing them all together. The sequels is where the real damage was done, although I do have a soft spot for The Last Jedi, as it dared to be a bit different and almost worked if not for some awful moments (Canto Bight, Leia Poppins, the slowest "chase" in history). There was some excellent moments in there too like Snoke, the fight in the throne room, the bombing run, the return of Yoda (puppet I believe), the Falcon going through the crystal mine, the Crait battle.

A bit like TPM, there's some great stuff but also some awful stuff ("Roger Roger"). In fact I think AOTC is worse than TPM, having re-watched them numerous times.
 
The sequels are a mess. It's actually pretty funny how ROS basically gets terrified of almost all of Johnson's ideas and retcons them. And then also doesn't know what to do with some characters, also introduces a load of new ones with not much to do. And is scared of killing anyone off. The Leia stuff is awful.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom