Finally caught the movie tonight. Somehow managed to avoid all spoilers on twitter and the dark incubus's here tempting viewing this thread.
Saw in pure natural sugary free 2d as all powerful zeus intended. For all those 3d proponents I hope I have blissful dreams of you getting eaten horrifically by komodo dragons but in the light of day, living quality lives, and passing along your seed/egg to the next generation.
That said with assigned seating I was dead center (AMC Tysons) row H. One row back and would have had the perfect eye level with horizontal 50 yard line of the screen which is ideal...no head up or down strain.
A fellow scraggly bearded guy wearing a likewise beanie AND wearing glasses (sans tattoos) sat down to my right. He was stoked and told me as much and clear he was properly lubricated for this movie. This was much better than the older couple to my left who spent some time deliberating obvious sitting numbers and the husband finally deciding the better part of valor was having is wife sit next to me. Needless to say there was no arm rest encroachment on that side.
So Shawn, the fellow to my right, was very very excited. I mentioned that I was as well but after The Phantom Menace was a little cautious. That was quickly agreed to but soon after was informed just how excited he was. And that he might lightly punch me in the right arm at certain points of the movie. I told him that was ok as he gave me fair warning. I mean not a bad thing to have someone next to you this frakking stoked for a movie. That said he never did except for one high five.
That said he became a member of my Armageddon list after he leaned forward for several minutes a few times in the movies. Sorry I've been to enough Capitals games that all leaners will experience judge dredd justice in the wastelands.
Ok onto the movie. From spoiler free review the safe word was bandied about. I would agree with that a bit. Also seemed a bit of wiping the prequels off the table and a semi reboot. Another bigger death star just felt lazy. But hey they are working off the nostalgia of the oldz (those who saw IV-V1 in the theater or in the next few years) or the millennials (you know those jar jar binks fans, I KEED!
).
Ok so Keira Knightly was awesome as Rey...I kid but man resemblance was uncanny. Ok Rey the character I really liked. Love her in the first two thirds of the film. I mean whats not to like about a gear head desert ranger that can not only fly but can fight. I was down with the interrogation scene but the the light sabre battle was seriously stretching it. I just wish there was a scene earlier that could have potentially explained it. I kept having the feeling the movie was missing some sections that would have placed things. Of course this could happen in the next one.
I didn't have as much a problem with Kylo Ren. When he destroyed that first console it was pretty clear he wasn't even an emo Darth Maul and the lack of Jedi hasn't helped the dark side that much.
Well that leads to too much having to 'meta' the gremlins in the force awakens. BUT I still enjoyed it. I'm not a nostalgic person generally. I did tear up in the first trailer but did not feel any of that in the movie though still enjoyed it.
Random: loved that first millenium falcon flight. Light sabre dues are still one all time best things in scifi movies. That rolling robot. I'm down with him. But I still wonder, in true jack handy deep thoughts style if, we are anthropomorph'ising. Something to ponder but c-3po, r2d2, and bb-8 are second class citizens, so to speak, but seem truly invested in organic life success and are cool with their subservient class. /me having quad damage flash backs. Long live .Md.
Ok so Finn. Still feel like we were missing some stuff. Like is antiquated holding Rey's hand and later knowing he was taken as a youngling and so did his training include some antiquated aspects. The comedy aspect were good but they just seemed rushed and not earned. Timing just felt off. Ok to meta a moment Kylo did single him out early on so there could be more to him.
Like Poe in the first section with him. That last flight combat thing sort of validating what we were already told seemed a little like redundant.
Last thing.. I don't normally like 'safe' but this was a good gateway franchise movie (I hope...and hopefully the marvel peeps rub off). I was sort of like 'ok this one was safe and out of the way so lets explode and see whats next'.
Snoke sounds like something from the Harry Potter series. Which is funny because Snoke actually looked like a bloated form of Lord Voldemort.
Da hell is that name.... Even Teen Wolf on MTV has better bad guy names (Deucalion). Yes I've watched that show.
When I first that frakking giant shriveled half corpse I was like. Yo man...
So I've seen the movie twice now. The main thing thats been on my mind... does Rey - the quadrilingual expert gymnast/climber, spaceship engineering prodigy, ace pilot, deadeye marksman, and strongest force user in the galaxy - have any flaws? I like having a strong female protagonist, but christ. She's just not a well constructed character. And it's not like her comic relief sidekick or the angsty teenagers cosplaying as Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin are much better. Po Dameron is the only decent new character in this movie that speaks english, and I wonder if that's mostly because the writers didn't give him enough screen time to ruin him.
I just feel like this movie is surviving off of nostalgia, previously established characters, cool visuals, and BB-8. The awful character design and plot glibly copied from episode IV seem like something from a high schooler's fan fiction, and I think it's really going to handicap the next two movies.
Yep bolded this but in a way that is just like 'hey remember just how great a mcdonalds quarter pounder with cheese tastes?! Oh yeah this tastes great in my mouth but five seconds later when it hits my tummy I feel the dark side of the force swell within'. I just hope they spread their wings with the following movies.