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MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
291 .......................... 350
__________________________
December 17th
—— 2015 ——
STAR WARS
T H E__F O R C E__A W A K E N S
—— sci-fi ——
EXTENDED REVIEW
:origin()/pre05/6869/th/pre/f/2015/291/1/9/new_star_wars_episode_vii_the_force_awakens_poster_by_artlover67-d9djjmx.jpg)
(swoosh swoosh sound)
(heavy breathing)
After the success of rebooting ‘Star Trek’ into an actioner of astronomical proportions, J.J. Abrams was pitched to pen and direct the decade-overdue return of another gigantic galactic hit of a film franchise, ‘Star Wars’…
A force-fanboy himself, Abrams was going to hold something very precious and personal between his hands, endangering the possibility of not elevating the entertainment and upping the ante beyond familiar fan territory and bloated blockbuster banalities. Growing up with the prequel trilogy myself and very much liking – although not outright loving – the long-running franchise, I will hopefully leave you with a review more objective than subjective; at least on a non-fanboy level, so to speak.
Just like always, the whole world was gathered at every cinema, at every corner, like the gigantic event this franchise has always been and always will be – because, and you guessed it, the force was extremely strong with this one. As for me, I danced willingly to the star dust myself and did everything possible to cut myself out of the “Wi-Fi community” and go into hiding until the premiere in my country; like a hobo going sight-seeing in a billion-dollar estate. I didn’t really use my phone, my computer or stuff like that, so being surrounded by technology without touching it was very weird – even regular old newspapers were a thing to avoid at work and the likes. Anyways, the day came where I had my ticket for a trip to the closest IMAX theater in the pleasant company of me, myself and I and the three of us were all very excited to see this movie. The hype was real and as soon as the famous text crawl came crashing onto the screen more epic than ever before, I felt the force… against my pants. Okay, not really, but I’m sure someone had their lightsaber out during this fanboy moment.
But honestly, despite being fine with what I saw, I left the theater without ever really feeling like I had seen a proper ‘Star Wars’ movie. Even the prequels were closer in tone, though tone deaf in everything else, especially dialogue, but let’s leave it at that. My point is, this seventh ‘Star Wars’ entry had flown fatally close to the sun – or sum – of all my fears. Abrams is a fanboy alright, and it shows, as he shoots the film like he would wield a lightsaber for the first time – swinging it around, making awesome sounds and colorful visuals along the way, but forgetting what it is actually for – killing things, leaving an impact and setting something at stake. Also, he didn’t even seem to understand what ‘Star Wars’ was all about either – at least not from an “inside perspective” – even George Lucas, weird as he is, has commented on this and I agree. J.J. Abrams is a Jedi in training and he really isn’t judgmental enough or even wise enough with the source material. Though, clearly, Disney definitely also mixed their magical fairy dust with the sci-fi star dust as well, so Mr. Double-J here isn’t the only person with their hands in the cookie jar… jar… Oh I’m sorry, did I stutter?
So, is ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ a bad film? No, not in my book, but you can read the film like a book though, and except for “that one scene” you don’t really get much for your money’s worth – at least not if you came for more than (and not as a result of) the several references and homages throughout – serving this up as a fan service at its fullest; kleenex, lubricate and all. ‘Force Awakens’ has a grittier approach than its predecessors, but the plot is painfully familiar, the characters are mostly very bland compared to the originals, and the overall feel is a clear-cut copycat that comes off like a hairball in your throat when the pleasure strokes are the farthest away from actual strikes of genius as they possibly could be.
As mentioned, the movie can be gritty at times, but Abrams’ handling of “the force” and feel for the universe is almost laughably childish and the aftertaste is like coffee with too much cream and sugar. Sure, they had to regain their reigning super-power as the science-fiction staple that they are – and do so by playing it safe and feeling the groundwork first before finally continuing such a heavy franchise like this – because moving ahead with the speed of light or going in the wrong direction could cause another clash between fans and filmmakers leading to yet another fall for the universe. I respect that and I understand that.
I can enjoy ‘Force Awakens’ for classic entertainment, yet still it leaves me with such a weightless feeling that I struggle to find anything of importance worth returning to. Sure, it looks good, sounds good and the nostalgia can make you feel good, but those elements can’t elevate a movie like this above story, dialogue and characters – especially not when at least one of those, if not all, was all-important to the first film. And like a lot of modern blockbusters, the movie feels like a set of singular set-pieces hanging in a thin thread, rather than one continuous story, which I feel also brings the movie down a few notches.
‘The Force Awakens’ operates as a space spectacle rather than a space opera and the magical feeling of melodramatic heroism and chivalric romance seems to have taken a backseat to all the fancy action, with a tempo and tone, which just doesn’t resemble much of what made ‘Star Wars’ work to begin with. There is plenty of homages, references and winks at the audience, but throwing it into the movie is not the same as building it into the movie – actually implementing it into the story or even structuring said story around these elements. Abrams’ ‘Star Wars’ is more like a modern ‘Star Trek’ film or modern blockbuster that just happens to take place in the same universe as the other films in this franchise. As I said, I can enjoy it for the entertainment and it is a fairly fun ride, but the disappointment is just too strong with this one… I’m sorry.
Ending on a little side note here, because with all that said, after watching ‘Rogue One’ I might have to reconsider the placement of this crowd pleaser after all… and that might be a little bit higher than it was the case with my first viewing. But for now, though… it was just fairly good fun and my rating here will be of my initial viewing, even though this review is sort of a mix between two viewings.
+
__________________________
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
291 .......................... 350
__________________________
December 17th
—— 2015 ——
STAR WARS
T H E__F O R C E__A W A K E N S
—— sci-fi ——
EXTENDED REVIEW
(swoosh swoosh sound)
(heavy breathing)
After the success of rebooting ‘Star Trek’ into an actioner of astronomical proportions, J.J. Abrams was pitched to pen and direct the decade-overdue return of another gigantic galactic hit of a film franchise, ‘Star Wars’…
A force-fanboy himself, Abrams was going to hold something very precious and personal between his hands, endangering the possibility of not elevating the entertainment and upping the ante beyond familiar fan territory and bloated blockbuster banalities. Growing up with the prequel trilogy myself and very much liking – although not outright loving – the long-running franchise, I will hopefully leave you with a review more objective than subjective; at least on a non-fanboy level, so to speak.
Just like always, the whole world was gathered at every cinema, at every corner, like the gigantic event this franchise has always been and always will be – because, and you guessed it, the force was extremely strong with this one. As for me, I danced willingly to the star dust myself and did everything possible to cut myself out of the “Wi-Fi community” and go into hiding until the premiere in my country; like a hobo going sight-seeing in a billion-dollar estate. I didn’t really use my phone, my computer or stuff like that, so being surrounded by technology without touching it was very weird – even regular old newspapers were a thing to avoid at work and the likes. Anyways, the day came where I had my ticket for a trip to the closest IMAX theater in the pleasant company of me, myself and I and the three of us were all very excited to see this movie. The hype was real and as soon as the famous text crawl came crashing onto the screen more epic than ever before, I felt the force… against my pants. Okay, not really, but I’m sure someone had their lightsaber out during this fanboy moment.
But honestly, despite being fine with what I saw, I left the theater without ever really feeling like I had seen a proper ‘Star Wars’ movie. Even the prequels were closer in tone, though tone deaf in everything else, especially dialogue, but let’s leave it at that. My point is, this seventh ‘Star Wars’ entry had flown fatally close to the sun – or sum – of all my fears. Abrams is a fanboy alright, and it shows, as he shoots the film like he would wield a lightsaber for the first time – swinging it around, making awesome sounds and colorful visuals along the way, but forgetting what it is actually for – killing things, leaving an impact and setting something at stake. Also, he didn’t even seem to understand what ‘Star Wars’ was all about either – at least not from an “inside perspective” – even George Lucas, weird as he is, has commented on this and I agree. J.J. Abrams is a Jedi in training and he really isn’t judgmental enough or even wise enough with the source material. Though, clearly, Disney definitely also mixed their magical fairy dust with the sci-fi star dust as well, so Mr. Double-J here isn’t the only person with their hands in the cookie jar… jar… Oh I’m sorry, did I stutter?
So, is ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ a bad film? No, not in my book, but you can read the film like a book though, and except for “that one scene” you don’t really get much for your money’s worth – at least not if you came for more than (and not as a result of) the several references and homages throughout – serving this up as a fan service at its fullest; kleenex, lubricate and all. ‘Force Awakens’ has a grittier approach than its predecessors, but the plot is painfully familiar, the characters are mostly very bland compared to the originals, and the overall feel is a clear-cut copycat that comes off like a hairball in your throat when the pleasure strokes are the farthest away from actual strikes of genius as they possibly could be.
As mentioned, the movie can be gritty at times, but Abrams’ handling of “the force” and feel for the universe is almost laughably childish and the aftertaste is like coffee with too much cream and sugar. Sure, they had to regain their reigning super-power as the science-fiction staple that they are – and do so by playing it safe and feeling the groundwork first before finally continuing such a heavy franchise like this – because moving ahead with the speed of light or going in the wrong direction could cause another clash between fans and filmmakers leading to yet another fall for the universe. I respect that and I understand that.
I can enjoy ‘Force Awakens’ for classic entertainment, yet still it leaves me with such a weightless feeling that I struggle to find anything of importance worth returning to. Sure, it looks good, sounds good and the nostalgia can make you feel good, but those elements can’t elevate a movie like this above story, dialogue and characters – especially not when at least one of those, if not all, was all-important to the first film. And like a lot of modern blockbusters, the movie feels like a set of singular set-pieces hanging in a thin thread, rather than one continuous story, which I feel also brings the movie down a few notches.
‘The Force Awakens’ operates as a space spectacle rather than a space opera and the magical feeling of melodramatic heroism and chivalric romance seems to have taken a backseat to all the fancy action, with a tempo and tone, which just doesn’t resemble much of what made ‘Star Wars’ work to begin with. There is plenty of homages, references and winks at the audience, but throwing it into the movie is not the same as building it into the movie – actually implementing it into the story or even structuring said story around these elements. Abrams’ ‘Star Wars’ is more like a modern ‘Star Trek’ film or modern blockbuster that just happens to take place in the same universe as the other films in this franchise. As I said, I can enjoy it for the entertainment and it is a fairly fun ride, but the disappointment is just too strong with this one… I’m sorry.
Ending on a little side note here, because with all that said, after watching ‘Rogue One’ I might have to reconsider the placement of this crowd pleaser after all… and that might be a little bit higher than it was the case with my first viewing. But for now, though… it was just fairly good fun and my rating here will be of my initial viewing, even though this review is sort of a mix between two viewings.
+
__________________________