I could just be getting old, but I almost couldn't contain my excitement in the cinema while watching the film. Pretty sure that hasn't happened to me before to that extent simply watching a film. JJ Abrams (and team) got it
sooo right. The critique of it being a
new new hope? Go home, folks, you're drunk. It was a new star wars movie, doing a good job following the style of the original trilogy! Not that bullshit prequel nonsense
. At the very least, it was different enough to not bother me. Dare I say it... perhaps superior in many respects.
I was fully immersed for most of the film, but I didn't find some relationships convincing (eg: instant-best-buddies, Poe and Finn), there was some corny stuff, and off-putting acting, but nothing major. I didn't like the CG appearance of Snoke and Maz. Should keep that as practical effects. Being a casual fan, these characters also seemed kind of "thrown in" to me. Maybe later films will give them more context. Same can be said for the people after Han that got attacked by the tentacle monsters. Might read up on that later, I guess.
Rey being Luke's daughter probably would be good for the story and seems heavily implied, but in other ways is odd. Anyways, she'd probably eventually have to take out Kylo, where there'd be an extra element of tragedy; cousins fighting each other with some kind of tension going on with auntie Leia and uncle Luke. I get the impression Leia will probably just ditch her son though
.
For me the exciting bits were all related to Rey pwning with the force. From the moment you could tell Kylo was struggling against her the first time, I was her number one fan, and though the rest was predictable (jedi mind tricks, and snatching the lightsaber), it was super rewarding
.
Han's death was tragic, but easily foreseeable (someone forgot to screw on the cap of the foreshadowing container). It'll be interesting to see Chewie's character develop without Han. They're like two peas in a pod, and I'd find it hard to imagine him having as much of an enjoyable relationship from a viewer's perspective with Rey and Finn, etc. Poor Chewie
. Hopefully he doesn't take a backseat in the adventure either now.
It'll be interesting to see how Finn's character develops too. He doesn't seem to fit anywhere yet, story-wise. His injuries don't seem superficial either. It looked like a line was deeply carved out of his back, or something like that.
BB8 was good. Fits in very well.
Phasma's role was over-hyped for this film. Hopefully she'll have some kind of stronger role in future films.
Kylo... I hope he develops into a more impressive villain. He seems quite pathetic at the moment, where as I prefer my villains be more formidable. I did enjoy his rivalry with Hux. I suspect Hux's days are numbered though
.
I'd like to see the "good guys" take the upper hand in the next episode, and it ending very tragically in IX, but with the good guys prevailing.
4/5 stars