Queue on 10/1/2016 at 17:03
Despite myself, I caved in and took the kids out yesterday to see the new Star Wars movie. Truly, I went into it with an open mind -- ignoring all preconceived notions -- and came out of it annoyed by a film that was so utterly predictable and filled with hokum that it'd worthy of spoofing on MST3K. Within the first few scenes, it was already a barrage of one 'why is it doing that' moment after another: like when lil' Vader wannabe's (spoiler!) ship lands on the planet and all this steam is being pumped out holes surrounding the platform; or the times when Luke's daughter (spoiler!! ... oh come on, if you haven't figured this out--) rides around on her floating Allis-Chalmers tractor engine, how is it the thing floats in the air when it's turned off? The answer to both: no reason what-so-ever other than, it looked "spacey!" and cool.
But what really ruined the film is that it takes the original trilogy's notion of recreating the feel and spectacle of a sweeping silver screen epic -- like the Ten Commandments -- while using space as the setting, and tries really hard, too hard, to be like those films instead of being its own homage to silver screen epics and Bijou serials.
...that and the fact that a child could have written the plot. Truly, there were absolutely no surprises, just bee-lines made to the only possible conclusion. Honestly, who didn't see everything coming in this film?
Did I hate it? No. In fact, I found myself quite enjoying it, especially the few times it did click on its own volition (you know, those times when it was allowed to be its own film and not some bit of hackery shot and edited to please the Disney overlords)--and I even found myself teary-eyed on at least three different occasions. I got swept up in the nostalgia of it all, and reliving the thrill of what I originally saw on the big screen almost forty-years-ago; even if the new film feels like its still stuck (special effects and all) in forty-years-ago hooey.
Is it a great movie? God no. Far, far from it. Sicario is a great movie. The Hateful Eight is a great movie. This is fodder for the geek culture and little kids who don't care if something is mediocre as long as it doesn't challenge, disappoint expectations, and has merchandising.
But even The Hateful Eight and Sicario, as good as they are, I'd only watch in the theater once. There was a young couple sitting next to us, whom I had struck up a conversation with, that were on their sixth viewing. I told them that I had seen the original three times at the theater when it came out, and probably would have seen it more times if it weren't so difficult getting to the theater unless my older brothers were willing to drive the 15 miles to take me, because truly none of us had seen anything like that before; you have to remember, this was a time before video and easy accessibility to the epic films of a bygone era. None of us had seen Citizen Cane, either. Or Birth of a Nation. Though we had seen, ad nauseam, the Wizard of Oz on television so many times it hurt...and I wonder now if that hadn't affected our generation's sensibilities toward loving safe, mindless spectacles rife with fantastical bullshit; and the desire to see such stuff over and over.
So, after explaining why I had seen the original so many (or, comparatively, so few) times in the theater, I asked them why they have seen this one so many times, and were seeing it again; what has drawn them in, and captivated their imagination so much? Their answer, it's something to do (apparently because spending time together reading, cooking, or fucking are out of the question). This, of course, made me want to probe a little further. Push some button, so to speak. So I asked them what they loved about the movie. The answer, it's so cool and all their friend's told them how good it was and that they loved it too. What about the story? Why, the story was amazing! Having not seen it yet, what's it about? It's Star Wars! and all the stuff Star Wars is about. So Lucas did a good job with this one, right? Yup, he's awesome.
If nothing else, at least The Force was strong with these two.
van HellSing on 12/1/2016 at 21:49
Soooo... anyone subscribing to the Snoke is Darth Plagueis theory?
1. Snoke's theme is a reworking of the music in Ep. III where Palpatine tells the story of Plagueis to Anakin
2. Plagueis was called "the Wise", Ren says "The Supreme Leader is wise!"
3. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fMx670jOnw) 38 minutes into the Comic Con panel, someone asks about Plagueis. Daisy Ridley starts off with "Isn't that s..." and then gets cut off, with the other guests awkwardly defusing the question
Now, I kow Abrams said Snoke is NOT Plagueis, but he also lied about Khan, didn't he? Not to mention all the lies about LOST throughout the years :P
So, anyone?
Morte on 13/1/2016 at 18:49
I can't say that I care? It'd have no bearing on the story or characters, which is what I watch these kinds of movies for. It'd just be obsessively connecting minutia.
nicked on 13/1/2016 at 20:06
Why did they call him Snoke? Sounds like it should be a slang term for marijuana.
Fingernail on 13/1/2016 at 20:17
Agreeing with those that found it entertaining, exciting even, but disappointingly unambitious story-wise. Understandable, as has been said, in order to restore faith and set up the new trilogy. But still. Better than a slap in the face. Enjoyed some genuinely funny bits of Boyega and Ridley, even if they and everyone else was trying rather too hard in the first 30 minutes or so.
Surely she's Luke's daughter???
Jason Moyer on 14/1/2016 at 03:36
Quote Posted by Morte
I can't say that I care? It'd have no bearing on the story or characters, which is what I watch these kinds of movies for. It'd just be obsessively connecting minutia.
The way people get obsessive about the small details in Star Wars has never made any sense to me. Knowing what every switch on the Enterprise does is fine, it's science fiction, but Star Wars is about character drama in a believable space fantasy setting.
I think something people aren't getting with the Force Awakens by the way, is that the "pew pew X-wings blow up teh Defstar" narrative is more of a setting than a real story arc; the real story is about an orphan and a defector learning about themselves and each other and a world of heroes/legends while a father and son try to reconcile their relationship with each other. It's about characters and their relationships and their personal growth. The other shit is just there to make it feel like a Star Wars movie.
WingedKagouti on 14/1/2016 at 22:23
Watched it for the first time today.
Kylo Ren was menacing up until he first removed the helmet. After that point I could not stop thinking of him as some whiny angsty emo teen and almost all of the power and danger of his presence evaporated. Also, his acting made the prequels look amazing.
Other than that, a decent watch. And Rey is definitely set up as if she is Luke's daughter.
Tony_Tarantula on 6/2/2016 at 16:55
Saw it over the break with extended family.
It's shit.
Don't get me wrong, there's great things about it....like the action choreography, the set work, the art design, the directing. It's just everything else (the plot, the characters, the dialogue) that's shit and I think a lot of it is because they're trying to appeal to an extremely juvenile, obsessive fan base so best to play it safe.
Where to start. Rey is probably the least interesting, most overpowered hero/heroine in the series.....about tied with Anakin Skywalker in Phantom Menance for sheer "broken suspension of disbelief" cringe factor. Hell she's even more bulletproof than the Doctor which is quite a feat.
We had the laziest plot device ever (the MacGuffin in a droid) which turns out to be completely irrelevant anyway because the rebels had both the big piece of the map and someone who had seen the small one, while the small piece would have been useless to the remnant without the big piece.
We had more "dancing monkey" racism from Finn being shown as incompetent and bumbling next to the brilliant white savior, combined with extremely shitty dialogue and relationships.
The real problem that I realized however? EVERY movie for the past few years has been like this, as well as the overwhelming majority of videogames. I'm coming to the conclusion that Hollywood and media is full of people who are deeply,deeply damaged because it's been a long time since I've seen any movies with characters who act and talk like actual human beings, or have anything that the audience can empthasize with. That human connection is completely gone.
If I had to sum it up it's that sociopaths lack some aspect of their humanity, ergo any "art" they produce will be similarly lacking in humanity. It's not a coincidence that the only game to show genuinely interesting, emotionally complicated characters recently was the Witcher 3.....which was produced by a studio from a country with a very traditional, masculine culture.
Thirith on 6/2/2016 at 17:21
Oh Tony, we missed you and your subtle satire.
Sulphur on 6/2/2016 at 17:41
To translate what Thirith said into BB8: beep boop boop beep brrrp burble coo beep beep**
**My droidese is a bit rusty, so if this accidentally parses to something that implies you should go boil your head, this may in fact be completely okay.
