"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

I think was technically a teaser trailer (da faq that means) so we're going to get a "full" trailer later where we'll probably get the rest of the team or at least more characters.

 

Fun trailer, looks very cool. It'll be interesting to see how many Bothans die to bring us this information.

 

That was Death Star 2.0

 

Like the trailer. Fun to see some of the original costumes, props, ships, etc.

I wonder if the girl is the true lead or part of an ensemble. Daisy Ridley is a very strong female lead. She's tough to top, and I would imagine there will be comparisons.

Seems like it calls for an ensemble.

 

They're stealing the plans to the first Death Star.

 

That's the point. The Bothans died to steal the plans in Jedi not A New Hope

 

With characters who've never been seen (or mentioned) before, this gives the filmmakers a lot dramatic scope. At best, you have the tension of "no one is unkillable." At worst, you have the lead and a whole bunch of red shirts.

Still, with this one and the last one, I think the new series of Star Wars films wins the "Best Teaser Trailers" Award for all time.

 

My son and I were watching a YouTube clip with all seven prior trailers last night. The one for the original "Star Wars," aka, "A New Hope" was god-awful. He loves "Star Wars" and, in the course of it, blurted, "This is boring!" So obviously today's trailers work on a visceral level, even with unsophisticated little kids.

 

D'oh! *slaps forehead

 

Just watched TFA for the second time (finally) and had a couple of thoughts on stuff I may not have noticed/mentioned after the first viewing:
- Driver was better than I remembered as Ren. I was thrown on the first viewing by him removing his helmet. It smacked of the Spider-Man syndrome, where the actor needs to remove the mask so he can "emote." But on second viewing, the mask removal worked better and Driver hit the right notes.
- Solo's death was better from a visual perspective than I remembered. I enjoyed how Ren was bathed in light as he drew Solo in (thanks to the explosion caused by Rey and Finn) with his conflicted emotions but, as the Starkiller neared full charge, it swallowed the light and Ren fell into darkness moments before he killed Solo. It was a nicely done visual cue to Ren's state of mind.
- I want more development of Poe. He was overshadowed because of the inclusion of the old guard, but I'm hoping we'll get more of him in VIII.
- Just realized how disappointing it was that we did not get an onscreen reunion of Han and Luke. Feels a little empty that we don't get to see Han calling him "kid."

I said upon first viewing that I really enjoyed it, and that sentiment held up upon second viewing. The derivative nature of the film notwithstanding, I thought they did a good job hitting the emotional notes and chemistry in the cast and that will drive the story. If I were ranking the films right now, I'd probably go VI (I know I'm in the minority on this one), V, IV, VII, I, II.
- That ranking also gets me thinking, How in the hell is Episode I so reviled, when it is so much better than the Galactic C-Span of Episode II? Episode I's greatest downfalls are Jar Jar and the (seemingly) hour-long pod race. The pod race was entertaining, but needed to be cut in half. Darth Maul is still the best Star Wars villain this side of Vader (I'm still pissed they killed Maul and brought in Darth Tyranus). Jake Lloyd was fine as a young Anakin. The scene with Shmi letting him go was excellent (Lloyd wasn't great, but Shmi was).

Episode II was just sooo boring. They were smart enough to write Jar Jar out of the script, basically, but holy crap they spent so much time with those damn pods coming out of the wall of the Galactic Senate so various creatures could yammer on and on. The highlight was Anakin slaughtering the sand people who killed Shmi. It was the second-best scene involving Hayden Christensen in the trilogy (the best being his anger toward Padme in Episode III). I'm convinced they screen tested Christensen for scenes involving anger and didn't bother checking on his chemistry with Portman or his ability to be romantic. Grievous was shoehorned into the movie so badly, he barely registers as a villain. The gladiator scene was a stupid excuse to rip Padme's clothing off. Yoda's lightsaber skills were fun to see, but it didn't save the film, IMHO.

Anyway, VII was really enjoyable and I think VIII will be even better.

PS - Yes, I've probably had a drink or two too many before posting. Sue me.

 

So it's basically Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

 

• See, I think that Jake Lloyd was far from "fine" as young Anakin. In fact, it was a historically bad acting performance, with historically bad writing. Horrible combination when it's a young kid.
• You can't brush off Jar Jar as if it's just one minor flaw on a short list of flaws. The character was so fucking ill-conceived that the film basically doesn't have a chance.