Star Wars: The Hype Awakens
First of all, I won’t be able to see the new Star Wars movie until the home video releases are out sometime next year, simply because going to the cinema to see the only showing of the original English version in our region would be much too expensive – but I’m in no rush and I can wait. Don’t get me wrong – I really hope that the movie turned out well, but I’m still skeptical about the whole hype. Now that the first reviews of The Force Awakens are out, I’m beginning to suspect that the press might be a little bit too enthusiastic and I fear that the same has happened as with the new Star Trek movies – everybody loved them, but I found them absolutely terrible. And both times J.J. Abrams are involved plus the addition of Disney in the mix make me wary, so pardon the pun when I say I have a bad feeling about this…!
The movie is welcome to prove otherwise in a couple of months when it comes out on DVD… until then I’m just not going to say much about it. You don’t need to worry about spoilering the plot to me, though – I actually would read the film script if I could get my hands on it, but sadly the days of screenplays available freely on the web are long over. Meanwhile, what I’m much more looking forward to is the DVD release of The Martian early next year – and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to write a final review of the year for DVDLog, but if it happens it will probably something from the archive, maybe one more round of Futurama. Which I actually prefer a lot over any incarnation of Star Wars!
If it is of any comfort to you: I saw it a second time a couple of days ago and it was an even better experience. Loved it the first time with a stupid grin on my face from beginning to end and loved it again a second time. You absolutely cannot compare it to the Trek reboots. First of all these are reboots while this is a true sequel. Second, TFA does not sacrifice the heart and soul of its franchise. While I did like the first new ST film I was not enthusiastic about it and I can see how one could have one’s problems with it. Although I feel that Abrams didn’t have much of a choice other than to do a reboot as opposed to making sequels. But I digress. :-)
Everyone is whining about the deja vu plot of TFA, but there is so much there! And it is really beautiful to behold. Especially the second time (2D showing) I felt that I needed a poster of every other scene up on a wall near me. :-) Many (including George Lucas) call it a retro Star Wars. Some affectionately, some (like Lucas) with criticism. And yes, it is difficult to see what this film would (or could) be without the original trilogy. Probably not that much. But even put aside anything else, it remains an interesting experiment: Can you recreate a retro experience and transport it to our time with updated filming technology? And there it succeeds brilliantly in my opinion.
The only really disappointment for me was the score which almost entirely feeds on Rey’s Theme. Fortunately that one’s beautiful and on the same level as Leia’s Theme or other classic SW pieces. But it’s just not enough for two hours. A real shame.
You sat through The Phantom Menace and found it at least watchable. If you don’t at the very least “like” TFA then I don’t know what. :-) It really doesn’t compare to the mess that it the prequel trilogy in any way.
Thanks for the assessment, Jens – of course I’ll watch it when it comes out on dvd, but until then I reserve my own judgement. At the moment, I look more forward to The Martian, to be honest!