I wrote my first review long ago after the movie had come out, I was excited and ready to praise it. This was unfair and I should be more objective looking at this movie.
From a technical standpoint it is a solid film, great visual effects using practical and CGI only when needed keep the movie immersive. The cinematography works to display the feeling and emotions. A lack of Lens Flare from JJ also helped to keep me from going blind.
From a story standpoint the movie is... okay. It is a solid overarching story that has issues here and there, some quite noticeable such as Starkiller Base and how it goes down. The movie introduces us to its characters and easily makes them likeable, I do enjoy them even the more base-breaking characters but there is one problem. They are not properly given enough context and history, making some choices seem rather out of left field. This comes to my biggest issue with the Force Awakens, the writing and nostalgia.
The movie's greatest strength is also it's biggest flaw, it's return to nostalgia and it's promise of making Star Wars good fun of a grand galactic adventure. It does this by giving us a evil empire with a planet destroying weapon that is taken out by a group of X-Wing Fighters striking a vital point while a force user from a desert planet is faced with the dark helmeted dragon of said evil empire.
I get that the crew wanted to remind people of why we loved Star Wars in the first place, but I feel it could have been done without Starkiller Base, which is underwhelming, can destroy 3 planets from another solar system faster than the speed of light and gets taken out by 8 X-Wing fighters.
It doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the film, it just makes it a bit harder to view it as a truly outstanding entry. The movie is still above average and I look forward to Episode 8.
In total numbering?
7/10 - Could have stuck out more.
A Return to the Force Awakens: Second Opinions
I wrote my first review long ago after the movie had come out, I was excited and ready to praise it. This was unfair and I should be more objective looking at this movie.
From a technical standpoint it is a solid film, great visual effects using practical and CGI only when needed keep the movie immersive. The cinematography works to display the feeling and emotions. A lack of Lens Flare from JJ also helped to keep me from going blind.
From a story standpoint the movie is... okay. It is a solid overarching story that has issues here and there, some quite noticeable such as Starkiller Base and how it goes down. The movie introduces us to its characters and easily makes them likeable, I do enjoy them even the more base-breaking characters but there is one problem. They are not properly given enough context and history, making some choices seem rather out of left field. This comes to my biggest issue with the Force Awakens, the writing and nostalgia.
The movie's greatest strength is also it's biggest flaw, it's return to nostalgia and it's promise of making Star Wars good fun of a grand galactic adventure. It does this by giving us a evil empire with a planet destroying weapon that is taken out by a group of X-Wing Fighters striking a vital point while a force user from a desert planet is faced with the dark helmeted dragon of said evil empire.
I get that the crew wanted to remind people of why we loved Star Wars in the first place, but I feel it could have been done without Starkiller Base, which is underwhelming, can destroy 3 planets from another solar system faster than the speed of light and gets taken out by 8 X-Wing fighters.
It doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the film, it just makes it a bit harder to view it as a truly outstanding entry. The movie is still above average and I look forward to Episode 8.
In total numbering? 7/10 - Could have stuck out more.