Far, far away...

[kayshapero]

OK, yesterday Nicolai and I finally went out to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens (yes, it can still be found in theaters, locally), in the same theater I saw the latest Jurassic Park movie (why don't they just give up, declare the velociraptors sapient and write stories about THEM?)

Oh, right, Star Wars.  Short form: fun, worth seeing.  Long form, I am not going to worry about spoilers so just in case someone out there is even slower on these things than I am, but still gives a hoot, the rest of this article goes behind a LJ cut.

This is NOT a complaint, but I agree with the folks who say it looks like a remake or anyway reimagining of the original New Hope.  It's still fun.  Lots of wild action and stuff and most enjoyable to watch if you don't think too much about it, much like the whole series. All that said,  I still want to know if a) there is a reason nuclear fission bombs don't happen (maybe this is a different universe, where they don't work?  The Force prevents it or something?) and b) even if this is so, did nobody ever think of the good old HE bunker buster?  Watching them splash beams?  projectiles? meant for Xwing sized intership combat across the hardened site is just painful.  Oh, and sorry, guys, I know it's now a (presumably mobile) planet, hooks up to a star (ok, fusion probably works), slurps it up and then fires it across hyperspace but it's STILL just a bigger Death Star.  I think maybe this model is NOT a very good one.  The Good Guys have figured it out...

As for the Bad Guys, I have trouble seeing Kylo Ren as a dark lord in training - yes, he manages to kill a lot of people he shouldn't, but he comes across more clueless wannabe than evil menace.  Even his alias is not a tenth as scary as Darth Vader's was. That's really not his path, hope they find something better for him to do.  (I guess force ghosts don't last indefinitely, fun as it would have been to have Anakin turn up during his Great Angst scene and explain a few things to him...)  Meanwhile, there's always the real Big Bad, the Giant Gollum Hologram...  Who, apparently, is played/motion captured by Andy Serkis!  OK, from now on Supreme Leader Snoke is "The Great Gollum". :)

Fortunately I DO like our heroes,  Rey and Finn, and the rest of the good guys we run into (and LOVE the new cantina scene).  Likewise it was nice to see old friends like Han, Chewie, Leia etc. And all in all, as I said, it was fun.  Glad I finally got to go see it.

Comments

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

Well, for one thing, Anakin in his Darth Vader period NEVER sulked or threw a tantrum! Remember that scene where two Stormtroopers outside hear his latest tantrum and tiptoe away? Clearly they've seen this before and would rather be somewhere else! And the scene where his Dad tells him to take off the damned mask: "You don't need it!" . As you say, a wannabe. He never finished his Jedi training and at the end of the film you learn he hasn't even finished his - what shall we call it? - Dark Lord training? Despite that, he has the nerve to offer to train Rey! Darth Vader had some gravitas. His men respected him and in the first movie, at least, one of his men actually asked him whether he thought something was a good idea and he explained why it was - can you imagine his weaselly little grandson doing that? You never know, maybe Force-Anakin will turn up some time in the next two movies and offer to train him properly, after telling him he's an idiot.

[kayshapero]

I wonder how many other people had the same reaction when he took off his mask - what, the new DV is a nice Jewish boy? Just Not Scary!

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

Actually, I thought he looked more like a young Severus Snape, myself. ;-) Complete with black robes.

[kjn]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with this. It's a return to form, and the new set of heroes are just as good as the old ones. But it sticks too closely with the old story (not just the tone), and Kylo Ren is just wimpy compared to Darth Vader.

Granted, Darth Vader is one of the great movie villains of all time, but still…

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's any contest here. I suspect there wasn't meant to be. He may just regret his behaviour well before the trilogy is over and then we'll see who's the villain. But he will have a hard time explaining to his mother why he killed Dad.

[kayshapero]

Yeah, that would be a tough one...

[kjn]

I'm not sure how the new movie series will be able to build up a decent story arc here, given such a setup (or even in general).

Well, if nothing else it might become an interesting failure, compared to the thoroughly uninteresting one that is episode 1-3.

[kayshapero]

Well, whatever happens the way this one is raking in the cash there will BE another episode. I'm disappointed though - after Return of the Jedi, I was HOPING to see the political weirdness of the setting up of government now that Palpatine was off the map, now all we get is "years later it fell apart. again."