What I thought of the latest Star Wars Flick

[Troy]

Nowadays I don't a lot of free cash laying around.  But I'm more than willing to make a sacrifice and splurge on something for myself or someone else.  So I decided to buy tickets for myself, and my daugthers, to checkout the latest installment of the Star Wars saga on IMAX 3D.  

I never would have imaged that going to the movies would be considered splurging, but at $72 for three tickets I consider it splurging. The crazy thing is that finding tickets was not easy.  I brought them online and our favorite Imax theater was sold out until after Christmas!  So I had to drive way out of my way just to see the film.

Given the box office (more than a 1/4 of a billion dollars when I last checked), the overwhelmingly favorable critical reviews, the 60 Minutes coverage, I figured the movie had to be decent.

Now I'm old enough to manage my expectations when it comes to over-hyped movies.  Despite that I was looking forward to really enjoying the film.  

I would give the film a 2 on a scale of 5 (★★☆☆☆).  It gets a 2 because of the production and effects, but overall it was a relatively weak movie.  The 2 hour plus movie felt long.  I was waiting for something exciting to happen.  Spaceships flying around shooting at each other does it do it for me.  I've seen that movie a bazillion times.  I needed something more.  I needed some character development.  An interesting plot would have definitely helped too.  Even seeing the aging Luke Sky Walker and Princess Leia was interesting, but Luke did not saying anything and I can see what The actress playing Leia is not a household.

I'm not even going to describe the film, it is not worth the energy.  I can't recommend spending $24 bucks to see this film in the theater, but it would probably be less enjoyable on without the IMAX and 3D.  But if I could get my money back and wait for it to be available for viewing at home I would.

I know this opinion goes counter to everything else that you might read about this film, which is the main reason I felt compelled to express it.  I really like a bunch of guys got into a room a decided how they were going to make a billion dollars on a movie.

I feel manipulated and ripped off seeing this movie... and I'm a BIG fan of science fiction.  

[CDBurns]

I loved the movie. I guess my attachment to the series is one of the main reasons. It just felt good seeing the old players back on the stage and the introduction of new characters. Was the plot thin? Yes, but I saw this as a way to get more people interested in what was to come. I thought it was entertaining and I thought time zipped by. I didn't even realize we had been at the theater for over two hours when it ended. For our family the cost was about 90.00 with popcorn, but just to have Star Wars back again was worth it to me. I'm usually critical of movies, but this wasn't a film that I had any interest in criticizing. I only wanted to escape to my childhood for a while. My wife enjoyed it, my son and his friend enjoyed it, but my daughter was with you... she barely looked at the screen, lol.

[Troy]

Oh with the Popcorn I'm sure we hit $90 too, but my oldest brought the popcorn so I don'y know what she spent but I'm sure it was close to 2 bucks.

Man I wanted to escape too and was open to shutting of my brain to enjoy a bit of escapist entertainment, but it ust did not work for me.  It seemed like the film was created for children, not adults.   The new characters are uninteresting to me and I felt zero nostalgia seeing Luke Sky Walker again.  

I stark contrast I thoroughly enjoyed the Star Trek reboot film.  Maybe because the characters were more familiar, maybe because the story line and execution was superior, maybe the actors were better. 

Which JJ Abrams film did you like more, the last Star Trek or the last Star Wars?

The film I'm excited about is the Star Trek film.

 

[CDBurns]

I've only seen the first Star Wars and bits and pieces of the Khan Star Wars. They were both handle in a better way, but I think that's because the characters where the same. It was a reboot vs an addition to the series like this Star Wars. I do agree that it was a bit low on the intelligence quota, but to be honest the kids are the ones who have maintained the storyline by watching the Clone Wars cartoons. I think the film had to be simple because it could have become confusing had they taken the story in a new direction without establishing the new players.

[Troy]

I watched the third Star Wars recently I think it was Return of the the Sith, but is was the film that preceded this film in the sequence that the event occurred in the star wars universe (as opposed to the order the films were released).  It had been so long since I watched this film it was like the first time seeing it.  

In any case, the film was essential the same formula as the most recently released film, so from that perspective I see that the film was quite good.  It just turns out I'm not a big fan of this particular saga.  

I also watched the latest installment of the Terminator films recently.  I actually liked the terminator more than I liked the last Star Wars and i would not rave over the last terminator film.

I think Star Trek pretty much owns the sci-fi action genre.  Star Trek will never gross as much as Star Wars, but Star Wars is designed to have broader appeal.  Do

Do you think the pandering to white women that Marlon talks about regarding writers would be too much of a stretch to apply here, given the white female heroine?

[CDBurns]

Nah, it's not a stretch at all. Think about the last few blockbusters and they all have had a white female heroine. Especially those created from books.

Hunger Games

Insurgent

Harry Potter (Hermione)

Twilight

and the list goes on when it comes to film and white heroines. Interestingly enough, Star Trek doesn't even have a prominent White female actress. Uhuru is the only woman of prominence in the show. Hell, even in the 60s white women were just THOTs and Jump offs for Captain Kirk, so you're right. Star Trek will never earn as much, lol.

[harry brown]

 FUTURISTIC    MOVIES, EVERYONE,  DIFFERENT  RACES  GETTING ALONG,IS  FINE/ESCAPING  REALITY/  I LIKE  THE  MINIONS MOVIE..TROY    CRITICIZED FOR  ME NOT POSTING///LIKE  SCIFI  AND FANTASY  MOVIES.

[Troy]

@harry brown  it was not a critique, just an observation.  I do like to see you react to posts though.

Chris now that you lay it out like that it almost looks like it is obvious.  None of those films interested me, which may be why I did not consider those film when contemplating Star Wars appealing to white females.  

More striking however is that Star Trek bucks the trend by not highlighting a white woman, but the TV series had powerful white women including Seven-of-Nine and Captain Janeway.  They could have added nurse Chapel to the reboot.

Once thing Star Trek left out of the rebooted films, that was present in the series, were the moral dilemmas they addressed. The films have none of that--they are just straight up action.  Unless they get deeper, I'll probably bore of this film series too.

[CDBurns]

You know I forgot about Janeway... and Deanna Troy, but she was kind of eye candy as well... Star Trek is the United Nations of the future though. I mean we had a Black Captain and Jordy, Wharf was Black (I didn't see a Klingon) and while the White guy was the savior, with Star Trek the diverse group always held more logic and morality. I still haven't gotten into the reboot since I just don't get to the movies that often, but I loved the Harry Potter series. I didn't read the books for the others so I was not as engaged in the other white woman as hero films. You have to admire the tenacity to make sure women look empowered as we enter the year of Hillary ;-)

 

[Troy]

Yeah i is the year of the white woman  Though they are really struggling getting Cosby thrown into jail 

The prospect of Hillary in the whitehouse still irks me a bit. what kind of country can we have father/son and husband/wife combination become president.

The clinton did so much damage the first time around I don't know if I can take another 8 years of clintons.  And before anyone asks think; NAFTA, Repeal of Glass Steagall, Mandatory minimum sentencing laws, sex scandals, etc...

[CDBurns]

And the laws that took away education in prisons... as well as the increase in for profit prisons during the Clinton era.

[Cynique]

In the lifetimes of you 2, has there ever been a president who you liked and admired???  Are you still idealistic enough to believe that the POTUS will be a perfect leader who everybody loves and is satisfied with.  All you can ask for is that a president does more good than harm.  Bill Clinton balanced the budget, introduced family leave and kept the country out of war.  Women's issues will be among Hillary's priorities. That's what I will hitch my wagon to because  i want to participate in history by voting for a women for president even if I don't particularly like her.   Bernie will never be able to pull off his radical reforms.  The Republicans aren't even worth mentioning. I don't think Hillary at her worst is as bad as any of these clowns.  Is there someone not running  who you think should run?                                                                             

I said in another post that the young heroines of such futuristic movies as Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, all based on best selling series and embraced by the Millennials, were a trend that black authors should buy into and begin creating books of this genre with black female protagonists. 

[CDBurns]

I agree that Black writers need to create these heroines, but Tyler Perry or whoever the director of importance for Blacks is right now, should do the Parable series which all of these books seem to steal from. Octavia Butler's book has religious undertones, but they would be perfect for this type of adaptation. As far as the POTUS I like President Obama and I respect all POTUS because I'm ex military and I love this country, I just complain a little bit.

 

[Troy]

I liked Jimmy Carter.  He was probably the most righteous person to hold the office.

Hillary is probably the most qualified person to hold the office out of the motley cast of characters on both sides.  But keep in mind this is the same process that has a Donald Trump a leading candidate going in the Iowa Caucuses...

I'm still voting for Bernie.

 

[CDBurns]

Me too. I feel the Bern... damn I can't believe I just said that, smh.