Blue Milk Special

First off, Leanne and I saw Star Wars The Force Awakens last night at the Cinema Arts Theater in Fairfax, Virginia. It’s a great old fashioned theater with a cozy communal feel and added a sort of old-timey atmosphere to the popcorn spectacle. I’m not going to write my own review of the film just now, for a multitude of reasons. I’ll give more people time to have their chance to see the film this weekend and probably give you guys some indication of my feelings on Monday’s blog.

For now, I want to share our pal, Michael Stipp’s review. Michael, as many of you may know, is part of the Blue Milk Special team. He handles our German translation over at the amazing Jedipedia.net fan community wiki website.

It is free of major spoilers, but if you want to be super pure going into your screening, wait until you’ve seen the film before reading.

Mostly Spoiler-free review for Episode VII

Disney invited us to a press screening of ”Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” and we gladly accepted. Together with Joshua from our partner site Jedi-Bibliothek I had the chance to see the new movie in the saga before the official box office release on Thursday 17th. This is my review – without spoilers, of course!

First things first: The movie was good. Very good. Probably the blockbuster of the year, but for me it’s a close tie with ”Avengers: Age of Ultron”.

Sometimes movies are seen as “instant classics” – it’s not what I see for this one, though. For such a declaration the expectations are too high, the perspective of a whole new trilogy and several anthology films too wide to rate this movie as a standalone. You will remember ”The Force Awakens”, that’s for sure, because it accomplishes to take the Original Trilogy and bring it into the future, which will most likely be seen positive even by the most critical fan of the discarded Expanded Universe. Nonetheless there are some points to be criticized, but more on that later.

””Chewie, we are home!””

Not only Han and Chewie are home, but also the fans will find themselves immersed again in the galaxy far, far away. The movie starts with the iconic opening crawl, which is proudly led by the title ”Episode VII”. But this is also the point where the first surprises take place – I was certainly surprised by the things I got to read there. And while the first images promptly evoke the proper ”Star Wars” feeling, the viewer first gets to know the new heroes Poe Dameron, BB-8, Finn, and Rey as well as the antagonists Kylo Ren and General Hux. They get plenty of time to introduce their characters on screen. It is the scene where Han and Chewie set foot on the Falcon again known from the trailers which finally introduces characters from the Original Trilogy into the movie, but slowly and with the utmost care. Those are by no means and at no point alone in the center of the action, giving the “newcomers” in the cast enough room to develop on their own.

In general the plot moves in a slow but steady pace to unfold. At several points we found ourselves so wrapped up in the great sets and the exciting story that we lost track of time. Interestingly, the duration of about 2 hours and 15 minutes felt like the exact right length for the movie – a feeling not very common among many films nowadays, because at the end it often seems the plot would have needed more time to unfold. Thus the plot twists in ”Episode VII” are presented in a surprisingly plain and undramatic fashion. The viewer is confronted with those in a way which makes them feel as normal as they are for the acting characters – a very welcome change for once.

Because of this way of handling the characters, the big time leap and the new state of the galaxy we often had the impression that the material would have also worked without the ”Star Wars” branding. Thus the viewer doesn’t need any or just very little knowledge to enjoy the movie, making it easily accessible for newcomers and veterans alike. At the same time we can recommend the movie to all ages (in accordance with the PEGI rating), because the action is presented accordingly to the age of the actors and is thus more mature and not from a more child-like point of view as in ”The Phantom Menace”. Nonetheless there are many light and funny moments beside the serious and dramatic ones, which at no time feel forced or unnatural. For me this shines in an especially positive way when a character says exactly the same as I’m thinking in a situation – which Poe Dameron does quite perfectly. Classic phrases like “I have a bad feeling about this…” just make this impression whole.

Anyhow, Joshua and I agreed that Poe was the most sympathetic and relateable of the new characters. Apart from him we promptly fell for BB-8 and took him into our hearts, because in contrast to R2-D2 and C-3PO back in the day (who also have their wonderful appearances in the movie) he appears more like a droid puppy and shows some surprisingly human reactions. Thumbs up!

Furthermore the sets and props do show that the production was a bit more focused on handiwork than on CGI, which led not only to the classic feeling but also a higher quality and more tangible impression in the scenes. Especially landing sequences of space crafts showed the progression in technology and production, which appeared more dynamic and real than those back in ”Attack of the Clones” and ”Revenge of the Sith” about 10 years ago. The 3D effects didn’t feel annoying at all and brought unknown depth to fight sequences, for example. We especially remember the pointy nose of a Stardestroyer which was directly sticking out of the screen to us. It remains to be seen how this will work in the 2D version.

Finally we have arrived at the point to criticize some things. Many elements are new, not just the actors, but also the plot treads new paths. Nonetheless some sequences evoke the feeling that the story team relied too much on elements of the Original Trilogy and re-used them. My biggest problem with the movie (Warning, possible minor spoiler from the trailers follows!) is the obviously megalomaniac use of Starkiller Base as a gigantic Death Star. I would have preferred them finding another way to try and create a real threat for the Resistance and our new heroes other than a new iteration of the world-destroying superweapon trope. Other films of this genre do accomplish that without much effort. Furthermore, in the fighting scene between Kylo Ren and Finn known from the trailers it is a bit surprising how a mere Stormtrooper is able to stand his ground so effectively with a lightsaber. But I was assured that the tie-in novels will answer this question.

Both Joshua and myself went into the movie without very high expectations and left the theatre genuinely pleased after the credits. Thus, our verdict is: ”’8 out of 10 points”’

”The Force Awakens” is a wonderful start into a new trilogy, but not without flaws. The movie shows that the more than 3 years of production were fruitful and with purpose. The cast is composed out of both known actors and very promising “newcomers”, of whom we definitely want to see more. We are already excited for ”Episode VIII”!

P.S.:

We have to give you at least a little spoiler: Supreme leader Snoke is not Jar Jar Binks. Although…

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