397: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

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[00:01:00] 105.

[00:01:02] Let's get to Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens.

[00:01:07] And now, first off, I'm going to be doing the whole trilogy,

[00:01:10] the sequel trilogy, and then also the standalone films, Rogue One and Solo.

[00:01:17] And if you're listening to this,

[00:01:19] I've already made this a compilation bonus episode on our bonus show page,

[00:01:23] which is filmbuds.bangcamp.com.

[00:01:26] And so if you want to hear an uninterrupted version of all five reviews,

[00:01:31] you can check it out there.

[00:01:33] And All Fun's also going to help support the show, so that's nice.

[00:01:36] So Star Wars Episode VII came out in 2015, directed by J.J.

[00:01:41] Abrams, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domino Gleason,

[00:01:48] Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, a few others,

[00:01:52] or many others, really.

[00:01:53] And the synopsis is, as a new threat to the galaxy rises,

[00:01:57] Rey, a desert scavenger, and Finn, a next stormtrooper,

[00:02:01] must join Han Solo and Chewbacca to search for the one hope of restoring peace.

[00:02:07] So another note real quick, sorry.

[00:02:10] I am going to be going back and doing the originals and the prequel trilogy,

[00:02:15] but I figured because of this kind of shorter format,

[00:02:19] and it's just me, I feel like there's not a whole lot new to say about

[00:02:23] especially the originals right now in this format.

[00:02:25] I will eventually, but I felt like if I had started with that,

[00:02:28] I would basically just be saying, oh, the opening crawl is great.

[00:02:32] Yoda's cool. How did they manage to make those effects?

[00:02:35] You know, I feel like I would just be retreading the same thing over and over and over again.

[00:02:38] And I figured these movies, while yes, they've been talked about a lot,

[00:02:42] at least they're a little less saturated with conversation and talk.

[00:02:46] So hopefully that makes sense.

[00:02:47] I am starting with the sequels, but figured it would be okay.

[00:02:51] So I remember, of course, like many, when this one came out,

[00:02:56] it was Star Wars coming back after the disappointment,

[00:03:01] at least at the time of the prequels, had been, I think, about a decade.

[00:03:05] And there was huge hype, you know, everyone was pre-ordering tickets

[00:03:10] and it was almost like an Avengers movie or something like that.

[00:03:13] And massive, massive craze.

[00:03:16] At the time, I liked Star Wars.

[00:03:18] I wasn't a huge Star Wars head at that point in time,

[00:03:21] but I am, for the most part now, I really love Star Wars.

[00:03:25] And didn't really know what to expect.

[00:03:27] I think I'd seen all of them beforehand, before seeing Force Awakens,

[00:03:31] but went in fairly blind. Was very excited though.

[00:03:34] And I've seen it a handful of times,

[00:03:37] I'd say at least five or six probably over the years.

[00:03:40] And I think I like it about the same each time.

[00:03:43] I liked it a little bit more when I first saw it,

[00:03:46] mainly I think because of the hype and seeing it with a huge crowd.

[00:03:49] Everyone loved Star Wars, so it was like, this is the coolest thing ever.

[00:03:53] And on rewatch, it's still very solid, I think.

[00:03:56] Some people really trash on these movies, I don't really get why.

[00:04:00] I know that they do follow certain similar formulas to the original trilogy

[00:04:05] and or even in the prequels, but I think for what they are,

[00:04:09] at least some of them, we'll get to that in a little bit.

[00:04:12] This one especially, I think is a great comeback

[00:04:15] where they were able to incorporate new elements

[00:04:19] and old elements and have it all work fairly well.

[00:04:23] I think all the new cast members,

[00:04:25] that's probably my favorite part of the movie.

[00:04:27] I think Daisy Ridley is awesome, John Boyega, Adam Driver,

[00:04:31] like I think the whole new cast to Star Wars is great aside from Donald Gleeson.

[00:04:37] I do not like his performance in any of these

[00:04:39] and I think he's probably the weakest part of the whole trilogy.

[00:04:43] Sorry, that's maybe a little mean, but it's true.

[00:04:46] And talking about even just like getting into the very beginning of the movie,

[00:04:50] that opening sequence with that firefight and you meet Kylo Ren.

[00:04:55] I like Kylo Ren, some people really hate him, say he's whiny and all that.

[00:04:59] I think both the writing, the performance,

[00:05:02] and the design of the character is awesome.

[00:05:05] I understand that if you call him whiny,

[00:05:07] he is kind of meant to be I think because he's new,

[00:05:10] he's a young immature leader and evil leader as well.

[00:05:15] And so I think for me that makes sense.

[00:05:18] I'm not really upset about that,

[00:05:20] but I think he still has a great presence and I like his storyline

[00:05:23] and they do even make a point in that first scene of making fun of the voice with Oscar Isaac,

[00:05:28] you know, like they can't understand him, which I like that.

[00:05:31] You don't need to overdo it,

[00:05:33] but I think that's a good little point because it is a little over the top.

[00:05:37] But the origin of Rey, I love her introduction

[00:05:42] and she's the scavenger.

[00:05:43] I like the design, like the costume design,

[00:05:44] especially for her is awesome across the board.

[00:05:47] The rising muffin, that's a little thing where she's eating.

[00:05:50] I love that. I think BB-8 is a great character.

[00:05:53] I know that's one that like I'm getting a little tired of every Star Wars movie

[00:05:58] or show has to have some sort of robotic character.

[00:06:02] I don't always need that but I think in this it was fresh enough to where it really worked.

[00:06:06] I think the design and the use of that character really works for me.

[00:06:09] So love BB-8 and her relationship with him.

[00:06:12] John Williams's score, top-notch as always.

[00:06:16] And I think JJ Abrams has a great eye.

[00:06:18] I don't think he's an amazing director.

[00:06:19] I think he's someone who if you need something to be accessible,

[00:06:24] fairly commercial and inoffensive,

[00:06:26] he's a good one to pick. But he is someone who like if you need to incorporate old elements,

[00:06:32] new elements and make something, I guess a reboot is just the best term for it.

[00:06:37] He's a good guy to do it.

[00:06:38] But at the same time, he often doesn't really have the ability to elevate it a lot of the time in other ways.

[00:06:46] But I think this movie, it's well-directed. It looks good.

[00:06:49] The effects, I mean the budget was massive, of course.

[00:06:51] So it looks amazing visually.

[00:06:53] I think the evolving relationship and surprises with Kylo Ren and Rey really work for me.

[00:06:59] The scene in this where he's using the Force on her

[00:07:03] and her performance there is great.

[00:07:05] I think all the action overall is pretty good.

[00:07:09] I think the best sequence is the lightsaber fight between her and Kylo Ren in the snow towards the end.

[00:07:15] I think that scene is awesome.

[00:07:16] And really the best action in the whole trilogy is the lightsaber fights.

[00:07:21] I'm a sucker for good lightsaber fights

[00:07:22] because end of the day, the blaster fights and like the space dog fights and stuff,

[00:07:28] there's always so much you can really do with that.

[00:07:30] But I feel like for some reason, maybe I'm alone here,

[00:07:32] but I feel like lightsaber stuff, you can really change up in the look and the design and the choreography.

[00:07:38] So that's a fantastic sequence.

[00:07:41] The dream sequence with Rey as a kid,

[00:07:45] I think that's very effective.

[00:07:46] I love scary, weird, mysterious dream sequences in this

[00:07:50] and they have a few of those throughout this whole trilogy.

[00:07:52] So I think there's a good conceptual confidence

[00:07:56] and understanding and creation to these,

[00:07:58] or at least especially to the first one.

[00:08:00] But getting to some smaller issues,

[00:08:03] I think on rewatch, even the second time I saw it,

[00:08:07] it does sort of drag at points because it is very familiar to A New Hope,

[00:08:12] which intentionally so,

[00:08:13] but I think it is a little long.

[00:08:15] It's only like two plus hours a little bit and some change,

[00:08:19] but I still think that there are points that drag

[00:08:21] and if you know everything,

[00:08:23] there's not as much of the wow factor like,

[00:08:26] oh, this is Star Wars again.

[00:08:27] It's now we've had five movies, tons of shows.

[00:08:30] So going back and rewatching it,

[00:08:31] it's just like every other Star Wars movie in that way.

[00:08:34] So the freshness is gone

[00:08:37] and I think the incorporation of people like Harrison Ford,

[00:08:42] Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill,

[00:08:43] I think all that is effective and the spoilers here,

[00:08:48] it's old so I can do it.

[00:08:49] The death of Han Solo, some people didn't like that.

[00:08:52] I didn't really mind it.

[00:08:53] I think it's sort of meant to be sudden, you know,

[00:08:56] and then he's just gone because Kylo Ren just throw him away basically.

[00:08:59] So I think that sequence between him and Kylo

[00:09:03] and those reveals are great.

[00:09:06] So there are a lot of great things that I still really like about it

[00:09:09] and I can sort of watch this one easily

[00:09:12] because I'm like, all right, let's just get reintroduced to Star Wars.

[00:09:15] I know these characters.

[00:09:17] It's not too complicated.

[00:09:19] It's got a lot of action.

[00:09:21] It's got some emotional beats that hit for me.

[00:09:25] So I don't think it's in my top and it's hard to rank them.

[00:09:28] I don't think it's in my top five, maybe close to being in top five,

[00:09:31] but it is the second best of the three in my opinion.

[00:09:35] And if you are someone who and let me know in the comments

[00:09:38] if you're listening to this on YouTube

[00:09:40] or whoever else would love to hear your thoughts good or bad.

[00:09:43] If you're someone who doesn't like it because it's too,

[00:09:45] I guess unoriginal, I can understand that to a degree

[00:09:48] but I feel like end of the day, it's all part of the same saga.

[00:09:52] So it makes sense at least in some ways to repeat certain beats again.

[00:09:56] I think that there are points where they do that too much to where I'm like,

[00:09:59] all right, you could do other things

[00:10:01] but I think that's why it's good.

[00:10:03] We have movies such as Rogue One, Solo and some of the other shows.

[00:10:08] So holds up fairly well, not an amazing movie,

[00:10:12] not as great as when I first saw it,

[00:10:13] but still a very enjoyable space opera

[00:10:17] and one of the better ones over the last 10 years.

[00:10:21] So that one is a heavy 4 out of 5.

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