Somebody has to start it. Might as well be me since I just saw it at my city's press screening.
Dude...
Dude...
This is the Star Wars movie I've been waiting for since I was a little kid in 1983. It's not perfect, but it had me choking up in parts, and I'm sure grinning like a doofus in other parts. I felt like a little kid again watching it.
And in case you need reference on my level of fandom, I am an unapologetic hater of all things prequel, and I thought The Force Awakens was bland and forgettable. This movie. This was the Star Wars movie that fans deserved decades ago.
There's still a press embargo on it though, so no, I won't answer your questions in a PM, lol, I'm not allowed to even give a review of it until tomorrow other than to say whether or not I liked it. So there you go.
Okay, now that this movie is actually being seen in some markets and the embargo is done, here we go. Obviously, don't click on this if you haven't seen it. I'm going Spoiler-Lite, but still. If you quote part of it to reply, please spoiler-tag it for others.
I review a fair number of movies. I usually try to stay pretty objective, and review them from the perspective of "What do audiences want to see?" because, personally, I'm, as one of my friends jokes, one of "those pretentious New Yorker writers". I'm a stickler for story, and characterization, and my own personal feelings of movies is often far harsher than the content of my published reviews. But, nobody wants to read somebody nitpicking, lol. They just want to know whether or not to go see a movie.
But this movie made me feel like a little kid again, watching them on my grandfather's Betamax. I was smiling like a doofus and even tearing up at points.
Loved the tone and the world-building, while still staying within the confines of the original trilogy. To me, this was the most authentic Star Wars experience we've had in film/television form since 1983. The planets and characters all felt like Star Wars.
But I also liked that they did a great job evolving the universe a little, too. The original films never quite captured the feel of a galaxy that is slowly being submitted by an Empire that has supplanted a more free Republic. This film got that. The Empire doesn't just feel cartoonishly evil ("Let's go blow up this planet to show them we're serious"). This film might have been helped by being a product of its time. I think modern filmmakers are a bit more in tune to the nature of imperialism. I definitely liked that it didn't go overboard with Nazi-esque iconography and aryan characters like TFA did. TFA's characterization of the First Order was laughably cheap and stupid.
Ensemble cast was good. I thought the characters were a little shallow, but this was a Dirty Dozen type movie. Fully fleshed out characters weren't really needed. All we needed to know was that they had a mission, and a reason to be on that mission. I thought that was properly established. I thought they overdid Yen's blind swordsman bit a little too much (Storm Troopers charging in to get beaten down like extras in a Bruce Lee film) and the Stormtrooper Blaster Special machine-laser seemed to be a bit too powerful in some scenes (really? He just hit 8 guys at once?). Small gripe though.
Loved the callbacks. Gold Leader and Red Leader were my favorite. So small, so subtle, and even simple since it just reused footage, lol, and yet a lovingly perfect nod to the original film. The shot of the U-Wing leaving Yavin and flying past the same guard tower, again, great.
CGI Tarkin had a little too much screen time, though I liked the inclusion of the character. Some people thought he undercut the main villain too much, but I didn't have a problem with it. Actually gave Krennic some extra motivation to watch as his glory was getting stolen by others. And we knew Tarkin was going to end up as the Death Star commander anyway. Gave some reasonable context to his arrogance in the original film. CGI Leia didn't look that great, but a small, short scene.
The final act was the kind of fan service this movie was made for . Loved seeing the "plain old" X-Wings and Y-Wings dueling with "plain old" TIE Fighters. I mean, those things are so iconically Star Wars, and we haven't seen them in a movie since 1983. Plus, watching 2016 CGI animating a battle with all of our 70s and 80s favorites?
The Tantive IV escaping the battle wasn't the best narrative choice, especially given some of the contextual cues of A New Hope (eg, Princess Leia trying to convince Vader she was on a diplomatic mission, on a ship that would have just been spotted at a battle).
I think a better end to the movie would have been the escaped Rebels handing over the plans to Leia as the Tantive IV met them at Tattooine, then Vader's star destroyer emerging from hyperspace and chasing Leia' ship.
Can't completely gush though. The story is a bit stilted, and some of the scenes move from location to location without good enough setup. I think a lot of the reshoots might have caused that. It's not bad enough that it seriously damages the film, but it's noticeable.
The rest are little nitpicky things I don't want to end up debating with people, lol.
Overall though, it's a solid "A" grade movie. It works as a Star Wars movie, but more importantly, it works as a movie . Nothing groundbreaking, maybe a little cliche, definitely treading on familiar ground, but what isn't these days?
Hey all, if you're going to be in here at this point, probably gotta be warned there might be others spoiling things.
