Just saw it but I think the theater sound (which is brand new, not even 2 weeks old) was screwed up because while the sound effects were awesome, all dialogue sounded like it was coming from a 3" speaker in an old TV inside the movie. In fact, in the opening scene I thought the camera was going to pan back to be a tv they were watching. Then the whole movie sounded like that (for dialogue anyway), which disconnected me from the whole thing.
The 3d was done well, but I dislike 3d in general and I could have done without it. Thankfully it wasn't over the top and hard to watch. Unfortunately all the good screens are only showing 3d and only the crappy ones at the ends are doing the 2d versions.. my home theater is better than those screens so I opted for the 3d. It wasn't bad though.
As for the story, meh, it was OK, I just don't buy a few things (yes, spoilers here as the title says):
First, nobody knew about the starkiller, and nobody was doing anything to stop it. How is this? The Republic is supposed to be this massive coalition of all the worlds and they don't know anything about it? And they have no defense against it? So hundreds of billions of people, basically the center of the galactic economy and the strongest military force in the galaxy is blown away without warning by some rogue organization that they don't even know exists?
Second, once this happens, the rebels, or rather the resistance (who are they resisting?) suddenly have detailed plans of this thing, and some sanitation worker who was just in his first battle as a stormtrooper happens to know how the thing works... "Uh, yeah, I was taking out the trash and overheard the engineers talking about how it works and how insanely simple it is to defeat, and here's how."
Third, speaking of the resistance, who are they resisting? If the rebels won and the Republic is in power, why is there a resistance? And if there is a resistance, why aren't they against the central governing body with the biggest military instead of being supported by them? It just doesn't make much sense and seems like too much of an effort to emulate episode 4.
Four, so they JUST find out about this starkiller and within a few seconds come up with a way to destroy it. No build up, no suicide mission to save the galaxy, just "Oh, here's a detailed map of the planet we knew nothing about with the vulnerabilities highlighted. Han, you conveniently get past their shields since you've done it before, and we will send in a couple dozen x-wings to blow it up. *yawn* ok, let's get this done so I can take my nap."
Five, why just repeat Episode 4? I mean, get SOME originality here. even the characters seemed to look at this as routine, as if they had all done it a few dozen times.. "OK guys, got another Sith dude with a planet killing laser beam. Like usual, there is a small weakness that is easily exploitable, and surprise surprise, you have to fly through a metal canyon to get to it. Whose turn is it to fly the canyon this time? No Jorgie, you got the last two, and Frank, after you botched the one last Tuesday and almost cost us another planet you aren't on the list again until you can get more practice shooting wamp rats. Two meters wide fellas, two meters, we went over this a hundred times..."
Six, so a trained Sith who was able to kill all the other Students at Luke's academy can't beat an untrained girl who just figured out she has the Force?
That being said, although I am sure it was unintended, it felt like there was a nod to the expanded universe in the whole end fight.. instead of Chewy dying trying to rescue people from a planet that was coming apart, Han dies and Chewy kicks off the series of events that causes the planet to break up. I liked it, even though I'm unhappy with Han dying. I wish there was more buildup and more emotion in it.. I literally shed tears when Chewy died in the books, and when Han dies in the movie I just kinda shrugged and went "meh." Of course, the dialogue that was there was coming from that tin can behind the screen so maybe that is why I didn't feel anything.
Overall, WAY better than the prequel trilogy and not too bad. Definitely "Star Wars" and the cinematics were outstanding. A little too quick to segue from scene to scene and it felt like they were trying to stuff an extra hour into it but cut it down by 45 minutes. I would have rather had a little less of the early build up and more detail in the end (and more drama) but my expectations are build mostly on the expanded universe stories, which had all the detail, backstory, and good writing that none of the movies had. If I had only watched the movies and nothing more, I would probably feel this one was in the top 3 as well. Instead I just feel a little let down but excited for the next one.
One more note: I have heard they intend to do some filler movies to cover other stories in the universe and expand the history. The chick at the bar alluded to it by saying there was another story behind how she got Luke's original lightsaber. I could definitely get behind a new story line that has the elements of "after the war", sort of a post-apocalyptic setting for the planets (like the first desert planet in this movie) that is picking up the pieces after the war, doesn't really know the story, only myths, legends, and rumors, but end up on adventures of their own. This one started that way but turned into the Episode 4 remake at the end. So much potential in this universe, just too much pandering to the marketing people. I still have hopes...
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Topic: Star Wars 7 SPOILERS! (Read 24214 times)
