Some thoughts on Ep 7, after two viewings:

If you are a Star Wars fan from the very beginning (I was 7 when it came out, so I guess those of my generation) and you haven't entirely lost the child within, this is just flat out the movie you wanted to see.  That's just a fact. 

But it can't just be compared to the previous Star Wars films.  It also must live and breath in this generation of movies.  There are not a lot of eye-candy super huge movies I make a point of seeing anymore, but I have seen many of the Marvel Universe films.  In many ways, The Force Awakens should be directly compared with the first Avengers movie. 

Stolen Image, but covered under Fair Use, I think.  Please, Disney, don't sue me!

Both films were super big budget action adventure movies.  Both were built on existing universes, and both had multiple character to introduce to new audiences as well as re-introduce to long time fans. 

Now, I love almost all the work that Joss Wheedon does.  His TV shows are among the best genre shows ever made, and at their best among the best TV ever made.  His use of genre tropes is superb, but he never skimps on the human emotional element.  His dialogue is usually witty and smart.  And above all else, he can craft a great, complex yet followable and gripping story. 

So, I had some high hopes for the Avengers.  On my first viewing, I thought it was a hot mess.  All the things I liked about Joss's work was muted by the largeness off the budget and action.  It was a series of well directed action sequences that that didn't have any real weight to it. 

In many ways, perhaps I was just too old to really get into such a franchise, and more likely I just had too high or at least incorrect expectations, so I felt let down. 

JJ Abrams was a bit more spotty for me.  I never saw lost, and only sort of enjoyed Fringe.  Super 8 (or whatever it was called) was a really decent Spielberg movie made by an obvious fan.  The Star Trek reboots were fair to decent, but just didn't feel right.  They felt like somebody trying to turn Trek into Star Wars. 

So, my expectations on this one were a bit on the low side.  I was excited, but in a muted way.  I just couldn't get my heart racing over this, not even when the orchestra blast ocurred with the sudden and still shocking appearance of the main logo then zooming off into the distance. 

But Ep7 quickly won my heart.  Everything just felt right about it.  I was able to connect to that 7 year old boy again, and still feel satisfied as a grown up watching a movie.  I avoid most all the spoilers and much of the guess work as I could going into the movie.  Even so, I was never caught off guard with what would happen next.  Even the huge "twist", as I've heard it called, seemed inevitable to me.  Some were upset, but it just couldn't not go any other way.  (you know what I'm talking about, but I want a spoiler free post here.)

Ditto

 

Even that was a good thing. It felt very organic, very natural at every turn.  It was Star Wars, and it was I think Star Wars at its best.  As a child, Empire was always considered the best, but as I grew older and learned more about movies, I think the A New Hope was a better story.  It's the one movie that proves Lucas can direct, if not actors, at least he can excel at visual story telling. 

The Force Awakens is, I think in the end, somewhere between Hope and Empire.  It has a few hints at the longer scenes where we just get to live with the characters and get to know them through their thoughts of the pure cinematic nature of Hope.  It takes its time here and there.  But the complexity and action are more like Empire.  Its a big movie with a lot of small human moments.  In that way, it reminded me of Peter Jackson's LOTRs movies, which is a very good thing. 

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JJ Abrams gets a lot of the credit for this wonderful addition to my first film family I fell in love with.  But it was a team effort in many ways.  And for the first time, I feel comfortable with the new leadership team, and am excited for all the (hopefully) wonderful Star Wars movies yet to come.