Posted December 31, 2019
ThorChild: So after watching the original trilogy over the xmas period (such well made films, even Jedi which was the weakest), and then punishing myself a little with the last prequel RotS. Yesterday i decided to watch TFA again, just to be sure.
Both RotS and TFA make similar mistakes, too much pure fan service nods and winks, too much 'over acting'; in RotS that is mostly down to Hayden Christensen's golden raspberry performance (which George Lucas signed off on as ok) that sort of kills Darth Vader as the composed and sinister villain we know well.
In TFA the 'over-acting' is all over the place, and just hits you as either tone-deaf, or heavy-handed. The first order rally as an echo of Hitlers infamous nazi rallies (you don't need to phone this in that much), the over the top 'Christensen-like' emotional turmoil part of Kylo-Ren etc. TFA could have been a great film in that the visual impact is all there, that opening sequence with Rey-as-scavenger is great, you really feel the whole existence she had been living (and TFA could have done with much more of this slower world building, but that is not JJ).
So it all rushes by, leaving little emotional impact, even when Han is killed by his son or in the scenes between Han and Leia. Too fast and too scared to slow down when good character and world building opportunity arises, and too many fan winks to get in the way of a good story being well told; which is just JJ Abrams all over as a Director sadly (those New Star Treks did exactly the same).
Sigh. Just such a waste of the biggest film opportunity of all time, and all of it is going to be forgotten in the future (unlike those originals) as they all fail so bad as films of merit and quality, just pure cash-cow vehicles now, with enough non-discerning punters willing to give money at the drop of a light-saber or fan service.
Have a good New Year fellow Star Wars fans, and maybe The Mandalorian can change the rot that is Star Wars currently?
Agree: JJ took inspiration for Rey scavenger from Nausicaa. Both RotS and TFA make similar mistakes, too much pure fan service nods and winks, too much 'over acting'; in RotS that is mostly down to Hayden Christensen's golden raspberry performance (which George Lucas signed off on as ok) that sort of kills Darth Vader as the composed and sinister villain we know well.
In TFA the 'over-acting' is all over the place, and just hits you as either tone-deaf, or heavy-handed. The first order rally as an echo of Hitlers infamous nazi rallies (you don't need to phone this in that much), the over the top 'Christensen-like' emotional turmoil part of Kylo-Ren etc. TFA could have been a great film in that the visual impact is all there, that opening sequence with Rey-as-scavenger is great, you really feel the whole existence she had been living (and TFA could have done with much more of this slower world building, but that is not JJ).
So it all rushes by, leaving little emotional impact, even when Han is killed by his son or in the scenes between Han and Leia. Too fast and too scared to slow down when good character and world building opportunity arises, and too many fan winks to get in the way of a good story being well told; which is just JJ Abrams all over as a Director sadly (those New Star Treks did exactly the same).
Sigh. Just such a waste of the biggest film opportunity of all time, and all of it is going to be forgotten in the future (unlike those originals) as they all fail so bad as films of merit and quality, just pure cash-cow vehicles now, with enough non-discerning punters willing to give money at the drop of a light-saber or fan service.
Have a good New Year fellow Star Wars fans, and maybe The Mandalorian can change the rot that is Star Wars currently?
And yeah EPVII could have been a way better movie but the fan service is is due to the a distrust the fanbase had/has towards the prequels, they, beyond the restrictions JJ had to deal with, tried to play it safe, imho