Happy Star Wars Day!!! May The 4th Be With You!!!!
Lets look at my reviews of the last three Star Wars films!!
STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS
Director J J Abrams
Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan; J J Abrams; and Michael Arndt
Based On The Characters by George Lucas
Starring Daisy Ridley; John Boyega; Oscar Isaac; Domhnall Gleason; Adam Driver; Harrison Ford; Carrie Fisher
30 years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat rises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of Heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance.
"Real sets. Practical effects. You have been here before but you do not know this story. Everything has changed but nothing has changed". As the above video noted that was viewed at Comic-Con.
Yes you knew there would be a backlash. It is so popular you knew people were going try to be different by being critical.Yes it is similar to the New Hope. Still.....It brought magic back to the movie theaters!!
It all starts and ends with J.J. Abrams. He is the master here and it works.
His casting. Was just spot on:
From Names from past Star Wars films: Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
To people we know from other movies:
Adam Driver (Girls)....Deliciously evil as Kylo Ren
Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina).... as the brave fighter Poe Dameron. Who plays the dry straight man here very well.
Domhnall Gleason (Harry Potter films/Brooklyn/ExMachina) Is soooo well cast as the evil General Hux. It is against type because we are so use to seeing him as a stuttering, bumbeling kind of character.
To casting faces we never have seen before:
John Boyega as Finn is fantastic as the every man hero played with dry humor. He becomes us. Tackling certain situations with a hold your breath...I have to do this...with fear and lack of enthusiasm.
Then we come to Daisy Ridley. She is the film. She is the star. This Kierra Knightly look alike carries this film (with BB-8--the cutest thing in movies this year). She is strong. She is funny. She is a ball of emotions. I can not note enough how amazing she is. It is a credit to J.J. by just finding her.
The look.
This film is beautiful. Some scenes are breathtaking. So again credit goes to J.J. for bringing in Cinematographer Daniel Mindel. There were a couple times in this film where I thought..."Oh that will make a great poster!" Just watch the scene as Daisy rides down the sand hill.
The music:
He brought back John Williams!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean you get chills from the start when the score plays and he sets the tone throughout the film.
My big negative which is a common complaint of mine, and kept this from getting a higher ranking: When dealing with films that are set up for future episodes, every film should have a clean ending. There are some loose strings here that left me wondering who is alive and who is not. I always feel you pay your money you should get a clear ending for a film that you paid to see. You should not have to pay for another film to see what happens. Each film should be go clearly from beginning to end on it's own.
It is amazing that it actually lives up to its hype. Great for the whole family. The torch has been passed. Starts with J.J. Abrams...did I mention that before?
This is my spoiler review I did for Star Wars The Last Jedi. I did this after I did a non-spoiler review!!
STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do not read if you have not seen this film. This is my first spoiler review ever.
Boy did I get emails about my review of this film.
People I gave it 3 stars the night I saw it. I did not hate it!!! Settle down!!!
Well here is my spoiler review breaking down the film.....
The bad:
-There is clearly an editing problem through out the film dealing with time. Lets highlight moving from The Force Awakens to The Last Jedi. We are seconds after the Force Awakens film, Rey is handing the light saber to Luke. We left the resistance as they blew up the weapon...but now they are decimated. Close to extinct. Huh? They were just celebrating!!
I think this happens when you have a story with a different writer comes in. Johnson has his own vision. His vision is more ...I guess mystical. For example, the oddest thing, General Leia pulling some kind of Mary Poppins act, and floating in to space away from an exploding ship. Then she floats back. WTH!!! What was that? If she can do that or always could do that ...that changes things going forward and confuses what has already happened! Then you also have Luke doing some mind trick at the end. Then you have Rey doing a mind connection with Kylo Ren ?! Sometimes I felt there was too much of this odd stuff and not enough movement...the story was stuck for the first hour and a half and did not move forward. It felt like Johnson really wanted to push his vision and it took a long time to explain it.
-I mentioned this in my other review. The miscasting of Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Holdo. She just looks like she uncomfortable in this role. Plus back to awful writing. So Holdo disagrees with Poe. Poe takes over the ship. Poe's people battle Hodo's people. Door opens and Leia walks through then so does Holdo. They laugh about Poe's spunk. WHAAAT????!!!! You just shot at Poe's men and now you laugh...all friends for no reason. Huh??? Makes absolutely no sense.
-They promoted Luke being in this film everywhere. They have Mark Hamill!!! Why not use him?
He is clocked in at under 30 minutes!! Give him a bigger part...let him do battle!!!
I have to say Johnson is awful as a SciFi storyteller.
-Another example is the Finn and Rose story line. It was just a waste. Think about it. It added nothing...zilch...to the story. They failed. Then throw in Del Toro as DJ...they stole the exact Lando storyline from Empire!!! Again lazy!! Well anyway it was obvious Johnson wanted to give Boyega a story to keep him busy.
Well enough of the bad here is the good:
-Both Driver and Ridley are just wonderful. Plus their characters are just great, and you know where this is going...the final battle between them. Good vs Evil!!!
-I know Hamill was only in the film for a short time but...he was just awesome. The death scene was a thing of beauty!! Note the sun like in New Hope. The same score as in The New Hope. Wonderful. Maybe Hamill's best performance to date.
-The bridge. This movie was a bridge to the showdown of the two main characters, but also a bridge from the old to the new. It is now the new character's films. The old guard is now officially gone. I am so excited for the regroup after this movie which was basically a constant retreat.
Well there is my first spoiler review. I still think 3 stars, maybe 3 1/2 out of 5.
I kind of compare this film to Dunkirk. When you have a bunch of people retreating the whole film, or trying to, it really does not make for a great film. Yes I know a lot of people love the beautiful Dunkirk and this film. Planning an escape from a battle is kind of boring to me.
However at least here as opposed to Dunkirk they have character development.
STAR WARS THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
This will be difficult making it spoiler free...but here I go.
Even though there was a negative feedback for Star Wars 1...2 ...3 and positive feedback for 4...5..6.
they all did something right. They had one leader, one storyteller, one director folding the story into the next part or film. This is where 7...8...9..clearly went wrong. They should have locked J.J. in for all three before it started, if not they should have went somewhere else until they could lock down someone for all three movies.
So here we come to the final chapter of this trilogy..with J.J. Abrams in charge.
Points with no spoiler:
-The shocking thing here this film sort of ignores Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. Other than Rose (Who sadly is barely in this by the way) and the ghost of Luke, he just wipes out the mistake that The Last Jedi was. You can pretty much watch just The Force Awakens and this movie and just skip The Last Jedi and not miss a thing.
-Because he is trying to fit so much in one episode, this film feels choppy...There is a war with the New order. There is this cube or thing Rey is going after. There is this strange constant mind melt between Kylo and Rey. There is a traitor somewhere. There is the return of Palpatine. Then there is a backstory for both leads Kylo and Rey. It is a lot, which really messes with the rhythm of the story telling.
They went on and on about Keri Russell being in this, she was barely in it, and we never saw her face!! She did have a relationship with Po but they never touched on it, they seemed to like each other, but again there was so many stories here they had no time to develop characters.
Even the return of Lando was quick and then passed over. There was no development like where has he been???!! However near the end he says something to a new character Jannah, played wonderfully by Naomi Ackie, that makes you think...is there another Star Wars coming? Is this really the end?
-Getting back to so many story lines the film feels like it is flying at super speed never slowing down. There is an editing and pacing issue. Again J.J. has so much info he is flying through here trying to fit everything in. No time to take things in or breathe.Everything seems so underdeveloped.
-The film is dark. Dark looking, often I could not see what was happening or got lost at who is where.
-Dark themes. This film will scare little ones and also confuse them.
-Strange things I am suppose to ignore like two characters jump on a space ship and as it is flying and they do not fall off???!! That is one example. Again I think that goes back to, they had no time to write an escape for these two so they just had them jump on a moving spaceship. Then cut away to another story line.
I know I am being negative, but surprisingly I have to say I liked the film and it is all because of Daisy Ridley as Rey. She is soooooo good. You like her and want the best for her. She is what makes this film work and because of that, and the fun action scenes ...and the ending. Oh that ending, where two main characters are looking out into the distance, two that have been together from beginning of The Force Awakens ...it melts your heart. It is a perfect ending.
Sadly I cant give you too many positives without spoiling, but I can say this is a well acted exciting story with characters we love, and because of that I give this film 3 stars out of 5. I just wanted a tighter plot or story with less...other stories if that makes sense. No Spoilers.
I want to see it again for sure....a second time may feel like the movie is moving slower knowing what is coming...again no spoilers.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time...MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!!
Always remember there is no New Hope with out the suicide mission of Jyn Erso...NEVER FORGET ROGUE ONE!!!!
http://theshadowsmoviecritic.blogspot.com/2017/01/film-review-star-wars-story-rogue-one.html
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