Ten years after the release of Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, me and millions of Star Wars fans have waited for the fateful day of December 18, 2015 – the release of Star Wars The Force Awakens!
This is not a recap, review or summary of the film but just a quick time-stamped synopsis of my festive and climactic movie experience.
- 10:30 AM. I entered the Draft House and got my ticket barcode scanned.
- 10:40 AM. I walked into theater #4, grabbed my seat and ordered off of the Star Wars-themed menu.
- 10:45-11:00 AM. I watched a handful of sci-fi movie trailers, including vintage Star Wars commercials and footage from yesteryear. Besides the movie, seeing the late 70’s/early 80’s stuff was the coolest part of the experience.
- 11:00 AM-1:15 PM. I sat in awe watching the throwback lightsaber battles, witty dialogue and characters that I grew up loving as a child and now still as an adult.
- 1:15-1:30 PM. Spent time chatting with a co-worker (and his girlfriend), debating the movie plot and our overall feelings on the film.
- 1:30-1:40 PM. Picked up my Force Awakens giveaways and headed home.
- 1:40-3:40 PM. Spent time texting and talking to my good buddies about the film. Yes, I really liked it. The end.
In many ways, Star Wars is the Zeitgeist of my generation (X). And now in the able hands of J.J. Abrams, it appears that it will be the same for many more to come.
Darth Vader once said, “this will be a day long remembered…it will soon see the end of the Rebellion.”
And he was right, about the first part at least.
For sure better than ROJ which has cartoonish sensibilities.
My order:
1. Empire
2. Force Awakens
2a. Star Wars
3. RoTS
4. ROTJ
5. Attack of the Clones
6. Phantom Menace
@Sai Dawson I hate ranking these things. 🙂 But I think we can all agree that IV, V, and VII are definitely better than the prequels. Here what I commented at iluvcinema.com.
I really really liked it. I would have to say that this is the rare case in 2015 of my cinematic expectations being met. A good mix of nostalgia for the past with hope and excitement for the future.
@idawson I did as well. It had a great mixture of action, character development, depth, humor and plot holes (to leave you yearning for answers that the sequels are likely to serve up.). I also really liked the throwback special effects and on-location sets; it really harkened back to a long time ago, in a film studio far, far away. 🙂
yeah kermode & mayo said something similar about the physicality of the film and that the ideal screen was the IMAX 2D screen .
@idawson yeah, i heard that in the review.
So did it live up to all the hype?
@eddysalomon I don’t think ANYTHING would be able to live up to this kinda hype. The only movies that I can think that had as much commercial/advertising hoopla were Tim Burton’s Batman and perhaps Jurassic Park. But like those aforementioned flicks, those films delivered memorable treats. Of the (now) seven Star Wars films, I’d put it in at around 3rd or 4th, better than Revenge of the Sith and perhaps on par with or better than Return of the Jedi. That’s pretty damn good!
Well that says a lot. I’m looking forward to checking it out then!
@eddysalomon I am very interested in your take since you aren’t a Star Wars fanboy.