On Star Wars and JJ Abrams... *no spoilers* (Off-Topic)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Friday, December 25, 2015, 12:06 (3259 days ago) @ Avateur
edited by CruelLEGACEY, Friday, December 25, 2015, 12:11

I'd like to begin by saying that I think it's unfortunate that you're rushing to judgment without having seen the whole thing yet. I'm not invalidating what you've said, though. It's just that the complete movie and experience could absolutely change your overall impressions, including those of the first half that you've seen.

Not rushing to judgment, just commenting on what I've seen so far. In most cases, the first half of a movie is more than enough to get a feel for how the director is handling pacing and flow :)

Having said that, probably my biggest complaint about the movie is in regards to how much "smaller" the universe feels based on the pacing you mentioned. There isn't a lot of time for people to breathe, so it definitely seems like a ton of really jacked up coincidences and plot holes. Things just seem to be places in an instant, and that is absolutely a problem with Into Darkness, too. I'd love to go into more detail on this point, but you haven't seen certain parts yet that really nail this critique on the head.

I've now seen the whole movie, and I think I know exactly which parts you're talking about. But maybe not. There are so many crazy coincidences in this movie, I might get hung up on different moments than the next person. I did catch myself rolling my eyes when Han finds the Falcon immediately after it leaves Jakku. But then also when the resistance just happened to show up as the first order attacked. Just about everything about the Starkiller base seemed pretty ridiculous to me, too.

Now, having said all of that, the pace of the movie is also one of its greatest assets, especially now that I've seen it a second time. The pace was one thing I was saying was of great benefit after my first viewing, and now that I've come to terms with the fact that Abrams just poorly directed how much time/distance things go down in, I can further suspend my disbelief and allow myself to realize that there really is a lot more time taking place and a lot less coincidence than seems implied. The second viewing was definitely as much if not more so enjoyable. I'm also glad that Abrams will be off of VIII so that the pacing issues, among other problems, can be fixed (hopefully).

Yeah I can totally see that being the case. Any time I see a movie with elements I love and other elements that really bother me, I'm usually able to have more fun with it the 2nd or 3rd time through. And I do think Abrams got a lot right with this one, it's just mostly stuff that doesn't have much payoff in this film. If nothing else, I think we've got a great group of characters set to take the series forward.

As for a remake/reboot, I like calling this a soft reboot of IV. And I think it works very well. It's just a really good time. Beyond your just finishing the movie, I can't wait for you to go see it in theater and see how you feel about it then. If you feel the same, hey, more power to you. There are plenty of valid criticisms, and this is not a perfect movie. It still somehow works. I'm ranking it just below or right with Jedi.

I can't wait to see it in theatres, mostly for the audio/visual presentation. JJ's movies always look spectacular, and TFA is no exception :)

It's too soon for me to really know how I'd rank this one compared to the other 6. It's certainly below Jedi and Empire for me, possibly below RotS as well. I might put it just above or just below A New Hope. I think it's better than ANH in many ways, but it's also so derivative that I can't really give it full credit. But really I'll need to see how I feel about it after a few months, when it's had time to fully sink in.