Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Well, I've finally been able to see the new Star Wars film, and boy is it a great one!

Here's the rundown: Taking place 30 years after Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker has vanished, the New Republic is being threatened by an Imperial remnant known as The First Order, but are being countered by The Resistance led by General Leia. On the desert world of Jakku, a map showing Luke's whereabouts is entrusted to the droid BB-8, who eludes the First Order's Stormtroopers led by Kylo Ren, who looks a little bit like Revan from Knights of the Old Republic.

Anyway, BB-8 ends up with the new young heroes of the series: A reformed First Order Stormtrooper called Finn, and a young scavenger called Rey. When the First Order closes in, they are forced to steal a second-hand ship which turns out to be the legendary Millennium Falcon. This promptly reunites them with Han Solo and Chewbacca, who have gone back to smuggling.

Story-wise, the film does seem to be a rehash of A New Hope, but I'd make the argument that it was what people wanted. The new protagonists are very likeable characters, and the old-timers of the previous trilogy are equally good. I think the key word here would be balance. A balance between old timers, and newcomers, humour and drama, along with practical effects and CGI.

I'm going to be very minimalist with this, as revealing any more will spoil some major things. As mentioned above, the film does recycle elements from A New Hope, but don't let that dissuade you, as there are still plenty of surprises. Anybody who has seen the film will know what I'm talking about. Overall, it is the cinematic experience of a Star Wars film updated for the modern age, done properly this time.

Or as Han put it: "Chewie, we're home."

Franchise Reviews: Return of the Jedi

I'd have to say right now that this is the film I like the least within the classic trilogy. But does that mean I hate it? Not at all. But there are some major problems that are hard to ignore.

Let's address the main one; the stories. Yes, there are two stories in this film which have little to do with each other.  The stories aren't bad, they're just distant.

The first part sort of picks up where the last film ended, with Luke and his friends trying to rescue Han Solo from the crime boss Jabba the Hutt. I do love the visuals and low lighting within Jabba's palace, where he lives like some kind of medieval robber-baron. Lando is already undercover, Luke offers him his droids as a goodwill present, while Leia poses as a bounty hunter and hands over Chewie to gain access to Han. When her cover is blown and she is made a slave, Luke comes in himself but is also captured after defeating one large beast, and is then scheduled to be fed to another. However, he is confident that he can escape, so I can't really tell whether he's improvising or planned a capture from the beginning. But it means we get one man-on-monster deathmatch followed by an all-out brawl with Jabba's goons. When you get down to it, you just need to have some action.

After that somewhat lengthy diversion, the main story begins. The Rebels have discovered that the Empire is building a new Death Star, and the Emperor himself is overseeing the construction, now the battle is on to end this war once and for all. Han leads a commando team to a forest moon to destroy a shield generator protecting the Death Star so Lando can lead a space assault. Meanwhile, Luke travels to the Death Star with Darth Vader in the hopes of turning who is now revealed to be his father. There, he meets the Emperor, who seeks to corrupt him. This results in the action being divided into three parts: The duel between Luke and Vader; the space battle; and the land battle where the Rebels are aided by a group of teddy bears.

Wait, what?

I'm with a lot of fans that the Ewoks were a kind of stupid addition to the climax with a less-than-subtle environmental message. But to give them some credit, they are kind of resourceful, and they do hold their own against the Empire. Besides, I watched Pom Poko, so I can't really complain.

In conclusion, Return of the Jedi is by no means a bad film, but it's not the great follow-up to The Empire Strikes Back, although that's a hard act to follow. Nonetheless, the action is still great, the characters are memorable, and they do get some truly emotional scenes.

Of course, killing the Emperor would not mean the war would end. So naturally, there is room for more films (not prequels). I'll talk about The Force Awakens when I can get tickets for it.

See you then, and may the Force be with you. (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist)

Franchise Reviews: The Empire Strikes Back

This is one of those sequels that is a significant improvement over the previous instalment, and is not just my favourite film in the franchise but also one of my favourite films of all time.

Taking place some time after the previous film (three years, according to Wookiepedia), the Rebel Alliance is on the run, being relentlessly pursued by the Empire. Their new headquarters on the ice world of Hoth has been overrun, and Luke Skywalker has been separated from his friends, travelling to a swamp planet with R2D2 with the intention of learning the ways of the Force from a Muppet called Yoda. Meanwhile, Han, Chewie, Leia, and C3P0 are attempting to escape the Imperial fleet while searching for a safe haven.

I think this film works because of the low point the heroes are in. After a spectacular land battle in which the Rebels are routed, you want to follow them as they try to escape. Wherever they go, Darth Vader is always behind them, never letting up. Even an old friend of Han's betrays them to the Empire. Meanwhile, Luke's training with Yoda explores the fantastical aspects of the world, and his impulse to save his friends could put him on the beginning of a dark path.

And that's all I really have to say. There's not that much I can really fault.

Well, that was short and sweet.

Franchise Reviews: Star Wars - A New Hope

Well, I figured I might as well start with the first movie. And by that I mean A New Hope, or just Star Wars for the those purists out there.

I think everything about this movie has been said. There's a war between a Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, the Empire has a WMD called the Death Star, and the rebels have managed to steal the data tapes for it. Did I mention this was the Seventies?

Anyway, Princess Leia (played by Carrie Fisher) is about to get captured by the sinister Darth Vader and entrusts the plans to C3P0 and R2D2, a pair of bickering robots who end up in the possession of Luke Skywalker, a young farmer played by Mark Hamill. Luke embarks on a quest to bring the plans to the Alliance with the help of the old mentor figure Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), cynical smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and his co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).

Despite the relatively simple plot, this film came out at a time when Hollywood's creative classes had the most creative control, yet it stood out amongst the rest. The Escapist's film critic Bob Chipman described this film as 'a bizarre dream project which combined mythic fantasy, samurai melodrama and pulp sci-fi". But does it hold up? I think so, despite a couple of flaws, most of which is nitpicking, but I'll try and go for the most glaring issues. Luke does get a bit whiny at times and Leia's British accent seems a bit off (definitely Liverpool). Plus, she does seem to take that whole "planet being destroyed" business rather well (which was satirised in Robot Chicken). Not to mention that C3P0 seems to make a couple of stupid choices, but I suppose he's out of his element. George Lucas is both writing and directing this one, so the acting and dialogue is wooden at times, but there are still plenty of notable quotables.

Then again, I love the imagination, with the ship designs and the aliens in Mos Eisley, and the main characters are suitably heroic to keep me interested. Not to mention there is some great action scenes, whether it's Luke and Han blundering their way through the Death Star to rescue Leia, or the climactic space battle at the end. That trench run scene always feels tense every time I watch it.

I suppose I'm letting nostalgia take up too much of this. Then again, the fact that such an experimental film with a cast of virtual unknowns (with the exception of Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing) was able to do so well is an impressive feat. Although I suppose the merchandising had something to with that. 

"Where the real money is made".

Overall, it's a fun sci-fi adventure that's a great little time-waster.

Franchise Reviews: Star Wars

Since I watched and posted reviews of all the James Bond films back in October, I figured I might see what other film franchises I could do the same with. With that in mind, I heard there's a new Star Wars film out. I haven't seen it yet. I was going to, but then a stomach bug got in the way. Karma can be a massive tosser sometimes.

So while I make a recovery and wait for another date to watch the new film, I figured I might pass the time by watching the original trilogy. The version I'm specifically looking at will by the 2004 DVD trilogy. It's not the best, but they did straighten out some of the more controversial changes of the 1997 Special Edition films.

Granted, there might be a fair few retrospective reviews coming out around this time, but I figured I might throw in my two cents as well.