Star Wars: The Force Awakens [4K UHD]

This is the best overall film of the New Trilogy thusfar. The Last Jedi is hyper controversial and philosophical [and I actually love it because It explores a tough subject matter, disillusionment among Jedi and Sith and rebirth of faith in the Force]. The Force Awakens captures a glint of the glory, awe, and wonder of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. The Force Awakens is superior to the Prequels/Anakin Skywalker Arch because it invests in the characters ans builds on tjeir realtionahips realistically, similar to A New Hope: common objective, common enemy, team work anx etc oppose to the Prequels more complex political alliances, and emphasis on Zoroastrian and Dualist ideologies. The Force Awakens is pure fun, with enough lore and wonder to keep it from being campy or a total knock off. In particular I applaud J.J. Abrams for his handling of Kylo Ren as a villain. He isn’t a Vader clone or Darth Maul cult creating character, he is the antithisis, unsurd of himself and conflicted, his insecurity and tryingvto overshadow it with Dark Side prowess makes him actuslly more relatable than the dogmaticism of Darth Vader. Kylo Ren is a Sith for a new generatiok, that no doubt may carry the same conflict inside. Rey who has been labeled a Mary Sue, is acruslly refreshing. Men have had plenty of Jedi and Force affilates to choose from: Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and maby more; girls and women have only ad Aayla Secura and Ahsoka Tano for female Jedi and they are aliens not humans like Rey. [Legends fans have had Bastila Shan and Mara Jade Skywalker for major human female Jedi]. Finn and Poe both are welcome heroes, one a former stormtrooper and the other a resistance pilot. Their dialogue during their escape from The First Order at the beginning of the Force Awakens always gives me a good chuckle. I want to seal this review by stating I am a Legends/EU die hard who knows Dash Rendar, Exar-Kun, Ulic-Quodroma, Mara Jade, Revan, Darth Plagueis, Prince Xinor, the Jed’Daii (proto-Jedi tribes), Ashla and Bogan (Light and Dark Side), Force Grip is a grey power (light or dark depending on who you are using it on), and so much more. I have been following the Legends, called Expanded Universe when I was young, and I enjot the Force Awakens.

I saw Force Awakens in a large theater 2 months after the hype died down. We had the theater nearly to ourselves, it was great. I liked it, pre-ordered the Blu-ray just now. Is it the end all be-all? No. I rate it the 2nd best in the franchise after Empire Strikes Back and tied with A New Hope. Is it worth owning? For me: CERTAINLY. Heck yes! Beats the crap out of the prequels. But then again that's not so hard when Abrams is recycling a lot of "A New Hope". This show is a wet dream to every boomer's teenage memory. I'll take it. Look, when I saw them running and all of a sudden the camera swings ** unexpectedly ** to the Falcon and I get my first glimpse of it under those tarps, I realized they were going to activate it and fly it. I got gooosebumps. The ship at first glance was dirty and funky - like an exotic relic - but it FLEW again and it looked ** awesome ** doing so...I was a kid again. All was forgiven. So, I can ignore some things ( I don't care for the Kylo Ren actor. His tantrums weren't scary, they were hilarious. So what?), but then again I don't live for Star Wars - it's a nice diversion. I'll watch this a couple times then probably once every 2 -3 years. Just the same, it is a must have for my collection. Funny how that works. YMMV. Bottom line for me: Resets/redeems the franchise. Makes me remember why I liked it originally. I'm hope they try something new on the next outing (new story arc, new ideas, character development). P.S. One of the moments I liked in the film was when Rey considers -- for a few seconds -- selling BB8 at the trading post. She looks at that pile of credits offered to her (probably a year's worth of food) and yeah - she's thinking it over - and then passes on the deal. The "still small voice". I liked that scene. That's the difference between good and evil sometimes - those "not so fast" moments where you self-reflect and don't take a bad deal that looks good on the surface.

I think if you have to say the worst thing about The Force Awakens it is that someone has taken all your favourite Star Wars toys and is playing with them, and you are just watching. And that in a nutshell is most likely what causes most people the MOST grief about the film. For me my first "awareness" of the whole Star Wars saga was back in 1976 when we heard via newspapers and the odd TV news that "something" was coming across the Atlantic. And I was sitting in school and we'd just been given a new "book" catalogue and there was the paperback for Star Wars written by George Lucas (as I learned a few years later actually by Alan Dean Foster............) Loved the first (no 4). Actually read the book of Empire Strikes Back before I saw the film (another Dean Foster tie in) - those were the days - and although I liked Return of the Jedi I did think it had gone too "childish". In fact I saw it in a packed local cinema, now an OAP home, where at 17/18 I was the oldest person amongst a mass of 7 to 12 years olds. The target audience. Then. Now JJ Abrams and me are about the same age and he has tackled what most would not want to tackle. Something that has to "hit" me and my age group and something that will "hit" the new target market like my kids who have grown up with Dad saying "You HAVE to see this!" Yes we all suffered through the Lucas era of I, II and III. Not so much someone playing with your toys but actively selling new ones to you! And that is what is strange about this film. It does not SELL you anything. Old characters, new characters, old ships, new ships, but Disney have been surprisingly "adult" about it. Maybe in many years when we have Star Wars 27: Return of Jafar and His Crazy Sidekick.......... So no spoilers and I did not see it on release, I waited for the Blu Ray, but it is worth it. And something else? It is a film that will be worth watching again, and it will get better with each viewing. Blu Ray quality is excellent - they really could not drop the ball. Abrams likes to move the camera and some of the shots in the aerial battles are stunners and will NEED to be watched again and again. I'd had a rubbish week with me losing a job through redundancy. This was something to look forward to. It made me forget. It did what Star Wars was meant to do. Roll on the rest, Disney.

PLOT... 30 years after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire, Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku finds BB-8, a droid that knows the whereabouts of the long lost Luke Skywalker. Rey, as well as a rogue Stormtrooper Finn are thrown into the middle of a battle between the Resistance and the daunting legions of the First Order. This is the true sequel to the original trilogy that many fans have long waited for and worth the wait it is, a fantastic story that holds so dear to the things we love about the original trilogy, many parts may clone a new hope in ways which don't hurt the story at all, there is so much in the way of continuation with fantastic new characters and story arks that can take the story in so many different ways, the new characters are great especially Rey who is a strong female lead, Daisy Ridley is a wonderful actress, Adam Driver is brilliant as Kylo Ren a new and very menacing villain, Rey and Kylo are the centre characters in the movie and the purpose for the awakening title, it will be great to see them develop further in sequels, its great to see the old cast back too especially Han Solo and Chewbacca, Leia looks good too in her small role and not forgetting the brilliant R2D2 and Luke himself is epic in his small appearance, Of course the new locations are stunning and the set pieces are great, lots of new aliens and background characters to look out for with great costume designs, the new storm troopers look very cool and very menacing and captain Phasma is a strong female villain (very underused at the moment though), the effects look stunning and really stand up to way we remember star wars with practical effects wherever possible and amazing ILM visual effects, the music score is great too, this is a must for any star wars fan, brings back so many great memories from back in the 70's and 80's all over again. Star wars is back in a big way and is not going away for a long time now... Blu-ray picture looks amazing in HD Features include Secrets of the force awakens documentary 1hr-9mins, The table read 4mins, crafting creatures 9mins, building BB8 6mins, the snow fight 7mins, ILM visual magic 7mins, 6 deleted scenes 4mins, plus more. Region Free discs ABC, Film running time 2hrs-18mins. 2015.

Episode VII, good, I liked the movie.

This movie is fantastic! It was a great way to bring Star Wars back for older fans, and also a great way to introduce the franchise to a new generation! The new characters are great, especially Finn, Han Solo was as funny and sarcastic as ever, Kylo Ren is a very threatening villain in this movie, and it was great to see some of the same locations we know and love from the originals once more. What more could a Star Wars Fan ask for?

Another great movie.