Wednesday 13 December 2017

Review: Star Wars - The Force Awakens (twelfth-pass)





Star Wars: The Force Awakens (twelfth-pass / 3D)
Cert: 12A / 135 mins / Dir. J.J. Abrams / Trailer



There are two moments across the Star Wars films which make me involuntarily stop breathing. Every time. The first is the part of Revenge of the Sith where Vader has his helmet fitted, the cut-out silence of Palpatine's makeshift operating theatre is filled with an electronic 'charging' whine and we finally hear the infamous respirator. The second is the visual exchange at the end of The Force Awakens, with Rey and Luke on a clifftop, wordlessly communicating over a proffered lightsaber. In those moments, I forget to breathe. Until I'm roused by the sound of the breathing apparatus or the 'directed by' credit. Every time.

Quite often, people will ask me "yeah but what do you get out of watching Star Wars over and over again?". Which is a fair question, even I have to admit*1. One one (quite literal) level, it's like the childhood bedtime story that you never got tired of hearing. But as the years wear on and I become more nitpicky in my enjoyment of films, Star Wars is the gift which keeps on giving. Every time I watch one of the movies, I'll notice a facial twitch, inflection of a line of dialogue or a detail on a set or costume which I haven't seen before*2.

It's only been two years since the release of The Force Awakens, and already the film has that air of established familiarity*3 - that feeling of being at home in the Star Wars universe*4. And having had a whole year to digest and reflect upon Rogue One, this (short) distance highlights the stylistic differences between the two*5. Although well received, The Force Awakens has a classical structure which is all but absent in the Death Star heist-movie (even though that was also very well received).

It makes absolute sense of course that the 'anthology' movies should have a different cinematic style from the saga-entries, but the first of tonight's double-bill raises two questions:
1) Will The Last Jedi be going firmly back to this more sweeping style of storytelling? And,
2) What will the more casual-end of the critical sphere make of the gear-change if it does?

Anyway, I enjoyed The Force Awakens again.
As you would expect.



So, watch this if you enjoyed?
The Star Wars.


Should you watch this in a cinema, though?
You've pretty much missed your chance with this now, but yes.


Does the film achieve what it sets out to do?
It does.


Is this the best work of the cast or director?
It's at the top-end of the list, yes.


Will I think less of you if we disagree about how good/bad this film is?
I shall sigh heavily and ask you to explain yourself.


Yes, but is there a Wilhelm Scream in it?
There is.


Yes, but what's the Star Wars connection?
Level 0: This is Star Wars.
(I'm not doing the long-link for a short review like this. Sorry kids, they just take too long, and I've got to do one for the first-screening of The Last Jedi)


And if I HAD to put a number on it…


*1 The general answer is here, although it doesn't quite cover the Star Wars phenomenon. [ BACK ]

*2 I try to do this with all movies of course, hence me writing a review for each subsequent cinema viewing. but in all honesty who wants to sit through (to pull an example completely out of the air) Transformers: The Last Knight more than once, to see if it's magically any more charming or coherent on repeat? [ BACK ]

*3 Although bear in mind that I *did* watch it eleven times during its initial run, so you'd expect me to know it by now anyway.
[ BACK ]

*4 And remember that I'm someone who says (and has always said) the same thing about about the prequel trilogy, so adjust your reliance on my enthusiasm accordingly... [ BACK ]

*5 Not that Rogue One isn't Star Wars in any way, just that it's very different Star Wars. Plus Lucasfilm need all the differentiators they can get, now they've essentially abandoned the episode-numbers, outside of the opening crawls. [ BACK ]


DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

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