#StokerScore 9.5/10
I've really enjoyed going to the cinema this year partly because I'm lucky enough to live in a country where cinema tickets and all of the add-ons like drinks and food etc are all reasonably priced, plus we have an IMAX screen too! So yesterday, for less than $10 (6.50 in English currency) , I saw the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise...in IMAX.
I suppose the score I've given generally tells you everything you need to know about my thoughts on the film but instead I'll try to explain why the missing half point rather than the actual score itself, and all without spoilers.
I suppose the score I've given generally tells you everything you need to know about my thoughts on the film but instead I'll try to explain why the missing half point rather than the actual score itself, and all without spoilers.
Like many others who are giving up their thoughts on this movie, my memories go back to being a ten year old kid being taken to either the Odeon or ABC cinema in Darlington (somewhere in the following 38 years I seem to have forgotten which).
In 1977 we weren't really used to cinematic blockbusters. Two years earlier had seen Jaws start to change peoples' perceptions on the concept of big tentpole movies, but they were still in their infancy. Saying that, '77 saw plenty of big movies including Richard Dreyfuss playing with his mashed potato in Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Roger Moore's underwater Lotus Esprit emerging onto the beaches of the Cote d'Azur in The Spy Who Loved Me, Travolta's advert for polyester suits, Cuban heels and Bee Gees music in Saturday Night Fever, and everyone's favourite moustache in Smokey and The Bandit. Interestingly the total cost of all five of these movies was $50 million, or as near as dammnit is to swearing.
This was also the year where, as a young cinemagoer, I got my first look at Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man - a tv movie that got a cinematic release in the UK, The awesome Sinbad and The Eye of The Tiger, and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, all of which were equally as high, if not higher than Star Wars on my personal movie radar at the time and often inspired as much by the poster art rather than the trailers for the movies. Obviously the following years have shown which of these movies would stand the test of time.
That Star Wars has gone on to become so highly regarded owes nothing to the initial thoughts of many of the cast. Alec Guinness who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first (4th chronologically-speaking) movie reportedly thought it was fairytale rubbish and only agreed to be in it once his pay was doubled. Harrison Ford lobbied for Han Solo to be killed off in the first movie and even George Lucas himself ditched the premiere in favour of a Hawaiian holiday, so sure was he that the movie would be a flop.
So after the high expectations for the disasters that were the Star Wars prequels, I admit that even through the hype I still had doubts walking into the cinema. I'd managed to keep myself spoiler-free having only seen the trailers so I, my wife and five friends settled back to watch amidst a packed house.
From the familiar scrolling text to the iconic music, from the weird and diverse alien characters to the ones who we're more familiar with, from the action to the quieter, character-defining moments, this movie did the unimaginable and exceeded all of my expectations. We left the theatre over two hours later questioning much of what we had seen and how it would impact on future sequels. But we left knowing that we had seen Star Wars return triumphantly and due in no small measure to J.J. Abrams. The director has followed, some might say a little too closely, the ideas that made the original Star Wars film so memorable to audiences and critics alike. I'm going to need to go back and re-watch it now that I am comfortable in what I'm looking out for as well as just to damn well sit back and enjoy it all again, especially knowing what's coming.
The acting talent is great from the returing characters to the debutantes. That there is not one annoying character says as much for directorial influence over the marketing department and I have no doubt that your first glimpse of the Millenium Falcon in action will leave you gobsmacked. The potential for where this story can go next is so diverse I can't wait to see what's in store.
So why the half mark? Well it is down to that slight sense of repetition with which I watched some things play out. It's a small, small thing in the concept of a much bigger and immensely varied tale, and it didn't stop my enjoyment of the movie, but in the hands of such a talented director I think he could have switched things up a tad........
From the familiar scrolling text to the iconic music, from the weird and diverse alien characters to the ones who we're more familiar with, from the action to the quieter, character-defining moments, this movie did the unimaginable and exceeded all of my expectations. We left the theatre over two hours later questioning much of what we had seen and how it would impact on future sequels. But we left knowing that we had seen Star Wars return triumphantly and due in no small measure to J.J. Abrams. The director has followed, some might say a little too closely, the ideas that made the original Star Wars film so memorable to audiences and critics alike. I'm going to need to go back and re-watch it now that I am comfortable in what I'm looking out for as well as just to damn well sit back and enjoy it all again, especially knowing what's coming.
The acting talent is great from the returing characters to the debutantes. That there is not one annoying character says as much for directorial influence over the marketing department and I have no doubt that your first glimpse of the Millenium Falcon in action will leave you gobsmacked. The potential for where this story can go next is so diverse I can't wait to see what's in store.
So why the half mark? Well it is down to that slight sense of repetition with which I watched some things play out. It's a small, small thing in the concept of a much bigger and immensely varied tale, and it didn't stop my enjoyment of the movie, but in the hands of such a talented director I think he could have switched things up a tad........
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