ST Rate TFA from 1 to 10 (you only get 1 vote, so see it as much as you need before voting!)

Still holding firm at an average of 7.6 on the most bitter sectarian forum on the interweb, so I can certainly see why it's rated so highly elsewhere.

 

I must say I wanted to like the movie. It definitely has many things working for it. At the same time many things that I just thought they could've taken the series to any number of directions but choose poorly IMHO.

I'm actually quite surprised about the general assessment from the fans here. It's a lot more positive than I would've imagined.

Somehow it feels like this was also true after TPM, and that it wasn't until the dust had settled that the problems started becoming more obvious and that the consensus started shifting from an enjoyable movie to arguably the weakest and least liked in the franchise.

Only time will tell and specially the follow up movies could make up for some of its shortcomings or it will make them more obvious.

If TFA did not have Star Wars attached to it, it would've been called derivative and unimaginative.

 

I feel like the only person who hasn't seen the movie yet. I'm not alone, though!

...Right?

 

Well, if it wasn't Star Wars, it probably wouldn't have as many familiar elements. This is a franchise film, after all. But the reason ghis film will not suffer TPM's fate is because it is not anything like TPM. There is no Jar-Jar. There is no 9 year old hero kid. There are no taxation disputes. Generally, people have praised the acting and dialogue. That doesn't mean people can't change their minds, of course, but it doesn't have liabilities of TPM.

 

7.5/10 rounded up to 8/10, although it would be interesting to revisit this 6 months after the Blu-Ray release.

Too much rehashing, especially of the Starkiller/Death Star run. Didn't like the design so far on Snoke, although the hologram trick caught me off guard first time around. Didn't think the score was anything exceptional, and no "single" track like DOF. Closest thing is probably Rey's Theme I guess.

Still, it was so much more fun than any of the prequels and it looked fantastic.

And if Abrams nailed one thing, it was the casting - loved Finn, Rey, Poe and Ren.

I almost feel like they should have had this movie in between the new trilogy, just to get us excited again.

 

I give it a solid 8, maybe a 9. (voting 8). I've seen the film 4 times now, twice in 3D, twice in 2D. JJ Abrams style is such that he moves things along to get the story told. For the most part that works very well for covering a lot of ground. There were, however, a few times he could/should have re-shot a scene to fix a glitch but didn't. I'm no film maker though. I couldn't even begin to fathom what it takes to pull off a production like this under the scrutiny and pressure he must have felt.

At the end of each viewing, I always walked away thinking, "MAN! That was a great movie!"

 

That may be true No Jar-jar and not kid yelling yipiee and no fart jokes.

On the other hand, I found the story of TPM to be at least different and interesting. And if Anakin would've been slightly older or toned down and Jar-jar would've been less annoying I think it would be a lot better.

For TFA, I like the dialog, I like the acting (except for Kylo, sorry but he plays it like a spoiled brat), the cinematography, the sets, the design.

I predicted correctly who was going to bite it and why. And also (as so many) that it was going to be a rip-off of the OT. And this last bit is the one that makes me not like it that much. The story felt too contrived to make it a re-boot. Even they elude to it in the dialog. "so it's another death star" blah, blah.

Hopefully since TFA seems to roll all the three OT movies into one. The first act is ANH, the second act is ESB and the third act is ROTJ/ROTS. Hopefully now the story can move beyond this into something a bit more original.

 

I gave it a 9. As context, I rewatched the OT before seeing TFA, have seen TFA twice now, and of the PT only saw TPM. Honestly, I loved TFA enough where I've considered trying to watch the other PT. It made me love Star Wars again.

For me, it is my second favorite movie. Nothing can ever ever compare to seeing the original (can't quite call it ANH, to me it is just 'Star Wars") special effects blockbuster when I was nine years old, but it also told a complete story. It was a trite B-movie storyline, but with mind blowing special effects and it created wonderful characters that we loved.

The Empire Strikes Back is probably a better movie, but I feel TFA does just as good of a job as the original in creating great characters. The universe and fx can only really be that original once, but I think this is more creative than ROTJ. I vividly remember how disappointed I was that ROTJ - both because it was a letdown as a movie (ghost Obi-Wan just TELLS Luke all about his sister, they attack the Death Star again?) and because Lucas said he wasn't going to make any more Star Wars movies.

Finally, while it has weaknesses like all of them, TFA makes me want to watch more Star Wars movies. Only ESB made me crave them as much.

 

I ranked the movie a 3. This was mainly because the main characters were so poorly written. Rey was poorly conceived. Her apparent mastery of force abilities and use of the saber were simply not plausible given what we know of force-use and training that the previous six films established. Given her overwrought powers and almost flawless character, she was literally unlikable and emphatically not a hero. Poe Dameron could have been written out of the story entirely without affecting the movie. I'd be hard pressed to even describe him. Finn had the potential to be intriguing but his defection wasn't convincing and he was relegated to comedic relief, unfortunately. He wasn't done justice by the story.

That being said, the FTA was simply a bad movie.

 

8.5 out of 10. For the sake of this pole, I rounded up.

Characters: 10/10: Loved both the new characters and the development of the old characters
Plot: 7/10: Mostly good, but obviously derivative of ANH in some places. Starkiller Base was filler. Political dynamic was unclear.
Acting: 9/10: Best acting in any Star Wars movie
Script: 9/10: Possibly the best script of any Star Wars movie. Up there with ESB. Funny, poignant, and moving.
Planets/ Environments: 8/10: Jakku, Starkiller Base, and The Jedi Steps are all quite breathtaking. The other planets are too vague.
Development of the Force: 10/10: Loved the mind reading, the force-freeze, etc.
Aliens: 6/10: One area the new series needs to improve. I didn't find any of the new species very intriguing. Old species were done with fidelity.

 

I would love to know what movie these people who think TFA had "poor characters" is a movie with "good characters"

 

I gave it a 9. I rank it 3rd behind Rotj and ESB.

 

I voted 8.

There are a few personal reasons why it wasn't a 10.


- Left with more questions then I went in with, some people may not have a problem with that but I don't feel like enough was explained all around.

- Finn's portrayal in the marketing was almost the complete opposite of what we got (This one really bugs me to the core, almost heartbreakingly so.)

- Rey picked up force powers just a little to quick IMO.

- Where are the new starfighters????? or any of the other starfighters for that matter????? . . . really, just X-wings and TIE fighters.

- No funeral / send-off for Han?????

 

I gave it an 8 here

 

9. Best Lucasfilm movie since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

I absolutely love the Tarsunt and Abednedo (new species created by JJ's team), but we didn't get enough of them!

Tarsunt:





Abednedo:

 

After two viewings, I'll give The Force Awakens a solid 8/10

I don't think it's the best Star Wars movie (for me it's still The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith) but it's certainly a good and enjoyable one.

If you want to read my review of the movie: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ughts-and-views.50033269/page-2#post-53110311

 

As a stand alone film I'd have to give TFA a 7/10
As a sequel....well 5/10...
Without any prior knowledge of Star Trek, JJ's job was a couple of hours of visual glee....add to that the backstory of how they got to know each other and you get a 8/10 and up....
There are plenty of sequels that don't have any of the flaws which TFA is riddled with (and we're talking sci-fi adventure romps here) ...Aliens was impeccable in it's development of the story 9/10. T2 lacked the dark ominousness of it's predecessor but was great 8/10. Even Predator II, cuasing a few raised eyebrows at the time, was a splendid romp 7/10.
I know TFA has a lot more to live up to (6 films to be held up to!!) but it just seemed to be clutching at straws. It could have been so much better.....
Still seen it 7 times now and enjoyed it every time....

 

Having had the chance to mull over it, I'm changing my vote to a 9. I stand by what I said, but realize now that the positives outnumber the negatives by too big of a margin to just leave it at 8. Additional viewings have made TFA go from a very good film to a great film for me. Also, having now seen all the previous films (I'd only seen ANH before TFA), I've come to notice and appreciate lot of the nuances and little details I missed on my first viewing, which has enhanced my enjoyment of the film even further. I can't wait to own it on DVD.

 

beebee-ate didn't know vote changing is possible for the poll or did you mean just mentally changing it?

I'm leaving mine at 8 to let it settle out some more, but in an age where a movie sucks if it isn't a 9, my 8 is a solid score. In fact, I currently rank it just behind ESB and tied with ROTJ in my own rankings.

 

Yeah, just in my mind.

 

ESB: 10
ANH: 9
ROTS: 8.5
ROTJ: 7.5
TFA: 7
TPM: 6.5
AOTC: 6

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

ROTJ: 9.5
ESB: 9
ANH: 8.5
TFA: 7
ROTS: 7
TPM: 6.5
AOTC: 6

 

TFA is a sequel to ROTJ, JJ's Trek 09 was a reboot. He retconned a bunch of stuff like destruction of Vulcan and having the story in a parallel universe. Not really the same

I also find it a little bit interesting that people who are sort of critical of TFA accuse it of being just another JJ reboot on one hand ( I don't really agree btw), but you are saying it didn't reboot far enough.

I'm not sure what the producers could do to satisfy the amorphous seemingly arbitrary tastes of the niche fanbases within Star Wars. They seem to have done a good enough job of satisfying the core fanbase though and bringing back the fans who got disgusted with the PT

Moving to a more general meta analysis of the fan reaction;
What I see is a strong positive reaction to the film from the old OT only fans, the OT&PT fans, and PT fans. Exposing niche groups of unorthodox fandoms who stick out as hating the movie for various arbitrary reasons. Some make sense, but I've seen way too many nonsenscial hate to know that there is likely something else going on. Note the uptick of 1/10 votes in the poll above in an otherwise normal curve.

 

I generally liked some of the new characters in TFA despite disliking the film quite a bit overall, but this is kind of a weird question to ask. I think it's pretty well agreed that the OT introduced some of the best characters in the history of cinema, and their stories have stood the test of time for 35+ years.