ST Will the perception of TFA change over time?

How do you think TFA will be perceived 5-10 years from now? Do you think there will be a shift? How do you think your impression will change, if at all?

Will it age like wine and get better over time? Or, the opposite?

Much depends on how Episode VIII and IX shake out but we can see how TPM's perception changed from opening weekend to something different (let's avoid rampant prequel bashing here).

 

Didn't we have a thread exactly like this get locked?

I personally think it will drop a bit but could also be enhanced by how well the trilogy plays out.

I don't think people will go from liking it to hating however, if that is what you are trying to get at. And no the prequels were not well received. It got razzie nominations for 1999 and among the nerd core the matrix was seen to have upstaged it completely.

 

TPM had a mixed reception from the start. Personally I rate TFA just behind RoTJ. To me TFA is a fun, humorous return to Star Wars and build good characters to take forward. I expect to see TFA come down from its initial highs but for those hoping it'll be judged like the prequels they are going to be disappointed.

 

To stay with your analogy equally bad and good wine will get you drunk. At this point I do not know with which speed the hypetrain is still running, but remembering the enthusiastic welcome of Episode I back in 1999 the current situation reminds me a lot of this.

I feel quite indifferent about TFA at this point in time for a couple of reasons already mentioned abundantly by the sceptics. Assuming that VIII and IX will be much better, TFA might be remembered later as the film that introduced the new key characters.

 

I think it's natural for most movies to tarnish some as fans pick at them over time. I remember really enjoying TPM in the theater, but Jar Jar etc. are like a scratch on a CD... every time more annoying than the time before, until when you hear the song, your enjoyment is lessened from the very beginning, because of all the times the scratch has interrupted the good part.

My guess is TFA will tarnish too, but probably not nearly as much as TPM and AOTC. There are fewer of those "scratches." There are some, like the Leia/Chewie non-interaction after Han's death. The ground splitting open between Ren and Rey at the perfect place and time. Maz, maybe, if she becomes seen as "generic wise old sage whose unsupported generic wisdom is never questioned." (No offense, but neither running a bar for a really long time, being a pirate, nor saying that you "know the Force" give your words nearly as much weight as the movie seems to think they have.)

But overall, I think TFA's reception will still be substantially better in five years then TPM or AOTC were after five years.

 

I think it will hold up but people will be more honest about its flaws aaand much depends on 8 and 9.

If 8 or 9 don't explain Leia and the Resistance better than 7 did than all 3 will be the weaker for it. The Rathtar scene is already getting a mixed reaction and I'm wondering where fan consensus will end up on it. I like it about as much as the trash compactor scene from ANH or a little less, which isn't much but I don't particularly hate either scene.

To me the msoat glaring mistake that will hang over TFA unless 8 or 9 does something to retroactively make this choice better, was to have a superweapon so similar to the Death Star. JJ is clearly pretty familiar with the EU so why he didn't use a World Devastator or the Steamroller idea that was being discussed or just something more creative is beyond me at this point and is, so far, my biggest criticism of TFA.

That said, I agree with Iamnoone in rating it just behind ROTJ at this point.

 

Honestly I can't get past the history revisionists, TPM was not well received it was mixed at best and this is clearly evidenced in its RT score at the time. Will TFA sour over time ? Quite Possibly but not nearly as much as people think it will.

 

I dunno.... I suspect it have a LOT to do with the quality of 8 and 9. I think I am unlikely to like TFA less over time, and I might like it more. But it's REAL place will be determined by how the rest of the ST does.

 

One of the reasons TFA made $700 million in 16 days in the U.S. was nostalgia. Much of the audience response the times I saw the movie in theaters had to do with the introduction of the OT characters and the iconograpny of the Falcon and Luke's lightsaber.

I'm not sure how fantastic the underlying movie is going to seem after the nostalgia high wears off. You can't really get that back. You can experience it once in theaters. It already wore off for me the second time I saw the movie. It's still enjoyable, but is it $900 million U.S. box office enjoyable without that OT nostalgia? Probably not.

It will have a video market for decades because it will always be packaged as part of the Star Wars saga. This is a movie people will own. They will buy it as a stand alone movie. They will buy it as a ST trilogy set.. They will buy it as a 9 movie boxed BluRay set.

No matter what, TFA can lay claim to being the most successful movie sequel in history.

 

It will change quite a bit. Context is everything and the "It's just the first part of a trilogy!" argument works just as much for and against this movie. A lot of it depends on the payoffs to the issues set up in TFA. I think AOTC could have been viewed as a stronger film if they'd paid off the Sifo-Dyas thing in Episode 3 instead of just creating a plot thread and left it dangling. TFA has a lot of that stuff, so it is dependent on other films to fill it out.

 

OT callbacks helped but the prequels had a lot of those too. Being a good film with a few surprises helped. The nw characters and their chemistry is inceadible. The audience can see them carrying the movies in the future. TFA even does whiny and petulant correctly.

 

in my opinion right now it's hard to say.It depends alot on episode 8 and 9.It seems that the biggest issue many people have with the force awakens is the lack of originality and being too similiar in plot structure to a new hope.If Episode 8 is "the first order strikes back" the perception will be bad,but i have faith in Rian Johnson that he will deliver something more original.My personal opinion is that the perception will never be as bad as it was with TPM.The Force awakens did many things right and the most important thing for me-the characters.They were great and after episode 8 and 9,the could become iconic.Rey,Kylo Ren and BB8 will 100% be i think

 

I don't know if this movie will be over 90% loved (like it is on Rotten Tomatoes right now) in 5-10 years, especially after the next two movies come out, but it will certainly stand the test of time as a wonderful movie. It's not really fresh and original in the sense that Star Wars was, and let's face it, really is a retread of ANH, but if nothing else, I feel that JJ Abrams captured the spirit of fun in this movie that was sorely lacking in the prequels and that will make a difference. This movie made you laugh and made you tense up and made you tear up and really, that's what we go to the movies for. I don't think that it would have done nearly this well if not for the original groundswell of support that it received as THE new Star Wars movie, but it certainly is a good enough film on its own to be enjoyed for years to come.

 

Depends on what episodes 8 and 9 do. Some people have issues with certain "plot holes" in TFA, which could be filled by E8/9 and therefore making TFA a better movie for them. Personally, I think those plot holes are expected and necessary, because TFA isn't a standalone movie, but only a part of bigger story.
As far as other stuff like nostalgia is concerned, I think it will hold well. I had no nostalgia for OT characters like Han or Chewie (I grew up with prequels, but love both trilogies) and I still enjoyed the movie even after my 4th viewing, even more with repeat viewings actually. (I'll probably go again on Wednesday).

 

It will stand.

 

Deja vu

Yes. The perception of this film will change over time. The movie is nostalgia porn that gave a much needed shot in the arm to those disenfranchised by the prequels. After the dust settles, people will perceive the film in a less forgiving light or perhaps they'll simply see it as a nice fun little film, but ranking it above ANH, ESB, ROTS, and even I'd argue ROTJ will not be commonplace, at least in the fan community.

 

I find TFA the worst of the saga, so I'm amazed to all the positive reception.

But, as I said before, a lot of that is built on comparing the movie to the prequels and saying that it's everything everyone wanted ever since ROTJ. As much as I find ROTJ a fourth prequel, TFA is even more perceived as a fourth original, not as the first of the sequels. In five years time the ST will be complete, hopefully, as a trilogy, not as a hexalogy 4-9, and then... Who knows?

I can't really say.
TFA failed to develop the ST feeling, style and theme, it failed to open a new and unique trilogy. It may be praised, it may be bashed. The hype will fade in time, no doubt about that, and when all the comparisons to the PT become pointless (it'll take some time, even Ep 9 will be compared to the PT only), TFA will set on it's place. Wherever it is.

 

Are there actual examples of movies (any movies, not just SW movies) that are received totally differently years later?

I mean sure, there are movies that are good for a single watch and you'll never watch again... but that doesn't mean they aren't good movies.

An as example, I really enjoyed Avatar the first time I saw it, but don't really care to watch it over and over again... does that mean it didn't hold up? I still enjoyed my initial viewing.

Edit: to add a bit more.... I'm guessing there are movies that are say 8/10 that could climb to a 9 or 9.5 out of 10 on repeated viewings... there's probably also 8/10 movies that could fall to 7 or 6.5 on repeated viewings. I don't think thought there are a lot of movies that are received as let's say 8/10 and later viewed as 4/10

 

Time will tell. I don't recall many (outside of kids my age) saying ESB was better than ANH in 1980. I still give ANH the slight nod, but I feel like I'm now in the minority.

But I think TFA will long be remembered as the movie that "brought back" Star Wars and made a ridiculous amount of money.

 

Depends. For the casual viewer, the film is just something they saw, likely enjoyed as being quite fun, and move on to the next blockbuster. For the fan, there are those who went into it with their dislike already set in stone, or at the very least a modicum of pre-existing skepticism.

For my own standpoint, I was somewhat dreading the film, but walked out of the cinema grinning like the 7-year old me when I saw ESB with my big brother. There was a massive amount of nostalgia and warmth to the movie that I didn't experience in the prequels. I don't know if that's down to the reintroduction of the old favourites like Han, Chewie, Leia and Luke, or the plot parallels to the original, but I think it's just a better movie going experience than what I felt coming out of TPM which I MASSIVELY looked forward to.

So maybe the overwhelming support for the film is based on expectations. After the OT, most of us had VERY high hopes for the prequels, and they didn't live up to the expectations (for most). After the PT, most of us looked at The Force Awakens with skepticism and are pleasantly surprised.

I know one thing - when I left the theatre on that Thursday night, the audience was clapping and high fiving, having clearly universally enjoyed it. When I left the cinema after TPM 16 years ago, I remember a guy dressed as Han Solo (probably in his 30s at the time) openly crying with his friend and just saying "IT WAS ****!! IT WAS ****!! HOW COULD THEY RELEASE THAT?!?!" over and over again.

 

I don't want to cause waves here, but I genuinely think it's going to be fondly remembered and more so compared to the prequels. Even just having Han, Leia and Luke is going to make it more loved for some people - hell, that's the case for me.

 

The second time I watched TPM, I liked it a lot less. The second time I watched TFA, I enjoyed it slightly more than the first viewing.

I still rank TFA below all of the original OT, but it is lightyears better than TPM and AOTC and significantly better than ROTS as well.

1. The Empire Strikes Back (9.5/10)
2. Star Wars (9/10)
3. Return of the Jedi (8.5/10)
4. The Force Awakens (7.5/10)
5. Revenge of the Sith (6.5/10)
6. The Phantom Menace (5/10)
7. Attack of the Clones (4.5/10)

 

I think this happens all the time. It happened with AOTC in relation to TPM. Clones to me is very obviously superior, which was the consensus at the time, and then I would argue thanks to RLM people decided the romance was the worst thing ever and forgot about everything else wonderful about the film. Nolan's third Batman film was well-received by critics, but feelings towards it have tempered over time. Batman Begins has kind of risen to the top of that trilogy for many after The Dark Knight had a firm grasp on that title and seemed somewhat untouchable. Does anyone care about X-Men 2 anymore? It was once heralded as a great comic film and now it's all but forgotten. There are films such as The Shining which was derided at the time and is now considered a masterpiece after reevaluation.

Yes, I believe the perception of films changes as often as conventional wisdom does. Many stand the test of time, but many do not.

 

TFA will remain behind ANH and ESB. Some might like it better than ROTJ. It will always be more popular than TPM, ATOC, and ROTS.

 

Easy example - 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Complete bomb when initially released is now considered a huge classic.