Episode VII: The Force Awakens - "The best Star Wars movie ever?"

While waiting for the release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens next December, there are some people involved more or less in the making of the seventh chapter of the Star Wars saga speculating or offering their opinions on the movie saying that "it's going to be the best Star Wars movie ever" even better than The Empire Strikes Back.

A few months ago, Anthony Daniels, playing C3-P0 during the entire saga said that The Force Awakens was going to be better than The Empire Strikes Back, considered, even still today, to be the #1 Star Wars movie:

Link: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/C-3P...ht-Better-Than-Empire-Strikes-Back-68030.html

Some people may think that because he's an actor in the film, actors usually hype the film a lot for their fans.

But another person shares also Daniel's thoughts on the new movie. Drew Struzan, involved in the making of the promotional posters of every Star Wars movies, said it himself, especially after he said that he has read the script of Episode VII and had the chance to watch half of it with JJ Abrams in order to make his poster for D23 recently:

Link: http://www.slashfilm.com/drew-struzan-force-awakens-opinions/

So should we expect The Force Awakens to be the best Star Wars movie ever made this Christmas?

I don't know, but on my part, I'm trying to keep my expectations low and wait to watch the movie after its release next December and trying not to jump too rapidly in the hype. I will watch with an opened mind and judge it after seeing it.

Just a reminder: this is a spoiler free thread! We are here to discuss about the opinions of the people involved in the making on the new movie. Not to discuss about the content of the movie.

 

I still see this as more hyping up the upcoming film than anything else. And regardless, it still comes down to personal taste at the end of the day. I seriously doubt TFA will become my favorite, but I can't say for sure until I've seen it of course.

 

Can I visit this world?

 

I don't have unreasonable expectations. If it's as good as the PT/KOTCS, I'll be happy. If it turns out to be as good as the OT,I'll be ecstatic.

 

I am sure this one will be some people's favorite fo' sho', and that's all good.

But I agree-OF COURSE they are going to say nothing but accolades for the film, and talk about how much of an "absolute joy it was to work on such a great film." No one is going to say anything negative at all before it's released. It's all buildup. And obviously so. Good marketing. Makes sense.

I would bet that whatever new generation that is introduced to it will count it as their favorite-just like those who saw the OT when they were younger, and the younger generation that came out with the PT.

But I'm still going to keep my opinion open.

 

To me, Star Wars is one great, ever expanding work of art. I really don't see any one part as being better than the others. They're all equally important in the grand scheme of things and somehow, that makes them equally good to me. They are one.
That's not to say that TFA can't possibly disappoint me, but if I find it captivating, it'll probably become as natural a part of Star Wars to me as the other movies are and then, I'll probably love it as much as I love them.

Who knows, though? Maybe TFA will top them all. Maybe it's much more engaging than anything that's come before it. Maybe it'll even be too good to be seen as part of the same thing.
It is the beginning of a new era, so anything's possible...

I honestly just expect more Star Wars, though.

 

I have no problem believing TFA, or any other future Star Wars film, can be the best Star Wars sequel. I'm one not one who believes The Empire Strikes Back is some unassailable entity. It's about as good a sequel as anyone could dream of for the original Star Wars, and I do get the arguments that it's the best one, even if I don't necessarily agree. But to suggest it can't be surpassed is to suggest it's perfect, which is absurd.

I do have my doubts that any sequel can top the impact of the original Star Wars. No sequel can replicate the impact of that, the first, and only, Star Wars film that stands utterly on it's own. The film is a damn near perfect solo popcorn film which, despite having the perfect seeds for an episodic expansion, is totally complete.

 

I dunno about best, but it certainly sounds like the Lucasfilm team has worked really hard to write a great story.

 

If Episode 7 is the best of the first 7, we then have to have 8 top the first 7 movies and then Episode 9 will have to top all 8 previous movies.
Could happen but doubt it.
Episode 9 for best movie of the Saga.
As long as 7 and 8 don't completely bomb, I should be fine. We are talking Denning-Verse levels here.
The NJO series, X-Wing series, Thrawn trilogy, Han Solo trilogy, KOTOR comic series, Legacy comic series etc are all better than the movies imo. So the ST could easily have an entry better than the first 6 movies imo.

 

Nostalgia, denial, a pack mentality, and clinging to ideas (the EU, 20th Century Fox, etc) will keep a lot of people from thinking it is the best.
I want to have a new favorite. I want this to be a movie I want to watch over and over. I want to anticipate the video release, and not just do all that reluctantly or because I feel like I have to.
Still... no one says an upcoming movie will just be okay.

 

From that first sentence to the last, that is exactly my opinion.

I'll bet there will be lovers of TFA and haters of TFA for a plethora-a veritable hodgepodge, if you will-of reasons. I'm sure I will love it-but my favorite? I HOPE so, but I guess we'll see.

One of the things I'm most excited for with the ST is that there is no expected storyline/ending, like the PT-we all KNEW how it was going to end, so there was only so much that could be done. With this ST, the sky is the limit, in terms of story!

 

I'm sure it will be fine...a enjoyable evening at the movie theater at the very least. JJ Abram's past films have been fairly good so far, maybe with the exception of "Cloverfield".

Still I would agree to take any early reviews with some skepticism, if only because believing such early high praise could eventually lead to inflated expectations and perhaps disappointment later.

 

I don't think anything can honestly surpass the OT for me. Nothing is "perfect", but those three movies are as close to perfection as humanly possible,IMO. It'll take a herculean effort to get any of the ST to that level.

I'm guessing (or perhaps hoping) at least one or more of the ST will be above AOTC on my list.(That was the only SW film I left the theater not totally enthusiastic about) If they manage to surpass TPM or ROTS I'll be surprised and very pleased.

 

Good point here. ROTS is currently my favorite of the saga. It will be interesting to see if TFA will be able to surpass that. I actually am predicting it will for reasons I will not get into right here cos I'm at work and don't have the time right now for those paragraphs...

I'd imagine that my enjoyment for TFA will increase once I see Episode VIII as well (this happened for me with TPM), since by that time I will have learned more about the story and will be more invested in whatever arc. I have a feeling there are some things we're wondering about on here regarding TFA that we won't find out until later in the ST-which is actually kind of exciting, really. Especially when knowing that we won't have to wait 3 years to see the next part, and we'll have some great stuff to tide us over in between!

 

I must be in the minority but for me ROTS is the one I least like.

Yep I can enjoy TPM over ROTS even with little Annie, fart jokes and Jar-jar.

On another note. I also like the OT over the PT but "perfect" is not something I would use to describe them. I would put other fantasy sci-fi movies as being better movies overall. Don't get me wrong. I love Star Wars, and how it has kept relevant after all these years. But perfect is too strong a word to use IMHO.

 

JJ seems to actually love SW so I hope he won't rip away its very essence like he did with Trek. Fun movies but they sure as hell weren't anything like the original material.

 

I personally rank the films this way: 1. ESB, 2. ANH, 3. ROTJ, 4. ROTS, 5. TPM, 6. AOTC

With that said, my optimism is strong (while still cautious) enough to say that TFA could, at the most, potentially rank 3rd with me. I'm not going to be disappointed at all if it can't live up to the masterpieces that are ANH & ESB (in my mind anyways). Even if it lands in the middle of my list, that could still be a good movie and more importantly a good STAR WARS movie.

Now if it lands between ROTS and TPM... hard to say how I'd feel. Mostly being that the margin of quality I see between ROTS and TPM is quite enormous.

 

I'd actually tie ESB and ROTS for first. And though it may be committing internet suicide, I'd place AOTC just below ANH. ROTJ and TPM are essentially the same movie, so those two are tied at the bottom for me. I can see TFA winning my heart over, providing it's more Kasdan and less JJ.

 

One thing that TFA has going for it compared to Trek is that this is not a re-boot, it's a continuation of the story. JJ and Kasdan don't need to re-write plots or story points, they can pick and choose what they want to include, what they leave out and what new things they add and it can still be cohesive.

The problem for me in the Trek reboot was that it basically threw out many established story-lines and then added time-paradoxes into the mix. Which I really dislike as plot devices, as inevitably they will introduce massive plot-holes or inconsistencies in the story. So now the older movies are an "alternate universe" and they never happened.

 

Well TPM is the one PT movie most similar to the OT. I think that is why over time my enjoyment of it increases, while my enjoyment of AOTC decreases and ROTS stays mostly the same.

Exactly, the new Trek movies aren't actually a reboot, but a continuation. Everything that happened prior really did happen, just now we are in a parallel universe where the people are unaware of the events in the other parallel universe, except for Spock.

 

parallel, alternate.

My point is that whatever happened in the alternate story now has been invalidated. Plus you know that whatever happens they can enter another time vortex and change it again.

Anyway, sorry to derail the discussion...