Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Theatrical Review

I finally made it, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  Now, how to review it?  I suppose I could put spoiler alerts, or I could be vague, or I could just skip recapping the film entirely and just relay my feelings about it.  By this point seeing as I’m almost a whole month late seeing Star Wars The Force Awakens, spoilers really shouldn’t be that much of a concern, but to me they still are.  That’s why I’ve been intentionally and effectively offline for the last month.  I’ve posted no reviews, very few tweets, and have been feeling rather out of touch.  But I was able to go into tonight’s film armed only with my knowledge of the original films, and that allowed me the privilege of enjoying every moment, and every scene as it unfolded before me.

Taking place some thirty years after Return of the Jedi, the baton (or lightsaber) is set to be passed from the old cast to a new generation of heroes in that galaxy far far away.  Okay, a small spoiler, but it’s revealed in the opening crawl: Luke Skywalker is missing, and it seems everyone is trying to find him.  The First Order, a military splinter group who have risen up in place of the fallen Empire, and the Resistance are trying to find the last Jedi.  It’s not made entirely clear as to how the Resistance are different from the New Republic who were formed by the former Rebel Alliance, but the Republic does support their actions.  Since there were such negative reactions to the trade negotiations and political debates in the prequels maybe it’s best that The Force Awakens kind of glosses over facts like these and puts most of the focus on the characters and their own personal adventures.  Back to those adventures; General Leia has sent Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on a mission to retrieve information that may lead them to Luke’s whereabouts.  Along the journey we’re introduced to Finn (John Boyega) a deserting First Order Stormtrooper and Rey (Daisy Ridley) a scrap scavenger on the planet Jakku who obtain the Death Star plans map to Skywalker’s location that is stored inside Poe’s droid BB-8.  Finn and Rey set out to return the map to the Resistance and meet some familiar original trilogy faces along the way.

There were a ton of parallels and references to the original trilogy, especially A New Hope.  Some may say that it is lazy writing to borrow so many elements from the prior films, but there’s an old saying that reminds us “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  The plot though was admittedly quite simple, but for me, it didn’t need to be overly complicated and I think that may be where the prequels fell apart.  They got away from the simple idea of a quest storyline; that  fantastical and mythical journey that the world fell in love with in 1977 and instead tried to give us a story that was incredibly complex, to the point of being convoluted.  If they were trying to be intellectually stimulating, they failed.  With The Force Awakens the writers shifted the emphasis back to a fantasy film, and made it less of a science fiction film like the prequels tried to be.

The Force Awakens goes back to basics, possibly to apologize for the prequels, but also because the storyline works.  They need to get the information from the droid back to the good guys so they have a chance to find their friend who might help them beat the bad guys.  And the bad guys motivation?  They want to take over and rule the universe, and if you don’t agree with them, their super weapon will destroy your planetary system.  Good thing the heroes have found a way to stop the “Starkiller Base” because it’s recharging and aiming right at them, but can they rescue their friend who has been taken prisoner on the planet before they have to blow it up?  Will they even be able to destroy this planet sized weapon?  It’s not as simple as firing a torpedo down a thermal exhaust port…

There were an incredible number of parallels and role reversals between Episodes VII and IV which all played out quite nicely.  Rey was a strong and intelligent character, but in a much different way than Leia was in the original films.  Finn was initially not a super confident protagonist.  Kylo Ren was an impressive villain, who was trying to live up to the legend of Darth Vader (both the character on screen and the character as he was written).  There was humour, there was action and excitement, and there were emotional moments and surprise revelations too.  I personally loved the dogfights and spaceship scenes (though it looked as though the Resistance’s big attack on the Starkiller Base was comprised of only about twenty X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon).  I’m now even more excited for the spinoff film Rogue One.  I loved the inclusion of the classic characters and their interactions with the new ones.  Sure there were times that I could predict what the dialogue was going to be, but that’s because we know these characters, and we know this universe, and we know not just what they’re going to say, but what they should say.

Great special effects, as you would expect.  Very strong acting; I particularly enjoyed Daisy Ridley. A good story that left enough threads dangling that I’m eagerly anticipating the next chapter.  I actually didn’t want the film to end.  I saw it in 3D which I normally avoid, but the 3D was well done and while it was not really a distraction from the film, it wasn’t overly necessary either.  I think I loved just about everything in the film, but perhaps what I loved the most was that an old friend asked me to join her in watching it.

Bottom Line:  Well, now that I’ve finally seen it, when can I go see it again?

Kingsman: The Secret Service – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Theatrical Review

A rare theatrical review!  That’s right, I went to the cinema to watch this one.  I remember seeing the trailer for Kingsman a long time ago, well it seems like a long time ago.  I can’t remember when but I do know that the film’s release date did get pushed back for some reason, which actually made me want to see it even more.   I was not disappointed, as this was an extremely fun fun film from director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class).

I don’t know if I can really compare Kingsman to anything else I’ve ever seen.  It was very cool and suave, so it was part Connery Bond.  It had incredible gadgets and explosions, so it was part Moore Bond.  It had plenty of tongue in cheek humour, so it was part Austin Powers…well, it wasn’t that silly, the humour really reminded me more of the Roger Moore films again.  It seemed as though the film used just about every spy movie cliche and trope at it’s disposal, but it used them properly with a wink and a nod to the films of the past.

A troubled youth who has fallen in with the wrong crowd is recruited for an ultra secret spy agency by Galahad (Colin Firth) the man who recruited his late father for the same organization.  Eggsy (Taron Egerton) isn’t the rich kid like the rest of the recruits, but he is more skilled and has the street sense they sometime lack.  Trained by Merlin (Mark Strong), who is the organization’s “Q”, Eggsy finds friendship some of his fellow recruits, such as Roxy (Sophie Cookson) and friction with others, including Arthur (Michael Caine), the head of the organization.  When a global warming scientist (Mark Hamill) is kidnapped and a Kingsman is killed in the rescue attempt, the trail begins to lead to a megalomaniac industrialist (Samuel L Jackson) who as close to a super villain as you could hope in his plan for world domination.

A lot of the film was very predictable, but that just made you love it more I think.  I would not have thought of Firth as an action film star, but he was incredible throughout the film, whether it was a fight scene or being a fine English gentleman.  Jackson on the other hand, was an absolutely natural choice who played it up with gusto, stealing his scenes at every opportunity.  I don’t think I really could find a single fault with the way the film came across.  As I was watching it though I had to laugh at a few scenes where our heroes engage in a shootout, using a gun that seems to have an endless supply of bullets without reloading.  This may have been a goof, but it also could have been yet another nod to those films that paved the way. Lots of action, lots of quick humour, and a light nod to the past, Kingsman: The Secret Service is certainly one I’d recommend.

Bottom Line: Clearly everything was set up to make this a franchise or at least have some sequels, and hopefully we do get some more.  I can’t wait to pick this one up on Blu Ray to check out the special features, and revisit the world of the Kingsman.