January 3, 2016
A Force To Reckon With
Star Wars The Force Awakens is a beautiful movie!
I've seen it twice so far. Opening night, and then a few days later. The second time, I just loved it even more. Everything about the movie is perfect. It really feels like JJ Abrams' gift to Humanity. He clearly poured his heart and soul into the making of this film as only a true fan could do.
After being very impressed with the reboot of Star Trek by Abrams, I was intrigued with where he would take a new chapter in the Star Wars saga. The result is really better than any fan could have expected, especially after the pretty awful prequel trilogy. This Star Wars is so well executed, and so true to the original trilogy aesthetically and thematically, and yet feels completely fresh and new at the same time. It stands on its own as an excellent film, with some of the best battle scenes, and the most touching and beautiful/tragic scenes in the series. You would not have to have seen any previous Star Wars films to enjoy The Force Awakens, but it certainly helps if you have. It contains some excellent new cast additions while reconnecting with those we last saw 30 years ago. I already know that this is my favorite Star Wars movie. I thought it would be excellent, but I wasn't expecting that.
Merchandizing Overload
It's becoming a little hypocritical to claim that Star Wars takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away when everywhere you turn in this galaxy you're likely to run into some kind of Star Wars merchandising. I've never seen anything quite like the merchandizing for The Force Awakens. If I didn't like Star Wars I might find it somewhat annoying. From Darth Vader Cheez-Its, to R2D2 dehumidifiers, every brand has aligned with the force, and you can hardly blame them the force is very strong with Star Wars merchandising. From car comercials, to restaurants, to sports tie-ins, Star Wars has been merged in to nearly every facett of pop culture. Thus Disney has had to do very little of it's own advertizing.
By all accounts, the revenue that The Force Awakens has blown expecations (which were already very high) out of the water. It's likely that Disney will have a very profitable quarter! Now if they would just buy the X-Men rights from Fox as well, that would make the Marvel Cinematic Universe all the more appealing!
Labels: movies