New SW-Will it be a block buster?

I did see TESB in the cinema and I still rate it as the best of the lot. Even though it is setting the stage for ROTJ, it does so in a fantastic manner. It has drama, angst, intrigue and 'what the heck' moments.

For me, ROTJ was saved by the Emperor's throne room scenes. I think they are amongst the most powerful imagery of the saga. The fight between Luke and Vader had some real, raw emotional impact (magnificently enhanced by the music). The ewoks should have been wookies or shouldn't have been there at all. I still rate it above the prequels though.

 

Exactly. I'm nitpicking TFA because I actually quite enjoyed it, despite its faults. I just think a lot of the faults were down to lazy writing and the film could have been so much better with a little more thought (or even a little more explanation). Even though TESB was setting up ROTJ, I didn't come away from it with as many questions or as much confusion over certain events as I did with TFA.

I don't bother to nitpick JJ's Star Treks because they were so bad as to not be worth the effort. TFA is better, not perfect, but definitely rewatchable, and it did grow on me on second viewing. Where as the prequels had the opposite effect. First time round I was all 'yay, more Star Wars', but now so much of them makes me cringe. Although, to a certain extent, they had more original stories, even though they were constrained by the original trilogy. Unfortunately, the scripts, acting and 'humour' severely let them down!

 

I would rate them:

5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 1, 2. I haven't seen much of the Clone Wars and can't really remember Caravan of Courage, plus I pretend the Holiday Special doesn't exist.

I don't even own a copy of AOTC because I thought it was so bad. TPM was saved by the duel with Darth Maul!

 

I still get the chills when he announces "Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!" :hail:

I was wondering at that...

 

Most definitely. It was brilliant. Yay for British trained actors!

 

I watched a couple of episodes on the plane to Iran and quite enjoyed them. I must check out some more!

 

I'm just contemplating whether or not I can be bothered to make the trip to the IMAX for the late show tonight...

 

I saw the IMAX version last night and, whilst the 3D made it an enjoyable viewing experience from the visual side. It didn't get better on the 3rd viewing, in fact a lot of the minor grumbles I had already started to get more annoying.

To me it is Star Wars lite. It plays in the universe, ticks some of the action/mythology boxes, but there are too many issues I have with it to rate it above the original trilogy. I just don't feel it has any soul. I don't empathise with the new characters, I find there are too many things that pull me out of the story.

That being said, I'm glad lots of people are raving about it, because it means the saga will go on and I hope the next couple of films will fill in the blanks and explain some of the issues I have with this one!