Star Wars: Az ébredő Erő

A decent pilot episode for a very expensive TV series. There’s no sign of the force, in fact, there’s not even the Sith darkness I felt so palpably in the old trilogy, or in Revenge of the Sith. If I were fifteen or sixteen, and Episode VII was the first thing I'd ever watch in the Star Wars universe, I'd have no motivation to seek out the older episodes. And that’s sad. I enjoyed it quite a bit, that's for sure, but I didn't find anything in it that would give it cult-status or timelessness, like the old episodes. If I had to use a comparison, Abrams's film is something like Terminator 3, decent Hollywood craftsmanship, but nothing more. (2015.12.28)

Disclaimer for fans: if anyone liked this film, I’m glad for them, the problem is mine. Star Wars has never meant anything to me, and The Force Awakens didn’t hype me for any experience, either. The plot is very predictable, I didn’t see anything original o interesting. The variations of the themes of previous episodes may be fun for the fans, but they don’t mean anything on their own. The dialogues are made of empty, nostalgic phrases, the characters have unexplainable deep bonds, even though the story takes place in, what, a couple of days at most? Sometimes this aspect becomes almost a parody, like, for instance, when Kylo Ren says that Han Solo is for Ray the father she never had (even though it seems that they’ve known each other for only a couple of hours), or when Finn and Poe reunite and fall into an embrace almost as if they’ve gone through at least the Vietnam War together, but actually the only thing they’ve done is a semi-successful escape from a ship that can’t have taken more than half an hour. Really, sometimes it feels as if it was written by an idiot, or by someone takes the viewers for idiots. And this sci-fi cancer will now take space at the cinemas for another few years and will employ many young hopeful directors who instead of this could be working on something more meaningful. Great :-/ (2016.03.23)

A demonstration of the Force and pure filmmaking goodness from a fan-boy who is one of the exclusive handful of filmmakers who understand how to hook nostalgics ages 30+ with an offset Millennium Falcon on their t-shirt, and wannabe nerds shoving a lightsaber on their profile picture just because it's popular on Facebook at the moment. I went to see the new Abrams film and understood how people felt at the end of the 1970s. It’s pure filmmaking ecstasy, brimming with kinetic action, divine special effects, balanced humor, winking at all ends of the galaxy, and, most importantly, another advancement of the universe. Whining about Episode IV being remade is misguided. The previous 6 episodes weren't really about anything else in the end. I have to watch it one more time... To get bored the second time and only really appreciate it after the third screening. I suspect there are so many hidden hints of things to come that in 2019 we'll still be wondering. (2015.12.20)

I’ve been waiting for the story to continue for many years and suddenly it was over. The result? I could find a lot of reasons to criticize the seventh instalment. Mirka Spáčilová in her review for Mladá Fronta did not disappoint. Sadly, she only stated in her review what could be somehow expected of this instalment. I wouldn’t be surprised if she just got up after the opening credits and left. Anyone could criticize that the story dilutes the original trilogy and does not bring anything new. However, introducing new characters in a universe like that is also a craft that not everybody can do, and I think J. J. Abrams managed it really well. Personally, I feel that towards the end of the year I couldn’t encounter better movie in the cinemas. There are fewer digital effects than real ones, which is really to the creators’ benefit. New characters played by Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are also really nice. Adam Driver also fulfills his mission in this story. He is a scumbag at first glance with clearly a weak will to be a weakling. However, the circumstances make him into a real monster. Add in an epic story like in the first trilogy. What else could you ask for? I really don’t know. (2015.12.24)

It's all there. Abrams promised that his Star Wars would be traditional, classic, and fans would be excited about it, and he delivered. It's all right here. When the old heroes show up, be they human, alien or mechanical, it's almost touching. Plus, the new ones fit in perfectly alongside them, and the trio of Boyega, Ridley and Isaac are spot-on and perfectly cast. The action clicks, the twists and turns work, and as a film designed to please the cognoscenti and introduce this universe to a new generation, it works brilliantly. Maybe too much so. Whereas with Star Trek Abrams had the courage to go further and cross the shadow of the franchise, that sadly doesn't happen here. He does his job brilliantly and sacrifices everything, often including his distinctive directorial style, to make "the right Star Wars". And in the end, he has no time left to shock, move or entertain beyond expectations. I don't mean to sound disgruntled, I liked Star Wars Episode VII, but the feeling that it played it unnecessarily safe is just too strong to speak of absolute enthusiasm. It's enough for a damn good movie, though, without any problems. (2015.12.17)

I don't mind the criticism that it's all too derived and the whole movie is the most expensive fan made affair of all time. I would even add doubts about the main villain, which so far looks more like he’s from a Marvel blockbuster... Yes, part seven fuses proven motifs and practices primarily from episodes IV and VI. Unlike Star Trek, Abrams moves in a much more stylistically grounded universe, but that doesn't mean he doesn't serve us a total abrasive delight, as Dan Nekonečný would say. After 136 minutes, the film rushes forward and the runtime is simply subjectively terribly short. The obsession with the overpaid mise-en-scène has disappeared, Mindel's camera moves more with characters who don't just recite theatrically, but rather breathe. The digital haze of the new trilogy has given way to materiality. Stormtrooper skirmishes are pure pleasure and there is no choice but to move the spin-off Rogue One among the most anticipated films of 2016. The new characters learn quickly. Emphasis on well-dosed pathos, gestures, timely winks - they learn it all with ease. But of course, the battlefield belongs to veterans who awaken the Force of Nostalgia. Star Wars has ceased to be an epic galactic saga about the taxation of trade routes and relations between various representatives of galactic politics, and they are returning to a fairy tale with everything that it encompasses. Epic arc, ancient scenes, big beautiful words. If the new trilogy was criticized as an operetta, this is an opera again. We may not seem to have much in common with 1977, but for me, this epic of the eternal battle of good and evil is as important today as it was in a time dominated by villains. Not so much because it contains a very complete feminist undertone (which torments Czech mental apartheid), but rather because it again fully recalls the validity of Yoda's thirty-two-year-old words: "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." Abrams may have just built a bridge between the old trilogy and the new universe, but it's a bridge that is a joy to walk on. (2015.12.17)

I envy everyone who watched the regular seventh episode. I watched "only" the nostalgic, modified first... I mean, fourth episode. Fortunately, it was for the better. Abrams is a better filmmaker than Lucas and he was really lucky that George did not write dialogs. In addition, Boyega, BB-8 and especially Keira (although the creators claim that his name is Ridley) carry it better than the non-charismatic Hamill and Fischer, and even C-3PO, have ever done in their youth. Of course, this is not the case with Ford. He carried it last time and he carries it now too. It is true that the first half is better than the second, when it partially loses pace (unnecessary part with smugglers) and the scenes made solely to please fans every other second of the footage (at the expense of time when more could be clarified about the new mythology) and so kind fatefulness that looks so unnatural. The Prequel trilogy succeeded at least (or only) in presenting a living universe with thousands of races and interests. This is a step back. Again, we are purely in the wastelands, and the eventual destruction of a "kind of planet somewhere in space" has absolutely no effect on anything or anyone. Nevertheless, an undeniably decent filmmaking, which is pleasure to watch. Especially in moments when it is not afraid to step out of the shadow of the original trilogy and start casting its own shadow. There are only few such moments, sadly, but they are there and they are amazing. So hopefully it will work out in two years in the eighth episode, which will no longer be just a respectfully modified second... I mean, the fifth episode. (2015.12.19)

The true essence of Star Wars, built on new characters who are fun, interesting, and above all three-dimensional, which is something I wouldn't have expected after the eternal division between the light and dark sides. Yet even more pleasing are the emotions of all the returns, reminiscences, and general nostalgia. The greatest triumph is the emphasis on a great adventurous story of self-discovery based on intimate family drama. Gone are the empty political talks that felt inappropriate and forced in all the previous installments, which is why The Force Awakens, with the exception of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, is the only episode that I can fully enjoy. J.J. Abrams brings a subtly subversive humor that pleasantly undercuts even the most serious scenes and saves its most powerful moments only for the most crucial scenes. And when he combines the archetypal outlines of the original trilogy with the longing atmosphere of the new trilogy, I find myself wanting to see and know more. Much more. (2015.12.18)

Let’s not be fooled by the clever promotional campaign parroted in most reviews and responses to the film – the new Star Wars is not a project by fans for fans. Abrams has not created an elitist fan film. Instead, based on the principles of fan fiction, he has taken the previous world, characters and moments familiar to fans and placed them in a new narrative with different rules that builds on the unexploited potential of the original and can appeal to a segment of the audience that has not been affected or has been overlooked by the original cult. Paradoxically, this segment comprises the majority of viewers standing apart from the obsessive adoration of Star Wars and the ceaseless criticism of Lucas, as well as the massive toy-industry lobby. Together with Lawrence Kasdan, Abrams awakened the Force, cleansing the series of all of the ballast piled on it not only by Lucas, but by all of pop culture. It’s not appropriate to reproach the film for lacking courage or playing it safe. On the contrary, it would be difficult to find a more progressive and daring concept within the major Hollywood studios than the plan to create a blockbuster based on nerdy archetypes, with a girl, a black man and a couple of pensioners as the main highly developed characters. The path to reviving the franchise has not led through a reverential copying of pre-digital Lucas; instead, Abrams is (at least notionally) taking up George Miller’s torch. The new Star Wars, together with the latest Mission Impossible, thus proudly follows in the wake of Fury Road as an emancipated blockbuster and new-age action flick in which CGI is finally given its place as a post-production tool and honest on-set work comes to the fore. (2015.12.23)

This seals my love for Star Wars once and for all. Thank goodness for J.J. Abrams for showing how much he loves Star Wars and not letting the next episode just be a way to get bucks out of viewers. I almost don't understand how he did it, but the atmosphere is there with everything, from beginning to end. How could I live without that? (2015.12.17)

I probably enjoyed this installment the most of all. It builds nicely on the earlier ones, just with better dialogue and effects (no surprise there). Everything is completely transparent of course, but apparently I'm a Star Wars fan so I didn't mind, on the contrary I enjoyed it and downright demanded it. I left the cinema satisfied. (2015.12.20)

In many ways like part four. Packed full of excellent action and a powerful story, but ends too soon. Skywalker doesn’t say a single sentence. I so wanted this to be the movie of the year. And in the end I sat there in the theater with three infantile, whiny teenagers behind me and with expectations that were not met. Abrams was afraid of experimenting, stuck to the tried and tested and delivered what most fans were hoping for. He kicked the Force about and flung it to the young generation. He came in with go-getting direction, favorite characters, but still managed to stay on course, starting at A and finishing at Z. Unfortunately, The Force Awakens resembles the very first Star Wars far too closely. But they didn’t start to interest me until the Empire Struck Back. Ben! (2015.12.17)

I see, not a tribute, but a remake. I didn’t expect that from Abrams. In 40 or 10 years, it will be only Daisy Ridley and a nice snow fight, otherwise, nothing, no progress. Neither technical (comparable to episodes 1-3!) nor in terms of story (variations of the same concept – good vs evil, empire, destruction, etc). The biggest disappointment of the year. (2015.12.19)

After two years and god knows how many reruns, I could finally write a slightly better comment than the brief enthusiastic scream that was here. Star Wars: The Force Awakens keeps me entertained and I would say it never stops, mainly because of the characters - new and well-known, thanks to J. J.'s 100% skill. Abrams (okay, Rogue One outdid him in battles, for example, but that was unknown at the time), the genius of John Williams (I hope all those who said he didn't compose anything new at the time have cleaned their ears), and in general the beautiful good-natured atmosphere that starts with the opening credits and ends with the closing credits. I don't mind that the story resembles something we've seen before, because the unusual characters and the relationships between them still play the main role, especially between Rey and Finn, who made me happy not by falling in love, but by becoming friends and fighting for each other during the final intense duel (finally a proper lightsaber duel again, where the viewer feels that something is at stake). Great, great, great. And you-know-who's farewell gives me chills whenever I see that scene. (2015.12.17)

The deliberate retro package suits it, Williams does a fantastic job again, Han Solo is still the Indiana Jones of another galaxy, Rey is very likeable (or rather Daisy Ridley, though I’m sure her acting is going to take a beating) and all in all it's definitely a good film, BUT it's not a good Star Wars film by any stretch of the imagination. All the innovativeness in the presentation of the setting, in the relationships between characters, or in the representation of the hierarchy or order of the diverse galactic worlds and groupings with which Lucas and the others have approached each episode so far, and the breathtaking fictional world that has thus far been continually developed before the viewer's eyes, have been reduced here to a cowed copy of Episode IV, where the natural locations are largely bland and, one could almost say, not unlike those on Earth, and where there's too much boring blathering and feet shuffling in one place. And while the new good guys do get some sympathy (but only because they stand on the shoulders of old friends), the bad guys are reminiscent of Mr. Bean's vacations in a galaxy far, far away, led by an ugly cry-baby whose motivations are more than a little confused and whose respect is about as awe-inspiring as a kitten with a pink bow. Fortunately, Abrams is a good storyteller when it comes to action, and the climactic dramatic sequence is truly one of the best handled and paced scenes of the year. Anyway, after so many years of preparation and with such potential material, to reach for only a rough, competent rewrite and come up with almost no original plot ideas is a disappointment about the size of Stifler's mum's butt. 60% (2017.12.16)

Definitely a pleasant surprise after the disastrous episodes I, II, and III. The creators got rid of the ridiculous amount of CGI that dominated the previous episodes, as well as the silly pointy-eared creature, and made a decent follow-up to episodes IV, V, and VI. It's true that the main villain doesn’t have as much dark charisma compared to the other episodes, but I guess I can't have everything. On the other hand, I learned something new about the Wookiee species – apparently, they are slower to age. While Han Solo has almost reached retirement age, Chewbacca doesn't have a single gray hair! Anyway, I was satisfied. (2016.06.20)

The absolutely most perfect cinema experience I’ve ever had, and I will probably remember this day for the rest of my life. My expectations were sky high due to the amazing trailers, but J.J. Abrams totally blew my mind and it turned out to be even better. Everything I love about this franchise is there, plus, with a great atmosphere. Episode VII might have already become my favorite. The old characters fit the story perfectly, but the series really struck gold with the new ones. The central trio of Ridley, Boyega and Driver was the absolute best as well as the only right choice. I can't imagine anyone else in those roles now. There is no need to mention how unique the music is. The camerawork is absolutely impeccable, making the movie even more absorbing. I've been to the cinema many times, but never before have I been so drenched in sweat like after this joyride. I really don’t know what else to add. I just hope that there’s enough money in the Disney budget to build J.J. Abrams a statue. Episode VII sure is a tough act to follow. (And after the second viewing, I completely stand by everything I said. Alright, it’s no longer the feeling that it’s the best movie in the entire galaxy like the first time I saw it. I can objectively see some flaws. But it's still a picture that somehow "defines" me and my taste in movies. Namely that I love Star Wars, the science fiction genre, the struggle between good and evil, bombastic (and sometimes naive or almost-fairy-tale-like) blockbusters and the idea that we're not alone in the universe and there are various different races. I love thundering and fateful-sounding music, pithy one-liners, likeable upbeat actresses like Daisy Ridley and especially going to the movies. Episode VII is exactly the movie that makes a visit to the movie theatre worthwhile. The box office sales are a clear evidence of that and they are sky-high. Finally, let me just add that if not after episode VIII, then definitely after episode IX, The Force Awakens will finally be fully appreciated as a brilliant beginning to another epic story.) (2015.12.19)