Force Awakens, how does it rank POLL

I'm a fan of all the Star Wars movies, with ROTS being the episode I watch the most. Yes, it has its faults - as do all the episodes, but TFA doesn't stand up to ROTS. It's a very good film and an enjoyable 2 hours of viewing, but there isn't too much to get excited about. With ROTS we've got Anakins fall to the dark side, Order 66, Yoda vs Sidious, Anakin vs Obi Wan, Vader's transformation, the birth of the twins. TFA doesn't really have anything that compares - apart from Solo's death scene, which was fantastic.

It's a 8.5/10 film and sets up EpVIII nicely. It just feels a bit rushed. Arndt needed 18 months to write the screenplay, JJ and Kasdan did it in 6 weeks. Enough said.

 

From a technical standpoint, I feel all of the movies are about the same in quality. I love them, but they are really just average movies taken in part. It's when you start getting them in groupings that the story starts to flow, and rise beyond average into great. I would rank them all 6/10 each on actual objective measures. All being pretty much equal. I suppose I'd say my favorite is episode 4 since that's what I grew up with. Plus, episode 4 I think is the only one of the series that can stand on its own. It being the most 'self contained' of the series makes it the one with its own legs not dependant on the technical aspects and stories of the others in the way the other are reaslly dependent on e4.

Put them all into a 1-6 ordered story with all the parallels and reflection of theme going on, and as a 6 part story it acheives a greatness the individual parts could never contain. So 6 completely average movies that become 1 serial masterpiece when plugged into each other. Sometimes I wonder if people realize just how deep the big picture goes. Say what you will about Lucas, looking at what the man wrote, the world-building, the interrelationships, the paralleling of themes, the reflections of character and timing; everything. The story is really worthy of a lot of praise. It's a shame it all got sidetracked by, whatever unrelated psychology is at play.

Now, episode 7? I'm just drifting in neutral. Can't know if I like it or not until the trilogy is over. I had fun. There were problems. There were many many unanswered questions, and the answers to those questions will determine a lot about how I feel about this movie and the ST. I have this feeling that none of these questions are going to be answered. I'm not sure how that would affect the way I feel about the movie. It's just all going to depend on the next movies. Feels like a rushed, clumbsy start which is basically built on missing information. I wish Disney wouldn't have been so adamant and let the movie breath during the process. Let it be released when it was done of its own accord, and not having to meet a deadline. Escpecially given that it's coming at such an sensitive time.

The acting was great, and it felt Star Wars, it wasn't too great. Dialogue was nice. Effects were great. I liked it from a stand-alone point-of-view. There are some problems in the movie, I can see the meddling hand of profit, manipulating events from behind the scenes. I can see the rush in production and editing, though it doesn't really hurt, it doesn't help, either. It's all about the next two.

Always in the back of my mind, though, I know it's not George Lucas writing the story, so it's like trying to watch a new Lord of the Rings movie that's written by Disney after they buy the rights from Tolkien's family; my brain is saying, it's not real. Which could be a good thing, because one problem I do have is the way the OT characters were regressed in character. I'm not too confident from what I've seen on how they are planning on using the OT characters. But I'm not sure, the next two movies may provide a really awesome story that serves everything well. Difficult to see.

So if I end up despising this trilogy, I'll just be going, it's not real Star Wars anyway.

But if I end up loving this trilogy. My brain will still be going 'not Tolkien, not real LotR; not Lucas, not real SW'

So I don't know. Right now I'm just drifiting along.

 

My ranking is, not including the tv stuff.

Empire
New Hope
Rogue One = Jedi
Force Awakens
Sith
Clones
Menace

 

My order:
Episode V
Episode IV
Episode VII
Episode VI/ Rogue One
Episode VI/ Rogue One (undecided)
Episode III
Episode I
Episode II
I haven't decided on which spot Episode VI and Rogue One land, since I haven't seen Episode VI after Rogue One yet. TESB is pretty much perfect to me and it won't be easy to top it. Some of ANH's acting and writing hasn't aged that well, but all of its plotlines make sense within the film itself. TFA, while has great dialogues and characters I do care about, relies a bit on the plot of the OT and has some aspect that are in quite a need of explanation that don't appear in the film (Hosnian System blowing up, conflict between the Resistance and the First Order.)

 

Out of 10

Characters: 9 (Great, interesting characters with much room for more growth)

Story: 2 (could change dramatically depending on where they go with 8,9, but little to nothing new with too many shoehorned nods to OT was jarring at times)

Plot: 6 (Getting deeper into the characterization, Rey, Finn and certainly Ben Solo have interesting stories and arcs which I hope adds more value, weight and originality to the lack luster story they've begun with).

Dialogue: 9 (near perfect tone in every scene and stays true to the characters)

Music: 6 (Comparing ONLY to John Williams work since he's above all..Besides 'Rey's theme' and 'Jedi Steps' there isn't much to be remembered or even recognized here..Not as inspired as Williams OT and PT work).

Sound: 7 (Like John Williams nobody comes close to Ben Burtt, but not his best work here..Then again, the design of the scarce planets without much detail gave him little to work with).

Set Design: 4 (besides some detail on Jakku and Maz's castle I wasn't a fan of the dinky, one set pieces with little to no life.)

Overall TFA established some interesting characters which is MOST important, so even if it lacks in some significant areas it is not doomed as a trilogy unless its predecessors completely fail to build off of what is a very safe installment of SW.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 10, 2017, Original Post Date: Jan 10, 2017 ---

I forgot: Wardrobe: 10 (perfection)

 

In my opinion, I think that The Force Awakens probably ranks 3rd on my list for best Star Wars films. Personally, I loved the film thought that it ultimately accomplished what it was supposed to. It was the movie that brought back the previous generations that grew up on the films and introduced the franchise to a whole new generation. Although some people have some complaints as to the similarities to a New Hope, it really does open up a whole new realm of stories and possibilities. It ranks third on my list due to the fact that it is so fast paced although its an awesome new adventure.

 

My order:

ESB (shared #1) 9.5
TFA (shared # 1) 9.5
ANH (shared position with RO) 9.0
RO (shared position with ANH, however after seeing RO again today I'm seriously considering placing it above New Hope - heresy, I know, but I'll do it anyway ) 9.0
ROTJ 8.5
TPM 6.5
ROTS 6.0
AOTC 5.0

 

I'm a little late, but what ever!


1, Star Wars Revenge Of The Sith
2, Star Wars Return Of The Jedi
3, Star Wars The Empire Strike Back
4, Star Wars A New Hope
6, Star Wars Attack Of The Clones
7, Star Wars The Force Awakens
8, Star Wars The Phantom Menace

5, Rogue One A Star Wars Story

 

5, 4, 7, 3.5 and 6 are tied for fourth, 3, 1, 2

 

1. ANH 9.5 ( Tarkin, Vader, Troopers on Dewbacks, OB1, Jawas, Cantina )
2. TESB 9.2 ( Favorite sequel of all time )
3. ROTJ 9.0 ( Throne room scenes, space battle )
4. RO 8.9 ( Tarkin, Vader, Princess Leia, Ponda Baba & Dr. Evanzan, Admiral Raddus, Chirrut )
5. TFA 8.5 ( Kylo Ren, Snoke, Han & Chewie are back! )
6. ROTS 8.0 ( Darth Sidious Delicious, title )
7. AOTC / TCW 7.5 ( Darth Tyranous, Clone Troopers, OB1 )
8. TPM 6.5 ( Qui-Gon Jinn, OB1, Maul, Queen Amidala / Sabe, Aurra Sing shot )
Holiday Special ( First Appearance of Boba Fett )

 

ANH on number one. Started it all and every character had a purpose. ESB is second because Han and Leia had nothing to do except fly around which was dragged as long as possible.

Worst would be TFA. Bad acting by Daisy Ridley, weak script, dull action scenes.

 

I wonder how people (including me) rate performance by actors, what people focus on, because I thought that Daisy's performance was one of the best aspects of the film.

 

go figure? i'm probably one of the six people on the planet who thought Forest Whittaker's performance in R1 was actually kinda interesting! hahaha

i thought Daisy Ridley was awesome too. performance-wise, for TFA, the only character i didn't like was Snoke: something about the hand gestures was just too much an obvious performance for me; didn't look natural (or even unnaturally correct for the character).

 

To me Star Wars is

Anh, esb and rotj all other movies are EU.

 

I laugh at people who claim Ridley was peforming badly.

 

This is how I would RANK the movies, according to how much I would like to see them at this very moment:

1. The force awakens
2. Return of the jedi (original version)
3. The empire strikes back (any version)
4. Rogue 1
5. A new hope (original version)
6. Clone Wars pilot
7. Return of the jedi (SE/DVD)
8. A new hope (SE/DVD/Bluray)
9. Caravan of courage
10. The battle for Endor
11. Return of the jedi (Bluray/Vader noooooo-version)
12. Star Wars holiday special (as a whole, occasionally I do watch the Boba Fett-segment and would rank it slightly above the Clone Wars pilot).
13. The phantom menace (at the moment I rank it the highest of the PT because i've come to feel it's so bad it's almost good).
14. Attack of the clones
15. Revenge of the sith

 

1- III
1- IV
1- V
4. VII
5. VI
6. RO
7. I
8. II

II is my least favorite, but I still enjoy it a lot.

 

Although I had voted for "Attack of the Clones", I would have voted for that movie and "The Empire Strikes Back" if the poll had allowed me.

 

My favourite SW film is ROTJ. My least favourite is TFA. I enjoyed the film at the time but the effect was short-lived and I think I've watched it twice in all the time I've owned the film on Blu-ray. I do think it's a good film but I expect greatness from Star Wars and this one, for me, did not deliver.

It will be interesting to see how the film is viewed in, say, fifty years' time (not that I'll be around then and if I am I won't be able to remember my own name, let alone The Force Awakens!).