Friday 6 May 2016

Does The Force Awaken?

I have been an unashamed Science Fiction fan for as long as I can remember. Dr Who, Blake's Seven, Star Trek, Star Wars ... the list goes on. For some time I have been looking forward to the latest Star Wars film, and yesterday was the day we sat down to watch it. What a load of old bull.

Episodes 4, 5 and 6 were great, and 1, 2 and 3 were not. Most Star Wars' fans agree. But this was a diluted repeat of the plot from the original, except that the Death Star was bigger. We've all seen the other films and enjoyed the special effects and the music, but forty years later we want just a little more. Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and (just about) Mark Hamill had the acting ability and the charisma to make you care about the film.

Daisy Ridley lacked charisma, and was about as sexy as rice pudding. John Boyega was totally miscast, needed to lose quite a few pounds and totallly lacked the athleticism to portray an action hero. The rest of the cast were grey and the villains appeared as what they were ... cardboard cutouts.

What did I enjoy? I loved Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, and the humour and sadness they brought to their parts. The droid BB8 was an inspired creation, and how it was possible to portray all the feelings with a nod of the head I don't know. JJ Abrams is a talented director, and I loved his two Star Trek films.

But here there was something lacking. The script was appalling and the fantastic rebel bases of the original films seemed to be now reduced to a single spaceship in a park. The grandeur and the scale of the earlier films was entirely missing. Perhaps I should have written my guide to Internet TV instead of wasting two hours and eighteen minutes of my life. The Force was definitely not with me yesterday afternoon.

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