Star Wars The Force Awakens

I think if you have to say the worst thing about The Force Awakens it is that someone has taken all your favourite Star Wars toys and is playing with them, and you are just watching. And that in a nutshell is most likely what causes most people the MOST grief about the film.For me my first "awareness" of the whole Star Wars saga was back in 1976 when we heard via newspapers and the odd TV news that "something" was coming across the Atlantic. And I was sitting in school and we'd just been given a new "book" catalogue and there was the paperback for Star Wars written by George Lucas (as I learned a few years later actually by Alan Dean Foster............)Loved the first (no 4). Actually read the book of Empire Strikes Back before I saw the film (another Dean Foster tie in) - those were the days - and although I liked Return of the Jedi I did think it had gone too "childish". In fact I saw it in a packed local cinema, now an OAP home, where at 17/18 I was the oldest person amongst a mass of 7 to 12 years olds. The target audience. Then.Now JJ Abrams and me are about the same age and he has tackled what most would not want to tackle. Something that has to "hit" me and my age group and something that will "hit" the new target market like my kids who have grown up with Dad saying "You HAVE to see this!"Yes we all suffered through the Lucas era of I, II and III. Not so much someone playing with your toys but actively selling new ones to you!And that is what is strange about this film. It does not SELL you anything. Old characters, new characters, old ships, new ships, but Disney have been surprisingly "adult" about it. Maybe in many years when we have Star Wars 27: Return of Jafar and His Crazy Sidekick..........So no spoilers and I did not see it on release, I waited for the Blu Ray, but it is worth it. And something else? It is a film that will be worth watching again, and it will get better with each viewing.Blu Ray quality is excellent - they really could not drop the ball. Abrams likes to move the camera and some of the shots in the aerial battles are stunners and will NEED to be watched again and again.I'd had a rubbish week with me losing a job through redundancy. This was something to look forward to. It made me forget. It did what Star Wars was meant to do.Roll on the rest, Disney.

Let me first begin by admitting that I never grew up loving Star Wars, I only caught them when they were on TV and I'd watch them, not engrossed in just how important they would be to many, many, many fans.Fast forward to a trailer I saw a while before the release date....and I was totally and utterly blown away by how stunning this film looked, so I promptly booked my ticket.And I have not regretted my decision. I sat in that cinema, surrounded by dedicated Star Wars fans, and was mesmerised by the set pieces, the characters, the action, everything about it was just.....stunning. I came out of the cinema, found my then cinema buddy, and we couldn't stop talking about it all the way to the train, and even then we couldn't stop gushing about this amazing piece of cinema.In the coming months I saw the film another 2 times, and loved it even more. By this time I'd managed to catch the original trilogy, and even those I absolutely love to bits.On Bluray release day I got home to find my preordered item waiting. I promptly changed from work clothes and yup, the film went straight into the player......and stayed there for a month.I highly recommend this film to everyone who wants a fun, very funny, very action packed film to watch on a Sunday afternoon. You won't be disappointed.I am already waiting with excitement for next year........."Chewy, we're home!'

Great movie. As a hardcore Star Wars fan I was so annoyed when Disney killed the stories of the expanded universe, which were the original stories based after ROTJ. I loved them and still do (The Thrawn Trilogy of books are amazing so go read them) so I was not looking forward to this movie. At all. But I went to the cinema on opening day, like I did for the other SW movies. (Prequels, I was born in 85 so didn't have the pleasure of seeing the original trilogy on release years, and yes I do love the prequels, unpopular or not) As I watched episode 7 I immediately changed my attitude. It was amazing. The acting was the best it ever has been in a Star Wars film, (Daisy Ridley was excellent, despite what that disrespectful sexist clown in one of the negative comments said) a true Star Wars fan can appreciate this movie. Even me, a hardened original EU fan. Do I prefer the force awakens to the original post ROTJ stories of the old expanded universe? No. I grew up with those stories and characters, Jaina and Jason Solo,THE OLD REPUBLICS Revan, Nihilus etc. But is it worthy of the title of "Episode 7" worthy of being the follow on from Jedi? Yes! It's an amazing movie. If you're a casual Star Wars fan (movies only) then you'll enjoy it, even a lot of non Star Wars fans would enjoy this film. If like me you're a die hard Star Wars crazy person I'd be surprised if you don't like this film. It was great. If you're a complete film snob that thinks nothing is as good as the originals then to me you're not even a fan. This was an amazing movie. I definitely recommend it.

I saw the first Star Wars in the cinema and it was senstaional. Just loved it. The second in the series was pratty good and then the third one started to go down hill. The three prequels were steady worse.When I saw that there was a new Star Wars I reagrded it with suspicion and hope. Well, I think I was right on both counts.Make no mistake, it is non stop action from start to finish.I like that, I can shut the brain off and just enjoy the "thud and blunder". The characters are likeable and the special effects are great. In other words it does match the orginal film in all those respects.\However afterwards I realised that the story was excatly the same as the first film. and an awful lot of the action was lifted from the original.So. Well worth the money and very enjoyable but one is left witha slightly cheated feeling.