I like to think I have a unique perspective on this movie as far as this forum goes because this was my first Star Wars movie. A friend of mine bought me a ticket to the midnight premier last year and even though I thought it was going to be really bad I said “what the hell” and saw it anyway. In the end though, I absolutely loved it. This movie got me watching the rest of the Star Wars movies in a way the prequels, which came out when I was very young with ROTS coming out when I was 9, could not. I saw scenes from those movies in passing whenever they were on TV and they made me think Star Wars was some terrible sci-fi series that I had absolutely no interest in.
Before the movie I knew a few things. I knew who Luke, Han and Leia were and I knew that Starkiller was a recycled Death Star. I also knew Darth Vader died in Episode VI and that he was burned. “The garbage will do” line completely missed me. I had no idea why everyone was laughing but it’s pretty great in retrospect.
The film is fast paced. The characters are really likeable and the acting is good. I made a Facebook post when I got home saying something like “The Force Awakens is really good for most of the movie but the last 30 minutes are fantastic” and I still definitely believe that. The special effects are truly top notch and I really just remember being like “I need to get into Star Wars now.”
So I’m actually glad they kinda just redid Episode IV for this movie because it was the perfect way for someone like me to get interested in Star Wars. In retrospect I wish they hadn’t made another Death Star but overall it was a damn good film. I think I like the original trilogy better now but it’s definitely up there as a great film for me. Long story short, I immediately wanted to see Episode VIII and I think in the end, as long as the rest of this trilogy is up to this quality or better, this will be my favorite Star Wars trilogy because it will be “my” Star Wars. This movie is essentially what Star Wars is to me and feels more like what Star Wars means to me than the originals even though I think I like those better.
Anyway, really wordy post, but yeah those are my thoughts.
Nice post. I’ve always felt that TFA was designed very carefully to not only please young and old fans, but to welcome new fans as well. So, welcome!