I’m hoping to see it a 4th time sometime in the new year. Repeat viewings have made the film better in my eyes, though it might have had something to do with the disastrous first viewing I had. The projector broke literally JUST as Rey put her hands around the saber and had her vision, so for a good 30 seconds, the whole audience was wondering “is this darkness meant to be symbolic or has someone fucked up?” As time went on, we realised it was the latter. The audio carried on for AGES after, while the staff took their damn time shutting the movie off. They eventually got the projector up and running again and turned it back on, but it was skipped further ahead to where Rey was running out of the castle, and ruined that part for us. Then they rewound the movie, and the picture was flickering, so we ended up being marched to another theatre to watch the second half of the film.

It didn’t help that the second half of the film is where its main flaws shine through (mainly the superweapon rehashing) so that, along with the technical hitch, put a huge damper on my first experience.

Also my first viewing was a standard 3D showing, because my inept friend didn’t book the IMAX in time. I found the 3D really highlighted the fakeness of the CGI more. It was a lot more seamless and enjoyable in 2D.