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| poster from IMDB |
After much anticipation, my family and I finally saw the new Star Wars movie. The Michigan contingent
saw it first. The rest of us, a couple of weeks later. When the 6-year-old Star Wars fanatic found out he couldn’t
reveal any spoilers, he refused to talk to us. The 8-year-old said, “You’re
going to cry.” No spoiler there. Still . . .
I deliberately avoided any news about the movie after it
came out. As much as I wanted to join an online discussion group of science
fiction romance writers, I refrained. Talk about sacrifice. LOL Finally, Son,
DIL, Hubs, and I went to the show. When the familiar music opener and crawl
began, I got chills. Just like I did with A
New Hope back in 1977. Much of the movie brought back memories of that
first film. Big ships, Stormtroopers, desert terrain, rebels, and villains. Old
characters and new.
Old characters: Han Solo, the irresistible smuggler; Leia,
without the cinnamon buns over her ears; Luke Skywalker, who wasn’t seen until
the end. Like all of us, they’ve aged. The droids are back—C-3P0 and R2D2.
New characters: Finn, a former Stormtrooper who sees the
light; Kylo Ren, Darth Vader wannabe; and Rey, a kick-butt heroine and my
favorite character. Unlike in A New Hope,
we get little backstory on the new characters. But we do get some insight. I
wanted to know more, of course.
Oops, almost forgot the new droid BB-8, cute and fast. Hubs,
the engineer, and Son tried to figure out how it worked. On the way home, the four of us talked and talked about the
movie, each of us taking guesses on where the next movies will go and what
surprises are in store for us.
I can’t say I was as enthralled with this movie
as I was with the original three (Episodes IV, V, & VI), but it’s a
different time than post-Viet Nam/post-Watergate. Back then, we didn’t know
what to expect and were blown away by an old-fashioned Good versus Evil movie. This
time around, our hopes were high. I’m glad they put a lid on the trailers—not giving
away too much. I loved what J.J. Abrams did with the Star Trek reboot, so I was anxious to see what he’d do with Star Wars. I’m pleased that he’s done
a great job.
I’ve mentioned before that I need to watch a movie more than
once to “see” everything. I can’t wait until Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens comes out on DVD. Of course, I
could return to the show and see it again.
Have you seen The
Force Awakens? What’s your opinion? Please, no spoilers.
