Star Wars Tonight - Who's Going? - Let's Keep It Spoiler Free

[baldburke]

It's like Christmas came a week early for Star Wars fans! Who's going today or tonight? We've got a group of seven going to the 8pm show tonight.

The early spoiler free reviews are giving it good marks. I've heard "it is exactly what Star Wars fans are looking for."

Let's keep it spoiler free for those that can't make it today, tomorrow or maybe even this weekend, but I'd like to hear what the fans think.

[magicofdisney]

I have a friend going to an Imax premier tonight and dressing up to boot.

My family and I have our tickets for tomorrow, 12:30. I'm super excited!

[BrerGnat]

My husband is a HUGE fan. He is going tonight at 9pm. His birthday is tomorrow. Perfect timing for him!

[BrowncatP]

Going tomorrow morning. Asked for Friday off from work last year in April.

[Patricia]

I saw it this evening and I'll only say, the crowd cheered when it ended. I loved it. May the FORCE be with you.

[Zippy 1]

My daughter saw it at an early evening private showing. She came home saying she just loved it!

[goofy for pluto]

We have tickets for Christmas day, I wanted to see it with my sister who is coming home for Christmas. The reviews are really positive so I am very excited! To quote Darth Vader. "The force is strong with this one !" :darth:

[magicofdisney]

The family's getting ready to go right now. Just to prepare, we doubled checked online and our showing is sold out. In fact, most showings for today are sold out, with the exceptions of the 3D version.

[tinkwest]

DH and DS saw it this morning. They arrived about 90 minutes early and were let in to an earlier showing, so they didn't need to wait at all. Had excellent seats as there were only about ten people in the theater. Both loved the movie and declared Star Wars back on track.

[BrerGnat]

Just saw it and thought it was fantastic! I really enjoyed watching it.

[baldburke]

Indeed! It was awesome. Everything a Star Wars fan could want out of a Star Wars movie.

[magicofdisney]

I LOVE it! It's like many of the things I love about 4, 5, and 6, were rolled out into this one. I'm completely looking forward to the next. :thumbsup:

[Ian]

LOVED it! Saw it in 3D at 1:50 today and the theater was virtually empty. We had literally the best seats in the theater. It was SO good I can't even really describe it! Seeing the characters I grew up with on the screen again in a brand new film was just ... amazing. It's the only word I can think of!

I embarrassed the heck out of my 13 year old daughter by acting like a super nerd ... I kept giggling to myself :D

[baldburke]

Not too shabby for it's first weekend. An estimated total take of $238M, new one day record with $120.5M on Friday and a Thursday preview record of $57M. The force is strong with this one!

[SurferStitch]

We saw it on Sunday in IMAX 3D - Amazing!! Can't wait to see it again!

I wore the crystal Stormtrooper cut-out grey 3/4 sleeve tee they sold at Watto's Grotto in DHS (if anyone saw it there) and had my little Stitch Yoda plush peeking out of my purse... I looked like a stylish Star Wars nerd!!

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

I saw it yesterday afternoon, with a buddy who we both saw the original Star Wars together with when it first came out. My friend was very skeptical as he hates JJ Abrams (accuses him of ruining the Star Trek franchise).

I will say this, just watching it and without thinking about it, I really enjoyed the movie. It really paralleled the original Star Wars without it feeling like a rip-off, which Return of the Jedi kind of felt like. I think there is a lot they can do with the Rey character.

That said, this series has to have the equal of Empire Strikes Back (best in the franchise, imo) to not only bridge the trilogy but to also fill in story gaps and flesh out the characters.

I went into the movie spoiler free and saw the major ones coming. There were some big plot holes I thought and some things that really could have used better explaining. My buddy stated that the original script was written without inclusion of the original core cast, and then they were added later. So not sure how much that changed the story.

The filming was pretty good, but still too much JJ Abrams lets just blow everything up and throw it at the screen mentality than I would have liked, especially the ending.

Unlike the original trilogy where they came out with 1 movie every three years, I think this trilogy is on an 18 month cycle, and Abrams isn't directing, so I'm hoping that is a good thing.

[SurferStitch]

I have to agree with Hitchhiking Ghost.... I also went into the movie spoiler free, and was able to see the big stuff coming as well.

There were quite a few "spoilers" I saw all over the place (even in the comments sections of news articles on Fox News), and heard people just yelling supposed plot spoilers out in public (seriously, like at the mall), but none of them were confirmed for me prior to the movie because I didn't actively seek out the answers before the move. People love to just make stuff up to mess with you, so I didn't believe or dis-believe anything I heard or read... just waited to see for myself.

[baldburke]

That said, this series has to have the equal of Empire Strikes Back (best in the franchise, imo) to not only bridge the trilogy but to also fill in story gaps and flesh out the characters.

I went into the movie spoiler free and saw the major ones coming. There were some big plot holes I thought and some things that really could have used better explaining. My buddy stated that the original script was written without inclusion of the original core cast, and then they were added later. So not sure how much that changed the story.

I would agree that there is a lot of weight on episode 8 to be "The Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy. But at the same time I think Abrams did a good job of keeping the feel of the original episode 4 story. I'm not saying with the filming techniques or the deja vu feelings. Back in episode 4 they gave us a very narrow snippet of the Star Wars universe with an exciting and compelling story.

Episode 7 does rely heavily on the fact that you know the general Star Wars story and that you go into it believing what is presented vs. what is explained. Episode 8 will be a great opportunity to give us more of the backstory Rey and Ren. Who they are and how they got there, much like "Empire" did for Luke, Leia, Han and Vader.

Good stuff! Can't wait until May 2017!

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

I would agree that there is a lot of weight on episode 8 to be "The Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy. But at the same time I think Abrams did a good job of keeping the feel of the original episode 4 story. I'm not saying with the filming techniques or the deja vu feelings. Back in episode 4 they gave us a very narrow snippet of the Star Wars universe with an exciting and compelling story.

Episode 7 does rely heavily on the fact that you know the general Star Wars story and that you go into it believing what is presented vs. what is explained. Episode 8 will be a great opportunity to give us more of the backstory Rey and Ren. Who they are and how they got there, much like "Empire" did for Luke, Leia, Han and Vader.

Good stuff! Can't wait until May 2017!

Hard to discuss without getting too close to spoilers. I think the Rey character has the potential to be the most interesting character of the entire series and where they go with her could be unlimited. I struggled with, lets just say, simply how much she could do and how fast she learned it.

I didn't get the best read on Ren, he seemed to be the opposite of Rey if you know what I'm saying at the end of it, with regards to abilities.

The one gap I didn't like, and without spoiling anything, had to do with a key scene with Maz Kanata.

It will be interesting to hear the chatter with regards to Episode VIII.

[DizneyFreak2002]

When it was announced JJ Abrams was doing Ep 7, I said the movie was in great hands... And I was right... Force Awakens was excellent... Not perfect, no movie is... But I felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie... Not the prequel junk Lucas gave us... I will be going to see it again, oh yes I will... 3 maybe 4 times.. who knows?????????

Loved Rey... Ren was like a whiny little brat, but I believe he has the potential to be one huge baddie...

[Ian]

Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...

[magicofdisney]

Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...
I agree with this, to an extent. I saw A New Hope years after it came out. Maybe because I was so young and my parents didn't go to the movies much to see scifi. Anyway, I never saw Empire Strikes back originally. One day my cousin asked me to go with her to see Return of the Jedi. It had long been out at that point. I complained about never seeing Empire and she said it didn't matter. Turns out she was correct. I fell in love with Jedi and then eventually saw Empire.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

I agree with this, to an extent. I saw A New Hope years after it came out. Maybe because I was so young and my parents didn't go to the movies much to see scifi. Anyway, I never saw Empire Strikes back originally. One day my cousin asked me to go with her to see Return of the Jedi. It had long been out at that point. I complained about never seeing Empire and she said it didn't matter. Turns out she was correct. I fell in love with Jedi and then eventually saw Empire.

One word "EWOKS" :ack:

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Funny what a strange thing opinions are ... I thought Empire was by far the weakest of the original trilogy ...

I think if you were to compile the millions of "list your favorite Star Wars films" the compiled consensus would be:

1: Empire Strikes Back
2: A New Hope (still hate typing that title- it wasn't called that when I saw it)
3: Force Awakens
4: Revenge of the Sith
5: Return of the Jedi
6: Attack of the Clones
7: Phantom Menace

I could see 3 and 4 being interchangeable and 4 and 5 being interchangeable.

As for Empire, it did something that few #2 movies do in a trilogy, it not only stood on its own merit and improved on the original, but it also bridged the first and third movies. Unlike say Back to the Future II that just felt like a quick money grab and filler between 1 & 3.

Probably the single biggest moment in the Star Wars universe comes from Empire with the famous "Luke...I am your father"

Other than the Emperor, Jedi just seemed like fluff with the Ewoks and the redundancy of a 2nd Death Star and the predictable crashing of the Super Star Destroyer into it.

[magicofdisney]

One word "EWOKS" :ack:

As a young girl seeing this movie, I never thought of the Ewoks this way. Jar jar? Absolutely! That's just the subjective nature of movies.

[DizneyFreak2002]

I just watched the prequels... Felt like I was watching an animated movie, not a Star Wars flick... too much CGI ruins them for me...

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

I just watched the prequels... Felt like I was watching an animated movie, not a Star Wars flick... too much CGI ruins them for me...

I always felt that if George Lucas could have gotten away with it, he would have done the entire PT without human actors. Considering some of the terrible dialogue that he wrote, maytbe that would have been a good thing.

[DizneyFreak2002]

I always felt that if George Lucas could have gotten away with it, he would have done the entire PT without human actors. Considering some of the terrible dialogue that he wrote, maytbe that would have been a good thing.
I think that is all of Hollywood though... Much like the rest of corporate America, if they can do it with computers and machines instead of real life people, they would...