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Still, in a year where really duff sequels and remakes have played their part, at least it doesn’t rank as low as Jurassic World, Terminator Genisys and Poltergeist. I include remakes in those words because there are elements in The Force Awakens where Abrams is showing us things that have been done before, and… spoiler alert on..
I also made the effort to see this in IMAX because one major scene, around 30 minutes in and lasting up almost 10 minutes, has been shot with 70mm IMAX cameras in 1.44:1. I’ve championed before, with my Interstellar cinema review, why this is a stunning vision that must be seen.
Hence, I was gutted that after pre-ordering my ticket, it was not to be presented that way in Manchester’s IMAX – the second biggest in Europe (only the BFI IMAX beats it). For some reason, there’s so few prints in the UK that they couldn’t get one – reportedly two in 3D and one in 2D. I think this is a disgrace of Disney – they paid $4.06bn for everything “Star Wars”, they’ve already made the money back with merchandise, and they can’t get a fucking print sorted?? This is the ONLY time I’ll be seeing this on the HUGE screen, and so, as it was digitally-projected, the print opened up to 1.90:1 at most. Disney, you bloody cheapskates!!!
Some big spoilers….
I had planned to see this in a midnight screening today. I tried to book the Odeon IMAX 3D at Manchester Printworks, and despite once or twice managing to select the seats and then go to the checkout, it would either say “Session data expired” or tell me the seats had already gone! In the end, I settled for the mid-morning screening where I very nearly didn’t get my seat of choice as someone else had taken them, yet clearly they had a problem because we all got chucked out, and they became free again and I was able to buy them! So it kinda worked out in the end.
Outside of the film content, since this first-day viewing was going to be heaving, I knew there’d be a chance of at least one person being an arse and there was more than that. Firstly, as the credits began and the lights came on (grrr! in itself), the woman in the row in front of me stood up, put her jacket on and then just STOOD THERE! She was waiting for her better half to shift himself, but rather than sit back down and wait for him, she continued to stand!!!
Secondly, despite me being sat bang in the middle at the back – so there’s no reason for anyone to walk past me and trip over my bag – they still decided to walk past me and nearly trip over my bag. And because people on my left weren’t moving at one point, the dicks who passed me just STOOD RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!! I told the bloke right in front that I was trying to watch the credits and he just mumbled. There was nothing to stop him going the other way! Thank Frank it’s not normally that busy!
If this is you in the cinema, then HAVE A WORD WITH YOURSELF!! Some of us like to stay and enjoy the end music and check out the credits, and we don’t need you ruining it!!
Overall, while JJ Abrams still *gets* the feeling of the franchise across, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was good, but not brilliant. I will check it out again at the cinema, but I’ll wait until the new year and just catch a 2D showing. It wasn’t filmed in 3D anyway, so the fact I saw that was largely just a by-product of seeing it in IMAX. I don’t think the 3D added a huge amount to it, outside of basic perspective. In addition, it’s also one of the longer Star Wars films and, at 135 minutes, really needs about 20-30 minutes cutting out of it.
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, but the release date has yet to be confirmed. Also, click on the poster for the full-size image.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 135 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Picures
Year: 2015
Format: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision, Digital Intermediate (4K)), 1.44:1 (one 70mm IMAX scene, showing in 1.90:1 for digital IMAX projections – almost all of them)
Released: December 17th 2015
Rating: 7/10
Director: JJ Abrams
Producers: JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk and Kathleen Kennedy
Screenplay: Lawrence Kasdan, JJ Abrams and Michael Arndt (based on characters created by George Lucas)
Music: John Williams
Cast:
Han Solo: Harrison Ford
Luke Skywalker: Mark Hamill
Princess Leia: Carrie Fisher
Kylo Ren: Adam Driver
Rey: Daisy Ridley
Finn: John Boyega
Poe Dameron: Oscar Isaac
Maz Kanata: Lupita Nyong’o
Supreme Leader Snoke: Andy Serkis
General Hux: Domhnall Gleeson
C-3PO: Anthony Daniels
Lor San Tekka: Max von Sydow
Chewbacca: Peter Mayhew
Captain Phasma: Gwendoline Christie
Chewbacca Double: Joonas Suotamo
Lead Stormtrooper: Pip Andersen
Unkar Plutt: Simon Pegg
Teedo: Kiran Shah
Jakku Villager: Sasha Frost
Colonel Kaplan: Pip Torrens
Major Ematt: Andrew Jack
Colonel Datoo: Rocky Marshall
Snap Wexley: Greg Grunberg
Brance: Emun Elliott
Bala-Tik: Brian Vernel
Tasu Leech: Yayan Ruhian
Lieutenant Mitaka: Sebastian Armesto
Korr Sella: Maisie Richardson-Sellers
Wollivan: Warwick Davis
Young Rey: Cailey Fleming
Knight of Ren: Mark Stanley
Admiral Statura: Ken Leung
Razoo Quin-Fee: Iko Uwais
Bazine Netal: Anna Brewster
Dr Kalonia: Harriet Walter
Admiral Ackbar: Tim Rose
Admiral Ackbar: Erik Bauersfeld
Nien Nunb: Mike Quinn
Nien Nunb: Kipsang Rotich
FN-3181: Michael Giacchino
FN-9330: Nigel Godrich
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.