By Howard M. Wedgle
For the kid who lives inside of you.
Whether or not you are Star Wars fan, I thought the cinematic process was amazing. I waited until son # came home, while on winter break, to see the movie. We went last night, along with my brother and his daughter and son, to see it at The Continental Theatre. I don’t advise seeing the movie from the 3rd row, which we did. You can’t get the full effect of the movie from that point of view. I should have moved.
With all the Star Wars movies, I think the special effects is what made it popular. One has to have an open mind, with no preconceptions with this movie. Since George Lucas, I believe, was no longer personally involved in any creativity in the making of the movie, with the beginning of a whole different approach to the Star Wars story, the pressure was certainly on Gareth Edwards, the director.
It took a bit to follow the plot, but the storyline is that we know from the “first” Star Wars movie, which actually is Episode Four, A New Hope, that Princess Leia Organa had obtained the Death Star plans. How it came into her possession is what this movie is all about.
We’re introduced to a whole slew of new characters and actors I’m not familiar with and, continuing from the last Star Wars movie, with a strong female lead. One actor I recognized, outside of the CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) characters (talked about later) is Forest Whitaker. I’ve always liked him, but in this movie, I didn’t understand him and he came off very flat here. Great job to the animators or the software geeks that put together the CGI characters and scenes. Everything looked so real and flawless. That was the most amazing part, even from the 3rd row. The martial arts from actor Donnie Yen, who played Chirrut Imwe, was amazing with just enough humor. The best “non-human” was K-2SO, played by Alan Tudyk.
Although it helps to be a Star Wars fan to see this movie, I think people who like action films will like this one. Just don’t sit up front.