The Geek Awakens

Daughter No. 2 and I went to see Star Wars today.
In 3-D.
To my surprise, I found the experience quite enjoyable.

I'm not one of those folks who was posting "Ermagherd!!!! Star Wars!!!!" On Facebook in the lead up to the release.
In fact I found it all exceedingly tiresome.

Between Episodes 1 thru 3, Ewoks, what J.J. Abrams did to Star Trek and what Peter Jackson did to The Hobbit, I was prepared to be disappointed and my enthusiasm wasn't just lacking, it had taken a bus out of town.

But The Force Awakens hit all the notes we loved in A New Hope;  epic, space opera action with enough humour to keep it light, but not enough to make us wretch into our popcorn and wonder where Jar Jar is. The plot also was not just a mash up of disjointed action scenes and characters lacking in motivation, leaving the audience wondering "what the F*ck?"

The homage shots were nicely done without being heavy handed. I didn't cry when Han died. I felt it was making a nice hand over to the new characters so they can carry the story forward. Although the Bad Guy isn't quite as imposing as Darth Vader. I can't even remember his name.

I do hope that this new champion of the Dark Side isn't motivated by teen angst like Annikin though.

I also found the 3D not bad either. Most of the time it just gave some depth to the scene without being all "hey! We're in 3D kids!". I don't know if this is from a technological change or maturation in how it is being used by the director.

This all gives me hope though that I won't need to hand in my Geek card just yet.