Trimac20

Saw 'The Force Awakens' yesterday and I have to say it left me...pretty underwhelmed. After six films I think I'm pretty Star Warsed out. Thematically it just seemed like a re-hash of Episodes IV and V, this new character 'Rey' being just another Luke Skywalker, a 'nobody', a scavenger on a desert-like planet that bears striking resemblance to Tatooine, who is unwittingly pulled into the whole saga by destiny. The story of the renegade Storm Trooper didn't really resonate as much as it could have. The whole relationship between Han Solo and this new villain: we've seen it before, nor did he seem very menacing to me, at all (not that I would want to be stuck in a room with him). Just like a lesser Darth Vader. As one reviewer mentioned as a stand-alone film, this seems like so many PG-13 action films we've seen. The plot was a bit predictable and clichéd at times, though the pacing wasn't too bad, but overall I didn't feel much suspense. It's like we'd seen it a hundred times before. I don't think the presence of the original three - now middle aged - really saves it. Little of the plot seems to follow much of the Star Wars post Return of the Jedi mythology that some fans might be familiar with, it just felt very disconnected. I haven't really been a Star Wars fan for years anyway, and if this is a third trilogy, I doubt I'll be watching the next if it's more of the same. Just my opinion, anyone else feel the same? Possibly, I have to say, the most lacklustre Star Wars film since the Phantom Menace actually.

Just saw 'Lucy'. The premise is interesting - it definitely extends beyond the realm of transhumanism into territory usually the preserve of spirituality and religion, most explicitly in the scene where Lucy and the first humanoid 'Lucy' touch fingers in an allegory to the Micheangelo fresco. It was all too easy to think of Lucy attaining god-like status, as she progresses to fully using her brain and cerebral capacities. How that works is never quite explained. Although there is a theory I came up with that brains are sort of 'receivers' of universal consciousness that ties in well with this, but in reality, I don't think using '100% of your brain' will really give you all these superhuman or superhero powers.

The plot was probably the most disappointing part of the film. Beginning in Taipei, Lucy's boyfriend sets her up (presumably) with a Korean drug ring that is using people as mules smuggle in a drug (although whether they know the full capabilities of the drug is seemingly unclear) that is synethesised 'CPH4' a chemical that mother's release that stimulates bone growth in fetuses. Their goal here is not that clear. Basically another 'catch the bad guy' plot, intertwined with Lucy's (Scarlett Johansen's) evolution into some kind of superhuman and beyond. A lot of the action scenes and pseudo-science (which in itself is not a sin if properly worked out in the alternative logic of the universe) have been seen before. I'll give it 5.5/10.