Star Wars Episode VII THE SPOILERS AWAKEN

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

The yoda vs dooku fight was better then the snow storm fight. Overall I am not overly convinced that the whole Starkiller plot was just typical corporate writing. I really didn't like it. It still holds an 8/10- but that number could change depending on how the next two go. I still don't like finns line- thought I believe the actor did very well. I hope we get more of fin. I believe the biggest winner wasn't disney here, it was daisy ridley.

MA 

Yoda lost... something when they made him the flippy spiny guy with a tiny green lightsaber.  I didn't like that scene.

[polishgenius]

Arguably Luke vs Vader in ESB provides the counter-argument to this. Luke, with little to no training, holds his own for quite some time with the most powerful lightsaber wielder in the galaxy. Ren by contrast is an insecure showoff who constantly feels the need to assert his power over everyone through immature displays of force, and is also injured, as has been mentioned.

Oh yeah, in this case, I'm not fully on board with the argument, but I can see where the nitpickers are coming from.

 

I largely put this down to film editing, rather than travelling taking less time. As for seeing it from the planets, I suppose this thing is firing a sun at people, so the energy looking like a shooting star or meteorite didn't seem too far-fetched. It's difficult to comment on the relative distances though, from what we're told in the movie.

 
Yeah, but that makes it poor editing (I think there were actually a few moments where it could have been edited better, and if anything most of my issues with it came from that).
In terms of seeing it from the planets, I may be misremembering but iirc they watch the laser fire from the pirate lady's castle thing, when that's pretty certainly not supposed to be in the same place as either the planets being destroyed or the BDS itself. That's something I'll be watching for on rewatch, because if it's not there I have less of an issue with it, although I still find that sequence unclearly put together.

I disagree. Rey pulling the lightsaber out of the snow as the Tatooine sunset theme played gave me goosebumps. And the shot of the TIE fighters  against the sunset was fantastic.

I did like that moment (although I would have liked it more if I hadn't called it well in advance :P) and yeah there were a few nice shots (the downed Star Destroyer too), but the point is, there wasn't too much new that was ace in that way. It was all TIE fighters and X-Wings and Star Destroyers and none of the actual new things such as they were, or new characters past the mains, or new planets, stuck very hard in my myth-minded brain. The big exception was Snoke's towering cathedral-hologram-room. I thought that was cool as shit.

I don't wanna be going round this too much, coz I do like the film and my dissatisfactions are minor and few. But they are fun to talk about.

[HexMachina]

Oh, on the subject of Snoke's big hologram room...please tell me I wasn't the only one fooled into thinking we had some kind of giant as a villain? I almost eye rolled when I saw it because I though "This is going to be even more ridiculous than Yoda dueling if Snoke fights our heroes." And then of course it was revealed it was a hologram and I felt very foolish

[Horza]

I feel like if you think the Vader vs Ben fight is the worst because it was poorly choreographed, I think you're missing the point.

Yep, choreography matters but it's far from the most important thing in a duel

[Stark11]

Just got back and loved the movie. I think all the "bad stuff" everybody else is pointing out is really nitpicky to me, minus the 3rd Death Star. I hope in EP 8 Snoke reveals he has a bigger plan than just blowing up planets, a more sinister plan along the lines of taking over through manipulation rather then force. I don't know, I'm just spitballing.

Regarding Finn and the light saber. It's obvious that he had training with a weapon like a lightsaber at least, this is shown by the storm trooper who has a weapon that can fight against the lightsaber. Also I agree that Kylo was going to teach him a lesson by fighting him one on one rather than just throwing him 100 yards with the force. He got beat pretty easily once Kylo stopped screwing around.

Regarding Rey, she kicked ass throughout the movie with her staff, no reason to think she couldn't wield a light saber better than Finn can.

Also Kylo was shot in the stomach, cut on his arm by Finn, cut again on his shoulder by Rey and you could tell from him being sweaty as hell in the cold weather that he just ran his ass off to catch up to Finn and Rey. So he's tired, injured, just killed his father, not fully trained and has to fight two lightsaber battles back to back. If you can suspend your belief for two hours that people can stop laser beams in mid air, I think you should be able to accept a tired and severely injured fighter got bested by someone else.

I'm also in the camp that Rey's mind must have been wiped away. I don't think she truly believes that she has the force until Kylo tells her that he can teach her and she's more powerful than she knows. At that moment I think she realizes she has that power which gives her confidence and makes her more powerful.

Edit: Closes her eyes and let's the force in like Maz told her to do.

[felice]

Oh, on the subject of Snoke's big hologram room...please tell me I wasn't the only one fooled into thinking we had some kind of giant as a villain?

No, you're not the only one 8)

[The King in Black]

Whatever happened to the Benicio Del Toro reports ? Confirmed or still speculation ? Last I heard he was apparently selected to play the villain in Ep.8. Which could mean he might be the new guy Snoke sends in to lead the First Order, or perhaps train Kylo ? Is it possible that he might not even belong to the First Order but be a Resistance guy instead ?

 

[JonSnow4President]

No, you're not the only one 8)

third that. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Oh, on the subject of Snoke's big hologram room...please tell me I wasn't the only one fooled into thinking we had some kind of giant as a villain?

Nope. Until the hologram flickered off I thought he was a large alien species.  

[ab aeterno]

I'd heard Serkis say he was big, but I was wondering (hoping) that it was a hologram, because he looked ridiculous as a giant IMO. I was most definitely relieved (provided that he really isn't that big.)

[the Greenleif Stark]

My big question is, where will they take the story? Is Rey gonna be in the next one? Is Finn? Ren? They got whole new writer and director on board for the next one

[Stark11]

I'd heard Serkis say he was big, but I was wondering (hoping) that it was a hologram, because he looked ridiculous as a giant IMO. I was most definitely relieved (provided that he really isn't that big.)

It's been confirmed that he's just over 7ft tall I believe. So tall, but not stupid tall.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

I also thought he was a giant and was really relieved when it was just a hologram. I reckon he's actually Yoda-sized and is overcompensating. Size matters not.

Ren is going to be pissed in the next one, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

ETA:

 

It's been confirmed that he's just over 7ft tall I believe. So tall, but not stupid tall.

Damn it.

[ab aeterno]

 

 

It's been confirmed that he's just over 7ft tall I believe. So tall, but not stupid tall.

 

I can live with that. I mean, judging by his hologram size, the biggest danger for Rey/Luke would be getting stepped on accidentally.

 

ETA: New theory: Snoke = Shaq.

[Marcus Agrippa]

I can live with that. I mean, judging by his hologram size, the biggest danger for Rey/Luke would be getting stepped on accidentally.

 

ETA: New theory: Snoke = Shaq.

Eh, who ever snoke is, it should be new. Really hope they don't pull the emporer's son type deal.

[Rockroi]

I saw it last night with my nine-year old daughter.  I really enjoyed it.  But as with anything , you ahd to take some good with some bad:

 

Quick Warning: This review is FILLED WITH SPOILERS!  This should be clear from the title etc.  Just wanted to get that out of the way. 

 

THE LIGHT (What was Good)

Character. Investment: This was the best ensemble of characters since A New Hope: a perfect integration of the young guns (Poe, Rey, Finn, the bubble-droid) and the established vets (Han, Leia).  I was legitimately invested in what happened to Poe; I earnestly thought Finn was a good character and that his struggle was legit; Rey was both strong and conflicted (though, I really could have done without the “Reluctant Hero” nonsense); her scenes while captured were tremendous.  Even Kylo Ren’s punctuated hysteria were well thought out and released (more on him, though, later). 

But mostly, it was if the characters were being played by fans.  I mean, listen to when Rey realized she had been flying the Millennium Falcon; or the way Finn reacted to wanting to run away from the First Order; or the way Poe needed to escape; these were fun characters having fun in a fun place. 

Point-Five Past Light Speed: The pace of the movie was incredible; you jumped into the action from the word “go” and didn’t look back.  The major characters all meet up within a few minutes of the start of the movie and you are off to the races.  There are no parts of the movie where you felt like, “Okay, I gotta get through this part to get to the part I am looking forward to.”  The movie started, got to the good stuff, crested with the reintroduction of new characters and then carried forth to the end.  Even slow points were given boosts by either an infusion of action or some Deus Ex Machina … *cough cough* … I … I mean “interesting plot developments…. But in all honesty, this was a fast and quick movie (Mostly- the end dragged). 

TOMMY !  YOU REALLY ARE A FUNNY GUY!!!!: This was funniest Star Wars movie.  Comedy was used brilliantly and by all the right people.  The movie knew when to make things fun and dropping in some very good one-liners helped (some were clunkers).  Most notably, the inclusion of Han Solo and Poe Damerick were exceptional to lightening up what could have been a heavy-handed film.  Instead, characters came to life even under pretty dire circumstances by making us laugh.  The use of humor was a true triumph. 

Han Solo: This was his movie.  He held that bridge between the old and the new; he seemed to be as enthused with the role as we were in seeing him there (which we can all agree is false; Ford never loved the character).  His highs and lows were felt by everyone in my theater.  Solo integrated the new people with the old ones and that made for a compelling story-device.  I know his ….

 

…one last time, just in case people are uncertain- this is A MAJOR SPOILER… You good?  Okay, I warned you …

 

 

 

I know Solo’s death may not be sitting right with some fans but it really worked in the flow of the movie and I thought it worked.  And it seemed well-earned; Solo, a man who once said that it would be “better her than me” when discussing Leia’s death is now the one who tried to save his son, only to die in the attempt.  For me, that worked. 

As an aside, I know people have complained a bit about Leia not being in the movie very much.  And I think that can be chalked up to two things.  First, Solo HAD to be in the movie a lot; they knew going in this would be Han Solo’s last flight.  So, they had to front-load him in.  Things had to get pushed aside.

Second?  If you watched the movie you know one thing: its clear why Ford had a real career after Star Wars and Fisher didn’t.  She’s not a very good actress and Ford is a good actor.  So, he can have more of the movie because he can handle it.

Fun: This movie was fun.  And if that's not a ringing endorsement in this day and age, I don't know what is.  

THE DARK (What was Bad)

Kylo Ren: I’ll start by saying this: I think Ren was a good undertaking in that they wanted to show a young man who is conflicted; I think that’s a noble undertaking.  However, I felt that this was the Emo-Vader we always feared.  Cranky, shrill, petulant and virtually out-of-control, Ren is not a Vader-clone, but more like that whiney sports-star who pitches a fit every time he doesn’t get his way, but is too good to cut from the team.  There are TWO- yes two- scenes dedicated to him having a temper antrum like he’s six.  And his fight scenes?  Face it- the guy lost a light-saber battle to somebody who had not even USED a light saber before.  How can I POSSIBLY fear Ren from this point on?  And instead of menacing and powerful, Ren was petulant and sulky.  You can do more with a villain than make him be (in effect) "You all mean nothing to me, I hate you... BUT HELP ME I DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE... But FUCK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!"

Why did he even leave the Solos?  What is his deal?  In this vacuum, all I see is a whiney child who yells in a high-pitched whiney voice “I need my villain to have more conflict than just internal foot-stomping. His complaints are hollow and if that was intentional, its a huge swing-and-a-miss for me. Make a villain who has a vision. Ren himself seems to even KNOW he's on the "wrong" side of history. I know its an easy cliché, but its true: the best villains are the ones who think they are the hero of the story. And that was not Ren.

In the final analysis, I though Kylo Ren was more Christiansen’s Anakin Skywalker than Jones’ Darth Vader. 

(and why not name him “Bail?”  Why “Ben?”  Bail Organa was Leia’s father; Ben Kanobi was a guy Leia never met and Solo knew for like 3 hours). 

What’s Past Is Prologue… Actually No!  No… We REALLY Should Know More: Okay so we have a “First Order” which is the Empire, only not… but they have the same ships… the same outfits… same weapons… and we have the Republic… who are “allied” with the Resistance?  But what’s the Resistance?  What are they “resisting?”  Aren’t they the government?  If they are… why are they called the “Residence?”  And if not … WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT!?!?  You have these crazy people out there with a Doomsday Weapon who are destroying planets… ah… you think the Republic can get off their asses to assist?  How did we get here? What’s the history?  How strange is this?  Who is that Supreme Leader?  How did he not rise up before? 

For me, there needed to be more coherence to where these people were, and what they were doing.  I knew these people were fighting, I just didn’t know who they really were. 

What’s My Motivation?:  When you combine the failure of the Kylo Ren character and the failure of knowing why the Republic and the Order are fighting, we are left with a  HUGE issue: what is motivating any of this conflict?  Why does Ren want to be evil? What is the First Order fighting for?  If I don’t know the villain’s motivations, I don’t know what the conflict is about, and I don’t know why this is important?  What are all these people going for?

Compare it to A New Hope: The Empire’s motivation was to stay in power; the Rebellion’s motivation was to overthrow the Empire.  Clear. Unambiguous.   

What about Vader?  Easy- to keep the Empire in power and kill the Jedi.  And in ESB, we learn that he has plans to even overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with his son.  That’s all VERY compelling. 

Here?  What drives Snoke?  What is he after?  How did he get Ren?  Who are these “Fist Order” military people?  What makes them all tick?  We have no idea.  And nobody is telling us.  That is a problem. 

Pain From an Old Wound: I understand the need for Nostalgia; and I think it was generally used well, but I felt that when you use nostalgia, you stunt the growth of new story ideas and new directions the story could go.  There has to be a point- and I think we have already passed it – where you have to move away from the old material and give people new material.  

The best line I heard about this was that while A New Hope was trying to be a Samurai movie, a World War Two Dog-fighter movie and a Pulp Sci-fi movie; The Force Awakens was only trying to be A New Hope.” 

No Longer a New Technological Terror: At the end of the day, the newest weapon was just another old Death Star.  It’s about time they come up with a new thought for the way a (good) Star Wars movie ends.  Reach the climax a different way; they all may need to storm the castle together… but does it have to be THE SAME castle? 

LUKE… LUKE?  I could go either way on this one, but I think if you are going to have a modern Star Wars movie, I’d like Luke to be in it more than as a crying statue.  I get the impact of him being there and his role in this movie (his absence is actually louder than any words he could have spoken) but …. Fuck… could it be any more heavy-handed? 

 

Overall, I really liked this movie and I thought it was a great combination of the old and new.  And mostly I thought the Old gave enough room to the New to make them appreciate Rey, Poe and Fin.  And that gives me confidence in the next slate of films. 

 

OVERALL GRADE: 8.5/10, B+ rating.  

[Ser Creighton]

No, I mean rules in the meta sense, not within the story. In this film the biggest for me is that we know it's a full sized universe with, yes, ftl travel but the same rules of distance etc as ours. So the visuals and operation of the Big Death Star firing didn't work well for me, with being able to see it from planets that are nowhere near or a bolt described as travelling at hyperspace speeds seen moving relatively slowly through real space. Similarly, I mentioned this before, travel was way too easy and contradicted earlier entries in the series where travelling took time.

Similarly, a few people have mentioned that they think Kylo Ren lost too easily at the end- I think there's plausible explanations for this but you can see where the argument comes from that from prior showings a force-trained user should not be having that much trouble with untrained, and in one case unwoken if he has it at all, users of the Force.

You're right that the real-world setting means it's easier for F&F to fall foul of this sort of shit because you assume it goes, to a certain extent, by real-world rules unless established otherwise and so streetracing in major cities without getting arrested is fine because that's a feature of the series (albeit it gets more casually easy to get away as the series goes) but the twenty-mile runway in the sixth one gets talked about because, just, come on now guys. But the whole F&F series has been surprisingly good at maintaining its structure while building up to ever more ridiculous things, so there's not as much to pick at as it might seem at first glance.

Oh ok, the Starkiller base. Well first that is not nit picking that is a legit criticism, nit picking for me is like "OMG Chewie's Bow Caster used to shoot Hyperion red bolts now they are clearly Vermilion red, I don't think I can watch this film again." In this scene we see 6 strands of Rey's hair loose about her face, but here only 4 strands are visible what happened to the other the strands JJ you fucking hack?"

I will say this, I am not going to really criticize hyper space travel times between point A and point B because we have no idea how long it takes or how far they are going.  Some of the time in the Hyperspace travel moments in the series they are used to slow the pace and develop backstory and characters. That is really what they are used for we don't really get a it takes this many hours and we are going this far and we will be going this fast. The director choose not to really do that, and honestly I wish had as I felt the pace was kind of quick, I personally could of used a little bit more in the way of pace and back story. But he does not really have to do that, he can say jump to Hyperspace and arrival, that is not really a rule.

Now in the case of the giant space gun, that is a more than justifiable criticism, and honestly it bugged me but not as much as I would have thought. It should of annoyed me more than it did, but it didn't. Mostly because I felt the Starkiller base was redundant and the movie actually plays it that way, which was weird. They really just needed a large imperial base to hold Rey at and Han and the Kid go get her. It was a pointless arbitrary plot device. Rebells were like yeah whatever will go blow it up and Snoke was like yeah whatever doesn't really matter if it's gone. It never felt like a threat to me, and it never felt like a big deal to me and it was not treated that way. I honestly don't know why it was in the movie. I don't even know how they built it, it looks to have had a mass around a 110X that of the Death Star. I don't know how they built a death star but that thing? It should of taken like 200 years and that is at the peak of the Empire, this is after they lost. And again totally redundant. I know part of it is based of the Star Forge from KOTOR, but the Star Forge which you could consider more advanced did not eat a whole sun, where are they putting the mass? It's not light air it has extreme density and it's massive.

Anyway here appears to the basis of the idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5xDSZnok4s

Though the Star Forge did not shoot some visible hyperspace beam it converted energy into matter to mass produce advanced ships. I can't explain the Starkiller canon it was just pointless and not even well done. But the movie treated it like an after thought so I pretty much do as well.

As for Kylo, he is an idiot, didn't you notice when he was calm like a Jedi he was much better, and when he was embracing his anger he basically sucked. Though in the end he was seriously injured, and felling, he was sweating and going into shock, he was clearly not focused and Rey was seriously upsetting him. Also who ever Said Kylo was the end all be all? I think Kylo road the short bus to Jedi school. I think he felt like he was living in the shadows of legends and so embraced the shadows. I think he is weak in many respects and that his focus is erratic at best. When he is focused like a Jedi he shows that Skywalker talent when he isn't which is often, he is actually showing all the weaknesses of the Dark side. Plus who said Rey is fully untrained, did you see who raised her? You think she just picked up focus and using a staff? She was raised by a guy from the Church of the Jedi who happens to also have the map piece to Luke. She had a little wax on wax off action going on. Kylo was unfocused and messed up there, he is thoughts were betraying him, plus again nobody every said he was the end all be all, I mean he thinks he is, but what does he know? He's crazy, normal people don't stab their father, and took the short bus to Jedi school.

 

F&F? Man it was not the runway, though the plain could taken those cars off the ground and not even noticed, no it was the safe, so much bullshit in that chase, Oh and the tank, and honestly Vin beating the Rock and Rousy getting dropped, and the car jumping from building to building. Oh and the bad Kali fight between Jason and Vin, again a fight Vin should not be winning. Oh almost forgot them trying to convince me Gal Gadot was hot and a bad ass when she is neither, all I thought when I saw her was please feed her there is nothing sexy about starvation. Mix in a series based off bad acting, I mean just brutally bad acting. I don't really know the appeal, it fills a void for action movies I guess. I don't know if it really does anything for me, the cars are cool, the actors are bad, some good stunts, no believable plot and over the top suspension of disbelief. For what it is, I know a lot of people like those movies and more power to ya, it's not for me, and a lot of that is because the first movie is nothing like the last movies.  It's basically a movie that jumps the shark for fun as often as it can, and for me that gets old. It's like the starkiller beam, except an entire movie about it and watching it shoot bigger planets after bigger planets and eat bigger son after bigger son. "Dom we can't eat that sun, "Watch me Brain, I am angry so my Starkiller base has extra power." "Yeah that is what I am talking about blew up that planet hardcore, now I need a Corona because that is cheapest shittiest bear I can think of. Like he can't have Dos Equis, or a Stella artois, or maybe a Hacker Pschorr, or Sam Adams, or Miller, pretty much everything is better than that crappy bear. It's a step up from Old Milwaukee that's about it. Corona is a bear for people who don't like beer and Fast is a nit pickers movie for people who don't like it being nit picked.

[Suzanna Stormborn]

Oh ok, the Starkiller base. Well first that is not nit picking that is a legit criticism, nit picking for me is like "OMG Chewie's Bow Caster used to shoot Hyperion red bolts now they are clearly Vermilion red, I don't think I can watch this film again." In this scene we see 6 strands of Rey's hair loose about her face, but here only 4 strands are visible what happened to the other the strands JJ you fucking hack?"

I will say this, I am not going to really criticize hyper space travel times between point A and point B because we have no idea how long it takes or how far they are going.  Some of the time in the Hyperspace travel moments in the series they are used to slow the pace and develop backstory and characters. That is really what they are used for we don't really get a it takes this many hours and we are going this far and we will be going this fast. The director choose not to really do that, and honestly I wish had as I felt the pace was kind of quick, I personally could of used a little bit more in the way of pace and back story. But he does not really have to do that, he can say jump to Hyperspace and arrival, that is not really a rule.

Now in the case of the giant space gun, that is a more than justifiable criticism, and honestly it bugged me but not as much as I would have thought. It should of annoyed me more than it did, but it didn't. Mostly because I felt the Starkiller base was redundant and the movie actually plays it that way, which was weird. They really just needed a large imperial base to hold Rey at and Han and the Kid go get her. It was a pointless arbitrary plot device. Rebells were like yeah whatever will go blow it up and Snoke was like yeah whatever doesn't really matter if it's gone. It never felt like a threat to me, and it never felt like a big deal to me and it was not treated that way. I honestly don't know why it was in the movie. I don't even know how they built it, it looks to have had a mass around a 110X that of the Death Star. I don't know how they built a death star but that thing? It should of taken like 200 years and that is at the peak of the Empire, this is after they lost. And again totally redundant. I know part of it is based of the Star Forge from KOTOR, but the Star Forge which you could consider more advanced did not eat a whole sun, where are they putting the mass? It's not light air it has extreme density and it's massive.

Anyway here appears to the basis of the idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5xDSZnok4s

Though the Star Forge did not shoot some visible hyperspace beam it converted energy into matter to mass produce advanced ships. I can't explain the Starkiller canon it was just pointless and not even well done. But the movie treated it like an after thought so I pretty much do as well.

As for Kylo, he is an idiot, didn't you notice when he was calm like a Jedi he was much better, and when he was embracing his anger he basically sucked. Though in the end he was seriously injured, and felling, he was sweating and going into shock, he was clearly not focused and Rey was seriously upsetting him. Also who ever Said Kylo was the end all be all? I think Kylo road the short bus to Jedi school. I think he felt like he was living in the shadows of legends and so embraced the shadows. I think he is weak in many respects and that his focus is erratic at best. When he is focused like a Jedi he shows that Skywalker talent when he isn't which is often, he is actually showing all the weaknesses of the Dark side. Plus who said Rey is fully untrained, did you see who raised her? You think she just picked up focus and using a staff? She was raised by a guy from the Church of the Jedi who happens to also have the map piece to Luke. She had a little wax on wax off action going on. Kylo was unfocused and messed up there, he is thoughts were betraying him, plus again nobody every said he was the end all be all, I mean he thinks he is, but what does he know? He's crazy, normal people don't stab their father, and took the short bus to Jedi school.

 

F&F? Man it was not the runway, though the plain could taken those cars off the ground and not even noticed, no it was the safe, so much bullshit in that chase, Oh and the tank, and honestly Vin beating the Rock and Rousy getting dropped, and the car jumping from building to building. Oh and the bad Kali fight between Jason and Vin, again a fight Vin should not be winning. Oh almost forgot them trying to convince me Gal Gadot was hot and a bad ass when she is neither, all I thought when I saw her was please feed her there is nothing sexy about starvation. Mix in a series based off bad acting, I mean just brutally bad acting. I don't really know the appeal, it fills a void for action movies I guess. I don't know if it really does anything for me, the cars are cool, the actors are bad, some good stunts, no believable plot and over the top suspension of disbelief. For what it is, I know a lot of people like those movies and more power to ya, it's not for me, and a lot of that is because the first movie is nothing like the last movies.  It's basically a movie that jumps the shark for fun as often as it can, and for me that gets old. It's like the starkiller beam, except an entire movie about it and watching it shoot bigger planets after bigger planets and eat bigger son after bigger son. "Dom we can't eat that sun, "Watch me Brain, I am angry so my Starkiller base has extra power." "Yeah that is what I am talking about blew up that planet hardcore, now I need a Corona because that is cheapest shittiest bear I can think of. Like he can't have Dos Equis, or a Stella artois, or maybe a Hacker Pschorr, or Sam Adams, or Miller, pretty much everything is better than that crappy bear. It's a step up from Old Milwaukee that's about it. Corona is a bear for people who don't like beer and Fast is a nit pickers movie for people who don't like it being nit picked.

So I Just saw it!!! ANd am totally heartbroken about Han Solo .

 

Here's the thing, after 4,5 and 6. Luke, Han and Leia were all space heroes who were just going to live forever in my mind.  Now we have to watch all their inevitable deaths. Han Solo was my first love, since the 80's, and 30 years later I just had to watch him die......and he never got to see Luke again..........  I'll be in an emotionally traumatized Star Wars depression over the next few days. waaaaaahhhhhh

Other than that, totally awesome, best movie ever #lovedit

 

[Spring Bass]

Kylo Ren might be intended to be a half-baked former Jedi apprentice turned Dark Jedi. He's got some powerful techniques, but his lightsaber skills are pretty clearly lacking - Rey eventually kicked his ass despite having zero lightsaber training, and even Finn held out for a short time. It would offer an explanation for why he might have been tempted to the Dark Side and has a "thing" with Darth Vader's helmet. Maybe he was a weak padawan who felt inadequate and inferior compared to his family heritage of strength in the Force, so he was tempted to the Dark Side by Snoke. 

If he knows about Rey in general (if not that she was on Jakku), then that might tie into that further. Perhaps that was what pushed him over completely - being a weak Jedi apprentice compared to his uncle and grandfather, and then having that rubbed in his face again when Luke fathers a daughter who is incredibly strong in the Force (I'm assuming Rey is Luke's daughter, since basically everyone in this universe appears to be related closely).  

As for the film in general-

1. I'm not as enthusiastic about the pacing as Rockroi. It starts off great, but by the time we get to the mission to take down the latest Superweapon, the pacing starts to lag more and more. Eventually I was just waiting for them to blow the damn thing up so we could get past that, and have Rey go to Luke. 

2. The characters were all great, though. Good casting, even of the comparatively minor characters like General Huk. Harrison Ford kills it, and he had great chemistry as Han Solo with Rey and Finn. Not so great chemistry with Carrie Fisher, to be honest. 

3. The movie just didn't feel like there was a lot of weight to it. I guess that's normal since it's only the first film in the trilogy, but . . . I don't know. I think this movie's flaws might bother me more and more as time goes on. 

[Kindly Old Man]

Han Solo: This was his movie.  He held that bridge between the old and the new; he seemed to be as enthused with the role as we were in seeing him there (which we can all agree is false; Ford never loved the character). 

I thought this article about Harrison Ford and the Han Solo role was interesting.  It seems like he was pretty invested in it at least through ESB and then turned on it as he got more successful.