Star Wars Episode VII THE SPOILERS AWAKEN

[Nictarion]

Nvm

[Nictarion]

I'm just getting back from the theater. I really dug the movie. I don't think there was a bad performance in the film. I'm thinking Kylo Ren is swerving us all. I think he's well educated about Vader's path and wants to follow it, for the most part, to the letter. I think he's planning to double cross Snoke.

Killing your own father is some pretty extreme undercover work.  

Anyway, I loved it. Especially Daisy Ridley. Who I thought carried the movie quite well.

[karaddin]

On the derivative nature of it, I didn't mind it for two reasons - firstly it felt very much in the homage vein rather than a knock off, and it felt to me like they felt like they needed to tick a bunch of this off as the first non Lucas SW movie before they can then move it in their own new direction. Secondly despite so much of the similarities I felt there was a fundamental difference in focus. ANH was very squarely about the threat of the death star, and the destruction of it was the A plot. For me the A plot in VII was Rey, Ren, the familial relationships and finding Luke. This was set against the backdrop of the threat of the Starkiller, but that was a smaller element.

[Bastard of Boston]

Okay, I saw it. My force awakened, all right. Nerdgasms all up and throughout.

 

Non-spoilers. The movie is total fanservice, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a bad thing. Star Wars nerds are sensitive. Overly so, IMO. The fandom will never let go of those prequels. One thing this movie had that didn't exist at all in the prequels was a personality. The characters popped. Everything about those prequels was so dry.

 

Abrams had to make sure he gave the nerds everything they wanted, which resulted in a fairly predictable -- yet awesome -- outcome. The new characters are amazing editions to the mythology. You ultimately have a female protagonist and a Black right hand, and I feel like these are two huge talking points.

 

Kylo is already my favorite.

 

The passing of the torch was evident. Han had to die to propel Kylo as a villain. I loved the scene between them on the bridge. Kylo is going to be my Zuko, for all the Airbender fans. I'm sure he's irredeemable after killing Han, but he'll no doubt be in a constant tug of war throughout the series. He's clearly conflicted. I fucking love his armor design...evokes Vader, but more modern.

 

Rey was awesome. Abrams was somewhat predictable with this movie, so I want to say she'll be Luke's daughter. Another outcome could be her being a Solo. They could play up some sort of sibling rivalry between her and Kylo. Doubt it, though. She's an amnesiac, but I doubt Leia or Han would forget they have another kid.

 

Her knowing how to fight didn't phase me. There's clearly some memory loss. It's possible she trained as a child.

 

Fin was great. I liked his origin as a Stormtrooper deserter. He and Poe make for a great two man show. I hope they get more scenes in future films. I loved the fact that Brienne of Tarth didn't get out of that armor at all. She could've telephoned in her performance.

 

Those legacy characters, though. They did just enough. When I saw Luke standing there at the end? Shiiiiiit.

[Nictarion]

Okay, I saw it. My force awakened, all right. Nerdgasms all up and throughout.

 

Non-spoilers. The movie is total fanservice, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a bad thing. Star Wars nerds are sensitive. Overly so, IMO. The fandom will never let go of those prequels. One thing this movie had that didn't exist at all in the prequels was a personality. The characters popped. Everything about those prequels was so dry.

 

Abrams had to make sure he gave the nerds everything they wanted, which resulted in a fairly predictable -- yet awesome -- outcome. The new characters are amazing editions to the mythology. You ultimately have a female protagonist and a Black right hand, and I feel like these are two huge talking points.

 

Kylo is already my favorite.

 

The passing of the torch was evident. Han had to die to propel Kylo as a villain. I loved the scene between them on the bridge. Kylo is going to be my Zuko, for all the Airbender fans. I'm sure he's irredeemable after killing Han, but he'll no doubt be in a constant tug of war throughout the series. He's clearly conflicted. I fucking love his armor design...evokes Vader, but more modern.

 

Rey was awesome. Abrams was somewhat predictable with this movie, so I want to say she'll be Luke's daughter. Another outcome could be her being a Solo. They could play up some sort of sibling rivalry between her and Kylo. Doubt it, though. She's an amnesiac, but I doubt Leia or Han would forget they have another kid.

 

Her knowing how to fight didn't phase me. There's clearly some memory loss. It's possible she trained as a child.

 

Fin was great. I liked his origin as a Stormtrooper deserter. He and Poe make for a great two man show. I hope they get more scenes in future films. I loved the fact that Brienne of Tarth didn't get out of that armor at all. She could've telephoned in her performance.

 

Those legacy characters, though. They did just enough. When I saw Luke standing there at the end? Shiiiiiit.

That was probably the most powerful scene for me. At least as far as the OT characters go. Han's "we're home" was in the trailer, as was seeing the Falcon. And his death was spoiled for me. So seeing Luke in his Jedi robes, looking the part of master, yeah that was some epic shit. Both Hamill and Ridley were great with their facial expressions in a scene with no dialogue. 

[Lord Syv Aldlark]

Finn was totally messed up.

Oh man I don't like killing or fighting..

Oh well guess I have to kill to survive.. If he can change that implies they all can change.

Not a bad movie overall though I would have liked some different plot points. Oh well.

[Slurktan]

Well it was ok.  Some good some bad.

Finn was great, comedic and heroic but not being amazing at everything right off the hop was nice.  It's quite obvious he is to be the new Han.

The character of Rey was.... kid of a bland Mary Sue but my word did Ridley act the shit out of it.

Han and Chewie were great, the chemistry there was awesome although I'm quite sure it wasn't Peter Mayhew in the suit since he can barely walk.

I quite liked Ren's petulance.  I don't know why really Driver just did it well.

Other than his one line of "who talks first" etc, Poe Dameron was.... mostly terrible.  They seemed to forget the concept of show not tell with him.  The sequence with his xwing was pretty good but then the dipshit writers had to fuck it up by having Finn say "Wow what a great pilot".  No shit sherlock.  He quite honestly could have been cut from the movie and  nothing would have been missed.  Just make BB8 Brewmeister Smith's droid instead. Dameron was  in it because presumably he gets a bigger role in Ep 8/9 and that's it.

I hate, hate, hate that Leia walks right by Chewie and runs over to hug Rey.  WTF? "Oh Chewie you were my lovers best friend/companion for over 30 years and presumably babysat young Ben on date nights but who the fuck cares, new young thing is here.  Oh and I'm not even going to say goodbye when you go to pick up my long lost brother who is lost cause I didn't want to plug in and charge R2; but hey I'll get all emo with Rey again."  Fuck that shit.  I hope she dies in episode 8.  The only thing which would make this acceptable would be if one time when drunk Leia, Han, and Chewie had a threesome which didn't turn out well so she's not really comfortable around him anymore.

So the last scene with Luke.  There is a gravestone.  I think one could make the case that he made it for Han.  I'm going to go slightly out there though and say it's for his wife/lover.  Why do I think that?  Because I'm thinking they are stealing another EU plotline so when Ben wrecked the Jedi Academy he killed Luke's wife/lover too.  Luke then sends his daughter to a remote desert planet to grow up.  Why?  Because being trained as a Jedi mostly from the get go does not have a good history with the Skywalkers/Solos. Whereas completely growing up in a desert didn't do so bad.

Edit:  So am I also crazy in thinking that Supreme Leader Gollum is going to be a Sith? I could even see him turning out to be the Emperors master just to bring it full circle since he did create Anakin,

 

[Pilusmagnus]

I'm slightly disappointed by the storyline that was a rip-off of A New Hope, but there are too much good things, and even great things in that film that I can't reasonably say I didn't absolutely love it.

[red snow]

I'm just getting back from the theater. I really dug the movie. I don't think there was a bad performance in the film. I'm thinking Kylo Ren is swerving us all. I think he's well educated about Vader's path and wants to follow it, for the most part, to the letter. I think he's planning to double cross Snoke.

Me too. When Han told him what Snoke would do he accepted it - no argument. So he's either confident he can become sith lord prime or he has some other plan. I still like the idea he's all about balance although the (great) scene with him worrying about the light side tainting him suggests otherwise.

I took Ren stopping the blaster bolt to show his potential was massive, but he's super erratic and uncontrolled so didn't live up to it.

 

It could be because he actually balances the light and dark side of the force? So when he kills his dad he upsets said balance and becomes weaker? It would be interesting if he makes that connection in future films.

I was also wondering about Finn and the force. The movie seemed to leave it unanswered. But he had some weird interactions with Kylo on Jakku - like knowing Kylo was near without even seeing his ship, and Kylo singling out Finn despite the fact he was in his armor. So there may be something there. Then again he just turned out to be a glorified sidekick. 

Story wise, I think he should be Force sensitive. Otherwise imo his role is reduced to that of a goofy sidekick. Maybe it was just the marketing, but I was expecting a major player in the trilogy alongside Rey, Kylo and Snoke (and a major player should be Force sensitive imo). In any event, he was just sliced across the back, so he won't really have any kind of role for a little while. 

I'm with you. Too many things suggesting it - don't forget the amazing shots he fired too. I think they are actually pulling a pretty cool double bluff. All the trailers posters had us thinking he's force sensitive. Now we think he isn't so we'll be surprised again when it turns out he is. The guy is a hero - he breaks his brainwashing on his first mission because he knows it's wrong. He rushes to save Rey when he didn't know her because it was wrong. He's the one who's getting the zero to hero arc in this trilogy. Rey will too (and probably Ren to some extent) but she's starting from a solid platform.

And there's still the question of what the little alien was hinting at about Finn's eyes. It felt like reincarnation more than parentage to me.

 

With Rey I'm unsure if she has prior training or was fully empowered by the force in a way we haven't seen before - the force is awakening after all, through her seems the main way. I also thought the children screaming when she found the saber was Anakin killing the younglings, she was getting the history off it, but I could be misreading that.

I think it was memories of the events surrounding the academy massacre. So those were Luke's younglings being taken down by Ren and his knights. I'd bet Rey is one of those younglings. Personally I'd like it if Rey wasn't a blood relative and that Luke is more an adoptive force father. The problem with Luke having a biological child is that it almost insists on their being a story behind his wife which given there's no previous knowledge means we have to be told via a load of exposition. I like how three of the new characters are mysterious. I guess Poe Dameron is going to be the straight forward one - they don't all need to be super complicated/mystical.

My brother had a funny assessment of Finn "He's like a guy who wakes up in the totally wrong place after drinking far too much the night before". It sort of works.

[Howdyphillip]

 I don't know why I even bothered to check in here... I just watched an amazing Star Wars movie, and it seems that there is page after page of people doing their best to shit on it. Well, I just got home from watching it, and I absolutely know that this movie was a winner by any stretch of the imagination. If Disney keeps this up, I will gladly go see a Star Wars movie or two every year for the rest of my life.

 I'll chime back in here later, but just know if you are complaining about this movie, you are wrong. 

[Alboin]

I loved the movie. Overall it left me with that feeling of infantile excitement, of a temporary being in a world which in some ways is worse and in some and in many is better and more adventurous then ours. And I'm grateful for that, didn't happen since ROTJ.

Digging into specifics I specifically liked:

+ most of all - Daisy Ridley performance and her character. She is so, so Star Wars, and I actually caught myself on waiting for her to appear on screen when there was pause. The criticism about her being LS fighter all of a sudden... Well, there maybe some more twists like the one Ran suggests with the memory block, but why everyone one forgets how good she is  with that metal staff from the very first scene? It's not like she has no melee fighting background at all...

+ The droid. Never thought I would. I've prepared myself to some annoying childish grimacing in Jar Jar style from it, but it wasn't like that at all.

+ That retro feel they were obviously aiming and hit the target. Besides everything the film is shot on 35mm, not on digital camera like prequels and It is noticeable.

+ Ambivalent villain, who is obviously carried away by something and scared and frustrated and at the same time scary and powerful

+ Whole First Order Nazi symbolism and show off

 I wasn't fan of:

- New weird Yoda with no explanation - we got of lot of overture for him back then, This one just dropped on a viewer - look, that's an old wise creature that knows everything - and that's it. 

- One thing that everybody seems not to like and I don't like as well: undershoot of Captain Phasma, there was an obvious moment to remove her helmet when she was being held in that control room (and as a  little addition: was Max von Sydow really needed for that 30 sec part?)

- Another thing that everybody seems to like and I don't: Harrison Ford acting. I leave it at that. 

- Hommages I understand, and obvious intention of creators to tie themselves to the original trilogy, that's why a lot of TNH parallels. I just think there were too much of them 

- New Death Star. That's a third movie out of seven with that thing, enough already. 

[red snow]

 I don't know why I even bothered to check in here... I just watched an amazing Star Wars movie, and it seems that there is page after page of people doing their best to shit on it. Well, I just got home from watching it, and I absolutely know that this movie was a winner by any stretch of the imagination. If Disney keeps this up, I will gladly go see a Star Wars movie or two every year for the rest of my life.

 I'll chime back in here later, but just know if you are complaining about this movie, you are wrong. 

There's page after page of people defending it too.

[Relic]

 I don't know why I even bothered to check in here... I just watched an amazing Star Wars movie, and it seems that there is page after page of people doing their best to shit on it. Well, I just got home from watching it, and I absolutely know that this movie was a winner by any stretch of the imagination. If Disney keeps this up, I will gladly go see a Star Wars movie or two every year for the rest of my life.

 I'll chime back in here later, but just know if you are complaining about this movie, you are wrong. 

what a stupid thing to complain about. You come to the Internet and are shocked to find people who disagree with you? Please stop,  before you even start. 

[ab aeterno]

I suppose it comes down to whether or not Luke returns to Dagobah in between 5 & 6. I always assumed he had, what with his new zen-like demeanor and affinity with the force. Last time we see him, Yoda is pleading with Luke not to go to Cloud city telling him he's not yet ready, in ROTJ he says he's taught him everything he can, so I thought it was implying further training off-screen.

Yeah, exactly. I'm not saying he definitely didn't, just that I tink it's a bit ambiguous. 

I took Ren stopping the blaster bolt to show his potential was massive, but he's super erratic and uncontrolled so didn't live up to it.

 

I wonder whether it was also that it's supposed to be him basically showing off - that he's insecure so he's trying to show everyone how powerful he is, that he can measure up to Vader.

 

On the derivative nature of it, I didn't mind it for two reasons - firstly it felt very much in the homage vein rather than a knock off, and it felt to me like they felt like they needed to tick a bunch of this off as the first non Lucas SW movie before they can then move it in their own new direction. Secondly despite so much of the similarities I felt there was a fundamental difference in focus. ANH was very squarely about the threat of the death star, and the destruction of it was the A plot. For me the A plot in VII was Rey, Ren, the familial relationships and finding Luke. This was set against the backdrop of the threat of the Starkiller, but that was a smaller element.

Yeah, this is what excused the Starkiller Base plot for me. It's very much a secondary issue. Snoke barely even blinks when it gets destroyed, be clearly sees the threat as being Luke, Rey and The Force, not any technology. The technological terror they constructed was insignificant next to the power of The Force. 

 

[The King in Black]

 I don't know why I even bothered to check in here... I just watched an amazing Star Wars movie, and it seems that there is page after page of people doing their best to shit on it. Well, I just got home from watching it, and I absolutely know that this movie was a winner by any stretch of the imagination. If Disney keeps this up, I will gladly go see a Star Wars movie or two every year for the rest of my life.

 I'll chime back in here later, but just know if you are complaining about this movie, you are wrong. 

Calm down JJ, nobody's saying this is Star Trek : Into Darkness, alright ? 

Now, seeing as how Ep.7 was based on Ep.4, and how much has been left unresolved, it seems safe to assume Ep 8 will then be the grand adventure full of revelations la Ep. 5  and Ep 9 will 'pay homage' to Ep 6. Thus explaining the choices of the talented Rian Johnson and Colin 'women can run in heels damn it !' Trevorrow as the respective directors.

Of all the characters, it is Finn's future I'm most looking forward to. He is too lowly to be classified as a defector (I mean the First Order has managed to win over Luke's apprentice ), but he definitely might have important info for the Resistance. Phasma I predict will be asked   to redeem herself by hunting him down. So he is either going to be on the run/ protected undercover somewhere ?

 

 

 

[Davrum]

Overall, I liked it well enough, but the pace was really plodding along for the first half plus of the film. ...

That's funny, I thought the thing flew the entire time. Too much at times to be honest.

Overall a very fun film, sitting juuuuuuust below the OT (maybe equal with ROTJ to be fair, although I need to see it again) and waaaaaaaaaaaay above the PT.

 

[ab aeterno]

Anyway, I really hope that Rey is not a Solo. It looks more like she'll be a Skywalker, but I'd be pretty disappointed if the ''you're brother and sister'' reveal turned into a big thing. Of course, this will mean Luke tells Rey that he's her father, but hopefully they not make this a big thing in the same way ESB did. 

 

"But I thought Han Solo was my father..."

"No... I am your father."

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..! But then, who is my mother?"

"...Did you ever meet a Stormtrooper in silver armor?

"..?"

"We were young, she was shiny..."

"..."

"..."

 

[polishgenius]

 I don't know why I even bothered to check in here... I just watched an amazing Star Wars movie, and it seems that there is page after page of people doing their best to shit on it. Well, I just got home from watching it, and I absolutely know that this movie was a winner by any stretch of the imagination. If Disney keeps this up, I will gladly go see a Star Wars movie or two every year for the rest of my life.

 I'll chime back in here later, but just know if you are complaining about this movie, you are wrong. 

Wasn't it you who spent pages shitting on Man of Steel? Not sure you have a lot to say for the mostly much more mild criticisms here.

 

+ Whole First Order Nazi symbolism and show off

I found this a bit silly, actually. We already knew the Empire was evil, we didn't need that...

[Lord Varys]

The movie is still crap. Perhaps I can't see its genius but if you have read the complete Post-Endor-EU you pretty much know all the Star Wars sequels that are possible, and if you watch a movie that is called 'Star Wars Episode VII' you don't go in there expecting to get 'Star Wars Episode IV' again.

If they wanted to reboot the whole franchise, they could have done so. But not in a trilogy that is supposed to be a sequel.

You can complain about the PT all day long - and they aren't good movies. But they weren't ripoffs of existing material. GL tried and did come up with something new and original. He completely sucked at telling the story he wanted to tell but the story he wanted to tell wasn't remotely the same story he already told in the OT. There are certain parallels involving some of the main characters, but no PT movie is such a glaring ripoff as TFA is.

Guess what we'll getting in the next movie? Kylo Ren is going to be stronger, some bad things will happen leading to Rey opening up to the dark side (could be that her witnessing Han's murder already did that on a certain level) and then neither Luke or Leia will tell her who she is - but Kylo Ren will reveal to her that she is his sister or cousin. Both would be a ripoff of TESB, and if you think about it, the only reason why they didn't reveal the truth about Rey in TFA is because they want to make their own version of the Vader-Luke moment in the next movie. Perhaps even in a double version - first having the Palpatine copy reveal it to Kylo Ren, and then having Kylo reveal it to Rey when they meet each other again. 

Mark my words: We'll get nothing but a ripoff of TESB in the next movie, and I really don't know who the hell could want such a thing.

And honestly, the Galaxy Gun from 'Dark Empire' was a much better variant of the 'Starkiller Death Star thing' they came up with because we actually got an explanation there how the hell those projectiles reached their targets (you saw that they were entering hyperspace).

The whole premise of the movie was also not very convincing. The super weapon is only stumbled upon? The most important thing ever is to find some old dude in a Jedi robe? Why? What can Luke do to save everyone? He certainly couldn't have made the Death Star ripoff vanish, right?

And by the way - how the hell was this map helping them? Who made it? Why was it hidden across the galaxy at multiple points? Did Luke have the time to do that after he decided to ignore everything else?

What I have no issue with is that Rey knows/quickly learns how to use a lightsaber. Luke never had any proper training in lightsaber vs. lightsaber combat, either. All he did was deflect some blaster bolts and talk to Yoda and Obi-Wan. That was it. He didn't even continue his formal training after he left Dagobah in TESB - Yoda was the only tutor her ever had after Obi-Wan died, and we know from ROTJ that he only returned to Dagobah in that movie because he only then asked Yoda about Vader (and there is no possible reason why he wouldn't have asked Yoda earlier had he returned to Dagobah between TESB and ROTJ).

If you want to make sense of the fact that Luke was able to hold his ground/eventually defeat Vader in the OT despite the fact that Luke never received any proper Jedi training/trained longer with Yoda than a few days/weeks (perhaps as long as 1-2 months if you make as much as you can out of the flight to Bespin) then you have to argue that the Force helps you doing that, just as it helped Luke destroying the first Death Star.

And I think showing how the Force awakening in you can help you doing lots of stuff you aren't familiar with - like piloting an unfamiliar craft, repairing stuff, resisting Force probes, grabbing stuff, and finally fighting a lightsaber duel - was demonstrated really nicely and subtly in this movie. That is not necessarily a problem.

Not to mention that we don't know much about the Kylo guy besides that he is very unbalanced. Him catching the blaster bolt midair in the beginning shows that he is very strong in the Force, of course, but we don't know how good his formal training was. The Palpatine Clone seems to think his training isn't complete, and we also don't know how long Luke has been away - it is entirely possible that Ben fell to Dark Side as a child or an early teen (which could explain why he would be as stupid/deranged as to try to emulate the Sith-wimp Darth Vader - no sane person would want to do that).

Another thing I really misliked were the non-Star-Warsy planets, i.e. the fact that they were neither exotic nor easy to keep apart. Star Wars movies usually have planets that are easy to recognize - GL only sort of dropped the ball with Geonosis and Tatooine in the same movie, but even then you could keep them apart because one had a ring system and the other did not. Here every planet looked like earth, and the movie looked as if it had been mostly shot somewhere in a forest on earth. That is fine for some scenes, of course, but not for the whole movie.

I also did not like the overall feeling of the galaxy being empty. Sure, it makes sense of the remote desert planet we never saw in this series before, but why the hell had the Cantina be on a planet where there is, apparently, nothing else, or why the hell was the resistance base not, well, a resistance-controlled and heavily populous planet?

I mean, the Rebel Alliance had to hide in ANH because the Empire controlled pretty much everything. They were on the run! It makes sense that they would hide in a temple on Yavin IV. But the setting in TFA doesn't make the evil guys the supreme and unquestioned rulers of the galaxy but rather a terrorist organization/enemy party in a new war. The Republic still exists, after all.

[ab aeterno]

The movie is still crap. Perhaps I can't see its genius but if you have read the complete Post-Endor-EU you pretty much know all the Star Wars sequels that are possible, and if you watch a movie that is called 'Star Wars Episode VII' you don't go in there expecting to get 'Star Wars Episode IV' again.

 

"All the Star Wars sequels that were written," isn't the same thing as "all the Star Wars sequels that are possible." Sure, it's a shame losing some of the better EU stuff, but the EU was also full of a huge amount of crap. It's time to move on from it.