Regarding the canon, I am a fan of the films and nothing more. I know the expanded universe stuff was out there, and I knew the Jedi twin stories have been told. But I could care less about all of that. That said, I had a feeling that Ren would be Solo's son. It's too good of a story not to be told. And I figured Rey was his sister. But they never seemed to go the sister route in this film. If they did, it wasn't done right. I guess they could be building toward that right? But what was the deal with the embrace between Leia and Rey at the end. Two strangers embracing like that was odd-given how the story was told.I think a B+ is a fair grade, but upon reflection, I was laughing and smiling for at least half of the movie. I enjoyed it too much to give it anything less than a A grade. Probably the part that brought the biggest smile was when Rey and Finn were running and Finn asks if they should take that plane and Rey responds that it is garbage, only to have their first choice blow up and have to return to the garbage millennium falcon. I loved that part.
Anyway, I loved the action, and visuals were by far the best star wars has ever seen. When Poe shoots at Kylo Ren and Ren stops the blaster, that was one of the greatest special effects i have seen in a long time. Really cool shot. Poe was very funny and I never thought a stupid robot would give me smiles, but the BB8 was great too.
Adam Driver played a great villian. I was glad to see he didn't turn into a Darth Maul and die in his only movie. I would like to see more of his history explored and learn why he turned to the dark side after his training.
Ok, so now for my problems with the movie:
Too much plot left unknown. At this point unless they do a spin off for Kylo Ren, I doubt anything in the next few movies will satisfy me regarding his failed training with Luke.
I also didn't like how Disney announced they were blowing up the cannon of Star Wars only to revert to some of the main themes from it. Not that I have read anything other than wikipedia explanations but the Han/Leia kid turning to the dark side was always something from those books and I kind of wish JJ had gone a slightly different route here.
My other problem was we see how difficult and time consuming the training was for Luke. For Rey to have no formal training in the force and to fight off Kylo Ren's mind control, well call me a bit underwhelmed. I guess the force just randomly resides in people or remains latent until they need it? Something tells me we are going to get more of her backstory in the future and that her parents' identity will come out to be some familiar faces. I also could see a mile away the big death scene coming and I wish I felt more emotion to seeing a beloved character die, but I was kind of like "meh." Captain phantasm (or whatever the Game of Thrones lady's name was) didn't have nearly as much screen time as I had hoped, but hopefully we get more of her in future films.
Finally, my biggest criticism, but also maybe why I liked the movie so much, was how closely the plot felt like an extended version of New Hope. Very similar plots lines here. Looking objectively at the movie, I think JJ could have spread his wings a little more here.
But all that said, this was the Star Wars movie I had been waiting for since the 1980's. It delivered in a big time way and I really am looking forward to seeing the future installments. Hopefully Luke has a bigger role other than just serving as a mentor.
agree with you on the effects not being overwhelming. To me that's what makes the film so enjoyable. I don't enjoy the Marvel movies but I did see Guardians of the Galaxy which wasn't bad. But the effects in that movie were so busy and over the top that it made my head spin. I liked the more simplictic approach in this film.My original post from the other thread.
I thought The Force Awakens was ok. Not great. Not bad. But ok. The biggest issue I have is that the main villain, Kylo Ren. He is essentially... a little bitch. Almost comical at times. For a character once trained by a certain character, his skills are definitely lacking. The First Order does not feel very threatening, even though they are capable of destroying planets. I think there were a few too many coincidences (like characters just happening to cross paths at the same time) and that is lazy. What I liked what that the effects were not overwhelming. At least, I didn't notice too much stuff happening at the same time just for the sake of doing so. There was a lot of what seemed to be non technical effects, like alien costumes and droids that seemed to have authenticity to them. These could have been CGI too, but it wasn't noticeable.
I
agree with you on the effects not being overwhelming. To me that's what makes the film so enjoyable. I don't enjoy the Marvel movies but I did see Guardians of the Galaxy which wasn't bad. But the effects in that movie were so busy and over the top that it made my head spin. I liked the more simplictic approach in this film.
I need a 2nd viewing too. In following the progression of the original trilogy, the 2nd film will be darker and Ren will have his day. I would guess he comes back bigger and badder. For Rey to be that powerful without any training, she has to be a skywalker descendent right? Unless she's a descendent of Papatine! How's that for a twist.A few scattered thoughts as I'm still processing the film.
I absolutely loved it. Definitely an A for me. I think talk of an Oscar nomination is stupid, but it was absolutely the Star Wars film I wanted.
I thought the new cast (Poe, Finn, and Rey) were all great. I definitely am way more invested in their stories than I was the new characters from the prequel trilogy. I like the relationships they were building between Rey and Finn and Finn and Poe. Great stuff.
I thought Kylo was a great character. Adam Driver did such a better job than Hayden Christensen at portraying that crazy, unbalanced mindset that comes with being seduced by the dark side. As for him being "a bitch," I think that's intentional. It's clear from what Snoke says that his training is incomplete. So I like that he wasn't OP.
The old characters were used perfectly. I thought the interactions on the Falcon with Han were well done. I'm sad to see Han go out like that though.
I kinda hope Rey is just some girl. Though if I was a better man I'd say she's Luke's kid. If she were Han and Leia's daughter I think they would have mentioned that, since Kylo's parentage wasn't a mystery.
I thought the tone of this movie was much more like the original trilogy. There was plenty of humor (there was quite a bit in the OT that I had forgotten). There was also more banter. I felt like that playful banter was missing from the prequels and I was happy to see it back. I also felt like the homages to the OT were far more subtle than in the prequels. There, you could tell Lucas thought "Oh, they love lightsabers, let me throw in 1000x in some Gladiator battle." This movie was way more subtle. Just little things, like the sounds Imperial Droids make, really was a nice touch for me.
@ratking17 If you are interested in seeing Vader wipe out the Jedi, I'd suggest taking a look at the Star Wars Rebels cartoon. Yes, it's geared towards kids, but it's actually pretty entertaining and you get to see the Empire hunt down the surviving Jedi.
My complaints are limited to one, really. At times, I felt like I was watching a remake of A New Hope. I understand why they went that route. There's a lot riding on this film's success and they needed to win back the goodwill of the fans. But I wish Abrams had taken more risks. I hope that Ep. 8 and 9 are willing to go down their own course.
Lots more to think about. I need a second viewing.
I kinda hope Rey is just some girl. Though if I was a better man I'd say she's Luke's kid. If she were Han and Leia's daughter I think they would have mentioned that, since Kylo's parentage wasn't a mystery.
Ski I follow and agreed with your assessment. If episode 8 and 9 though just repeat similar stuff then I will lower the ranking of force awakens. I don't want to see kylo turn good, he needs to get more evil.
I get the sense that jj's goal was to purge the bad taste from our mouths due to the sequels. He accomplished this 10 times over
I need a 2nd viewing too. In following the progression of the original trilogy, the 2nd film will be darker and Ren will have his day. I would guess he comes back bigger and badder. For Rey to be that powerful without any training, she has to be a skywalker descendent right? Unless she's a descendent of Papatine! How's that for a twist.
That Mad Max film is getting Oscar consideration I hear. I hear what you are saying about effects. Certainly there's a difference between effects with noise and clutter. The Force Awakens didn't have the noise and clutter.I'm pretty certain there were a sh*t ton of effects that were done so well so we didn't notice them. Look the new mad Max movie. The amount of effect there would knock your socks off, but they were done so well people didn't notice most of it. I didn't until I watched a video on youtube about it. Interesting stuff.
Upon a 2nd viewing I still liked it a lot. A few things I picked up on and listened to more closely.
Rey is absolutely know by Leia and Han. When Han is at Maz Kanta's castle, Maz says to Han, "so who is the girl?" In my opinion, implying that there is something special there. Additionally, when Maz presents the light sabre to her, she mentions the lineage of the skywalker family. Add to it that Leia just hugs her without an introduction and yeah, she is a skywalker of some sorts in my opinion.
During the dream sequence, somehow I missed it the first time through, but that is not a dream but rather the future. The snow scene played out exactly as in her vision, but the question I have is that someone (not Han) gets stabbed with a light sabre. Not being able to pause and see who it is, I guess I will have to wait until the blue ray to see the answer.
One other thing that I glossed over, but caught the actual verbage this time around, was the Luke was training future Jedi's at the Jedi temple and when Kylo Ren turned, he stopped and went into seclusion. So that begs the question are there additional jedi out there?
Also when Kylo Ren was reading Rey's mind, he mentions seeing the map and an island surrounded by water. I can only assume he knows the location of Luke now as well.
Finally, someone mentioned above about Han calling out to Kylo on the bridge and I would swear that he calls him "Ben". That would make sense as a tribute to Kanobi.
Earlier I mentioned the progression of the original trilogy and how this trilogy seems to be following it. If that's the case, the next installment will be darker. We saw the Knights of Ren, but I would expect to learn more about them in episode 8. I am also interested in Snoke and who he is. Lastly, not sure if I saw it here, but there is something odd about the apparent rivalry between Hux and Ren, and Snoke seems to be instigating it. Could they be cousins? That would be a real twist. But not sure we even know Hux survived. I did see Christie signed on for another movie, so Phasma survived.Upon a 2nd viewing I still liked it a lot. A few things I picked up on and listened to more closely.
Rey is absolutely know by Leia and Han. When Han is at Maz Kanta's castle, Maz says to Han, "so who is the girl?" In my opinion, implying that there is something special there. Additionally, when Maz presents the light sabre to her, she mentions the lineage of the skywalker family. Add to it that Leia just hugs her without an introduction and yeah, she is a skywalker of some sorts in my opinion.
During the dream sequence, somehow I missed it the first time through, but that is not a dream but rather the future. The snow scene played out exactly as in her vision, but the question I have is that someone (not Han) gets stabbed with a light sabre. Not being able to pause and see who it is, I guess I will have to wait until the blue ray to see the answer.
One other thing that I glossed over, but caught the actual verbage this time around, was the Luke was training future Jedi's at the Jedi temple and when Kylo Ren turned, he stopped and went into seclusion. So that begs the question are there additional jedi out there?
Also when Kylo Ren was reading Rey's mind, he mentions seeing the map and an island surrounded by water. I can only assume he knows the location of Luke now as well.
Finally, someone mentioned above about Han calling out to Kylo on the bridge and I would swear that he calls him "Ben". That would make sense as a tribute to Kanobi.
Earlier I mentioned the progression of the original trilogy and how this trilogy seems to be following it. If that's the case, the next installment will be darker. We saw the Knights of Ren, but I would expect to learn more about them in episode 8. I am also interested in Snoke and who he is. Lastly, not sure if I saw it here, but there is something odd about the apparent rivalry between Hux and Ren, and Snoke seems to be instigating it. Could they be cousins? That would be a real twist. But not sure we even know Hux survived. I did see Christie signed on for another movie, so Phasma survived.
I enjoyed it. I found it to be a really good movie with plenty of nostalgia to satisfy those of us that grew up with the original trilogy. However, I thought it failed to live up to the hype. (anything would with this amount of hype) At its core, its basically the same recycled formula with a very well crafted blend of the past and present.
As for a negative... I'll go ahead and say it since I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking it... What the hell is up with Carrie Fisher? Princess Leia was a strong willed feisty leader that was borderline bitch. She seemed lost. She played the part like she was Betty White with too much Depakote in her system. I thought every scene with her on camera came across as very awkward.
Were you drunk when you posted that? Because if you tried to be funny, you failed significantly.Keeping with the kid theme, any chance Lando banged Leia and Finn is their illegitimate child? He tried to hit on her in Empire, and Finn has some of the same traits in that he can't be trusted and has no problem switching sides at the drop of a hat. Its also fairly obvious Finn is trying to get in Rey's pants.
Uh, actually I was being serious. It was just a thought that came across my mind, as I was wondering what happened to Lando. Its interesting that he can get a part in The Lego Move but not in The Force Awakens. And you have to admit, Finn's behavior pattern is bizarre and borderline creepy.