[SPOILERS] Star Wars movie thread... [Don't read this thread if you haven't seen the movie yet]

AD

AD

Finder of things, Doer of stuff
I liked it! It's definitely worth seeing if you love Star Wars, though there are some oddities. The production nailed the visual aesthetic of the original three chapters, I really liked the reliance on real location shooting over the prequels CG vistas. I thought the pacing in the second half of the movie to be great too though the first half of the movie was way too frenetic and seemed more interested in non stop action.

I haven't totally digested how I feel about the story. I find myself wishing they had gone a more original route with the story. Honestly I found it kind of distracting that it clung so heavily to the formula of A New hope. Hero resistance fighter gets captured but not before sending his pet droid on a journey to deliver a secret message that just may save the galaxy. Subsequently said droid gets taken in by an orphaned teenager with latent force powers that happens to live in on a sand planet. Meanwhile the evil remnants of the empire are building a super duper extraduper Death Star out of a planet that can blow up other planets in other star systems. You know how it got really old really fast in the now defunct EU novels when every other crazy warlord was comming up with a new super weapon of the week? Well, I cringed hard that they were *again* blowing up the death star with x-wings. There was even a trench run.

In many respects the film acts more like a reboot or even a remake, in which case it's just weird that the film really really expects that you have seen the original trilogy. As a jumping off point, for anyone *not* versed in Star Wars, the film would be awful because it never gets to a point where it explains anything about the force or what the journey Ray/Rey (??) is making or who Han, Leia, the Republic, the Resistance are. Who is Vader, and why does Kylo Ren care?. The end scene pay off would make no sense to anyone who does not know Star Wars... But really though, who doesn't know Star Wars? In that respect I would have liked it if they branched out a little more.

The movie also makes a point of telling us that the new Imperial stand-ins are abducting kids and brain washing them, so no they aren't clones... oh, and just in case them murdering a whole village isn't enough to make you believe they are evil, there's an embarassing scene where one of the two main baddies addresses his storm troopers and seems to be channeling Hitler. It was just way too on the nose for me).

Anyway, the finer points of the story aside I did like the film. When I ignore all that, it's entertaining, and more that I was expecting for a new Star Wars movie. There's a lot of fun moments. The characters are all pretty good. There's lots of weird aliens. Finn was a nice touch. I liked the idea of the Storm Trooper with a conscience .

Kylo Ren was an ok bad guy. I really don't think the movie needed to try and do Vader all over, but since they went that route anyway, at least they made him a sniveling brat with a temper problem that is concerned with living up to Vader's reputation. The Poe character seems destined for the "Solo" role in the next installment. Luke Skywarker is now filling in for Ben kenobi at the point where Luke finds him in A New Hope.

And of course the best part of the new Star Wars? There were quite a few awesome spaceship battles, mostly involving X-Wings Vs Tie-Fighters. The chase with the Falcon on Jakku was pretty good too.
 
It is in a Point of view the Remake of A New Hope. Again a Deathstar is blow up, just X-Wings vs. TIE Fighters, no Capship battle.

A bad guy who are weak against Vader, Maul, Palpadine
Fathermuderer - again? Ben was like a father to Luke in EP4
a X-Wing Pilot shot down multiple TIE and ground troops in a few seconds? Really?
The "Empire" learns nothing from the Deathstar?
Those silver Stormtrooper Looks cool in the Trailer - in the movie easy shoot down the shield gen?
Empire again a nazi copy?
No Space Battle!!!! EA wins? No Space battle in Ep7 no in Battlefront :( :( :(

But okay - enought negative waves ;)
Cool:
In 3D Cinema the X-Wings, TIE, Millenium Falcon or the new Star Destroyer look like they fly to me!
The old actors - Leia, Han, Chewie, C3Po, R2D2 and just for a few seconds - Luke (was more involved in Star Citizen :D)
BB-8! I love this cute droid :D :D :D
Music - nuff said - awesome!
Jakku battle Scene and fight against the Starkiller Base
Falcon Hyperspace Scenes

I was several times search the Joystick to fly myself *space nerd* :)

Overall -
Not as good as my favorite - Return of the Jedi is still Place 1! Maybe between or after Empire Strikes Back. But I like it far more then the Prequels

1. EP6
2. EP5
2. EP7
3. EP4
4. EP3
5. EP2
6.EP1
 
Some other questions that have plagued me after sleeping on this, though the answer apparently is that you really should have read the book Aftermath before going to see the new movie... The situation with the resistance fighters, or who they even are, makes no sense considering what we've seen in ESB and ROTJ. There really should have been some kind of summary to catch us up on why they are such a small contingent with only x-wings.

I've seen some critism over Rey seeming to learn force powers really easy, however I'm pretty sure that's on purpose. It's not really explained at all in the film but Rey's whole flashback (which parallell's Luke's visions and fears when on Dagobah in ESB) seems to suggest that she was present when Kylo Ren slaughtered whoever else Luke was training. She was probably a baby or very young at the time, and then subsequently dumped on Jakku and left alone. I could be wrong and maybe it was more of a premonition of what was going to happen later in the film and having to fight ren, but it at least explains how she takes to the force so easily without much or any guidance once mentally-assaulted by Kylo Ren.
 
It tended to hit a lot of the same beats as the original trilogy, like almost every fight was meant to be a throwback to the old films, but overall I thought it was a great return to the old style and enough fun to be worth the ticket price. But then again, in my case, the ticket price was $0.00.
The closest thing to genuine disappoint I had was with the music, and even that is very very minor thing. John Williams original themes and pieces blared forth in a very confidant and recognizable manner but the rest of it was a little more reserved, forgettable, and almost disappeared completely in the mix of the visual action. The original trilogies' scores were much more in a classical vein, I'm listening to Gustav Holst's The Planets right now which kind of highlighted some of these things to me, and so the original scores were much more front and center and almost intrusive to the films, almost not quite. But this really just showed how much film music has changed over the last forty years. Nowadays film scores are usually quite understated and serve more as an underlying tempo to the action, a soft pat on the shoulder to coax the viewer along. It was kind of a clash of the old and new styles.

However, on a more serious note, the complete lack of any scenes with Jar Jar Binks means that I can't really recommend it to anyone. NO JAR JAR NO STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
AD said:
I liked it! (...)
I haven't totally digested how I feel about the story. ...)
The movie also makes a point of telling us that the new Imperial stand-ins are abducting kids and brain washing them, so no they aren't clones... oh, and just in case them murdering a whole village isn't enough to make you believe they are evil, there's an embarassing scene where one of the two main baddies addresses his storm troopers and seems to be channeling Hitler. It was just way too on the nose for me).

(...)
Kylo Ren was an ok bad guy. (...)
Click to expand...

That could easily have been my review as well just with the inclusion of one Shaggy's points!

I liked the movie (very good but not great), it is far better than any of Episode I - III. I too felt the story was a bit, well, too much remake. I have nothing against the principle they used but it was just sooo similiar. I mean, why did it have to be another desert planet? Anyway, that's my most minor pick.

The "First Order" is my main gripe it is just too over the top cliché evil. I mean, the Empire was pretty evil - but they just had to make sure the First Order is even more blatantly evil. It just got silly in my eyes.

And Kylo Ren - well, I liked his temper problems but I think he looks a bit dorky in my opinion. But still, in this single movie he was way more convincing as a troubled and torn young man than Anakin was in Episode II and III. [That was my main gripe about the prequels: Anakin's fall seemed so incredibly unbelievable to me with very few exceptions (the slaughtering of the Sand people)]


Shaggy said:
(...)
The closest thing to genuine disappoint I had was with the music, (...)
Click to expand...

I agree with that too: I heard much praise for the music but thought it offered very little new or memorable. Here the prequels have the advantage I think.

Hey @AD : Do you recommend "Aftermath"? I never read a single Star Wars novel.
 
Yah know what? Yes the movie had flaws, a lot of them probably. So does the originals. (Forget the Frankenstein monster that are the GL special editions) At the end of the day, I'm just happy to get a watchable, enjoyable movie labeled starwars after what? 27 years? You know, that's actually funny like the originals. With some actual human characters and not a bunch of jokers on screen that are more fake then the cgi sets behind them. Is it going to be a classic like the original trilogy? Most likely not, but at least we can enjoy it for what it is.
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
Hey @AD : Do you recommend "Aftermath"? I never read a single Star Wars novel.
Click to expand...

I will have to let you know. I intend to read it but haven't yet. I was seriously confused about what happened to the victors after ROTJ while watching The Force Awakens. There's a few timelines you can check out online and they all point to the novel explaining most of it. (Battlefront lets you play the battle that takes down the Star Destroyer over Jakku but from what I understand there's not really much in the way of story you need to know in that one).

I used to read all the Star Wars EU stuff. But I gave up on it way back after the second Zahn series (The two part one). Haven't read a SW book since.

LOAF would also be a good one to ask. He's been collecting all the new canon stuff and has all the comics and tie-ins too.
 
Watched the movie last night and was very impressed. Glued to the screen. The performances from the new comers were surprisingly good IMO, especially Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. Harrison Ford did a great job along with Chewie. To see Mark Hamill standing there (with awesome hair) in the final scene was wonderful. Also, did anyone spot Daniel Craig's stormtrooper? Very cool touch.
 
I liked the movie, but just like what seems to be everyone else I was slightly annoyed at the ressemblance to the first movie (ANH). I wish they would have made someting original instead of remaking ANH.

I also felt that some of the new characters had awfully few screen time. After seeing the trailers and Gwendoline Christie at press conferences I figured Captain Phasma would have a bigger role. I guess it'll be expanded in the future movies.

Like AD I haven't fully digested the movie yet, but right after seeing the movie my main complain was: can anyone explain to me why the f**k R2-D2 wakes up conveniently right at the end of the movie with the piece of the missing map ? That was weakly handled, if explained at all (no-one in my familly could explain it).
 
PopsiclePete said:
can anyone explain to me why the f**k R2-D2 wakes up conveniently right at the end of the movie with the piece of the missing map ?
Click to expand...

It's a good question with no real answer at this time. The only thing I can suggest is that if you think back to that flashback in the movie, Skywalker is seen placing his robotic hand onto R2. Perhaps it was more than just a heartfelt farewell to his beloved droid
 
MartySheen said:
It's a good question with no real answer at this time. The only thing I can suggest is that if you think back to that flashback in the movie, Skywalker is seen placing his robotic hand onto R2. Perhaps it was more than just a heartfelt farewell to his beloved droid
Click to expand...
I think the scene was meant to mimic Leia shutting down R2-D2's video recorder at the begining of ANH, but yeah, I think you're right that it must mean Luke purposely left clues in the droid. But the real question is: why wake up and reveal the information at that moment, what triggered it after 30 years ?
 
According to a Entertainement Weekly article, it seems to be a case of badly written upstaging to have R2-D2 be back at the end.

“BB-8 comes up and says something to him, which is basically, ‘I’ve got this piece of a map, do you happen to have the rest?’” Abrams said. “The idea was, R2 who has been all over the galaxy, is still in his coma, but he hears this. And it triggers something that would ultimately wake him up.”

The director acknowledges that R2’s sudden “awakening” at the end was designed to be an emotional storytelling utility: “While it may seem, you know, completely lucky and an easy way out, at that point in the movie, when you’ve lost a person, desperately, and somebody you hopefully care about is unconscious, you want someone to return.”

So for those let wondering: BB-8’s earlier question rattles around inside R2’s dome for a while. Those old astromechs must just take a while to boot up again.
Click to expand...
 
the highlight of this film for me was the absolute brutality of the lightsaber fights. nobody does fancy twirls or force jumps.. they just smash each other into submission and take their wounds.. it is, frankly, visceral and unbelievable how well this works on screen. I'm sure I am going to love poe eventually as he is my inner space fighter pilot just aching to get out. but I don't think he's going to be the solo archetype.. it looks like Rey is luke, Finn is solo and I guess that makes Poe the princess :P

I don't at all mind that the plot was essentially a rehash.. the feeling, the set pieces, the scope and scale of everything felt absolutely right. also Chewie totally owns this film.. I'm glad he didn't also get Harrison Ford'd :P and I sort of thought BB-8 would be annoying.. he is not annoying.. he is adorable and I want one for my very own.

I'm not going to sit back and claim this was the greatest movie ever made but I think it was a reboot done right and at exactly the precise moment it needed to be done right. long live star wars.
 
NinjaLA said:
I'm sure I am going to love poe eventually as he is my inner space fighter pilot just aching to get out. but I don't think he's going to be the solo archetype..
Click to expand...
He's not the "lovable rogue" character, but of all the new character's he's the wisecracking smartass of the bunch.
 
NinjaLA said:
the highlight of this film for me was the absolute brutality of the lightsaber fights. nobody does fancy twirls or force jumps.. they just smash each other into submission and take their wounds.. it is, frankly, visceral and unbelievable how well this works on screen. I'm sure I am going to love poe eventually as he is my inner space fighter pilot just aching to get out. but I don't think he's going to be the solo archetype.. it looks like Rey is luke, Finn is solo and I guess that makes Poe the princess :p

I don't at all mind that the plot was essentially a rehash.. the feeling, the set pieces, the scope and scale of everything felt absolutely right. also Chewie totally owns this film.. I'm glad he didn't also get Harrison Ford'd :p and I sort of thought BB-8 would be annoying.. he is not annoying.. he is adorable and I want one for my very own.

I'm not going to sit back and claim this was the greatest movie ever made but I think it was a reboot done right and at exactly the precise moment it needed to be done right. long live star wars.
Click to expand...

The grittier lightsaber battles make a lot of sense. In the prequels, the Jedi were using "ancient weapons for a more civilized time" and practiced highly refined swordfighting styles developed, refined, and handed down over generations. Obi Wan, Vader, and to a lesser degree Luke (who was trained by Obi Wan and Yoda) were the last remnant of this.

Now we have Ren who had, at most, limited training from Luke (himself an imperfect teacher as he only had a few weeks of training himself), and training from Snoke (who likely was not part of the ancient Sith tradition). Rey has (probably) had little to no training at all, and Finn has had none. So it makes sense that the sword fights are not the finesse duels between masters we've seen before but rather slug fests between inexperienced novices.

I thought it really fit and worked. It helps convey how much of the tradition of Force training has been lost.
 
Just saw it and I really enjoyed it but there are two gripes that got under my skin (and they both have Abrams written all over them)
  1. it's a good thing JJ isn't a boxer, the way he telegraphs his punches would end him up KO'd in the first round of anything. He spends SOOOOO much time setting up in-jokes and the high-drama points of the story, that when they finally happen you can see them coming from a mile away.
  2. Abrams has no sense of scale, none. And I'm not talking about some of the CG scaling issues. This was pretty evident in Star Trek (7 minutes from Earth to Vulcan) but I was willing to write it off as unfamiliarity with the franchise (though the later movies cemented it), but seriously? The First Order Death Star clone is in the same sector as the New Republic's core worlds AND the Rebellion's base? (Sector might be pushing it, system group might be more apt, but they're obviously close enough that they can see planets get destroyed from the surface. Really? is the New Republic so idiotic that they let the First Order just set up shop in the next system over? (clearly the script intended this to be different).

That said: I really loved the characters. I thought even Kylo Ren who came across as more of a brat than a true villain (lacked gravitas), was at least a three-dimensional character. Both Finn and Rey are good characters to pass the torch to. I liked Rey especially as the heir to the light side. The saber battles were excellent and it was a nice set up piece for the rest of the story.

It was fun to see Ackbar again - I was hoping that Poe would actually be related to Porkins :)
 
Last edited:
NinjaLA said:
the highlight of this film for me was the absolute brutality of the lightsaber fights. nobody does fancy twirls or force jumps.. they just smash each other into submission and take their wounds.. it is, frankly, visceral and unbelievable how well this works on screen. (..).
Click to expand...

Yes, that was absolutely something I loved as well!

Farbourne said:
The grittier lightsaber battles make a lot of sense. In the prequels, the Jedi were using "ancient weapons for a more civilized time" and practiced highly refined swordfighting styles developed, refined, and handed down over generations. Obi Wan, Vader, and to a lesser degree Luke (who was trained by Obi Wan and Yoda) were the last remnant of this.

Now we have Ren who had, at most, limited training from Luke (himself an imperfect teacher as he only had a few weeks of training himself), and training from Snoke (who likely was not part of the ancient Sith tradition). Rey has (probably) had little to no training at all, and Finn has had none. So it makes sense that the sword fights are not the finesse duels between masters we've seen before but rather slug fests between inexperienced novices.

I thought it really fit and worked. It helps convey how much of the tradition of Force training has been lost.
Click to expand...

Good points!
 
AD said:
I will have to let you know. I intend to read it but haven't yet. I was seriously confused about what happened to the victors after ROTJ while watching The Force Awakens. There's a few timelines you can check out online and they all point to the novel explaining most of it. (Battlefront lets you play the battle that takes down the Star Destroyer over Jakku but from what I understand there's not really much in the way of story you need to know in that one).

I used to read all the Star Wars EU stuff. But I gave up on it way back after the second Zahn series (The two part one). Haven't read a SW book since.

LOAF would also be a good one to ask. He's been collecting all the new canon stuff and has all the comics and tie-ins too.
Click to expand...


Ok, thanks.

@Bandit LOAF: So, I'd appreciate if you could direct me to the new canon stuff (novels and/or comic) and maybe a short opinion whether they are worth getting. I never read any Star Wars novel and only three Star Wars Comics (one about the defense of Kamino which I didn't like very much, the comic to "The Force unleashed", which I didn't like very much either and one about Darth Vader hiring Boba Fett and his Wookie pal to get Luke and a power struggle between him and an imperial officer named Tagge. I thouht the Darth Vader story to be enjoyable.)
 
Did you know what I love? Respect against the other movies

20151222_jw_tfa.jpg

Thanks and big respect to Jurassic World!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top