And just about a year until Rogue One, which is a side story taking place back during the original trilogy, I think.
Right now, I’m sitting rewatching the end of Episode III. Just to check the plausibility of the passing on of the lightsabre.
It strikes me that one of the things that was wrong with the prequels was no sense of danger, no sense of not knowing who is going to survive or not. Yoda and the Emperor battling it out? Yup, they’re both going to survive. Obi Wan and Vader battling it out? One of them is surviving unscathed, and one of them is going to survive with the aid of a walking breathing aid.
Watching Episode VII two days ago there was that amazing sense of not knowing who was living and who was dying.
And yes, I’m still trying to get over the latter…
I’m looking forward to see it
B+ on its own merits, raised to an A- because it restored my joy in the franchise.
Also because I saw it with the Mrs. She and I were together when we saw Star Wars (before episode numbers or alternative names) for the first time over 38 years ago, when we were both 19. A real poignant nostalgia-fest on sooooo many levels. 
Right now as I type this that movie was the biggest disappointment of my life. They essentially remade the first three movies (another Death Star with shield generator, another Vader, another emperor type, Luke playing the part of Yoda), only they killed the best character in the franchise.
I need time to evaluate whether I’ll like it. I may never get that far. But man, J.J. Abrams just likes to see my childhood burn. Also, it should have been Thrawn. Hundreds of books and stories I now have to pretend never happened just so Disney could cash in. It’s gonna be tough for me to do.
I saw it last night. Loved it. I love “meta” stuff tho. Loved the humor. The girl power. Loved seeing the old crew (Ackbar!) Cool story. Fun times.
Did anyone else think this was the bloodiest SW ever? As in, not body count but actual red human blood on screen.
I’m not an expert, I could be wrong. My brother seemed to agree.
You don’t have to pretend the Expanded Universe/Legends stuff didn’t happen, that’s just being overly dramatic. They’re an alternate continuity, like the Mirror Universe or Abrams!Verse on Star Trek.
For all intents and purposes, you got Thrawn. Except that his name is Snoke now. And Jacen/Caedus is Ben/Kylo. And the Galaxy Gun is now Starkiller Base.
There is no meaningful similarity between Thrawn and Snoke that I can see.
You don’t have to pretend they didn’t happen – they just happened in a slightly different universe. Just like, say, Marvel has the comic universe and the movie universe, Star Wars can have the movie universe and the (old) book universe. Just a different galaxy far, far away.
NM
And yet, because they exist and were “canon” for so long, people like myself will compare the new stories to the ones we’re familiar with. If this were an Expanded Universe book it would be somewhere around Darksaber and The Crystal Star. It simply suffers in comparison to the stories that already existed that would have made for some great sequel material.
Alas, Disney can’t cash in on old stories, so away they go. But here I am comparing this movie to Heir to the Empire and saying that it wasn’t as good. This just feels like a kick to the teeth of long-time dedicated fans. Not that Lucas wouldn’t have done it himself, though. His changes to the original trilogy were already signs that he would do anything for a buck.
Like I said, maybe I’ll reevaluate later. Right now, though, that’s what I think.
I give the first part of the movie 8/10. I give everything after they meet Leia, 4/10. From that point on its just a ridiculous rehash, another death star with a weak spot, another trench run, another shield to disable, another father son confrontation on a narrow bridge over a chasm.
I like Finn, showing a Storm Trooper question the pointless slaughter and rebel is good and something we haven’t seen before. Rey is just a ridiculous Mary Sue, she’s good at everything she does from day one, by the end of this movie she’s advanced so far in the force with zero training that its just not believable. Overall the story makes no sense at all, how did the First Order rise to power, why haven’t they been openly opposed by the Republic for the last 30 years? Why did the Republic sit back and do nothing while they turned another planet into a planet destroyer?
But hey Disney’s got to make back its $4 billion and safest possible thing they could do is make this a reboot of ‘A new hope’ in everything except name. It will make billions on toys and video game spin offs and their multi decade year plan for the ‘Star Wars Cinematic Universe’ is now secure. But its still a pretty mediocre and cowardly movie.
Those are excellent questions that are basically handwaved away.
I agree with you on almost everything, the exception being that I became *more *into the movie at the end, not less. That despite my feeling that Finn and Rey were the highlights of the movie. (It is definitely cool to see a rebel Storm Trooper, but I do wonder why it’s so rare.)
It seems like everyone else either loved the whole thing, hated the whole thing, or thought it started well and ended poorly. I have cruised all kinds of reviews and comment sections and have yet to find anyone else who reacted to it the way I did in that sense. Weird…
Even though I could’ve done without a trench run, it was mercifully short, and I also would’ve been okay if Han had died without a fall from a great height included, I am okay with the First Order making a new planet killing device; They are deliberately emulating their predecessors, trying to fix where they went wrong, and Kylo Ren is the same, trying to emulate Vader. Those motivations are worn on the characters’ sleeves, and their inadequacy at achieving anything because they’re biting off more than they can chew is vital. We have to believe a ragtag bunch can defeat them, and I think that was eminently believable as they were painted.
For as incompetent as they were portrayed, I’d believe that a sack of cats could defeat them.
Except that the last two times they built a death star it was destroyed in the exactly the same way, and they made exactly the same mistake. Also why are the Rebellion / Resistance still a ragged band of scrappy under dogs? Shouldn’t they be officially allied with the Republic and have a military alliance with them? Sure it will be fan-wanked away with side stories in various ways in the canon, but as a stand alone sequel its fails miserably to explain anything.
You’d think that, by now, the Empire/First Order would be bankrupt. How many times can you build a moon-to-planet sized death weapon (full of other ships as well, no less) and have it get immediately destroyed? That’s not even considering the massive loss of personnel including all the specialty positions.
So what you’re saying is that Kylo Ren is J.J. Abrams?
This is the moment when I wish the dope message board had a “like” or an “upvote” button 