Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Seen It (Assume Spoilers Within)

Cafe Society
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I like her too, but I assume Lupita gave her more than just her voice in this motion capture era.

Huh. I don’t claim to be an expert on Mussolini, but I had thought the Italian people turned on him pretty quickly when the war went sour on them.

Wasn’t it? I didn’t see a whole lot of their gains preserved as of the beginning of this film. And Luke himself seemed to be at a lower ebb in terms of his own view on life. As did Leia, and Han, and R2-D2 for that matter. They were certainly a long way down from the medal ceremony at the end of the first movie.

Oh, good points. I hadn’t even thought of any of that. But that sequence with the TIE fighter on that tether was still pretty awesome. As for the question about how he had heard of Han Solo, it would have been nice if they gave us some kind of indication as to what life is like for stormtroopers when they are off duty.

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VII was good, very good. JJ, the cast, and crew did a fantastic job overall. It was gorgeously filmed, the mesh of CGI and practical effects was damn near perfect, the dialogue was great, the action and pacing was great. Bravo!

I do, however, have some complaints.

It was a little TOO much like ANH. I get the homage and all, and hope the following films show some more creativity in the story line.

ANOTHER Death Star? Really? With another trench and vulnerable spot that a handful of X-wings can take out? Really? Was the Empire contractually required to build a certain number of these things?

The music seemed… less bombastic. I thought my hearing aid battery was getting low, or something was up with the sound system in the theater. I was expecting my usual emotional reaction to hearing the Main Theme blare out with the title/crawl. This did not happen.

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There’s no reason both can’t be true–that is, she could be Luke’s daughter, and have previous Jedi training that she has somehow been made to forget. Indeed, that might make it more plausible that Ren doesn’t recognize her. Possibly Luke tutored her privately, independent of his official Jedi students.

The celibacy requirement of the Jedi might well be something Luke would have done away with. There’s a strong case to made that Anakin’s fall came not so much from his having a romantic relationship, as from that relationship being forbidden in the first place. It’s only because he had to keep his marriage a secret that the only one he could turn to for advice about his premonitions was Palpatine, who was just waiting to exploit him. If he had been free to confide in Obi-Wan about his fears, things might have turned out quite differently.

I liked the movie a lot, but I agree it might have been a touch too derivative of the original trilogy. One cute moment that I loved, that I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned yet, is Han and Leia’s emotional reunion, with close-ups on both of them as they move to greet each other–and then suddenly Threepio pops into frame, with a cheery, “Why, if it isn’t Han Solo!” I got a good chuckle of that.

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I was absurdly happy that she seemed to have survived the attack. She’ll rebuild her bar - you don’t run a joint for a thousand years without being owed a few favors.

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So in looking around the web for various articles and reviews, I stumbled across the following ones that peaked my interest a bit.

In this one, I completely missed the line in the movie, but in the flashback scene we hear the voices of Obi Wan and Yoda. Going further, while Ewan McGregor and Frank Oz both came in to record lines, they also snipped some dialogue from Alec Guiness to get him saying “Rey”

This articles discusses the awakening of Artoo.

In this (rather long) discussion, they mention that if Rey was trained by Luke, Kylo Ren should have recognized her. Someone brings up the fact that in the movie when he (Kylo) is told that they located BB8 he is with a girl. Kylo repeats “a girl” like he knows who it is and proceeds to slash the console.

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My showing had all of these minus The Huntsman but adding Warcraft

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Well, when he said it, they were already a long way down from the medal ceremony, right? They’d already gone from lying low on Hoth to fleeing to Cloud City; Han had already been tracked down by Boba Fett, and captured by Darth Vader, and was in for the deep-freeze for to get displayed as a trophy by Jabba, regardless of what Luke did; Threepio was already disassembled; Chewie and Leia were already in lock-up; how does Luke flying there destroy what they’d fought for?

Near as I can tell, Luke shows up, and – Leia and Chewie escape with Lando, and the droids are back in one piece apiece, and Luke survives to later (a) help rescue Han, and then (b) get Vader to turn on the Emperor right before [del]them Duke boys[/del] the undestroyed Rebel Alliance done blowed up the Death Star Mark II real good.

And cue a bigger celebration than the medal ceremony.

But Yoda says “You must not go.” (“And sacrifice Han and Leia?” “If you honor what they fight for, then yes.” (Because, again: “If you go now, help them you could; but you would destroy all for which they have fought, and suffered.”))

What’s the past-tense antonym of “must”?

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This is the question I find most interesting as well. I think they are pretty clever in appealing to two out of the three types of audiences who would go to see this. One is a new generation of people who like to go see big event movies that are sci-fi action spectacles. This is probably a very good example of that genre if you are not really familiar with the films Lucas made over 30 years ago. On the flip side, older fans who are hardcore into Star Wars but are perfectly content to wallow in nostalgia (especially after the bad taste left in their* mouths by the prequels), also get great fanservice from this movie.

Then there are people like you and me who fondly remember the original Star Wars, but don’t care to see it rehashed. But they already got our contribution to the openIng weekend box office, so the joke’s on us–which is why I am going to be sure not to go see the next one, although I might watch it if it comes later to Showtime or HBO where I can watch it for free.

BTW, if they are planning on having a redemption arc for Rilo Kiley or whatever his name is, that’s even more appalling than the one they had for Darth Vader (which I and my objected to back in 1983). These movies are at least partly for kids, and they are seriously going to show him viciously killing his own father, a beloved character, and then later give him a shot at redemption? That is morally bankrupt if so.

*I have argued for years that people underrate the prequels, especially RotS, and overrate RotJ by lumping it into “the original trilogy”. The first two films made are the best, then RotS is on its own plane, this one is a little bit above the first two prequels, and RotJ is still at the bottom. (It too had a recycled plot, but without any of the compensating merits of this latest movie.) OTOH if the original trilogy didn’t exist, this one would not get docked for lack of originality, and it would clearly be the best. So I don’t blame newcomers for enjoying it.

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Wookiepedia says the Starkiller base started out as a planet and was repurposed – which makes more sense than building from scratch and adding 20 year old conifers.
I would have been a lot happier if they just blew up the weapon and not the whole planet.

And here is some info on the plants that were destroyed:

I’m not sure I like all this info being in supplement books, but it is hard if not impossible to have it in the movie without it being a exposition dump.

And this line popped into my head
Leia: When was the last time you said you would help and you actually helped? Don’t say ‘Death Star’

Brian

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I figured that much of Luke’s “skill” in flying (usually the X-Wing) could actually be credited to R2D2. Luke also (I believe) alludes to using a blaster back on the farm to kill vermin… whomp rats or whatever.

White pine, Norway spruce, Colorado spruce, Douglas fir… :stuck_out_tongue:

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We had
Gods of Egypt
The Fifth Wave
Zootopia
Captain America: Civil War
Star Trek: Beyond
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The last is definitely a Warner Bros release. (In a previous thread someone suggested that the previews were from the same studio as the feature. So I’ve been paying attention to see if that’s the case and it’s not. The studios vary but the movies are generally of the same type as the feature. So if I’m watching a Marvel movie, I might get a preview of the next DC superhero film.)

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I loved the movie. It hit all the right notes for me. My main requirement from Star Wars is its mythic narrative. They got that exactly right. Getting disappointed about small unrealistic and illogical quirks is forgetting that these stories started with spacecraft making sounds in space.

I knew Han was going to die from the look he gave Leia when he said he’d bring back their son. It was like when he went to get Luke in Hoth. It was something he was going to do or die trying.

I’ll note that complaints about X-wings taking out the super weapon aren’t accurate. The X-wings failed! They explicitly said they weren’t damaging it. It was only after the ground team blew a hole in the side that the fighters were effective. Of course that part is also based on a previous movie. :slight_smile:

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Zootopia, Fifth Wave, Gods of Egypt, Warcraft and Civil War, unless we missed one (same in as Zootopia was starting).

What’s the deal with droids in Star Wars anyway? They get called by a designation (R2D2, BB-8, etc) and others say stuff like “That’s an R2 unit” but then they also get treated as having unique personalities and no one ever says “Yeah, we have a pallet of R2’s in back, go bust open a box and fire up a new one”. Despite their personalities and people bantering with them, no one seems to be bothered to name them either, sort of like owning Cat: Tabby [Brown] and Cat:Tabby [Black]. Who’s making these things? Are they mass produced? The X-Wing has a spot to slide one right in, although maybe astromech droids are universal like USB plugs.

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Well, I finally saw it yesterday. Plenty to like, but plenty I wasn’t crazy about either.

What I liked is that it stayed very true to what we love about Star Wars. No stupid plotlines involving taxation and trade blockades. A little too true maybe, as some have said it was almost a remake of Star Wars on steroids.

What I did not like is that Luke got like 30 seconds of screen time and zero lines. Han Solo’s death was telegraphed completely, and I could have been ok with that if we had seen him, Leia, Luke and Chewy blasting through the galaxy at least one more time in the MF.

I did not like that 2 noobs who never saw a lightsaber, one of whom can’t use the force and one who just started using it that afternoon, were able to hold their own in a duel against the big baddie. Kylo Ren must be incredibly weak to not have made quick work of Finn, I don’t care if he was injured. And Rey holds a lightsaber for the first time ever and is not only competent but able to fend off a guy who’s probably trained with the weapon his entire life?

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I found this movie so frustrating because I liked it, and with just a little work I could have really liked it. It’s not like the prequels where the whole thing was just FUBARed from the concept with the characters, story, and everything else needing major revisions. No, they just needed just a tiny bit of stuff to make this perfect - like one extra minute of dialogue, or tweaks to existing dialogue.

My complaints are really encapsulated by the bit where Hux orders the superweapon to fire. He’s ranting about how corrupt and treacherous the Republic is, and then you see five or six planets blow up. Later Leia states that the “Hosnian System” has been destroyed, and someone else comments that they will no longer have the Republic’s fleet, but that’s about it. But no one takes the time to explain how big the Republic is versus the New Order, or where the Resistance fits into all this, or why the New Order thought it was a good plan to blow up those particular planets. After I saw the movie I looked it all up on Wookieepedia, and it makes a reasonable amount of sense. It wouldn’t have been to hard to actually explain it in the movie.

Contrast the scene when Tarkin blows up Alderaan. This scene explains everything you need to know about why the Empire is taking that action, and furthermore develops the character of Tarkin as not only evil, but a treacherous asshole. The corresponding scene in Force Awakens is not only confusing but doesn’t do anything to develop Hux.

So maybe I’m overly frustrated at what are essentially nitpicks, but when you get 97% of everything right it’s hard to overlook the fact that it falls just short.

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That scene with Tarkin also develops Leia’s character: she’s already stood up to torture, but then totally sells it when, after that failed, the threat to Alderaan gets her to reveal the location of the rebel base; and then we learn that, no, she’s just as sneaky as Tarkin. She’s a damsel in distress, sure – but she’s sharp-tongued and shoots back at the bad guys like a pro and simply refuses to crack no matter what you throw at her, and I can’t think of a prior movie character who fits that bill.

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yeah, but for someone so desperate to emulate Vader, you’d think Ren would have taken it upon himself to call himself Darth something. (BTW, it’s not clear to me if the Knights of Ren are named after Kylo, or if he is just one of many ___ Rens that make up the Knights.)

Nah, you’d need to drop a planet on him to take out Chewie. :wink:
I had totally different trailers. Warcraft, The finest hours, the 5th wave, Kung fu panda 3, and Indepence Day Resurgence twice. (yes, TWICE. Must have been a mistake, but everyone in the theater groaned, “Again!!??”)

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That was you sitting in front of me? :wink:

If not, I’m glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one.

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Saw it on Saturday. Probably going over a lot of ground that other people have already gone over.

I did like Kylo Ren as a villain. He isn’t a Sith, as others have pointed out; he’s a “force user”, and his formal training is very incomplete. He’s very ragged, and very much ruled by his emotions (as evidenced by the temper tantrums he throws), which is not at all Jedi-like. His unrefined nature is reflected in his scratched, dented helmet and in his irregular lightsaber. My understanding is that the last part of a Jedi’s training is making one’s own lightsaber, and it’s clear that his is the product of imperfect engineering, as it hisses, crackles, and spits constantly. Contrast the rough beam of Ren’s saber with the smooth lines of Luke’s saber when Ren and Rey fight.

That being said, he pulls off a trick we’ve never seen before: stopping a blaster bolt in mid-air. So, clearly, the Skywalker DNA is strong in him, but he is highly undisciplined.

I don’t think that Rey will turn out to be Luke’s daughter, because that would mean that Luke abandoned her on Jakku, and I don’t see that happening. The idea that she is somehow descended from Palpatine is intriguing.

BB8 was great, a lot of personality. He got a lot of laughs at my screening. From the first time I heard his name, I thought of it as a reference to BBs, as in “BB gun”, since he’s like a little ball bearing.

A few things I didn’t care for:

The goofy slobbery monster-things aboard the Falcon that were accidentally released and ate all of Han’s creditors. In a way I thought it was a callback to the deleted scene from TESB where C3PO removes a sign that tricks the Stormtroopers into releasing the Wampas. But they just looked ridiculous, and Finn certainly took advantage of a huge Hero’s Death Battle Exemption, since they took five times as long to eat him as they did anyone else.

Poe Dameron was a bit too much of a “I’m awesome, and everything always turns out just fine for me” character. Everyone should have the possibility of being damaged.

Snoke disappointed me. I’d heard that he was going to be massive, but I was hoping for something more beastly, less humanoid.

C3PO seemed irrelevant and unnecessary. It was nice to bring back the whole old crew, but give the poor guy something to do.

Anyway. Overall, I liked it very much. I left the theater thinking, “Now THAT is how you make a Star Wars movie!” Gonna be a long 18 months or whatever until the next chapter.

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I saw it Saturday morning with my son and I thought it much better than the prequels or the Star Trek reboots, which I realize is damning with faint praise.

I thought it was very good for the first 2/3 or so then it was OK from there out. I liked the references and the harkening back to the previous trilogy. I understand that this is a myth and myth’s are retold and all that. Rey and Finn were good together and even though Rey did seem a little Mary Sue with her piloting and Force abilities, there was a definite character growth and a development. It didn’t seem all just thrown there. Han and Chewie were good and Han calling Finn “Big Deal” was great. Poe was pretty cool too. I liked his defiance in front of Kylo Ren. This was decent world building and I liked it.

Up until the Starkiller base. Comparing Starkiller Base to the first Death Star works in only that they’re both giant superweapons that blow up other planets. In the first Star Wars, the Death Star was a main piece of the plot. The plans for it sets the story in motion right there in the beginning, they show its destructive power in the middle, then the good guys destroy it at the end. Good arc.

With the Starkiller base, it’s introduced halfway through the movie so it’s not a part of the plot. Instead it’s added 'cuz the bad guys are bad. Somehow this base sucks a sun dry and then shoots across systems. The science doesn’t check out.

Then the way to destroy it is essentially a retread of how it was destroyed in Star Wars. You could have had capitol ships pounding it from space… but they didn’t. They used the X-Wings and a trench run and some torpedoes.

I think instead the final showdown should have revolved around the search for Luke – you know what the characters were doing since the beginning. They could have had fleets meet and engage each other near Skywalker’s planet. There can still be a rescue and a sacrifice but it could just as easily been on a battle station or some mobile battle platform. Then at the end, the good guys win, the bad guys limp off to lick their wounds, and Rey gets the “reward” of going down to the planet to meet Luke.

I did figure out that the lightsaber was going to be in that chest. I did like the work around it though. Yes it did harken back to the Cantina scene but it wasn’t a straight up retread of that. There have been plenty of “crazy aliens gather in one spot” scenes since the first Star Wars and this one had it’s own life and going there made sense. The vision worked for me and Maz was an interesting and well done character.

I think the jury’s still out on Snoke. I went back and forth on his first scene; having a giant was interesting because a humanoid of that size hasn’t been seen in Star Wars as far as I know, but then I started thinking that was too big and it was unbelievable. Making him a hologram, towering over the others was cool. I remember that in one of the early drafts for Empire Strikes back or Return of the Jedi had the Emperor as powerless puppet who is controlled by others. I think that it might be interesting if they do something like that with him. Or maybe even a smaller humanoid who is inside a larger bio host or something. If they make him small, they’d have to differentiate him from Gollum.

I would rather not see Rey be a Skywalker or a Solo. They may got that way to keep the story condensed but there should be more Jedis than Skywalker, right?

Anyone else think “He’s been in low power mode since Master Luke left” is one of the worst line ever? That’s right up there with “She died of a broken heart.”