[QUOTE=stillownedbysetters]
Now that I’ve been told that they kill off Han Solo, I believe I will stick with the Star Wars movies I know and not watch these at all. I would have had an interest in seeing them if the original characters had been blended into the story, but it appears that isn’t to be the case.
[/QUOTE]
It is very much the case. The scene in question is 4/5 through the movie, not to mention everybody else is still around.
Thanks, Septima, I appreciate the explanation.
Maybe I’ll change my mind by the time the movie gets to Netflix.
I thought it was an OK film. I enjoyed it and liked the two new characters. Solo though was more Indy then Indy was in the last movie. Even some of the music sounded more Indy like then Star Wars, of course having them all written by Williams will do that.
I was kind of surprised at the number of people in my theater. I would say 40-50. I got there 10 minutes before it started and asked if it was full, the woman said there were 150 open seats.
Piper Cub’s verdict: “That Ren guy is no Darth Vader.”
Ho-hum. World destroying weapon, even bigger than the first two death stars; but it’s got a weakness! Need to send in a team on a forlorn hope to crack open the shields so that a small band of doughty X-wings can attack, while TIE fighters defend, etc, etc.
Pass.
Han: “You’ve changed your hair style.”
She’s Luke’s daughter and Ren’s cousin, is my prediction.
Here’s why:
She appears to have an innate ability to pilot spaceships, with no formal training, growing up in a desert planet, much like Anakin and Luke.
From somewhere, she has a beaten-up helmet of a Rebel fighter pilot, complete with red logo and yellow visor, exactly the type of helmet Lukebwore when he destroyed the Death Star.
The first time she touches Luke’s light-sabre, she has visions, including one of Ren with his red light-sabre, similar to the vision Luke had of Vader with his red light-sabre in Empire.
The Force is clearly strong with her. She can eventually resist Ren’s mind-probing, turning the tables and reading his emotions about his own fears.
She can also “suggest” to the stormtrooper guard that he should free her, an even stronger version of Obi-Wan’s similar persuasive powers displayed in the first movie dealing with a stormtrooper on Tatoine.
She can beat Ren in force-pulling Luke’s light-sabre to her, even though she has just started using the force and he’s been trained in it.
She appears to have an innate ability at light-sabre duelling, to the point that she can beat Ren, a well-trained opponent, in her first ever light-sabre duel. Again, this ability resembles Anakin’s and Luke’s prowess with a light-sabre.
When she first lands at the Rebel base, R2D2 inexplicably wakes up from his droid coma, which he’s been in since Luke went away, suggesting her Force presence is similar enough to Luke’s that R2D2 senses a presence similar to Luke’s.
Loved it. Thought that JJ managed to inject heart into the film, which had been sorely missing in episodes 1-3.
And I posted on Facebook that I couldn’t believe they killed Chewbacca.
I haven’t seen it, so I’m probably not spoiling it.
I’ve been hoping somewhere there’s a scene where a character played by Bill Shatner is hitting on a female with yellow, red, or orange skin.
Regarding Rey beating Ren in a lightsaber duel, remember Ren was injured. He showed how much it was bothering him several times during the battle with Fin. Then Fin injured him in a couple of more places before Rey battled him.
We enjoyed it. We took the whole family plus a couple of friends for the boy who’s birthday is this month. I have to say, I’m glad we were with the kids. It added a new level watching them react to it. My youngest got a kick out of the 3D and would gasp and laugh and applaud in all the right places.
Yes, it has a few flaws, and yes, it was a bit derivative of the previous movies, but it was fun. The main issue with the prequels was they took themselves so seriously. They just wanted to have fun with this and it showed through.
Our theater was half empty. We watched in a smaller town and the roads were terrible. We are in the Northwest. that storm is bringing in enough snow for the whole month.
I mean, that was the point? He’s a pathetic sad sack trying to desperately imitate the mental image he painted for himself of his grandfather. That wasn’t even really a subtext so much as the text itself.
Edit: And as for the “rehash”. I disagree. It wasn’t a rehash, it wasn’t even really a remix. It sampled the original as a backing beat. And I don’t think we really want to go down the road of calling anything in Star Wars derivative. Star Wars, told without a single image or sound from Star Wars.
my theory is Luke began her training and then after the shit hit the fan he suppress those memories somehow using the force and now they are coming back
Noire desert planet dwelling character stumbles upon the force. CHECK
Evil Empire has yet another version of the Death Star. CHECK
Its evil Overlord from the Dark Side wears a black mask, and is mentored by a creepy “emperor”. CHECK
Said evil dark overlord character is involved in “father-son” drama. CHECK
Said evil lord captures female protagonist, tortures her on his Death Star, and she has top be rescued by the protagonists. CHECK
Cute android. CHECK
Bar scene full of freak aliens from around the galaxy. CHECK
Weird looking midget with googley eyes who knows recognizes the Force is inside someone. CHECK
Death Star used later be to destroy another planet. CHECK
Said Death Star is destroyed by rebel fighters who target a weak spot on the Death Star; Death Star shields are disabled by brave heroes who infiltrate it. CHECK
Climatic light saber duel in the mist of apocalyptic destruction. CHECK
Plotline open for Evil Overlord to return . . . . .
I mean, I probably could go on and on. JJ Abrams did nothing to hurt the franchise, unlike those three miserable prequels, and he brought back enough nostalgia to please the Star Wars crowd, but other than the Ben backstory, there was little original about the movie.
I had fun but at the same time I felt I was watching a well-done rehash of Star Wars and Return of the Jedi.
I thought the callbacks bordered on absurd. There were what, probably 25 or 30?
That said I think the performances were all good, visually it was great. Infinitely better than all the prequels. Maybe better than Jedi? 7/10.
I thought it was good and enjoyable but suffered from a pair of antagonists (Ren & the general) who lacked any gravitas. Ren was a whiny, goofy dude who looked like he should be Solo’s grandkid and the general looked like he was 20. My wife looked up the actor’s age in his defense (32?) but I never once bought that this kid was a general in command of a planet-ship. I also had trouble buying that the silver-helmeted Ladytrooper folded like a cheap suit and gave up the shields with barely a shrug.
So, I did enjoy it as a casual fan of the original trilogy but also thought it had some flaws keeping it from being as good as it could have been.
Overall, I liked it - I’d say a solid 8/10 is a good grade for it.
I agree there were definitely way too many callbacks and parallels to the original films, in terms of story beats - start on a desert plan, find a droid holding The Secret, run away off desert planet, get captured, escape in the Falcon, super Death Star, blow it up while Han turns off the shield generator, etc. Now, part of keeping things feel like Star Wars is having parallels, but they should be in the relationships and such, not repeating the exact same events. Han’s death scene was a well-done parallel, a lot of the others weren’t.
My only other complaints were that there was 1) a bit too much breakneck action (I always loved the moments in the original that let the scenery and music breathe, such as Luke staring off at the double Tattooine sunset… here, very little moments for Williams’ score to astound like it has before) and 2) Gwendoline Christie’s character was wasted (much like her appearance in the last Hunger Games movie). Hopefully she shows up in the sequels and gets more to do.
Oh, and I sorta agree with the criticisms of Kylo Ren. Having seen the released pic of him with his helmet off, yeah, Adam Driver is not the most intimidating looking person. For those who have read the (now non-canon) books, Han and Leia had two twins, Jacen and Jaina, and Jacen eventually ended up turning to the dark side. All along people kept telling him he was just a Diet Coke version of Vader, and he did have the hallmarks of being whiny. I see a lot of the same here with Kylo… now, obviously that’s supposed to be half the point (he’s trying too hard to be something he’s not, as badass as Vader) but it doesn’t necessarily make for a great villain IMO.
Still, good movie, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes. There’s lots of good character setups here, so if the next script is more original, I think this could go places.
(Definitely agree that Rae will turn out to be Luke’s daughter. I was actually expecting the film to end with Luke’s line from the trailers of “The Force is strong in my family… my father had it… my sister had it… and you have it.”)
Actually, one of the things I didn’t mention in my rant was Adam Driver.
I was relieved when he took his helmet off early and showed his face, one of the few times Abrams diverted from the otherwise repeat plot. He did the role extremely well, and came across as a complete, but highly dangerous, Darth Vader wanna-be. Im glad they left it open ended if he will come back in the next movie, because I felt the actor did a great job with a difficult part.
Only logical question is: how can Princess Leia and Han Solo produce such an ugly offspring??? :D:D:D
Oh, a few more things…
Snoke is a really dumb name (though I’m glad he turned out to not actually be 30 feet tall and was just a hologram, sigh of relief)
Starkiller, heh. (That was the original name for “Skywalker” before Lucas changed it)
Man, Leia does not sound good. Carrie Fisher must’ve smoked quite a few cigarettes over the years (among other things).
What were the planets they blew up? Was Coruscant one of them?
I agree why cast her if your not gonna see her. She actually seems to die TWICE: I swear I saw her get blown up flying a Tie-Fighter, then they throw her in a garbage compacter?
Adam Driver is also 32, and thus, too old to actually be Han and Leia’s kid.