Yup. (Another remark added after I finally saw the film–then began running through all the posts.)
We didn’t really need another Death Star. But* every* spaceport needs a bar…
Been away a couple days and haven’t read the last couple of pages. My son says he’d be tempted to the dark side id only for Ben’s ability to avoid helmet head! 
We finished eps 4-6, going to start w/ ep 1 tonight.
Pretty sure he’s been mentioned in this thread, but with all the cameo callbacks, it would have been nice to see some Wedge.
I haven’t seen anything else Lupita Nyong’o was in so far, though I’m sure she’s just terrific. But it seems like if you’re going to have a Space Linda Hunt, why not have her played by Earth Linda Hunt?
According to wiki, he was offered, but declined on the basis of ‘it would be boring.’
IMHO, ‘I’m already on my way out’ is a great candidate for best line of the entire series.
Because Lupita’s BIG and they can go BIG.
Hell, Bill Hader was the voice - sort of - of BB8! There’s definitely a bit of ‘we can afford it, what the hell’ going on.
I saw it again this weekend with the whole family. My son and I saw it last weekend but my wife and daughter hadn’t seen it yet.
I still liked it, it still worked for me and it was a good movie up until the Starkiller base. After the movie, my daughter said that she knew everything that was going to happen when it happened so I tried to explain the Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth to her but she just rolled her eyes at me in a way that only a 13-year-old girl can do.
My wife liked it and she liked that after this movie they can go into so many directions with the next movies, like movies about Han Solo and Leia and stuff like that. I told her they were working on a movie about young Han Solo and she replied “If it isn’t Harrison Ford, I don’t want to see it.” Good point.
Yep. But given the fanboy over-the-top hatefilled rejection of epi’s 1, 2, 3, this was needed. They had to recreate the magic of the first films.
In this, they did fine. I’d give this a solid B+. Very entertaining and a great call back.
I have never noticed this being said when watching the film, but now I see it’s listed as a famous quote in several places.
Why? What’s the subtext I’m missing that makes this a great line?
I didn’t go yesterday because the film was “a huge cultural phenomenon.” But I remember hearing about the first prequel–so I waited to see whether it sucked or not. (I seem to remember the judgment on that first stinker was immediate.) Most initial reviews of this film were not so much “this is the best film ever made” as “yay, it doesn’t suck!”
When Star Wars came out, I was an adult. A very young & silly one–but I’d been reading SF for many years. I enjoyed it because it was fun. The genre of Space Opera was considered corny, but the characters were charming, the effects excellent (for the time) & there was even some humor. (For Arty Significance, there was 2001.) I enjoyed the next two films but skipped the prequels. Never read any spinoff novels, played the games or watched the cartoons. So maybe I’m not a True Fan. (Oh, and I’d already read some Joseph Campbell–whose work isn’t all that simplistic.)
May have to see it again on a big screen to catch some of the details. And I’ll gladly watch the next two.
That is, almost word for word, what I told my wife (who’s not a SW fan) after I got back from the theater.
I really wish they hadn’t mentioned the countdown during the final scenes. We all know how long 15 minutes is (or isn’t), and I’m quite certain it’s not nearly enough time for everything we’re shown to occur.
Seriously, we’ve got the protagonists running out of the base door, the next shot we’re told the weapon will be ready to fire in 2 minutes, then the very next shot after that our protagonists are climbing over the top of a cliff at least 1/2 mile away from the door they just ran through, running who knows how far through the woods, having a lightsaber duel, going back for Finn, and escaping the planet before it exploded.
Mainly that Wedge and Lando were, at that point, still approaching their targets (Lando was going for the main core, and told Wedge to hit an important piece of supporting equipment nearby). Wedge’s line is basically that sort of next-level boasting that isn’t even boasting, just a matter-of-fact observation that the task is as good as done.
He hasn’t even hit the target yet, but he considers himself already homeward bound, because it ain’t no big deal. That’s part of Wedge’s charm in the old series. In a galaxy full of over-the-top scoundrels and badasses and knights and wizards and princesses, he’s just that one cool-headed guy doing his job, which happens to involve tripping up giant mecha, drawing fire from Darth Vader himself, and helping to blow up massive superweapons. It’s just all in a day’s work for the guy.
15 Space minutes.
Which is definitely less than 12 parsecs.
I read where the guy who played Wedge wasn’t interested in doing any more Star Wars movies. Made me think, though, since they’re doing more movies set back in the Rebellion era, like Rogue One and the young Han Solo movie, which means they’re going to have to recast a lot of people for that anyway…
That’s kind of perfect actually.
I’m seeing it again Wednesday with my kids(ages 7 and 5).
They watched the despecialized Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi recently and unspoiled. Here they are watching the big “I am your father moment.” I know they react totally calmly, but that’s just how they are. They were very surprised, actually.
They watched Jedi today and flow right into Episode VII Wednesday. Lucky dogs.
You should make them wait 32 years before watching VII.
Leia and Han Solo forget they also had a daughter? :dubious:
Ren. Rey. Ren. Rey. A coincidence, I’m sure.
Ren waves his hand and smashes Rey against a tree. Makes sense. So why doesn’t he do that to Finn too? Usually in these sorts of fights force users can’t fling each other around unless they break the other guy’s concentration first, but Finn isn’t a force user as far as the audience knows, so…
The face to face hilt crossing between Ren and Rey was supposed to be emotional I think, but I wasn’t feeling it. She just hears the words “the force” and gets an upgrade? Okay. Then Rey didn’t just fend him off, she kicked his ass. Seemed to be using her anger, which is supposed to be a bad sign. The only reason Ren survives is because of the most convenient sinkhole in cinematic history. Back to the drawing board, kid. Fire up the Evanescence.
Rey and Luke staring at each other for so long was kinda awkward. Ending on a Luke line would’ve been better, maybe.
Other than those and some other little issues, pretty good action flick. I liked the sets, the desert scenes, and the grittiness – didn’t shy away from showing storm troopers massacring people. The Empire were always space Nazis, but here they even did a half roman salute.
Daisy Ridley is a pretty good actor, at least the emoting part. That mind meld scene could’ve been a narmy disaster, but she sold it. Still a little silly though. I bet listening to just the audio would make it sound really inappropriate.
They reversed it so the bad guy is trying to resist the temptation of the light. It’s like poetry, it rhymes. I’m just wondering what the end goal is here. The throne room scene with Palpatine, Vader, and Luke is tough to beat. Are they really going to repeat it with Snoke, Ren, and Rey? I’ve seen some people say that now the first one is out of the way they can do more original stories. Apparently these people never saw Star Trek: Into Darkness.
The “rule of two” was made up in the prequels, wasn’t it? If so, I doubt it’ll ever be referenced again. Because it’s kinda stupid.