Your immediate reaction? Best/worst part?

[Fatty]

[member="Selena Halcyon"] Fair enough on the assumption, and Finn knowing the location of such a thing.

But you have to admit... "They blew it up... again." really makes these miraculous victories against impossible odds cheapened.

Yes it was "harder", but doing it for the Death Star the first time was thought to be impossible, and it showed. If not for Luke and his trust in the force, it wouldn't have gone down. One could say the same excuse for the second Death Star, that it was harder, until Han and Chewie blew something up to let the pilots in to do the real damage (and let's be honest, if the second one was complete, without Luke in the ship, they would have failed; nothing says "Blow me up" like a gaping cavern straight to the core).

I was also incredibly disappointed in Captain Phasma. She left nothing to regret for the shields going down. She didn't even have to do it. She should have known that they needed her, and she could have used that against them. She can't be killed if they need the access codes to the shields. That's not even to mention how she got capture like a grunt.

I was sitting on my seat hoping that when she said "You'll regret this", that a whole cadre of Stormtroopers would open up behind Han and Finn, because she used the terminal to alert her forces rather than shut down the shields... or something along those lines.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Huh, that only took an hour.

 

[Ricochet]

Somethings, details I enjoyed, things I'd like to see:

• Kylo Ren's theme has bits of Anakin's Dark Deed/Anakin's Betrayal in it. Its the blaring trumpets - its the BAM BUM BUM BUUUM part. Anakin's Dark Deeds is played in Revenge of the Sith when he becomes Darth Vader and purges the Jedi. I found that an excellent musical metaphor for the rhythms of Vader we find in Kylo or Kylo tries desperately to emulate.
• Kylo's look is strangely close to Anakin's in Revenge of the Sith, whether intentional or not - its pretty cool.
• Seeing it a third time I noticed that during the interrogation by Kylo of Rey he mentions that when she cant sleep she dreams of a happier place - where her family could be - on an island in a large sea, and where does she find Luke, on an island in a long sea covered planet. Further, hints of Rey - Luke connection? Or perhaps Rey's connection to her parents who were students of Luke's, murdered by Kylo during his rebellion.
• I'd like to see Finn and Rey both be new jedi, while Kylo murdered and was apart of the failed first class - perhaps by the end Finn and Rey are the new generation of stronger and new Jedi Order to come.
• MORE F@CKING CAPTAIN PHASMA WHAT THE ACTUAL F@CK!~~

 

[Cloudburner]

This movie is the plot of the Originals in a nutshell with a different flavour and skin.

Kylo = Vader
Poe = New Han
Han = The "Kenobi" character in this movie.
Finn = Luke
Rey = Leia/ Luke
Snoke = Palpatine/Plagueis
First Order = Galactic Empire
Hux = Tarkin
Leia = Well, Leia

It's identical, JJ even said A New Hope was his favourite Star Wars movie.

I wanted something fresh and new, not like the Prequels but different. I wanted something that brought back memories, but wasn't copy and pasted. I wanted Han and Leia to play a lesser role like Luke did. That scene at the end was amazing. It was probably the only scene which didn't follow the Episode IV template. It was better than the Prequels, and it opened doors for many different theories pointing towards Rey being part of the Skywalker/ Solo family tree.

To be honest, it was great. It made the prequels x10 worser in comparison and it WAS awesome. It was the 3rd best Star Wars movie IMO. Only outed by The Empire Strikes Back and ROTJ (My Favourite), which is a pretty big feat, especially for a new movie.

Disney has made this franchise great again.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

I'm pretty sure the mirror was intentional, not just because of the parallels throughout the entire saga, but because they needed to prove to us that they could nail something very similar to the OT before they tried new things.

[member="Vahn Fett"]

 

[Lyoto Chiba]

I feel like this was a great film to jump start the new saga, but it wasn't a great film. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would go watch it again, even in theaters. But there were certainly flaws. Hopefully the next movies can slow down a bit and create a really brilliant story, not a fun adventure flick with copious fan service.

Overall, it entertained me more than any superhero movie besides the Dark Knight trilogy and perhaps the first Spiderman. I'd give it a solid 3/4, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of what Disney and Abrams have to offer.

Cheers.

 

[Beowoof]

[member="Barrien Siegfried"]

They did that scene really well. I think he got likr 9 fighters down in 15 seconds. That is really how piloting should be displayed. Better than Anakin. It rocked!

LOL

2 fighters in 15 seconds would be masterful. 3 would be insane. 4 is where I lose suspension of disbelief.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Beowoof"]
I lost suspension of disbelief when Starkiller has trees and stuff growing on it. Was it a planet they retroactively made into a giant cannon or was it an artificial planet which somehow got trees on it?

 

[Darth Carnifex]

It was originally a planet that they converted into a weapon.

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

 

[Beowoof]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

Seemed like it was originally a planet, though how it's iced over and habitable on the surface when it's in close orbit and sucking in the sun itself is beyond even Star Wars logic.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kylo's temper tantrums are the best.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

Seemed like it was originally a planet, though how it's iced over and habitable on the surface when it's in close orbit and sucking in the sun itself is beyond even Star Wars logic.

Nothing is beyond Star Wars logic. You remember those love scenes between Padme and Anakin, right?

 

[Beowoof]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Because a young man who hasn't been allowed to wander two meters away from his master since he was 10 and a young woman who has done nothing but politic her entire life know how to be social and subtly flirtatious. Logic.

Not saying it was genius dialogue, but it actually isn't the sophomoric script it's made out to be.

Anyway, back to the bandwagon, I suppose.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

I was so disappointed in Leia. Carrie Fisher has wrecked her voice and without it the character of Leia is just a pudgy granny. It's impossible to take her seriously as the leader of a Popsicle stand, let alone the Resistance, when she sounds so absurd. Let this be a lesson, children: drugs are bad, mmkay?

Rey is my new celebrity lady-crush. I like how when she smiles we see every single one of her teeth (even the molars). She has an infectious personality and I like her a lot. I was very wary about the new cast members, but I have to say they outperformed the old cast members. Even Boyega, whose performance in the trailers led me to believe he was not a talented actor, turned in a really good performance. And don't get me started on Poe, ooh lawd.

In the lead-up to the release I watched a lot of the press coverage/promotions and Harrison Ford's disdain for his fans came through loud and clear, which translated into me looking at Han Solo a little less favorably then in the past. I was upset that he died, but doubly so knowing that it was Harrison Ford's decision -- not because of age, but because of spite -- to kill him off. That being said, he drove a lot of the film's nostalgia factor, which I appreciated.

Effects were good. Humor was great. BB-8 is my jam. In a sense it felt like a retread of A New Hope, but in another sense, it didn't feel like a Star Wars film. Maybe because I'm not 14 anymore, but it did not fill me with wonder. It filled me with confusion. The lack of context in what happened in the intervening years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is really a problem for me. The opening crawl of A New Hope gave us all the information we needed to figure out the story, but the opening crawl of TFA did not similarly fill us in. Who are the Resistance? Why are they separate from the Republic? How long has the First Order been around? Where did they come from? What is the political situation in the galaxy? We don't know any of this except Resistance = Good and First Order = Bad. In ANH that was enough because we quickly got details as to what the situation was, but those details never came in TFA. I gather some of these questions are answered in the visual dictionary and novelization or whatever, but it's important to communicate them in the film itself.

On a side note, I really hope they start filling in the back story between ROTJ and TFA with novels, etc. -- and I mean actual novels, not trash fanfic like that bullshit novel Aftermath, which I have owned for 3 weeks and have read exactly one chapter. It's awful and I think we deserve better.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Also Kylo Ren sucks, there I said it.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

You are aware that if you were to watch A New Hope in a vacuum without any sort of information at all and not watch any movie afterwards then you'd be just as in the dark as this movie left you if not more so, right?

 

[Natasi Fortan]

You are aware that if you were to watch A New Hope in a vacuum without any sort of information at all and not watch any movie afterwards then you'd be just as in the dark as this movie left you if not more so, right?

Is there a point in comparing something about which people knew nothing on its release to a sequel? Anyway, this isn't just a nonsense comparison, it's factually wrong. ANH provides the viewer with plenty of context -- surely enough to comprehend the state of play in the galaxy, and it didn't need to handle a lot more because it was establishing a universe. Meanwhile, in a universe already built and with significant history and a massive time gap, there is no explanation for what happened to the Rebel Alliance, why Leia isn't a member of the Republic she struggled so hard to establish, what happened to the remnants of the Empire and how they relate either historically or currently to the First Order, the relationship between the Republic and the Resistance (beyond the vague 'support' mentioned in the opening crawl, etc.). Maybe that's not important for everyone, but it's important for me and your mileage may vary.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

My parents who by no means are Star Wars fans or nerds completely understood what was going on there, Ava. It was not hard to understand the notion of the Republic funding a small group fighting a threat outside their borders. They likely understood this due to the fact that it has, at the most basic level, comparison to the real world where nations will fund fighters in other countries in order to push their principles. Further exposition might be nice, but honestly I'd rather just see the story of the movie play out. Honestly a full break down seemed very unnecessary to me as well. Furthermore we know why Leia is there, she is fighting the people that took her son.

And we know essentially nothing in ANH. We know there is an Empire. We know they are bad. We know there are rebels fighting them. We know there is an Emperor, but nothing about him. Not even his name. He dissolved the senate, that's all we got. We have no idea who Jabba the Hutt is (original cut) aside from being a guy after Han with a bounty. We know nothing about Vader aside from him being a spooky guy in black armor. We know incredibly little about the force except it lets you sense and perceive things (yep, that's it). We don't know if anyone can touch it or just a few. We have no idea what the Clone Wars is but it was mentioned, and we don't know who the sides are. We know the Empire is at least younger than Obi-Wan but that's all we know there. We have actually no notion that the Rebels are trying to restore the Republic (let alone that a Republic of systems used to exist) if I remember correctly.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

My parents who by no means are Star Wars fans or nerds completely understood what was going on there, Ava. It was not hard to understand the notion of the Republic funding a small group fighting a threat outside their borders. They likely understood this due to the fact that it has, at the most basic level, comparison to the real world where nations will fund fighters in other countries in order to push their principles. Further exposition might be nice, but honestly I'd rather just see the story of the movie play out. Honestly a full break down seemed very unnecessary to me as well. Furthermore we know why Leia is there, she is fighting the people that took her son.

And we know essentially nothing in ANH. We know there is an Empire. We know they are bad. We know there are rebels fighting them. We know there is an Emperor, but nothing about him. Not even his name. He dissolved the senate, that's all we got. We have no idea who Jabba the Hutt is (original cut) aside from being a guy after Han with a bounty. We know nothing about Vader aside from him being a spooky guy in black armor. We know incredibly little about the force except it lets you sense and perceive things (yep, that's it). We don't know if anyone can touch it or just a few. We have no idea what the Clone Wars is but it was mentioned, and we don't know who the sides are. We know the Empire is at least younger than Obi-Wan but that's all we know there. We have actually no notion that the Rebels are trying to restore the Republic (let alone that a Republic of systems used to exist) if I remember correctly.

Not sure you're being deliberately obtuse for the sake of argument, or if you really aren't getting the point.

ANH was a completely new universe. No one had ever seen Luke Skywalker in film before, or Obi-Wan, or Han, or Leia, or Vader, so the historical context didn't particularly matter. The movie sketched a rough outline, and the sequels and prequels continued to do so. But TFA is set thirty years after the last chronological film we've seen. Your interpretation of the events (Leia 'fighting the people that took her son') relies on extraordinary assumptions that a) aren't laid down in the film and b) aren't in character for Leia (sure, Leia is going to abandon the Republic to get vengeance, OK, sure -- sounds like something she would do lol). I mean, if that's the case, that's the case, but I didn't get that from watching the film, so there are at least two reasonable interpretations of what happened.

At any rate, I understood what I was watching. Good vs. Evil, etc. But the context about what happened in the last 30 years is sorely lacking, in my opinion. If it gave you everything you wanted, then good for you. It didn't give me what I wanted. The novelization is helping.

 

[Ricochet]

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[member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Fatty"]​