Star Wars: The Force Awakens reviews *SPOILERS*

[sportage]

Do you think you're funny saying all that crap we already know? Also, we'll probably be using Holo-tunes a couple decades from now and Quantum-entangle-tunes by then.

My patents died laughing.
You might try it, schmuck..

 

[Sephire]

 

[Childs]

Or she is his daughter

What's the idea behind the First Order and it's Nazi like similarities?

Why did they move away from using clones as Troopers?

The Empire in general always felt like Nazis to me. I think Vader's helmet was even based on the Nazi trooper helmet. The First Order just seems like the last remnant of the Empire army, which is now controlled by the Supreme Leader.

 

[Bitek]

Saw the movie last night, absolutely loved it. It has been a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time since a movie got my blood pumping and my emotions invested like TFA did. JJ Abrams is clearly much more suited to Star Wars than he was Star Trek (though the first movie there was a decent attempt).

A couple points:
- Storm Troopers: Fin was great, I really enjoyed his character and I do appreciate the humanization the troopers got (the first trooper bleeding out, the two troopers noping out of Ren's fit). It would be nice to see this expanded on later with troopers other than Fin having a major issue with how the First Order conducts its business.

- Kylo Ren: Great character. I loved how Abrams played the expectation of just another Maul/Vader evil disfigured dude does evil trope and flipped it. He's just a young man with major issues making some very poor life decisions. No one can really get into the head of an otherwise nice kid who one day decides he is going to support ISIS, and this is sort of the impression I got from Ren. He wants the power and iron fist of order that the Dark Side promises, but cannot seem to escape the decency inherent in him. Maybe this will lead to a redemption/moment of weakness or maybe it will result in a balanced force user who is neither Sith or Jedi, we'll have to see.

On the point of his fight with Rey (aside from being emotionally compromised and badly wounded): Its important to remember that he is an upstart with a lot of raw power and talent that is wild and unfocused (a parallel with Anakin, who he idolizes). It is doubtful that Luke ever even focused on actual lightsaber combat with his students while his school was running and in the flashback when Rey touches Luke's Saber, Kylo is the only Knight of Ren with a lightsaber. Until he fought Rey, he probably never ran into someone as naturally talented or capable as him and may not have ever actually sparred with a lightsaber user previously.

-Rey: Another great character. She is a bit of a mary sue, but that's essentially what force sensitivity is so it makes sense in the context of the story. Whether she was previously trained in the force or not, she clearly becomes aware that it flows through her during her mental duel with Kylo Ren (maybe it was like the white noise that was always there and only gets brought into focus when she experiences Kylo using it). She does a great job, much like Fin, in bringing the viewer into the scene.

Anyhow, daughter woke up so I'm done typing.

:thumbsup:

For some reason, watching Finn reminded me of Gary the stormtrooper in the robot chicken sw series.

Stormtroopers always just served as brainless fodder, so seeing them as having their own motivations and backstory was interesting.

 

[Aikouka]

So, I had purchased an IMAX ticket prior to seeing the movie, and I didn't want to waste the money, so I went anyway. All I can say is that if you see it in a dome theater, you better be prepared to get there EARLY. You pretty much need to either be at the top or be prepared for some neck strain. There were also a crap ton of people lined up as I left.

Anyway, getting to see it again let me look out for some points that we've been talking about.

So, I think it's pretty clear that The Knights of Ren destroyed the new Jedi Order. Han specifically uses the word "destroy", and in the flashback sequence, you see Kylo stab his lightsaber through a person that appears to be wearing of those dome-shaped Jedi helmets.

That Stormtrooper with the melee weapon was the only one that I saw that had one. So, I doubt that most Stormtroopers receive training in melee weapons.

Kylo Ren was most definitely trained by Supreme Commander Snoke. When discussing the awakening, Kylo Ren states that the grace of [Snoke's] training allows him to resist the call. Plus, Snoke said that he's going to complete the training. Usually, you don't say that you're going to complete something if you haven't started it already.

The Starkiller, as one would assume by its name, does appear to destroy the star that it drains. Finn states something like "the star goes dark then disappears", which you'd assume means that it's gone. Although, where does the First Order keep getting stars from if that's the case? Also, the first time when they fired it... it was daytime. Did they already drain a star? ...or are/were there more stars originally.

 

[Sephire]

My next viewing will be this

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-force-awakens-70mm/

 

[Skel]

haha maybe, but I think he knew the major plot points or concepts and fleshed them out as he went along. Its not a problem as long as he's consistent.

In those movies he also kinda tied the force to genetics. So you would think two force users having a kid would produce a more powerful force user. I'm not sure why this would be a bad thing, unless the side effect is susceptibility to the dark side. Even a Jedi having a mate was forbidden presumably because it leads to emotion. In a way he set it up so that the natural order of the force is the dark side, and a Jedi spends his life fighting his nature. That in itself would kinda explain why the dark side is more powerful.

I honestly thought the opposite. Until Luke showed up I don't recall them ever saying any of them had, or were descendants of other Force users. Even Anakin just showed up out of the blue and wasn't related to anyone and he was supposed to be one of the strongest ever.. so much so his midichlorians (which still haven't be removed, only not talked about anymore) were higher than Yoda's. If anything Lucas forced it all to be tied together by making Luke Vader's son. As I said earlier though, as this movie is aping the old ones a ton, I'm sure Rey will turn out to be related to someone so it can have it's "I'm your Father" moment.

 

[Aikouka]

I honestly thought the opposite. Until Luke showed up I don't recall them ever saying any of them had, or were descendants of other Force users. Even Anakin just showed up out of the blue and wasn't related to anyone and he was supposed to be one of the strongest ever.. so much so his midichlorians (which still haven't be removed, only not talked about anymore) were higher than Yoda's. If anything Lucas forced it all to be tied together by making Luke Vader's son. As I said earlier though, as this movie is aping the old ones a ton, I'm sure Rey will turn out to be related to someone so it can have it's "I'm your Father" moment.

Well, Anakin's story was just really, really dumb in Phantom Menace. He was essentially Space Jesus as he "has no father" according to his mother. He was supposedly born from the midichlorians.

As for Rey, at first, I thought she was Han's daughter. Part of the reason is that Han acted kind of funny around her for a bit, and Kylo Ren seemed strangely interested in "the girl". Maybe the dark side is a little lonely? :sneaky: Although, I leaned away from her being Han's daughter when Leia just hugged her without displaying this sort of "My daughter!" emotion.

Now, I'd like to say that she was hidden on Jakku when Kylo Ren revolted against Luke, but it's that flashback scene that makes me lean away from that. Kylo Ren and Rey seem to be fairly close in age, but if you look at Kylo Ren during that flashback scene, he looks a lot like he is now. So, in other words, Kylo Ren's revolt against Luke was most likely somewhat recent (probably within the past few years). Rey appeared to be quite young when she was abandoned with the creepy alien slave laborer -- I'd guess around 6-8.

 

[Childs]

I honestly thought the opposite. Until Luke showed up I don't recall them ever saying any of them had, or were descendants of other Force users. Even Anakin just showed up out of the blue and wasn't related to anyone and he was supposed to be one of the strongest ever.. so much so his midichlorians (which still haven't be removed, only not talked about anymore) were higher than Yoda's. If anything Lucas forced it all to be tied together by making Luke Vader's son. As I said earlier though, as this movie is aping the old ones a ton, I'm sure Rey will turn out to be related to someone so it can have it's "I'm your Father" moment.

But that would be in keeping with Jedis not being allowed to have their own families. More than likely Anakin did have a father, and she was probably raped by a sith and just mind tricked into thinking it didn't happen. Anyways, Lucas made the force related to biology, and usually biological traits and passed on genetically.

I will take the long shot and say Rey is a sith's kid. She kinda tapped into the dark side to beat Ren, and if the ground didn't split she probably would have killed him. She will be the new Anakin.

 

[Andy86]

So being tech savvy and a natural pilot is genetic/inheritable too? It's bad enough that The Force went from being something which surrounds everyone and only needs to be tapped into by any sentient creature of any species (even droids like General Greivous) to now just being some stupid bloodline thing. Even so: Luke and Leia have the same bloodline, so it's as likely to be Han and Leia's daughter.

Also, if we are going with that, Han's understanding of the technical aspects of the ship was right there with hers.

Actually those are inherited traits among the sky walkers. As for the force it was mentioned in the prequels that the amount of Midichlorians found in the blood determined how much potential someone had for using the force, so it is very likely that the force is something that could also be passed down. Qui-Gon Jinn actually asks anakins mother who his father was when he is found? Assuming that his relation was to a force user, but we know anakin was conceived by the force.

As for general grievous. General grievous was a cyborg ( part organic/part robotic) so it is likely that he could have had Midichlorians within his blood of the organic tissue.

 

[Slew Foot]

It wasn't inexplicable.. it was clearly explained. He read her thoughts, realized she had the map in her mind, and took her to interrogate it out of her. No need for the droid- the only thing he needed the droid for was the map, which Rey could also provide. The tiny chance that she might be a powerful force wielder didn't cross his mind, even though that ended up being the case and because of which he couldn't pry the map from her mind.

Im impressed that she was able to memorize an entire uncharted galactic sector from just a quick glance at a map.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Years later and they still use xwings and tie fighters. where are all the new ships?

Somehow I was hoping for Captain Phasma to do something badass.

 

[shortylickens]

 

[Pipeline 1010]

There was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING implying that Snoke was anything more than some bad guy in charge of The First Order. Absolutely nothing. It was not conveyed. He gave BOTH of them orders, they squabbled about tactics and methods for a second time as if they were of equal rank, and Snope neither spoke of nor demonstrated his own alignment with the Force. As far as we know he has no abilities and Ren serves him for no reason. There's no conveyance. We are left to jump to conclusions that he's a Sith/Force Master based on our knowledge of the first one, as you have. Like I said: they need to go back to film school. If they expect us to assume he's a Sith like Emperor Darth Sidious is to fill in the gaps then they aren't even hiding that it's a shameless remake of A New Hope.

I thought it was explicitly stated that Snoke wanted to complete Ren's training. I can only assume that means training in the force. And it was stated that Snoke was super interested in having Rey brought to him because she is naturally gifted in the force...presumably to turn her to the dark side and train her to follow him. These are strong indicators that he is a dark side force master. Does the actor need to explicitly lay it out for you? Maybe a line like: "Hey guys, I am a super evil badass force user who is master level, just so you know for sure Mr. CZroe."

 

[Sephire]

I expect this scene in the next sequels. Two Jedi Masters and their Padawans in one epic duel D:

Darth Plagueis and Kylo Ren V. Luke Skywalker and Mary Rey Sue Skywalker :sneaky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4JEZudf0c

 

[Pulsar]

Years later and they still use xwings and tie fighters. where are all the new ships?

Somehow I was hoping for Captain Phasma to do something badass.

Have to go with this..... they get a bad-ass new shuttle craft but are still using non-shielded Tie Fighters? I did notice the tie fighter had 2 person seating with a 'gunner'. I'm not versed enough to know if there was an older model that had that.

And..... all a tie-fighter has to do is take out 2 turbo lasers and suddenly they are away from a star destroyer?

There were way too many plot devices like that in this movie. Rey's Instant-Power, Finn's ability to fight with a lighter saber (lore says that the light saber field itself generates huge amounts of torsion so that only people skilled in the force can use it safely), etc.

Rebel Alliance won, but still exists? And only has 12 fighters to their name? Let's mount a save the universe attack with 12 fighters and led by a garbage man? Let's not ask HOW he's going to get the shields down?

Even as a long-time Star Wars fan they really screwed the pooch on not explaining some of this stuff when it needed an explanation. I had far to many "wait, WTF?" moments in this movie that I didn't need to have.

Even a simple "most of our fleet were circling around the planets that got blown up and no one else is close enough so we have to go with what we've got" would have put that to bed.

My kids didn't even care for the movie - 10, 12, 14 and they all said it was boring and 'just like the other one.'

 

[Sephire]

Artist: Nye Armstrong

 

[MarkXIX]

I think we will find out that Rey was training at Luke's Jedi temple when Ben Solo (AKA Kylo Ren) went full retard and copied Anakin and snuffed a bunch of kids. She survived but had her mind wiped to protect her and was dropped off on Jakku.

Captain Phasma was a huge let down. She'd better have a badass role in the next few movies because that was completely bullshit what they did with that character.

I'd like to see Chewie rip the arms off that Ben Solo asshole.

That is all.

 

[waggy]

I got to see it last night. I thought it was good. Sure it paralleled ANH.

Kylo ren was awesome once you realize what he is. Rey though confuses me. i wonder if we discover more about her. BTW i want 20 minutes alone with her...ahem sorry. Finn was awesome.

I loved BB8. when he did out the lighter for the thumbs up? LOL

I went in with high expectations. Only thing i was dispointed on was the space fights. I wanted more space ship fights they were very well done but not enough of them. Though poe..man..poe is what the EU describe wedge as. a badass in a cockpit and a cocky asshole out but willing to take on a whole fleet of tie fighters himself (and win).

I will buy this when it comes out on blu-ray. i expect it in 3 week's normal edition, then in a nother 3 weeks super edition, then in 6 months blu-ray etc etc..lol

 

[CZroe]

If Fin turned against the The First Order and is working against them attempting to get to the Rebellion headquarters, isn't he technically part of the Rebellion? I saw no reason to lie. "I'm defecting to the Rebellion" would have been so much simpler. Because they didn't do it that way, now I'm confused: Do droid's have sympathy? Is it really so easy to get a droid to give up the location of a Rebel base? It ruined Fin's scene with BB8. It should have been some other secret.

 

[akugami]

I got to see it last night. I thought it was good. Sure it paralleled ANH.

Kylo ren was awesome once you realize what he is. Rey though confuses me. i wonder if we discover more about her. BTW i want 20 minutes alone with her...ahem sorry. Finn was awesome.

I loved BB8. when he did out the lighter for the thumbs up? LOL

I went in with high expectations. Only thing i was dispointed on was the space fights. I wanted more space ship fights they were very well done but not enough of them. Though poe..man..poe is what the EU describe wedge as. a badass in a cockpit and a cocky asshole out but willing to take on a whole fleet of tie fighters himself (and win).

I will buy this when it comes out on blu-ray. i expect it in 3 week's normal edition, then in a nother 3 weeks super edition, then in 6 months blu-ray etc etc..lol

You and your 20 minutes with Rey...

I thought the overall character of Kylo was well done, but my only beef (as stated earlier) was they could have left the audience in suspense until the end of the movie. Probably right before he whacks dear old daddy.

I have the original trilogy on laserdiscs...want the blu-rays but the friggin changes...

And it would have been fun if they had a stormtrooper trip or bump his head. Fanservice dammit.

And I'm sorry, but friggin Kylo can take out a trained stormtrooper with a lightsabre but he can't take out a wimpy looking girl. I don't buy it.

 

[jackstar7]

And I'm sorry, but friggin Kylo can take out a trained stormtrooper with a lightsabre but he can't take out a wimpy looking girl. I don't buy it.

Judge her by her size, do you?

Hmph.

 

[Chiropteran]

And I'm sorry, but friggin Kylo can take out a trained stormtrooper with a lightsabre but he can't take out a wimpy looking girl. I don't buy it.

A wimpy girl he can't kill, because she knows of the map. A wimpy girl he doesn't want to kill, because he needs to seduce her to the dark side instead. A wimpy girl who is fighting him directly after he suffered a bowcaster shot to the leg. A wimpty girl with a wimpy stormtrooper helping her (Finn). A wimpty girl who has beaten off multiple opponents at once previously in the movie with her staff.

Your lacking of buying it makes no sense.

 

[phillyTIM]

People like to point out why Leia didn't hug Chewy first after Han was killed; that would have been natural, being the history both of them share together and with Hans.

But Leia hugged Rey first, with the rationale being that Rey may yet turn out to be Han & Leia's daughter.

I think the movie did its job: getting people to talk about it, analyze it, and return to it for other clues along the way.

Right?

 

[brainhulk]

Finn said he was raised to kill, but then he tells Han that he worked in sanitation? I did like his solution to use the force and then Han saying it doesn't work that way...lmao

Watching Carrie Fisher was painfull. Her face moved like it was a mask, too much plastic surgery? botox?

Disappointed with phasma. what a let down she was punked so easily and had so little screen time

all in all it was nice, beautiful, but predictable and safe. Was hoping for more in terms of mystery and story.