Star Wars: The Force Awakens reviews *SPOILERS*

[lk2500]

I'm not sure why anybody is surprised Finn can use a light saber. I probably missed some of the details in the movie but aren't Stormtroopers trained for years for combat? Every grunt in the USMC receives basic training in hand to hand fighting including knife, bayonet, and pugil stick. So, the guy's gotta have some pretty good hand to hand skills no matter what his MOS ends up being. He should be able to pick up just about any implement and use it as a weapon fairly effectively.

As a point of interest in the original Star Wars story line all Stormtroopers and Rebel soldiers carried lightsabers; but Lucas scrapped the idea.

I enjoyed the movie overall but would really, really rather see new material than rehashing all the old scenes (I am old enough to have seen all 6 prior movies in the theater). If I want nostalgia I can just watch the old movies.

I also thought Captain Phasma dropping the shields so easily was pretty weak.

I can live with Rey's character, no complaints here.

 

[Childs]

I'm not sure why anybody is surprised Finn can use a light saber. I probably missed some of the details in the movie but aren't Stormtroopers trained for years for combat?

Finn's backstory wasn't that clear. Either it was his first time in the field or he just had a mental break. Later he said he was a janitor on starkiller, so I don't know whats up. In any event he didn't seem like much of a fighter, and I would expect a guy who walks around with a light saber to make quick work of someone who doesn't.

Although there was that one trooper that for some reason had a melee weapon suited for dealing with light sabers. And Finn was loosing to that guy until Rey saved him.

 

[Sephire]

 

[Elfear]

Obviously I'm more with chronos on this one, and I like the way they presented Rey.

His entry mirrors that of Vader in ep4. You are intended to think that he's Vader 2.0, and the blaster freezing, interrogation of Poe and even the mask reinforces this. That is the figure Rey wants you to believe he is.

Then it gets peeled away. It's a misdirection. He's young, unsure, and untested. He's uncontrolled. He's vulnerable. He's paranoid and afraid. IMO, this makes him far more dangerous.

I see him as the anti-Luke. He's estranged from his parents due to Vader, but by choice. He's trying to find himself and destiny, but driven by the dark.

He's even been confronted by his father to turn, just as Luke was, but did not show mercy and selfishly murdered him. (Interestingly, Vader had the reverse choice with Luke, but also repeatedly chose mercy, sacrifice and family.) Ren has already shown far more evil than Vader ever did.

Ep8 I think for Ren will be the flip side of ep5 for Luke. He will be taken to his master and rebuilt, raw talent trained to be in service for his chosen side of the force. I imagine the story will turn dark and we will see just how vicious, dangerous and evil Ren can truly be.

This movie is meant to lay the groundwork for the following episodes, and serve as a transition from the old guard.

Exactly. That's what I took away from EP7 too. It laid the ground work for the upcoming episodes.

As far as Fin holding his own against Ren for a minute or two, it could have had to do with the blaster shot Ren took from Chewy so he wasn't at peak performance for the light saber duel.

 

[madoka]

Did any body else keep seeing Adam Samberg when Kylo Ren takes off the helmet?

 

[cubby1223]

As far as Fin holding his own against Ren for a minute or two, it could have had to do with the blaster shot Ren took from Chewy so he wasn't at peak performance for the light saber duel.

No.

He did just use the force to throw Rey like 50 feet back and slam her into a tree prior to engaging Finn. With the wave of his hand he could have destroyed Finn and taken no further damage. It's broken continuity in exchange for an adrenaline thrill-ride action flick scene common-man turned hero. There is zero explanation, zero excuse, for that scene other than "it's a movie."

 

[james1701]

Is it me or did JJ confuse Jedi mind tricks with Vulcan mind melds.

 

[zerocool84]

Is it me or did JJ confuse Jedi mind tricks with Vulcan mind melds.

No, they could read minds, tell the future, etc before this came out. It was different for every person force sensitive though. Some could, some couldn't. It's in the movies.

 

[james1701]

No, they could read minds, tell the future, etc before this came out. It was different for every person force sensitive though. Some could, some couldn't. It's in the movies.

I must have missed them reading minds. Can you point out where that came from. The only thing I remember is being able to plant suggestions.

 

[Childs]

I must have missed them reading minds. Can you point out where that came from. The only thing I remember is being able to plant suggestions.

Jedi can sense feelings, and Vader read Luke's mind in Return of the Jedi to find out Leia was his sister. Jedi mind tricks don't work on everyone though, like Jabba and the Jewish alien in Phantom Menace.

 

[james1701]

Jedi can sense feelings, and Vader read Luke's mind in Return of the Jedi to find out Leia was his sister. Jedi mind tricks don't work on everyone though, like Jabba and the Jewish alien in Phantom Menace.

That's true, forgot about that scene.

 

[JTsyo]

Finn's backstory wasn't that clear. Either it was his first time in the field or he just had a mental break. Later he said he was a janitor on starkiller, so I don't know whats up. In any event he didn't seem like much of a fighter, and I would expect a guy who walks around with a light saber to make quick work of someone who doesn't.

Although there was that one trooper that for some reason had a melee weapon suited for dealing with light sabers. And Finn was loosing to that guy until Rey saved him.

What I figured was he was on the Starkiller as maintenance until he went on his first mission. He couldn't hack it and decided to run for it.

Was it Rey that saved him or Han/Chewie?

 

[TuSpockShakur]

Chewbacca had a "i'm gonna fuck this bitch" look on his face when he and Rey flew off in the Millennium Falcon to go find Luke.

 

[Childs]

What I figured was he was on the Starkiller as maintenance until he went on his first mission. He couldn't hack it and decided to run for it.

Was it Rey that saved him or Han/Chewie?

Yeah, I think you're right it might have been Han. If Fin wasn't such a "coward" I could have bought a guy raised since childhood to be a storm trooper to hold his own for a bit. A little more depth here and there, or remove a character or two and save them for the next film, and the movie would have been much better.

One last nitpick...Chewy should have killed Ren. His bow blaster thing had something like explosive rounds all throughout the movie, and he hits Ren with it once and all of a sudden its like a small caliber weapon. And Chewy only fired once. Chewy was an infamous badass. He should have went after Ren or died trying. His death oath to Han would have required it.

 

[monkey333]

Bleach, now reports say ALL the cast will return for ep 8. The more I think about it the more I actually start to hate this movie. It's a total rip off. Totally punked with Luke's appearance.

 

[Sonikku]

ALL the cast? Kinda seems like they might be missing one...

 

[TuSpockShakur]

They will be in it as a ghost like Obi-Wan was.

 

[Sable]

an enjoyable film.

but a scene for scene remake of new hope wasn't really what I wanted

B/B+

Do something new with the next two please.

 

[monkey333]

ALL the cast? Kinda seems like they might be missing one...

Concur, which is why it'll be more crap.

It explains why Harrison Ford was so big on this pic, he's been rooting for his death since jedi.

 

[Slew Foot]

The hall way in Rey's vision looks a lot like cloud city..

Some more stills from her vision

http://imgur.com/a/2JNFX

 

[JBT]

It seems like half you folks didn't see Ren get shot in the shoulder by a bow caster. They same thing that blows the shit out of walls etc. I wouldn't fight well either, and the same way Vader didn't kill Luke, Ren wasn't trying to kill Rey.

 

[Childs]

The hall way in Rey's vision looks a lot like cloud city..

Great, now in ep 8 they are going to remake Empire Strikes back.

It seems like half you folks didn't see Ren get shot in the shoulder by a bow caster. They same thing that blows the shit out of walls etc. I wouldn't fight well either, and the same way Vader didn't kill Luke, Ren wasn't trying to kill Rey.

We also saw him use his force powers to send Rey flying 20 feet and into a tree. :biggrin: Actually before that, he used his force powers to stop her dead in her tracks. Apparently it was just a flesh wound. lol

 

[Aikouka]

I really don't see what's 'bad' about that that you think it's 'worse'. So Han and Leia's son turned out to be a wimp. So what? Maybe it's the pressure being the offspring of one of the most powerful couple in the galaxy? (oh the drama ). You remember the scene of him praying on Vader's helmet remains? That is clearly a guy torn between good and evil, with a tendency towards good ('calling of the Light'), but for some reason wanting so damn much to be evil he had to take the drastic measure of killing his own father to get over the hump. The way I see it, there's a fascinating story behind what drove Ben this way that I'm really looking forward to. Having said that, now that he's completely into the Dark side, he should be a better bad guy the next time we see him.

Some of the stuff with Kylo Ren was just kind of ... weird. I was a bit thrown off during the scene when he was talking to Vader's ruined mask. Mostly because he referred to him as grandfather. It seemed like one of those things that you'd say to provide exposition to the audience ("I'm related to Vader!") rather than something you'd just say. However, we already knew who his parents were at the time as it was mentioned maybe 5-10 minutes earlier. Thinking about it now, I think I would've preferred to just have Ren reveal it in that somewhat subtle way. That way... he could've actually been Luke's child instead, which could've left us guessing. I would've rather had it come out when you saw Han go to confront him on the catwalk.

 

[Bitek]

What I figured was he was on the Starkiller as maintenance until he went on his first mission. He couldn't hack it and decided to run for it.

Was it Rey that saved him or Han/Chewie?

The Captain and General had a discussion after Finn escaped asking if he had previously been "reprogrammed" (answer was no according to database)

Given that this was the first thoughts, and they had procedures in place to deal with dropouts, suggests this was a fairly frequent occurrence but is usually caught.

Apparently morale isn't flying high at First Order corp.

Finn was just the first to get out before his head got scrambled.

 

[Andy86]

Ok I went to see Star Wars for the second time and picked up on quite a few things. Spoilers ahead.
First thing is rey Luke Skywalkers daughter?

There are many things in the movie that point to her being the son of the legendary Jedi.

#1 In the flashback scene when she touches the lightsaber for the first time, there are a few subtle hints. First the arm holding her back is the arm of the merchant she traded with. Second the ship that leaves her closely resembles the ship leia arrives on, when she comes to save Han and Fin. Third when you hear the young girl crying it's almost as if she's says "Father". Theory is that she was sent away to protect her from kylo ren.

#2 When Kylo Ren interrogates Rey after capturing her. He mentions a island and a ocean, as well as mentioned a father she never got to grow up with. These are things that were not shown in the flashback and were brought to light long before anyone knew the location of Luke. Maybe she had been to that island in the past?

#3 When Rey finally arrives at the resistance base for the first time it triggers a few events. First leia embraces Rey as though she knows her. Second R2D2 appears to come out of his hibernation upon her coming within his vicinity. Maybe he could since her presence? Third when she leaves it is as if her and leia had a long talk, and leia wishes her a farewell with the infamous line "May the force be with you". Which leaves to question of all people why send Rey to meet with Luke? Did leia tell Rey who her relation to Luke was?

#4 Arriving on the island. Just a couple things here. Firstly, when she meets Luke it does seem as though he is standing next to a grave, but who's grave? Everyone of importance died long ago, could it be his lost love slain in battle. It's all speculation, but leaves you to wonder. Secondly when they see each other the emotion they show almost signifies that they know each other and it's almost as if they have been reunited.

Most of this is speculation, but just little hints I noticed.

The second thing in speculation is, is supreme Lord snoke, Darth Plagueis? There are just a few things that point to this.

#1 Little history, Darth Plagueis was such a master of the force that he learned to manipulate the force to create life and to bring back the dead. This was told in the prequels by Palpatine aka Darth Sidious. So it is very likely that he could bring himself back to life or keep himself from dying. Even though Palaptine believe that he slayed his master.

#2 He closely resembles what Darth Plagueis would look like, including the scars to his face.

#3 We know he is a Powerful Sith Lord, because he wants to finish Kylo Ren's training of the dark side. If anything Yoda taught us there must be two sith "no more, no less", but that brings to question was Plagueis alive when Vader and Sidious were present in Star Wars?

If you read this, Thank You for taking the time and please reply.