Star Wars: The Force Awakens reviews *SPOILERS*

[zinfamous]

Worst star wars move ... ever.

Nice try, George Lucas.

well, he has a point if he makes this statement under the very acceptable notion that this is only the 4th Star Wars movie.

So, I'd agree with that.

 

[zinfamous]

Just put it together, it's not some huge leap in logic though. Vader's two kids have the force, Leia's kid has the force. If Rey is Luke's kid (speculation) it follows suit. So the dominate gene aspect holds true.

Other people who's parents aren't force users can "gain" the force, Anakin did. In the prequels they discover people all the time and put them through training at the academy. This is like a recessive gene showing it's colors.

technically, Anaking didn't "gain" the force. He was created by a ball of force energy that had sex with his mom....so he's basically Jesus made of some pillar of pure force or some bullshit.

Of course, that was the dumbest thing ever.

 

[zinfamous]

And people claimed selling to Disney was the best star wars news in years. Disney has the business side of this thing down to a T. It's the quality that is highly suspect. If you ask me, 4 billion was practically giving it away. It will make that back off tickets and bluray and merchandising sales from the first movie alone. Everything else is just gravy.

They are already north of 1billion on total worldwide ticket sales, and I think Merch is hitting 2 billion at this point--likely well beyond that?

They will have doubled this purchase long before DVDs hit.

George totally got robbed, but I think the important thing to note is that it would have probably been rather difficult for him to make the next movies, and so quickly, though maybe I'm underestimating his ability to get people to back him after his last attempts.

 

[Phoenix86]

technically, Anaking didn't "gain" the force. He was created by a ball of force energy that had sex with his mom....so he's basically Jesus made of some pillar of pure force or some bullshit.

Of course, that was the dumbest thing ever.

I'm going to pretend I didn't read that, just like I try to forget about most of that movie.

All I remember is them finding some kid with force abilities, it's all a blur really. :sneaky:

 

[zinfamous]

I'm going to pretend I didn't read that, just like I try to forget about most of that movie.

All I remember is them finding some kid with force abilities, it's all a blur really. :sneaky:

sounds fair.

 

[paperfist]

According to the original trilogy, yes--this after Vader murdered them all over a decade or two.

Now in all the novels and comics and cartoons and what made between those movies and now, Luke had started academies that featured not only his and han and lei's kids, but others, so there must be some others that managed to survive; just never trained until Luke arrived.

But like Soviet Russia, all of that material has been officially declared "forbidden!" because Disney says so....so who knows right now. Basically means that you can only base suppositions off of the OT.

Vader did that? You mean Anakin?

That's why i am a little confused. All the books, cartoons, etc there seems to have been other Jedi's.

 

[umbrella39]

You posted this in your other post with " :| " only to cut/paste this part out and repost it? Didn't get enough attention the first time, or what?

Attenion whores gonna attention... Rinse, wash, repeat.

 

[Skel]

Just saying it's a good way to relate to it, not that it's an actual dominate/recessive gene.

There's no inbreeding in SW, what are you going on about?

Inbreeding in regards to everyone being related or connected to the Skywalkers. Even C3P0 turned out 'related' to Luke as they had the same 'father'. I hate everything in a massive universe being so connected together. The universe is normally way more chaotic than that.

 

[Phoenix86]

Inbreeding in regards to everyone being related or connected to the Skywalkers. Even C3P0 turned out 'related' to Luke as they had the same 'father'. I hate everything in a massive universe being so connected together. The universe is normally way more chaotic than that.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[Sephire]

Disney got a "bargain" price :thumbsup:

 

[Sonikku]

They are already north of 1billion on total worldwide ticket sales, and I think Merch is hitting 2 billion at this point--likely well beyond that?

They will have doubled this purchase long before DVDs hit.

George totally got robbed, but I think the important thing to note is that it would have probably been rather difficult for him to make the next movies, and so quickly, though maybe I'm underestimating his ability to get people to back him after his last attempts.

All he had to do was craft the story arc. Then he could have handed it off to another director of his choice (Steven Spielberg? That directors guild still have the clout to cock block such an arrangement in this day and age?) who could get writers for the dialogue and worked out the details of George's story as he saw fit. It would have been better than redoing the plot of 4 all over again. And he'd still have his "kids" and probably make even more money compared to selling to Disney.

 

[blankslate]

They are already north of 1billion on total worldwide ticket sales, and I think Merch is hitting 2 billion at this point--likely well beyond that?

They will have doubled this purchase long before DVDs hit.

George totally got robbed, but I think the important thing to note is that it would have probably been rather difficult for him to make the next movies, and so quickly, though maybe I'm underestimating his ability to get people to back him after his last attempts.

I'm surprised he didn't also have a backend clause for about 0.50 to 1% of the gross (or perhaps profits) after Disney gets back 10 billion or so on grosses related to anything Star Wars going forward... like movies, tv, theme park, attractions, merchandise etc. etc.



________________

 

[zinfamous]

Vader did that? You mean Anakin?

That's why i am a little confused. All the books, cartoons, etc there seems to have been other Jedi's.

Vader murdered all the Jedis in the universe. Some Anakin kid in some spinoff series murdered a bunch of children.

Is that what is confusing you?

but yeah--don't pay attention to all the books and cartoons. They are officially trashed with the Disney purchase--when it comes to Original Trilogy story and after. So we're left with what we know Vader did, leading into Episode IV.

As described by Obi-Wan: yes, Vader murdered all of the Jedis.

 

[zinfamous]

Inbreeding in regards to everyone being related or connected to the Skywalkers. Even C3P0 turned out 'related' to Luke as they had the same 'father'. I hate everything in a massive universe being so connected together. The universe is normally way more chaotic than that.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

to be fair, "inbreeding" is used rather loosely in general. Have you ever heard of "Academic inbreeding?"--essentially hiring your grad students or post docs to faculty positions (within the same institution. Generally a bad policy, and the University of Chicago is notorious for this). Same with med school and residency, which is more rare, I guess.

In some cases, the interconnectedness makes sense:

It isn't unusual, really, that R2 happens to find Luke and Obi Wan on the same planet, that his sister, Leia, is involved and somehow inadvertently started this interconnectedness. These were the 2 most important children in the universe and their "Secret guardians" were very carefully chosen. Of course Ben Kenobi is exactly where Luke is--he is there for a reason. Of course Leia is in the position she is in--she was handed off to a powerful, influential family (which, in retrospect, is kinda stupid considering that Palpatine and Vader were initially very familiar with the Organas, no?)

It makes sense that Leia would send R2 to Kenobi, knowing that her father trusted him, and everything falls into place.

....the C3PO from Anakin to Leia thing....yeah, that is rather retarded. No one ever seemed to care about C3PO or ever really need him. Frankly, he seemed to just piss off everyone. I'm surprised he survived so long.

 

[zinfamous]

All he had to do was craft the story arc. Then he could have handed it off to another director of his choice (Steven Spielberg? That directors guild still have the clout to cock block such an arrangement in this day and age?) who could get writers for the dialogue and worked out the details of George's story as he saw fit. It would have been better than redoing the plot of 4 all over again. And he'd still have his "kids" and probably make even more money compared to selling to Disney.

I think Georgie was well past that--His ego had grown to such monumental proportions that I don't think he would have ever allowed others to take control like that. Not after the prequels.

He's still full-on Apple in his mind: "They aren't awful/broken-You just don't get them/hold them in your hand properly!"

So, I'm not sure a decently competent director would have allowed him the control that he wanted, and still take on the job. Let alone a studio giving such control. But well, that's a pipe dream. The reality is that any final turd with Star Wars on the label would have printed money, so Fox would likely never back away from that.

This is how Michael Bay still has a job.

 

[Ichinisan]

https://45.media.tumblr.com/07a0d9e054af41eb731c6e3c6d366505/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o1_540.gif
https://49.media.tumblr.com/52db8f9fa8d6ed22ef602fcb880ff477/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o4_540.gif
https://45.media.tumblr.com/306d2fbb994f43e0646c17c8929854a7/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o5_540.gif
https://49.media.tumblr.com/313bb085c2e7548610e48f58f2b7f744/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o9_r1_540.gif
https://49.media.tumblr.com/e5bebce34893cdf345671c87ecfde2b8/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o2_540.gif

https://45.media.tumblr.com/8efef1c603593414c21386083bb11e3e/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o7_540.gif
https://49.media.tumblr.com/cf20f116ec38d5fc326d0dbdb6f7d4c3/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o6_540.gif
https://45.media.tumblr.com/2afee84f67669ce1c09b01231cc5c579/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o3_540.gif
https://45.media.tumblr.com/9f23a11f73f7d02f817ce979c913b5b9/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o10_540.gif
https://45.media.tumblr.com/66213a17c1edaa4c47169c07e10b05dc/tumblr_o08eg10oGL1qaboh9o8_540.gif

https://49.media.tumblr.com/7022188c9e74becf6e60ba1ad8f323b5/tumblr_o08pbnI5Uv1v15gbgo1_540.gif

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...j6ww5yUc0/s719-Ic42/Rey%2520in%2520Falcon.gif

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAAACNU/Ey7YC84MqHw/s540-Ic42/Rey%25201.gif
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...KM/Jix6pWQx7xg/s720-Ic42/Saber%2520Battle.gif

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAACN0/6U-K219FGes/s721-Ic42/Finn%25201.gif
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAACOE/fuRiT2clbik/s540-Ic42/Finn%25202.gif
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAACN8/Xg5fKzUycLA/s721-Ic42/Finn%25203.gif

Why are you spamming this crap? WHY?

 

[Phoenix86]

to be fair, "inbreeding" is used rather loosely in general. Have you ever heard of "Academic inbreeding?"

Yes, but when used in terms of family and actual breeding, it has a specific meaning which doesn't really apply here at all.

 

[TheSlamma]

I love that after all the trials Luke went through in 4-6, he just gives up and bails after 1 student goes bad. Luke would have gone after Snoke and saved his Nephew just like he did with his father.

Disney has made it clear SW will just be popcorn movies from here out. This movie was as fun to watch as it was poorly written, which hey what else would we expect from Disney? it is what it is. Because of that people shouldn't think about it very hard, this movie had all the cliche's from hilarious coincidences, to convenient timings, I could swear I heard the Benny Hill theme playing when those monster tentacle creatures got lose on that ship too.

 

[Kaido]

I love that after all the trials Luke went through in 4-6, he just gives up and bails after 1 student goes bad. Luke would have gone after Snoke and saved his Nephew just like he did with his father.

Disney has made it clear SW will just be popcorn movies from here out. This movie was as fun to watch as it was poorly written, which hey what else would we expect from Disney? it is what it is. Because of that people shouldn't think about it very hard, this movie had all the cliche's from hilarious coincidences, to convenient timings, I could swear I heard the Benny Hill theme playing when those monster tentacle creatures got lose on that ship too.

Yeah, I'm hoping there is a more powerful story behind all of this & they just haven't had time to develop it, but I feel like they did a poor job turning Darth Emo into a bad guy & a terrible job making Phasma scary, and Darth Snooki looks like Gollum, which wasn't really scary at all. Like I said in my previous post, Kylo should have off his mom first (on accident, trying to kill his dad) & then beheaded his dad to seal his chosen path on the dark side. But that would not be very kid-friendly at all. Which bugs me because the originals weren't really kid-friendly...Luke got his hand lopped off...it's really for teenagers & up, or older kids who can handle that kind of stuff. But alas, the siren call of merchandising is what keeps the doors open I guess.

LOL @ the Benny Hill theme, that was kind of a random part considering there weren't really any other weird monsters to deal with. Didn't quite fit...

 

[zinfamous]

LOL @ the Benny Hill theme, that was kind of a random part considering there weren't really any other weird monsters to deal with. Didn't quite fit...

Well, Finn did have to share some filthy water with an unusually large buttface creature.

 

[paperfist]

Vader murdered all the Jedis in the universe. Some Anakin kid in some spinoff series murdered a bunch of children.

Is that what is confusing you?

but yeah--don't pay attention to all the books and cartoons. They are officially trashed with the Disney purchase--when it comes to Original Trilogy story and after. So we're left with what we know Vader did, leading into Episode IV.

As described by Obi-Wan: yes, Vader murdered all of the Jedis.

No. I guess I don't remember Vader doing that.

What was/is confusing to me is that the Skywalkers are the only Jedi in the galaxy. I didn't know ALL of that was rendered null and void after the Disney purchase.

 

[Phoenix86]

No. I guess I don't remember Vader doing that.

What was/is confusing to me is that the Skywalkers are the only Jedi in the galaxy. I didn't know ALL of that was rendered null and void after the Disney purchase.

Extended Universe is out, the movies and The Clone Wars CGI cartoon is in. Apparently there's one new book that's in, I think that's the only print material considered canon.

 

[paperfist]

I love that after all the trials Luke went through in 4-6, he just gives up and bails after 1 student goes bad. Luke would have gone after Snoke and saved his Nephew just like he did with his father.

Disney has made it clear SW will just be popcorn movies from here out. This movie was as fun to watch as it was poorly written, which hey what else would we expect from Disney? it is what it is. Because of that people shouldn't think about it very hard, this movie had all the cliche's from hilarious coincidences, to convenient timings, I could swear I heard the Benny Hill theme playing when those monster tentacle creatures got lose on that ship too.

That's a good observation. Though through Rey's flash back of the Knights of Ren murdered a lot of Jedi. Luke probably needed to clear his mind a bit.

I assume that the Knights of Ren had more sensitives amongst them other then Kylo.

 

[HendrixFan]

I've seen it four times now and repeated viewing do improve the movie. I still place it as the 4th or 5th best of the 7 star wars movies at this time.

The first half of the movie is nearly perfect to me. Yes, there is some fan pandering going on, but it works. It doesn't feel forced. After Rey is captured the movie really starts to sputter and limps to the end. Repeated viewings have been needed to connect some of the rushed ending but it doesn't fully fix things.

I felt Kylo Ren was inconsistent as the bad guy. After the first viewing, the whole Emo Kylo Ren did hurt the intimidating factor that the antagonist in a movie like this should have. I saw a JJ Abrams quote afterwards explaining that they wanted depth and growth in their villian so it was intentional. It hurt the movie though. He started out in control of the force and was a driving force in showing how intimidating and powerful the New Order was. You felt the bad guys had a chance (yes, I'm aware in Star Wars the good guys will win).

Ren stopped a sniper blast midair, and held it during the entire intro scene. By the end he struggled against a stormtrooper wielding a lightsaber. I understand that he is conflicted but to make him ineffective in a fight after the intro scene didn't make sense. After 10 viewings it won't make sense. If we assume Rey has been trained by Luke but has forgotten her training, her growth with the force isn't too unbelievable, but she landed too many blows on Ren. I mean that both in the academic how-much-better-should-she-be-at-a-lightsaber-staff-familiarity-included sense, but also in the how many times can she land a blow and not chop off a body part sense. She cut him to pieces without cutting him to pieces. C'mon. Just have her win the fight by only having the final blow across his chest and face be the one that lands.

The entire starkiller sidestory was weak. I get that they needed some sort of climactic battle but don't make a bigger better deathstar that is too easy to bring down. A ground crew of 4 people and 8 x wings was enough for the win. After the additional viewings that did not become any less ridiculous. If you only need a small side battle while the personal fight between Rey and Ren is on, make it a smaller base. Or have it be the starkiller base but don't have it be destroyed, just disabled or crippled. The whole thing was just a distraction from finding Luke, and didn't advance the story in any meaningful way. If it was to be a grand battle for the fate of the galaxy then bring in a real large Resistance response and have the focus be the personal battle between Rey and Ren.

It may sound pedantic but those two things makes the last half of the movie disappointing to watch. I time my bathroom break for the final act, contrast that with 5, 6, 3 or 2 where I don't leave during the final act.

Unlike many on the interwebs, I don't think the prequels were awful. Of all of George Lucas' faults, the thing that brings his movies together is other people. His wife was brought in to edit 4 and saved it. Someone else was in charge of directing and editing 5 and 6. The behind the scenes material for the prequels shows Lucas' heavy handed direction in the editing room. The Phantom Edit and other fan edits show some really good potential in the films. They still aren't perfect, but the difference in a few chopped scenes or even dialogue really changes the tone and pacing in profound ways.

Lucas does excel at grand story telling, he has a feel for "epic". His basic story is the foundation for others to build great things. In 4, 1, 2 and 3 he did have too much free reign. By 3 he had taken input and help from others to mostly fix the flaws of the prior work. JJ Abrams really didn't bring the epic sense to this newest movie. I'm hoping the next guy really improves things.

At the end of the day, we have a new star wars movie. We are likely to see another one each year. There will be some really great ones and some crappy ones along the way. But being able to live in that universe and experience some of the high points will make it all worth it.

 

[HendrixFan]

I'm surprised he didn't also have a backend clause for about 0.50 to 1% of the gross (or perhaps profits) after Disney gets back 10 billion or so on grosses related to anything Star Wars going forward... like movies, tv, theme park, attractions, merchandise etc. etc.



________________

I'm sure he could have negotiated something like that, but he did donate most of the $4B to charity. I don't think he was too interested in the financial windfall from selling the franchise.