Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

[RoosTah]

Just watched it, and yes it felt an awful lot like 'A New Hope'. Generally I enjoyed it, but at the same time I wasn't really blown away either. I'd give it a similar rating to Abrams Star Trek movie - good return to form for an old movie with plenty of homages, but lacked a compelling villain (seriously, was Kylo Ren designed to be whiny and similar to Anakin from the prequels?). I really didn't buy Snook either - he looked like Gollum.

 

[Last Week]

Just watched it. loved the non stop action from start to finish. The humour was done very well and had the whole cinema pissing themselves. I absolutely loved kylo ren, he is just a pure badass. He captivated me every scene he was in, but as has been said before, he went from being very powerful to getting owned by Rey, but you guys have pointed or a few reasons why that may be.

Kylo is a bit of a dark side newbie it seems, he is still struggling with being the bad guy. There was that scene where he was kneeling trying to fight the light side of the force. It's kind of strange seeing a bad guy trying not to be good as opposed to good guy trying not to be bad.

I think ren will be far, far more formidable in the next episode and will completely own everyone that faces him. By the next episode he would have completed his training as was indicated at the end of the movie.

We have also seen Rey find Luke, obviously Luke is going to train her. It will be interesting to see Luke's role in the resistance. Will he also be killed off in an obi wan moment?

If fin is force sensitive, will he be trained? How will his story unfold?

And for what it's worth i am going with Rey being a solo.

So many questions that I can't wait to have answered.

I agree with this so much. The constant action made this movie so much fun to watch. The humour I thought was a touch too much for me but I like darker stories for things like this. I laughed. The cinema laughed. I can't say it was bad because it was funny.

Kylo Ren is a great character. He's on a similar journey to Anakin, just reverse. Anakin was struggling to fight against the dark side, trying not to give in to the Sith. Kylo on the other hand is struggling not to give in to the light. He's resisting the good in him. He's a scared weak individual in this film. It's fantastic as his character has the most room for growth/change of any of them. For Rey and Fin, it's pretty easy to see how they will end up, but Kylo Ren is easily the most interesting character so far.

Personally, I hope Luke survives the entire series. He doesn't need to be the main hero, but he can take on that Obi Wan role without actually dying. Training more Jedi. Jedi to be stronger than him who can fight the main battles.

My biggest question is, who are the resistance and what are they resisting? The Rebels won. The Republic was restored to power when Sideous was killed (he no longer had control of anyone with political power). So what is it that the resistance is resisting? The First Order? The order seem like rebels now. They don't hold any position of authority.

 

[Aragorn]

My biggest question is, who are the resistance and what are they resisting? The Rebels won. The Republic was restored to power when Sideous was killed (he no longer had control of anyone with political power). So what is it that the resistance is resisting? The First Order? The order seem like rebels now. They don't hold any position of authority.

I always thought the resistance was in reference to resisting the dark side. And The First Order to me was like any other political party except they had a Death Star / planet wiping out all other parties, and becoming the only power of authority left - except for the rebel alliance

 

[Aragorn]

In the next episode I really hope Rey is not related to Solo, and I really hope her hand isn't cut off by Ren or Luke dies a death similar to Obi Wan. As some of you pointed out, there was a lot of back referencing to the new hope, from the Death Star to hans death with Rey watching in the background.

I'd like to see more originality in the next one and less cliches now that the nostalgia of rekindling Star Wars has been achieved. If they use the same old formulae from past episodes I think there will be back lash. Some sort of an original twist but I reckon Ren kills Luke which sets up a grand finale for episode 9

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

Hokey, but at least it wasn't nauseatingly hokey.

A bit of fun, but like the rest it certainly isn't the best movie ever.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

I went and re-watched the original trilogy before heading into this, honestly without nostalgia glasses on, I don't know how anyone could argue that the originals were much better, if at all. The acting was downright atrocious and the pacing was way off in all of them except for ESB.

I've seen complaints that it is basically a remake of a new hope, which I guess has some basis, but it was still an enjoyable movie. The acting in this is much better than any other in the series, the characters seemed to be much better in terms of being shades of grey instead of just good or bad.

It has plenty of flaws, like every other star wars movie, but it was a damn enjoyable movie, it had a good balance of action and comedy and the pacing was pretty spot on save for the ending. Any kids just starting to watch it will maintain the same level of wonder that the older generations of fans had IMO.

It would have been better had Leia and Luke never been in it though.

 

[RoosTah]

I went and re-watched the original trilogy before heading into this, honestly without nostalgia glasses on, I don't know how anyone could argue that the originals were much better, if at all. The acting was downright atrocious and the pacing was way off in all of them except for ESB.

I've seen complaints that it is basically a remake of a new hope, which I guess has some basis, but it was still an enjoyable movie. The acting in this is much better than any other in the series, the characters seemed to be much better in terms of being shades of grey instead of just good or bad.

It has plenty of flaws, like every other star wars movie, but it was a damn enjoyable movie, it had a good balance of action and comedy and the pacing was pretty spot on save for the ending. Any kids just starting to watch it will maintain the same level of wonder that the older generations of fans had IMO.

It would have been better had Leia and Luke never been in it though.

I agree with your point that in its execution it's a better film than say A New Hope was and had better acting and dialogue (which is a massive departure from the prequels).

But the weird decision to make Snoke a CG creature that looked kinda like Gollum and the fact that the film really did more feel like a homage to the original will necessarily knock it down a few pegs in many people's eyes. To be frank, a homage is fine and all but when I saw the new weaponised planet I kinda thought "really? Another Death Star?"

Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I agree its very well executed, but that decision, the CG Snoke and a Kylo Ren character that seemed kinda like another bratty Anakin made it a little less compelling.

Also, and I know that Star Wars is fantasy and not sci-fi, but did anyone else find it weird that a relatively small planet could absorb the mass of an entire star?

 

[adamkungl]

Kinda looks like Gollum

Is played by the same actor as Gollum

 

[RoosTah]

Kinda looks like Gollum

Is played by the same actor as Gollum

Yeah, I know it's Andy Serkis, but the designers surely didn't need to go down that path with the design. In fact I really question the need to cast Snoke as a CG villain to begin with.

 

[Generalzod]

She got to know the ways of the force faster than Luke did. It took him 2 movies

 

[Firey_Dragon]

I agree with your point that in its execution it's a better film than say A New Hope was and had better acting and dialogue (which is a massive departure from the prequels).

But the weird decision to make Snoke a CG creature that looked kinda like Gollum and the fact that the film really did more feel like a homage to the original will necessarily knock it down a few pegs in many people's eyes. To be frank, a homage is fine and all but when I saw the new weaponised planet I kinda thought "really? Another Death Star?"

Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I agree its very well executed, but that decision, the CG Snoke and a Kylo Ren character that seemed kinda like another bratty Anakin made it a little less compelling.

Also, and I know that Star Wars is fantasy and not sci-fi, but did anyone else find it weird that a relatively small planet could absorb the mass of an entire star?

I don't disagree with anything you said, snoke was nowhere near as compelling as the emperor... I however actually didn't mind Kylo Ren even if he was predictable.

All the movies follow the same formula and are incredibly shallow in terms of plot and character development, if you actually want to analyse the movies, much to the disgust of the fanatics out there.

Personally, I enjoy star wars, but I'm not a fanatic, and as a stand alone movie, I think this was better than any of the others. Sure it lifted plot points and ideas from the other movies, but if it didn't, the wrath of the fanbase would have been out in full force. Unfortunately it is an unwinnable situation, you're going to piss people off either way. Star wars has always been a kids movie, or a movie that can bring out ones inner child, in that regard I think it was a huge success on its own.

I'm of the opinion that you really can't analyse these movies, or they all get torn to shreds. They are shallow, always have been, always will be. But they are a visual spectacle and let your imagination run a little wild.

My wife walked out of it saying she loved it and she hates star wars with a passion. So that probably says something about it as a stand-alone movie.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

She got to know the ways of the force faster than Luke did. It took him 2 movies

She didn't carry on like a whiny pre-teen like Luke did, might have had something to do with it :lol:

 

[DiegoNT]

She got to know the ways of the force faster than Luke did. It took him 2 movies

Think back to the start of Empire, Lukes hanging upside down in a wampa cave using the force to get his light sabre back. He was able to do this after only spending a few days with obi-wan (and in the original movie moving things with the force wasn't shown). There's also Luke guiding the blast down the death star by using the force despite only finding out about the force a few days earlier. A lot of the problems people are having with this movie are extreme nit picking, the same kind of nit picking can be done with the original trilogy.

Star wars was never about the acting or even the plot, it was always about the adventure that appealed to the child in us. I loved the original trilogy as a kid so when the prequel trilogy came out I took my younger cousins (under 10) to it so they could experience what i experienced with the OT. Unfortunately they were completely bored with it, and prefered to play around in the cinema cause they were so bored. I took my niece and nephew( 8 and 4) to the midnight screening and their eyes never left the screen, they laughed gasped and cried all the way through it and are still talking about it days later.

 

[RoosTah]

I'm of the opinion that you really can't analyse these movies, or they all get torn to shreds. They are shallow, always have been, always will be. But they are a visual spectacle and let your imagination run a little wild.

My wife walked out of it saying she loved it and she hates star wars with a passion. So that probably says something about it as a stand-alone movie.

Yeah, I watched it with my girlfriend and she was the same, and again, I also thoroughly enjoyed it too, but I'm still always going to analyse the movie simply because I'm a Star Wars fan.

Also, whilst I thought the new Death Star thing was cool, my old astro-physics classes did come back to me posing nagging questions like how the heck does a tiny planet suck up a much more massive star in less time than it would take a black hole. I'm definitely being a little pedantic here given its a popcorn movie, but it kinda bugged me a little.

 

[Generalzod]

I'm amazed that the film didn't start with the usual Disney fanfare it went straight to lucasfilm, in saying that geez it was kinda unusual not seeing the 20th century fox logo.

 

[strong_latte]

Haven't seen it yet, but I've read through the spoilers (don't care if I know the plot before watching a movie personally) and I've got to say I'm a little disappointed to hear they didn't go down the path of having Luke become the master Sith Lord like they did in some of the novels. To me that would have been a much more interesting idea to explore both visually and thematically than another Andy Serkis CG creature.

Still, I'll probably see it some time this week all the same and I'm hoping it's a good experience anyway.

 

[saint.nick]

If you have a problem with a small planet sapping the energy of a massive star, then surely you'd also have a problem with some omnipresent fantasy energy dimension called The Force? Or even how there seems to be no existence of gravitational or speed time dilation?

To a person is not a big star wars fan, I think this film is arguably equally good as V or IV. That's the angle film critics have taken on this, that's why you're seeing such stellar reviews from critics, and such often trivial nitpicking from star wars fanatics.

 

[Last Week]

Haven't seen it yet, but I've read through the spoilers (don't care if I know the plot before watching a movie personally) and I've got to say I'm a little disappointed to hear they didn't go down the path of having Luke become the master Sith Lord like they did in some of the novels. To me that would have been a much more interesting idea to explore both visually and thematically than another Andy Serkis CG creature.

Still, I'll probably see it some time this week all the same and I'm hoping it's a good experience anyway.

If you did that, make Luke evil, you would destroy the original trilogy. The originals were about Luke growing and becoming a Jedi. The rise if good. Now all of a sudden he's like "f**k everything I've learnt and worked for, I'm going dark". No, terrible idea.

 

[DiegoNT]

I think luke being evil is a terrible evil. People who have read the expanded universe might like it, but those of us who are fans of the films only, and people who only have a passing interests in star wars would absolutely hate the idea

 

[adamkungl]

Haven't seen it yet, but I've read through the spoilers (don't care if I know the plot before watching a movie personally) and I've got to say I'm a little disappointed to hear they didn't go down the path of having Luke become the master Sith Lord like they did in some of the novels. To me that would have been a much more interesting idea to explore both visually and thematically than another Andy Serkis CG creature.

Still, I'll probably see it some time this week all the same and I'm hoping it's a good experience anyway.

There's a reason most of the novels are considered trash and the entire EU was discarded