The Force Awakens (Contains open spoilers!)

[Trident_H]

I think I see your point. The point of the Stormtropper costumes in the first trilogy was to dehumanize the enemy, so that the violence was sanitized and it felt more like the rebels were just putting automatons out of commission. With Finn, the director pulled the helmet off the Stormtroopers and humanized them, but the movie still wants to treat them as the mere cannon fodder they were before.

Yeah. I’m overthinking things again. I mean I went to watch an escape fiction show. And then I complain that it’s acting like it’s fiction.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I think I am going to leave the thread. I am a star wars fan and absolutely LOVED the movie and the more I read people picking it apart and just being plain old curmugeony about it, the less I enjoy it. So I think I will stick with the feeling the movie left me with BEFORE the hypercritical nerd wars began…

Even though I have been know to partake in a nerd war or two…

BTW for all the Fans out there my wife has a Catholic Star Wars themed shirt for sale. The link is on my sig… It is a good idea!

Just sayin…

 

[Rhubarb]

Loved the movie. Loved, loved, loved it. It was by no means perfect but the sheer number of things they did right was so refreshing after the utter failure of the prequels.

Kylo Ren was fantastic. The acting was superb, the character had depth and layers that delighted to no end.

I was worried about the old cast being old. But they played it very well. The moments between Han and Leia were fantastic. I loved that Chewie had stuff to do. And they didn’t ruin Luke by cramming him in to do ridiculous action garbage.

The visuals were awe inspiring. The little details really made it - practical effects, location sets, and movement was all great.

The new characters were all great. Poe, Finn and Rey were all people we could care about and we’re played in moving, real ways. I also love that Rey is not a damsel in distress. I love that she turned out to be the hero. I loved that she wasn’t used for cheap sex appeal.

Lightsabers weren’t overused. Kylo used his only when angry or out of control. It was a symbol of his inner anger and hate. The climactic fight scene was fabulous too. The effects were brilliant and the choreography was real and visceral, not overly planned and over the top. The saber duel returned to being an externalization of a character conflict, rather than a dumb gratuitous action cliche.

The story focused on the characters and their relationships and emotions with a star warsy backdrop. The battle station mission was secondary and a frame for the character drama.

Han’a death was brilliant. His death trying to win back his son was infinity more heroic than some dumb action movie cliche. I am positive he knew the danger he was in, but risked it for his boy. I teared up when he touched Kylo’s face.

However…

The CGI octopus monsters and the glasses lady alien were distracting as they were clearly CGI in a movie full of puppets.

How she got Luke’s saber was glossed over and that felt unsatisfying.

The politics involved was confusing. The Republic is the resistance? That took me out of the action to think about.

Not enough Poe Dameron. I liked him and he just got to deal with the backdrop fighter battle rather than play a deeper part.

The map reveal with R2 was a little Deus Ex Machina-y.

Captain Phasma was underutilized I think. And I felt like (from what little I saw of her) she would likely choose to be blasted rather than lower the shield.

It was weird that the base aucked up the sun to shoot. It shot before and there was still a sun. Also it was weird that the planets being blown up could be seen on a planet systems away.

Gosh, I could go on and on. I’ll call it here. TL;DR: Force Awakened wasn’t perfect but it redeemed the franchise after the prequels and special edition

 

[Pons]

What a letdown. The villains were contrived, uninspired and unconvincing.

And it managed to make the original trilogy a waste of time because Luke is a failure. Why even watch them again at this point?

Anathema.

 

[didymus]

That was my other real disappointment. I don’t mind that the superweapon exists. The Empire’s obsession with them is a very common plot device of the EU/Legends novels too. I wish the superweapon could have been dealt with in one of the following movies. It’s just so massive and so rediculously destructive. It has to destroy a system in order to destroy another system. I can’t believe it was dispatched so easily.

Speaking of EU…Given Rey’s natural gift with technology I wonder if Kylo has, or had, a knack for understanding animals…

from Slate:

**Starkiller Base: The Contractor Memos

** **To: **Ralph Xizor, Xizor Construction Systems
From: Colonel Humpty Hux, First Order
23 Vaderuary IY48

Mr. Xizor,

      Congratulations! Your proposal to construct Starkiller Base for the  First Order has been selected from a group of very competitive bids. The  committee and Supreme Leader were pleased with your assurances of  cost-consciousness, as well as your clever maximization of closet space  within the living quarters.

One thing I noticed, though – while your designs fulfill our request  for a superweapon capable of destroying multiple planets within a single  system, your schematics include an easily-accessible, centralized  reactor core. As you’ll recall, that particular design flaw has been a  real Achilles’ heel for previous superweapons, and we’d hate to see a *third *Imperial  base destroyed thanks to a lucky shot from some resistance pilot. I’m  sure you understand how embarrassing that would be! So I’d ask that you  submit new designs that eliminate this feature.

Thank you, additionally, for the shipment of Gamorreans that arrived  just prior to the selection. Spit-roasted, they were much appreciated by  everyone on the committee, though of course that did not affect our  contractor decision in any way.

All best, hail Supreme Leader,

Colonel Hux

There are several follow-up exchanges.

I have a confession, I’ve only seen the first movie but I’, thinking I should catch up with the world. So should I go 1-7 or 4,5,6,1,2,3,7

 

[turtle18]

I still think Captain Phasma is a double agent.

I believe Finn is force sensitive. After the invasion on Jakuu, Kylo Ren senses something in him but ignores it.

I agree the music was bad and not up to Star Wars standards.

Otherwise, I cannot wait to see it again!

 

[Gordon_Sims]

The politics involved was confusing. The Republic is the resistance? That took me out of the action to think about.

The politics are explained on the website. I agree that you shouldn’t have to look things up on a website to understand a movie, but it’s spelled out there. The Republic was formed after the Empire was destroyed. The First Order coalesced in the Outer Rim (I think) and was composed of former Empire folks. They gained power and concessions ala pre-WWII Germany, then started taking over. The Resistance formed to counter the First Order with the Republic backing them “in secret” although it was really an open secret. They should have been able to work that brief explanation into the movie at some point.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

I have a confession, I’ve only seen the first movie but I’, thinking I should catch up with the world. So should I go 1-7 or 4,5,6,1,2,3,7

4, 5, 6, 7. There’s no need for 1-3. There’s never any need for 1-3.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Finn bugs me though. I mean he suddenly gets this conscience. Suddenly he’s a person. Not just a rank and file anymore.

That’s why I think the force was involved somehow. He’s clearly not like the other Stormtroopers and he snaps out of his Stormtrooper-dom and into normal consciousness in that instant when the guy touches his face. I could be wrong, but he seems entirely unlike every other Stormtrooper. Phasma mentions his reconditioning so I’m assuming there’s some form of brainwashing at play. Whatever was in him that made him a good Stormtrooper, though, seems to have been turned off like a switch. Hopefully there will be some sort of explanation in VIII.

 

[Brendan]

That’s why I think the force was involved somehow. He’s clearly not like the other Stormtroopers and he snaps out of his Stormtrooper-dom and into normal consciousness in that instant when the guy touches his face. I could be wrong, but he seems entirely unlike every other Stormtrooper. Phasma mentions his reconditioning so I’m assuming there’s some form of brainwashing at play. Whatever was in him that made him a good Stormtrooper, though, seems to have been turned off like a switch. Hopefully there will be some sort of explanation in VIII.

He had mentioned that it was his first combat mission. Prior to that, he worked in sanitation.

If his conditioning had left him with a conscience, one that would object to killing prisoners, it might not have shown up while he was busy operating trash compactors.

 

[Potter]

JJ Abrams did a much better sequel to Star Wars than he did a reboot for Star Trek.

 

[MrZoom]

FYI for you collectors - if you have a Disney Movie Rewards account and a Fandango account, and you link them, you can get an (almost) free Force Awakens poster (small s&h charge). I ordered mine last night.

N.B. it’s not the official theater lobby poster, but it still looks cool, or at least it did in thumbnail. It’s really more of a stylized art print.

 

[Trident_H]

That’s why I think the force was involved somehow. He’s clearly not like the other Stormtroopers and he snaps out of his Stormtrooper-dom and into normal consciousness in that instant when the guy touches his face. I could be wrong, but he seems entirely unlike every other Stormtrooper. Phasma mentions his reconditioning so I’m assuming there’s some form of brainwashing at play. Whatever was in him that made him a good Stormtrooper, though, seems to have been turned off like a switch. Hopefully there will be some sort of explanation in VIII.

Yeah. I got that part about him waking up. I just didn’t understand why he woke up only in one direction. Like why he didn’t care about his comrades. But I guess maybe he only cares about civilians. Or something.

 

[Rhubarb]

Yeah. I got that part about him waking up. I just didn’t understand why he woke up only in one direction. Like why he didn’t care about his comrades. But I guess maybe he only cares about civilians. Or something.

As they said - he was sanitation. And it was his first combat mission.

 

[Trident_H]

As they said - he was sanitation. And it was his first combat mission.

Maybe. But the guy was with the troops in training at least since he was a kid. So that’s a lot of shared history to forget in a sudden moment of doubt.

But then like I’ve said. It’s just a show. I forgive him. He can shoot as many of his former teammates as he wants. And still be a good guy. No big deal.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

One thing I’m not doing is taking any criticism or analysis too seriously. I have friends who are going to analyze and criticize it to death. If I did that I wouldn’t enjoy it, or the Marvel movies, etc. nearly as much as I do. They’re big spectacles carrying on storylines I loved as a kid. As long as they’re not horrible (like the prequels), I’m happy.

 

[DlandFan06]

Kylo Ren sounds like a fast food drive-thru speaker box. Lol.

I thought that the fight between Kylo Ren and Rey wasn’t a fair fight since Ren was wounded.

 

[Joe_5859]

Late to the party, but, hey, it’s still in theaters. I actually got to see this one in the theaters just before Christmas.

I liked it a lot. I thought the movie was very similar to the first one. Here’s the desert planet where the hero(ine) with no parents begins. Here’s the giant thing that blows up planets. Here’s the bad guy in a black helmet. Here’s the cute robot entrusted with the secret document. Here’s Han Solo in trouble with some guys. Here’s the cantina with weird aliens. Here’s the rebel base launching a mission to defeat the giant thing that blows up planets.

But that’s okay, I still enjoyed it and look forward to where things will go.

I agree with others that there wasn’t really any memorable new music for me. But I do think that could change upon subsequent viewings. When walked out of the first Lord of the Rings for the first time, I thought about how the music was pretty forgettable. But after seeing it many more times, I realized how wrong I was. Sometimes, good music takes a few listens to sink in.

I knew that Ren was going to kill Han the moment it was revealed that Han was his father. It just fits. It’s part of the journey to the dark side. If he didn’t do it, there would be no villain. I agree with whoever highlighted the moment with Han touching Ren’s (or Ben’s) cheek). That was one of the highlights of the movie for me. Even after being betrayed by his own son, he still showed him love. I hate to see Han leave, but it was a good way to go. I love that Chewie was super worked up after that.

Perhaps that is high praise for the movie that it just fit together. It behaved as I would expect a Star Wars movie to behave.

Just an aside—and this could be totally in the realm of “you’re over-thinking things”—but I was a bit amused when Rey was about to shoot an unsuspecting storm trooper and the gun jammed. Then he spotted her and shot at her before she got it unjammed and shot him. I found it reminiscent of the whole “Han shot first” thing. She was going to shoot first. But then she actually didn’t.

 

[MrZoom]

I agree with others that there wasn’t really any memorable new music for me. But I do think that could change upon subsequent viewings. When walked out of the first Lord of the Rings for the first time, I thought about how the music was pretty forgettable. But after seeing it many more times, I realized how wrong I was. Sometimes, good music takes a few listens to sink in.

On my second viewing, I was really liking the new theme for the Resistance. Very Indiana Jones-ish (of course, John Williams wrote the music for both Indy and Star Wars)

youtube.com/watch?v=ueqKtype7Kk

 

[Robyn_p]

On my second viewing, I was really liking the new theme for the Resistance. Very Indiana Jones-ish (of course, John Williams wrote the music for both Indy and Star Wars)

youtube.com/watch?v=ueqKtype7Kk

Same with me. I feel like I was being too hard on the score my first time watching. There are some actually really good ones that have stuck in my head. I shouldn’t have questioned Williams’ abilities.

My personal favorite right now is this one:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=nTmP0iBQUkA

It’s quiet but memorable. I found myself humming it the other day.