I'm watching it again on Sunday. Any Star Wars is better than none.

(12-18-2015 11:16 AM)SApuro Wrote:  I'm watching it again on Sunday. Any Star Wars is better than none.

Agreed. I'm not saying the movie is bad and people shouldn't see it. I was just profoundly disappointed with it. It could have been so much better with a more original story.

Just to update you on the first six episodes, to save you time:

I really enjoyed the movie! Some of it I didn't like but overall the movie makes sense. After the Empire falls a new order arises. It makes sense to build a new base and considering the space of time from the Deathstar destruction to the present, a new base could be conceived. I think we may have some mad even if they went with a new storyline. I don't know a lot of the Star Wars Universe but from those who do they say it kept to the books. I will be going back to watch it again. I hate Han Solo died but maybe there is a chance he survives...

Several moments of applause throughout the movie with the loudest coming the moment the STAR WARS logo appeared and the scrolling text began. Some fans even gave it a standing ovation at the end.

Rotten Tomatoes has it fresh at 95% approval. If you didn't like this movie, you were in the extreme minority.

A lot of Star Wars fans are kids who don't have an attention span like adults do. A long and winding plot with sub plots and plot twists would have confused a lot of them. Abrams used elements of the previous films to bring back the familiarity and excitement fans enjoyed when they watched Star Wars for the very first time. He knew what he was doing.

Loved it!

I am a fan of the old school Star Wars and really liked this movie. I can see if you liked episodes 1-3 best how this is maybe not as good for you. Honestly, I feel like 1-3 were just movies while 4-6 created a culture. Abrams got it right in my opinion.

Now that I've been able to sleep on it, I want to write a little bit more. I loved the movie and as mentioned earlier my theatre also had a roaring applause at the end.

It's clearly JJ Abrams take on Ep 4, but it kind of had to be to bring in the new generation. I really liked Rey. Very interesting character and well acted. I figured out Han was going to die pretty quickly. Also, I'm glad Luke didn't join the dark side. I watched the original trilogy earlier this week and was getting upset at the idea he turned evil.

Finally, I freaking loved BB-8. That thing is like an adorable puppy of a droid.

I thought the movie wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either. It was actually in the meh catagory.

Oh wow...a story about teenagers (especially the lead as a heroin nonetheless) rising up and saving the galaxy. How original What is this "Twilight Star Wars? Every time Kylo Ren spoke I kept thinking of the line "put the lotion in the basket" from The Silence of the lambs.

Definitely a JJ Abrams film which are never that great to begin with.

I liked Rey, but she was a Mary Sue.

I'm slightly disappointed as well.

As mentioned a death-star type weapon?. Han and Chewy have to disable the deflector shield? Really? Was this not ROTJ remixed?? Episode 8 they are going to have to come up with something new.

That said, everything else was well done. The visuals were impressive. I thought the acting was not bad. Perhaps my biggest complaint (aside from the plot) was the fact they killed off Han. I know he is getting older but actually thought it was way too obvious - again as previously mentioned - to go that route.

I also wish Luke would have had more of a role. I guess Mark Hamill just really wished he never would have played the part in the first place. So, the guy who confronted the Emperor, turned his father back to light, and defeated the Empire took his ball and went home quitting on his Jedi responsibilities simply because his nephew turned to the dark side? That's just an absurd plot twist and not even believable in this fairy tale world.

So, some interesting questions arise. Who is Rey's mother? Obviously, with no training she was more powerful than Ren. Does that imply that Luke also found another Jedi and had a child with her? And if so what happened to her and why did they abandoned Rey?

I very much enjoyed the movie. Although I've watched all the Star Wars movies, this is only the second one I've seen in theatres (1st was Episode 3). My thoughts:

Love the casting choices for all the new guys. The guys for Finn and Poe Dameron were great, but Daisy Ridley is a find as she absolutely killed it as Rey. I'm really excited to see the adventures of these three as we go through this new series. Also, the guy that played Kylo Ren did great, especially if they're taking the storyline in the direction I think they're going.

I can agree that I'm not a fan of the 'Death Star III'. But I'm assuming that this was done in part because they wanted to get old fans back into the spirit of Star Wars, but also because this movie had to do a LOT of work not only laying the foundation for this trilogy, but also tying it in to the previous movies and executing the 'hand-off' from one generation to the next.

I think that the overall arc of this trilogy is that these movies will signify a new era of the force being a powerful force again. If you look at the last 50 years (in their universe) you see the demolishing of the ancient Jedi infrastructure replaced by the Sith. And then, the Sith infrastructure is demolished by Luke and company. There are not very many people left who know about the force. Even back in the original trilogy, the force was myth and legend. I think the title of this movie is very apt, as it is the force awakening, not only in Rey, but also in the galaxy as a whole once again. You see two very young, inexperienced force users (Kylo Ren and Rey) who have almost no idea what they're doing in terms of where the force comes from and what it means. This trilogy will probably be their journey in learning the true nature of the force, both the light and dark, and how it will affect their view on the universe. I think that's very exciting.

Let's look at Kylo Ren for a second. This guy is such a poser. When you see him in the field, he puffs his chest and speaks with much bravado. But he takes off his mask and he's a doofy kid. I think that's the essence of his character right there, the striking difference between his outfit and his actual self. He wants to be the bad-ass that Vader was (and seems to revere him in almost a religious way. I wonder if he was lied to about the goals, and the death of Darth Vader), but he's nothing more than a flimsy imitation. And he knows that and it fills him with conflict. That's part of the reason why I think he kills his father, is that he's trying to show himself how committed he is to that persona. I think that moment comes back and bites him later. And think about that fight he has with Rey, he gets bested by someone who not only has no formal training, but won probably because she rejected the dark in favor for the light. How do you think that hurts his ego and his view of the dark side? Oof. More conflict, more friction for this dude.

Now lets look at Rey. We know almost nothing about where she comes from. But really, she's one of the most competent characters we've seen in this movie and she isn't even trying! It's great, and I think it'll set up more conflict between her and "I think I'm the best at everything but actually at nothing" Kylo Ren. I could definitely see her being Luke's daughter (especially since we never actually hear the dialogue that Luke says in one of the teasers). I could see a situation though where she's just straight up abandoned by her parents and left to fend for herself. The force doesn't flow through just the Skywalker family. Now, I've heard a lot of talk about her being formerly trained and then mind wiped and that's why she's so good at doing Jedi things. I disagree, the reason she knows how to use the force (a bit) is that she's basically a Star Wars fangirl! You saw her face and her reactions to the old characters ("THE Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth" "You're THE Han Solo?" etc.), she obviously not only knows about these people, events and the force, but idolizes them. It would not surprise me to find out she had heard about the "These aren't the droids you're looking for" moment, and tried it out in part because she realized she could use the force some, and in part out of desperation. The reason she's good at using a lightsaber is cause she's good at fighting cause chumps don't survive on Jakku and so she knows how to wield a weapon. She basically beat the crap out of Finn and he's a trained soldier. And, I think that staff she carries through the whole movie is going to be important later. Staff lightsaber? Just a weapon of choice? Who knows. We'll find out. I am very excited to see where this character goes and I think that she is one of the strongest characters to come out of this movie. She's the one I'm most interested to see what happens to, so I guess it's good that she's the main character.

Finn: Did a good job, has a lot of conflict set up with Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren. Has the hots for Rey, and is bros with Poe. I don't think there's a ton to talk about with his character right now, other than I'm interested to see where his 'part of the First Order then defected and now I'm a good guy' story arc goes. Could give good intel on interior motivations and plans in the future. I'm worried though, cause he seems to be really selfish. Rey and Poe seem to be very altruistic characters, while Finn seems more of an 'it's all about me' kinda guy. Even saving Rey was cause he's got the hots for her and not for any intrinsic good like saving the resistance or stopping the First Order. This motivation can be taken in interesting directions, or not.

Poe Dameron: Hey everyone meet your new Han Solo! Just this time he seems more of a team player. I WISH we were able to see more of this guy in the movie, but that's why we've got at least 2 more movies with the guy. I'm interested to see how he works in the Finn/Rey dynamic other than him and Finn being bros.

Snoke: Anyone else think this dude's gonna be tiny? Evil Yoda per se? I could see a situation where Kylo Ren learned to wear the mask to intimidate others like Snoke uses that hologram to intimidate others. Didn't explore him too much this movie, but I suspect we'll see a lot more of him when he finishes Kylo's training. I think the next movie is set up perfectly to show the difference in philosophies between the dark side and light side of the force with the training of Kylo and Rey. Difference is, is that we've never seen a Sith get formerly trained, and that could be awesome.

I was glad to see the old cast again. Harrison Ford did a great job playing Han again, and I think he really put his all into this role. I think it's good that he got killed off though, we don't want these characters to cast a shadow over the whole trilogy when we should really be focusing on the new characters. And Han Solo is a character that can really steal the show (as he almost did this movie). Carrie Fisher did okay as Leia, but her lack of recent acting experience showed. Hopefully we can get a better performance from her in the next episode. Luke was in it exactly as long as he should've been in my opinion. He was the perfect McGuffin for this movie, and the dynamic next movie could work really well between him and Rey. Especially if my 'fangirl' theory is right. I imagine a meeting where she thinks of him as a legend, and he thinks himself as a failure. In a movie stuffed to the brim with stuff, adding in interactions between Luke and ANYBODY would've diminished the impact that Luke could impart. I'm glad they didn't do that with one of the most iconic and legendary characters from this saga.

The humor in this movie was done really well I think. BB-8 was good, and Chewie and Han had their share of great lines and moments ("You think YOU'RE cold??"). Glad they used practical effects when possible. Dialogue was mostly good.

Sorry for the rant, but these are my thoughts that have been fermenting the past few days. And I am super excited to see the next movie.

tl;dr: I love these characters.

(12-19-2015 01:38 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  I liked Rey, but she was a Mary Sue.

Mary Sue?

Edit. Never mind looked it up. We got an SJW remake of the 1st star wars. I will wait for it cable

Im old enough to have seen the first one brand new. Sounds like disney is sheering the sheep. Shocking lol

(12-21-2015 11:06 AM)shere khan Wrote:  

(12-19-2015 01:38 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  I liked Rey, but she was a Mary Sue.

Mary Sue?

Edit. Never mind looked it up. We got an SJW remake of the 1st star wars. I will wait for it cable

Im old enough to have seen the first one brand new. Sounds like disney is sheering the sheep. Shocking lol

Ah, you're one of those people. #gamergate amirite?

If Rey's a Mary Sue, then Luke's a Marty Sue, as she's not much more 'incredible' in this movie as he is in a New Hope.

(12-21-2015 11:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(12-21-2015 11:06 AM)shere khan Wrote:  

(12-19-2015 01:38 PM)HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine Wrote:  I liked Rey, but she was a Mary Sue.

Mary Sue?

Edit. Never mind looked it up. We got an SJW remake of the 1st star wars. I will wait for it cable

Im old enough to have seen the first one brand new. Sounds like disney is sheering the sheep. Shocking lol

Ah, you're one of those people. #gamergate amirite?

If Rey's a Mary Sue, then Luke's a Marty Sue, as she's not much more 'incredible' in this movie as he is in a New Hope.

Wut? I just dont wanna see a remake and feed the mouse. I had to look up the term.

Had to look your term up too. Independent critical thinking doesnt seem to be the strong suit of the younger generation.

Party on. Feed the mouse

Saw it yesterday. I left kind of feeling like it was an okay cover of a great Rollings Stones song.

Maybe we should just club JJ like a baby seal?

(12-21-2015 12:21 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Maybe we should just club JJ like a baby seal?

I think he was trying to avoid that, so he played it too safe. There are big time Star Wars fans who treat this as a religion.

I thought it was awesome. I never expected a super plot or big surprise. It never was. It was witty one liners and great action. Enough mystery to let your imagination run wild. My inner 10 year old self was giving fist bumps to my actual 10 year old son. He hasn't stopped talking about it since Friday. It was all I wanted it to be and nothing I didn't(unlike the prequels).

(12-19-2015 08:14 AM)CincyDave Wrote:  Now that I've been able to sleep on it, I want to write a little bit more. I loved the movie and as mentioned earlier my theatre also had a roaring applause at the end.

It's clearly JJ Abrams take on Ep 4, but it kind of had to be to bring in the new generation. I really liked Rey. Very interesting character and well acted. I figured out Han was going to die pretty quickly. Also, I'm glad Luke didn't join the dark side. I watched the original trilogy earlier this week and was getting upset at the idea he turned evil.

Finally, I freaking loved BB-8. That thing is like an adorable puppy of a droid.

We don't know that. He showed a tendency for Darkness as the original trilogy progressed. There are quite a few stories that portray him as a "gray" Jedi - neither fully Light nor Dark. Perhaps his idea for peace in the galaxy is a new order of Jedi who attempt to bridge that gap. Perhaps witnessing the death of his father - a direct result of his first good deed in Luke's lifetime - was enough to corrupt him.

Perhaps his quest to train a new generation of Jedi was his way of proving himself as being of the Light, all the while sliding towards the Dark side. Maybe Ben Solo saw what was happening and formed the Knights of Ren to stop him... and in the process went too far and lost his sense of who he was. It has shown time and again that those on the Dark side do believe that what they do is for the greater good.

I'm not sold on Luke being a good guy when all is said and done. I am sold on Kylo Ren, though. Somebody else said it in here... he felt the pull to the Light, and killed his own father in a desperate attempt to prove to himself that he was truly Dark. The pull to the Light indicates a conscience, and one that will be devastated when the adrenaline of battle wears off and he realizes what he did.

I think the final straw will come when he does harness the power of the Force to communicate with Vader. If he does, I think he'll see the same Vader that we saw at the end of ROTJ: Old, vulnerable, and full of remorse.