Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015)

[redseat]

 

[calsnowskier]

View attachment 69442

Marketing gone amuck...

 

[redseat]

Marketing gone amuck...

or just really big Star Wars fans!

 

[calsnowskier]

I saw it last night in a late showing. I will definitely see it at least one more time to pick up things I missed (especially the "vision" scene), but a few thoughts...

1) no need to see this in 3D. Outside of the shot of the Star Destroyer, the 3D added nothing. Seeing this in 2D on a normal screen would do fine (as long as the sound is high quality).

2) I would say this movie falls just shy of Hope and Empire, and is competitive with Jedi. Menace and Clones are absolute garbage, and Sith is still quite a few notches below this.

3) LOVED LOVED LOVED that the CGI was kept to a minimum. CGI clutters the screen too much. K.I.S.S.

4) I was not a fan of Fin even being able turn on the saber. I always felt the saber was powered by the force to begin with. Only a Jedi (or other such ordered acolyte - Sith, Ren, etc) could power one.

5) Having Fin struggle with killing is one thing. I liked how they had him choose not to participate in the slaughter. But to make him a complete boob in fighting (except when fighting a Ren Apprentice) was out of place. As someone mentioned earlier, he was raised from infancy to be a Stormtrooper, and he passed all their prior tests (psychological and otherwise).

6) At the beginning, Leia mentions that they have an undercover asset on Jakku (sp?) and I thought that meant Rey. But that was never mentioned again (outside of Rey telling BB-8 that she was classified as well). I am sure it was not an error. I think this lends to the idea of her being a Jedi plant in some way. I need to watch again to understand this better.

7) Wasn't the pink R2 unit supposed to make a cameo? R2-KT? I missed it if it were there.

8) I thought for sure they had destroyed Coruscant in the mid of the film. I was floored by that. Then it turned out to just be some un-known system.

9) Someone else already mentioned this, but why bother turning the Star Killer into a gun? Just absorb the local star and voile, the system is dead. Life would be almost instantaneously impossible and violent quakes would occur on the planets almost immediately as well due to the changes in gravity and temp.

10) The pause in the Rey/Ben fight where Rey connected was bothersome. But it is somewhat understandable. Kylo was trying to turn her. Not kill her. Also, while at this point he had theoretically completely his turn to the dark side, just a short time prior he stated that he still feels the pull of the light.

 

[calsnowskier]

or just really big Star Wars fans!

Or just coincidence.

We are talking about the prequels, here...

 

[redseat]

Or just coincidence.

We are talking about the prequels, here...

very true

 

[calsnowskier]

Was the leaked script from a few weeks (months?) back accurate? I am too lazy to search back through the other thread to find the link to read it now.

 

[Simmion]

Just saw it. Was expecting more of Luke than the last scene. But cliffhanger for sure which tells me he will have a heavy part in the next chapter. I enjoyed it. Ford played classic Han really well IMO. All the mannerism.

 

[Podunkparte]

6) At the beginning, Leia mentions that they have an undercover asset on Jakku (sp?) and I thought that meant Rey. But that was never mentioned again (outside of Rey telling BB-8 that she was classified as well). I am sure it was not an error. I think this lends to the idea of her being a Jedi plant in some way. I need to watch again to understand this better.

Didn't think much of it during my viewings, seen it twice, but my guess is she's talking about Max von Sydow's character, the old man who gives Poe the map. The more I think about his small part, the more curious I am. Kylo mentions how old he's become, telling us they've known each other for a while. Wonder who he's going to turn out to be.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Vatican Paper Rips 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Vatican Paper Rips 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been almost universally praised by critics, with a current 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one small Vatican newspaper is not amped about the latest installment in the saga.

L’Osservatore Romano, a Vatican newspaper that normally confines its columns toward reporting about the activities of the pope, has slammed the latest Star Wars film as “confused and vague.”

In an unsigned column, the reviewer took issue with the film’s interpretation of evil, saying that the film’s villains did not hold a candle to the franchise’s predecessors.

“The counterpart of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, wears a mask merely to emulate his predecessor, while the character who needs to substitute the Emperor Palpatine as the incarnation of supreme evil represents the most serious defect of the film,” read the review.

“Without revealing anything about the character, all we will say is that it is the clumsiest and tackiest result you can obtain from computer graphics.”

Moreover the review suggests that director J.J. Abrams’s action sequences are better suited for the world of video games.

The review slams the film as “more reboot than sequel,” saying “not a classy reboot however, like Nolan’s Batman, but an update twisted to suit today’s tastes and a public more accustomed to sitting in front of a computer than in a cinema.“

L’Osservatore Romano has been owned by the Holy See since 1861. It’s unlikely that the Bishop of Rome has taken notice of the scathing review, however. Pope Francis has notoriously eschewed watching Hollywood films.

Ehhh, Kylo didn't use force choke or force lightning, so yeah he's not supposed to be as good as vader. Even when he choked that officer, he force pulled him into a manual choke. Snoke might be Palpatine too, his face looks like he fell into a reactor and Palpatine did say he learned everything from Plagueis, maybe that includes the ability to cheat death. I thought Snoke's speech pattern was similar to Palpatine's as well.

I saw it last night in a late showing. I will definitely see it at least one more time to pick up things I missed (especially the "vision" scene), but a few thoughts...

1) no need to see this in 3D. Outside of the shot of the Star Destroyer, the 3D added nothing. Seeing this in 2D on a normal screen would do fine (as long as the sound is high quality).

2) I would say this movie falls just shy of Hope and Empire, and is competitive with Jedi. Menace and Clones are absolute garbage, and Sith is still quite a few notches below this.

3) LOVED LOVED LOVED that the CGI was kept to a minimum. CGI clutters the screen too much. K.I.S.S.

4) I was not a fan of Fin even being able turn on the saber. I always felt the saber was powered by the force to begin with. Only a Jedi (or other such ordered acolyte - Sith, Ren, etc) could power one.

5) Having Fin struggle with killing is one thing. I liked how they had him choose not to participate in the slaughter. But to make him a complete boob in fighting (except when fighting a Ren Apprentice) was out of place. As someone mentioned earlier, he was raised from infancy to be a Stormtrooper, and he passed all their prior tests (psychological and otherwise).

6) At the beginning, Leia mentions that they have an undercover asset on Jakku (sp?) and I thought that meant Rey. But that was never mentioned again (outside of Rey telling BB-8 that she was classified as well). I am sure it was not an error. I think this lends to the idea of her being a Jedi plant in some way. I need to watch again to understand this better.

7) Wasn't the pink R2 unit supposed to make a cameo? R2-KT? I missed it if it were there.

8) I thought for sure they had destroyed Coruscant in the mid of the film. I was floored by that. Then it turned out to just be some un-known system.

9) Someone else already mentioned this, but why bother turning the Star Killer into a gun? Just absorb the local star and voile, the system is dead. Life would be almost instantaneously impossible and violent quakes would occur on the planets almost immediately as well due to the changes in gravity and temp.

10) The pause in the Rey/Ben fight where Rey connected was bothersome. But it is somewhat understandable. Kylo was trying to turn her. Not kill her. Also, while at this point he had theoretically completely his turn to the dark side, just a short time prior he stated that he still feels the pull of the light.

One thing I noticed is that in the vision it seems like he kills one of the knights of ren, I doubt an apprentice of Luke would wear all black? Maybe that's the moment he spared Rey?
I agree that it competes with Return of the Jedi as well. How easily the Ewoks defeated the Empire was a little ridiculous, but the final battle and everything else was grade A Star Wars.

 

[Simmion]

I am also OK with Kylo being kind of a little bitch. He is still young and unwise. Kind of glad they didn't make him this all powerful sith already. Make him learn a bit before he becomes one.

 

[Wild Turkey]

I think Rey is Han & Leia's daughter and Kylos' twin sister. The force and twins run in families. Luke is stronger than Leia and we are going to find Rey is stronger than her brother.

Her ability to fly and do mechanical things naturally without training comes from Anakin's genes.

 

[Wild Turkey]

There's a difference in having the force within and all of a sudden using Jedi powers out of nowhere. If she was aware that she had Jedi powers all along then why didn't she use them to her advantage earlier? For instance, against the barter guy that traded her food for metal? It just doesn't make sense. She's had no Jedi training. But whatever, it is what it is at this point. Moving on...

I agree huge plot fail with Rey being able to pull off Jedi mind tricks.

Also think we were cheated on Chewbacca's grief scene they should have let him go on a berserker rage trip and tore apart some storm troopers. A lot of emotional baggage just wasted between him and Leia in the film.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I think Rey is Han & Leia's daughter and Kylos' twin sister. The force and twins run in families. Luke is stronger than Leia and we are going to find Rey is stronger than her brother.

Her ability to fly and do mechanical things naturally without training comes from Anakin's genes.

Well, she's a scavenger. She got her mechanical expertise because it was required in order to live.

 

[RegentDenali]

Watched it again last night to try to cover all the things you miss the first time.

Rey's vision leaves more questions than answers when you really look at it. Just like the visions Luke had during his training with Yoda. The visions werent all specifically about events that really occurred, but they were meant to represent things that happened in the past or potentially future events.

That being said, the connection Rey has to the light saber is undeniable. She has to be a Skywalker. Be it Leias daughter or Lukes. Of course VIII will be the big reveal, but expect plenty of other things that Rey will be dealing with, including her training and the New Order on the hunt for Luke and her. Not to mention the New Order looking for revenge over the Star Killer.

 

[lilchi721]

4) I was not a fan of Fin even being able turn on the saber. I always felt the saber was powered by the force to begin with. Only a Jedi (or other such ordered acolyte - Sith, Ren, etc) could power one.

Han Solo was able to turn on the Light Saber to open up that beast body so Luke wouldn't die from the cold in Empire Strikes Back.

 

[lilchi721]

I think Rey is Han & Leia's daughter and Kylos' twin sister. The force and twins run in families. Luke is stronger than Leia and we are going to find Rey is stronger than her brother.

Her ability to fly and do mechanical things naturally without training comes from Anakin's genes.

Han didn't seem to know her and I don't know if Leia knew her either. It's possible she could be Luke's daughter since that light saber responded to Rey and not Kai Lo Rin.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Han didn't seem to know her and I don't know if Leia knew her either. It's possible she could be Luke's daughter since that light saber responded to Rey and not Kai Lo Rin.

See in Star Wars mythology the way it works is they take the kids and don't tell the parents were they are going for the children's protection.

There was obvious moments with both Han and Leia that there was a connection. Han couldn't put his finger on it but I think Leia knew, she felt it through the force.

 

[lilchi721]

See in Star Wars mythology the way it works is they take the kids and don't tell the parents were they are going for the children's protection.

There was obvious moments with both Han and Leia that there was a connection. Han couldn't put his finger on it but I think Leia knew, she felt it through the force.

Then why did Leia say to Han to bring their son home? They said anything about a daughter. I mean Luke was a good pilot as well.

 

[Duffman]

As of right now it makes the most sense that she's Luke's daughter. They could always pull a huge twist and reveal she's not but sometimes the most obvious choice is the correct one and a twist for the sake of a twist is the wrong way to go.

This isn't an M. Night Shyamalan movie.