[SPOILERS] Star Wars: The Force Awakens - It's True. All of it.

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One thing of note that may not have been discussed yet: the new Star Wars theme.

After each movie, it seems like the Star Wars theme has gotten busier and busier, but for this one John Williams went back and remade it with less instruments playing off at the same time. It feels like an entirely new vision for it, it made the opening crawl feel very different, with each segment of the song now made even stronger and bolder as there is less 'noise' with other layers watering the core melody down.

Also, the Rebel Alliance segment of the end credits was finally removed, despite still being there for the Prequels.
 
DrForester said:
Just got back, really enjoyed it.

Story was a little too fast paced, just destroying the Republic like that when we don't even really know what they do. The way the opening crawl read, it seemed like the First Order was a small but highly organized force trying to resurrect the Empire, yet the Republic is still called the Resistance, even by it's own members, despite seeming like the superior force.
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Another thing that really bothered me. Despite loving nothing more but to reel in the nostalgia of the past films the movie doesn't care at all about establishing what happened after those films or the state of the world. I don't need a long explanation but can someone tell me what this Republic is? Why is everyone still the Resistance? Just what did Luke and Co. achieve? And, don't tell me to wait for the next movie.
 
I Had a lot of problems with this film.

I feel like an argument could be made that Finn's character is problematic. Something about the characterization doesn't sit right with me. It could all be incidental, but there's that. I don't know. I have a feeling Finn will be future fodder for think pieces.

Kylo Ren being portrayed quite literally as a whiny fanboy left me perplexed. I was afraid Adam Driver wouldn't do much for me. Once he removed his helmet, I was wondering what emotion the character was designed to conjure up outside of annoyance. He did that splendidly. His mannerisms while fighting were nice, however.

The Starkiller Base felt like an afterthought. The concept is very cool and so are the visuals related to it, but there's no real attachment to it for me outside of it being where Kylo Ren predictably kills Han Solo.

Oh, and what was with that final shot? You're really going to end on that sweeping aerial shot? There wasn't a better way to frame that? It felt a little slapdash.

I wish I could formulate my thoughts. I'm deeply conflicted. I want to love this movie but I can't honestly bring myself to do so.
 
MGrant said:
Lots of people were discussing the stormtrooper's baton a few pages back. And assuming lightsaber energy is eletromagnetic in some way, it's not too far-fetched to think it can't cut through some things (if it can attract electricity, there's a good chance it can be repelled by electricity, too).
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On this, think of it this way:

The First Order is essentially the remains of the Empire, reforged into a new machine. You also have to assume they have had more than 60 years since the Clone Wars to find something, anything, that can stop a lightsaber. Oh, and during most of this time, they've had people with working knowledge of the Force and/or Jedi order (Palpatine, Vader and one would also assume Kylo Ren) around as well. Plus, the First Order likely isn't starting anything from scratch and has any and all Imperial research and development on hand.

It's like walking into an abandoned store you now own but finding the shelves stocked with shit, the power and water on and everything ready to go. You just need the staff to run it.
 
It makes sense that Ren would be way raw and appear to be weak at times. He doesn't have a true master when it comes to the Sith. At least, that we know of. For all we know, Snoke is just a power hungry person with no ties to the force. Ren is basically just direction less as a person.

NihonTiger90 said:
On this, think of it this way:

The First Order is essentially the remains of the Empire, reforged into a new machine. You also have to assume they have had more than 60 years since the Clone Wars to find something, anything, that can stop a lightsaber. Oh, and during most of this time, they've had people with working knowledge of the Force and/or Jedi order (Palpatine, Vader and one would also assume Kylo Ren) around as well. Plus, the First Order likely isn't starting anything from scratch and has any and all Imperial research and development on hand.

It's like walking into an abandoned store you now own but finding the shelves stocked with shit, the power and water on and everything ready to go. You just need the staff to run it.
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vibrosword are from thousands of years ago. They just used that tech with it. It isn't off base for it to happen.
 
foxtrot3d said:
Another thing that really bothered me. Despite loving nothing more but to reel in the nostalgia of the past films the movie doesn't care at all about establishing what happened after those films or the state of the world. I don't need a long explanation but can someone tell me what this Republic is? Why is everyone still the Resistance? Just what did Luke and Co. achieve? And, don't tell me to wait for the next movie.
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Backstory for Ben can wait, but I agree the state of the Galaxy should have been established better.
 
I really hope John Williams can hang around four more years and complete this trilogy. I don't see how anyone could replace him.
 
FutureZombie said:
1) There should have been some explanation of how The First Order, The Rebellion, and The Republic all fit together. I don't quite understand who is in control of what.
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It's called "the Resistance" now, not the Rebellion- there's no rebellion because there's no Empire anymore. Instead, the New Republic is in charge and we really know nothing at all about them.

True enough, I would say not knowing the origins of the First Order contributes to what I think is the biggest flaw for me- that it feels a lot like the Empire/Rebellion thing is just still going on. They still have X-Wing/TIE Fighter battles. They still successfully build a superweapon. There's still some creepy dude pulling all the strings somehow.

But I haven't given up the hope that there are satisfying explanations with regard to these things in the further movies, which could retroactively improve this one.
 
Really don't get the complaining about Kylo, the film intends for that to be the portrayal rather than the unintentionally bad acting of the prequels.

I don't think we're heading for a redemption story here, I can't imagine he won't have matured significantly by the next time we see him. The whole film is basically kids vs. kids. Great start.

Also fine with the lack of serious state of the galaxy stuff. That's coming. We're seeing this through Finn and Rey's eyes.
 
It was pretty good. Kinda thought the music took away from what was happening on screen. Felt like sensory overload at times. It's a good score though. Enjoyed the characters and how it felt like everything had some weight/power to it.

I really loved that final scene of Luke and Rey. Both have seen some shit and they're uncertain about everything. I also thought about what she said when she saw the forest planet for the first time and how she never thought there could be anything so green. Now it's almost entirely ocean. It seemed like Luke felt the same way and he stared at Rey like she was interrupting his peace.

Looking forward to the next one.
 
Leaving for the theater soon.

Rich! said:
Yep. This film needed to be familiar and draw heavily from the OT as a result of the prequels. Now people are on board, 8 and 9 will likely deviate heavily.
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Major prequel flashbacks.
"The next one, guys... Trust me, the next one."
 
Just saw the movie, I see where the complaints about similarities are with the old guy at the beginning kind of being obi wan, Snoke is kind of Palpatine, and obviously Star Killer is the death star. But besides the death star repeat the rest didn't really bother me. The overall structure of the movie was different enough for it to be okay. Besides a few similar scenes it wasn't really a remake of a new hope like people said.

Either way it didn't bother me because I watch movies like this for the atmosphere, characters, and overall 'feel' of the movie. And all of that was fantastic. I really liked the "search for luke" angle and Ren and Finn are awesome. I'll probably listen to the soundtrack for years. Overall im satisfied, I just wish they could have come up with something better than another death star clone.
 
foxtrot3d said:
IRRC, the movie stated he was kidnapped basically as a baby. He never even had a real name so it's impossible to say he was "good" before. Again, I'm not saying they are all good guys but the idea that they are all brain washed, kidnapped babies makes killing them less righteous and more of a tragedy. Finn was able to turn away, maybe those guys they are killing could too.
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Good point, forgot about that. I think the rest still stands. I don't think anyone believes they are all kidnapped, brainwashed babies. A lot of the officers look like total assholes who like their evil organization... which they don't consider evil anyway, just right path -- see Phasma and vibroblade Stormtrooper scolding Finn for being a traitor "cop/Nazi/whatever". Finn simply took matters into his own hands and saw through the veil. Others, don't. There are clear parallels to Nazis, corrupt cops, etc. who go along with mistreating and inflicting violence on others. Regardless of their past, they become complicit and basically deserve to pay for their crimes. I'm really not seeing how there was wanton unnecessary death glorification of Stormtroopers in this.
 
just came back

it was okay, a bit underwhelming

i loved han and luke though. the old cast was darling <3

boyega was fab

not really feeling the magic the way i thought i would feel :< i want to, though...





oh, saw it in imax! the quality was great, music and visuals, but the effects didn't blow me over as much as i was expecting. but the 3d was really well done.
 
DrForester said:
Things I didn't like:

-Criminal under use of Captain Phasma and Gwendoline Christie. Expected her to get at least one action scene where she got to do something.

-Cocktease ending. Not even having Luke speak. I think it would have worked better for him to show up on the Not-Death Star.
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Agreed. As for Phasma, it wasn't even that she was underused it was that she was a non-entity. She was completely nonthreatening. A shame because her look is so iconic to me, more so than Kylo Ren.

And the ending wasn't just a cocktease, but a cop out. Anyone can create a cliffhanger if they end a scene just as it's starting. I couldn't invest anything in it emotionally because all it had going for it was nostalgia. There was zero substance to it. JJ basically said, "Here Rian, you finish my ending for me".
 
Rich! said:
Yep. This film needed to be familiar and draw heavily from the OT as a result of the prequels. Now people are on board, 8 and 9 will likely deviate heavily.
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this. Now they have people connecting TFA with the prequels the next movies just have to connect to TFA. It will be almost transitive in nature.

TFA= Star Wars
E8= TFA
E8 = Star Wars
 
Ithil said:
That wasn't anything to do with romance, it was just Finn trying to rescue the "damsel" who clearly wasn't a damsel and thinking he was the hero saving the day when he had no clue what he was doing.
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I don't think Finn was treating her as a damsel (she did knock him on his ass when he tried to run away from her), I think he was just being protective and leading the way because he is familiar with the First Order and how they operate. I don't think anything about Rey suggested she would know how to move during a bombardment.
 
Loved the movie.

Felt so tense when Kylo Ren and Han Solo were on the bridge.

I thought Luke was going to appear during the Rey/Finn/Kylo Ren fight at the end and save them. I like the way Abrams did it, though.

I think Kylo Ren is a great villain. Loved the voice. I have a feeling he will come back stronger in the next movie.

Poe is such a badass.
 
I'm actually happy we didn't find out much/anything about the New Republic because I desperately fear going down that route would lead to stuff like seeing the Galactic Senate and a bunch of boring shit that would remind people of the prequels. I just kind of assumed the First Order was probably die-hard Imperial radicals, which it seemed like they were.
 
I think they didn't delve into the Republic because they wanted to keep far, far away from the stuffy politics and boring city planets of the PT. Back to basics, Empire, Rebellion, space Nazis and scrappy rebels.
 
foxtrot3d said:
Another thing that really bothered me. Despite loving nothing more but to reel in the nostalgia of the past films the movie doesn't care at all about establishing what happened after those films or the state of the world. I don't need a long explanation but can someone tell me what this Republic is? Why is everyone still the Resistance? Just what did Luke and Co. achieve? And, don't tell me to wait for the next movie.
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1. A better version of the Old Republic I would assume

2. The First Order only seems to exist in and control the Outer Rim, the Resistance only exists there and for some reason the Republic chose to not directly intervene but send Leia to help them out. Most of this is in the OP crawl.

3. Destroyed the Empire and established the Republic. The FO is nowhere near as big as the Empire.
 
Chezzymann said:
Just saw the movie, I see where the complaints about similarities are with the old guy at the beginning kind of being obi wan, Snoke is kind of Palpatine, and obviously Star Killer is the death star. But besides the death star repeat the rest didn't really bother me. The overall structure of the movie was different enough for it to be okay. Besides a few similar scenes it wasn't really a remake of a new hope like people said.

Either way it didn't bother me because I watch movies like this for the atmosphere, characters, and overall 'feel' of the movie. And all of that was fantastic. I really liked the "search for luke" angle and Ren and Finn are awesome. I'll probably listen to the soundtrack for years. Overall im satisfied, I just wish they could have come up with something better than another death star clone.
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snoke was too much voldemort/thanos for me :x

who is he anyway. where did he come from. does he have infinity gauntlet or what. is he a sith? i thought they were gone etc. sigh will rock up for the sequel for answers, i guess ._____.

AND FOR LUKE SKYWALKERRRRRRRRRRRR \o/
 
Man I absolutely loved it. Only gripe I had was I wish there was more Phasma. Betting we get more her in the next one though. Everything else was on point.

And damn Poe Dameron is a fucking badass.
 
VistraNorrez said:
Agreed. As for Phasma, it wasn't even that she was underused it was that she was a non-entity. She was completely nonthreatening. A shame because her look is so iconic to me, more so than Kylo Ren.

And the ending wasn't just a cocktease, but a cop out. Anyone can create a cliffhanger if they end a scene just as it's starting. I couldn't invest anything in it emotionally because all it had going for it was nostalgia. There was zero substance to it. JJ basically said, "Here Rian, you finish my ending for me".
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LOST
 
My only other disappointment was that Starkiller Base didn't blow up Naboo.

I'm just going to pretend they test fired at Naboo before the movie started.
 
Finn is my favorite new jedi. And this even though I think Kylo Ren is great.

Anyone else think Finn and Rey could possibly be brother and sister?
 
foxtrot3d said:
< Look at my fucking avatar! I'm a Star Wars fanboy, Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie of all time so my review here is not coming from some jaded SW hating asshole. I just got back from seeing the film in headache inducing 3D and I felt I had to post my thoughts here without having it muddled by other people's opinions. At the moment my thoughts are not fully formed so this is more just going to be a stream of conscience thing.

But, before I get started I'll post a quick summary of my opinion, I personally didn't like the film. I don't think it's a bad film, but it wasn't the second coming I was expecting. Now, for my tirade:

Alright, where to begin? I think I have to say my biggest problem with the film is that it is too "self-aware," it's like everyone in the movie knows it's "Star Wars" and can't help but make sure you know it too. As a result, I never felt like the movie stood on it's own as every single god damn second it has to cram something from the original trilogy into your face.

"Hey LOOK, it's R2-D2! Do you remember R2-D2? I bet you didn't think we'd show R2-D2, well here he is R2-D2!"
"Hey look it's C3PO! Hey, their doing that thing from the original movie!"
"Who's Luke Skywalker? *wink, wink* Where is he? Oh, I bet you really want to know where Luke is, don't you? Hey, remember how cool Luke Skywalker was? Yeah, he's super important."
"Death Star!"

When Finn accidentally bangs his hand on the table and turns on that weird chess game they played in ANH I damn near rolled my eyes so hard I feared it might stay stuck in the back of my head. The movie is so reliant on "nostalgia" that it overshadows everything else in the movie, hell Han Solo basically becomes the lead of the movie once he is introduced and thus completely steps over the two other leads. Why? Listen, I'm not expecting a radically different story, it's Star Wars, I just need a simple Hero's Journey but did we really need to rip the ENTIRE plot of ANH. Did we really need Death Star 3.0? Were we not already sick of the Death Star by ROTJ?

But, let's talk about the two supposed leads for the story, Finn and Rey. I felt neither character was fully explored with Rey being short changed the most. Despite ripping the entire plot from ANH it seemed to ignore all the character moments in that film, mainly the arc of Luke Skywalker. Rey is basically our stand in for Luke and Finn is young Han Solo, but while Finn at least has some backstory and gets some arc Rey is just a quagmire. We don't really know anything about her? Who is she? Where did she come from? Who is she waiting for? We spend some time with her on Tattoine *cough, cough* I mean Jakku but it never really amounts to much since we know NOTHING about her even by the end of the movie.

Now, if you tell me that will be explained in the later movies then I will kindly tell you to get out of my face, this movie which is supposed to kick off a new trilogy has to stand on its own. You shouldn't have to watch any previous movies or wait for any future movies to get the major points about this film. Thus, Rey as out big lead must have her damn backstory and motivations explained now. In ANH we didn't have to guess what Luke wanted or was all about, his arc made sense and we felt a connection to his character; with Rey I felt none of that.

Finn, on the other hand, has more of an arc as basically a Han Solo stand in a movie in which the actual Han Solo is in. That said, his character too suffers from inconsistencies and a lack of backstory. We know he was raised as a Stormtrooper but we don't have enough information on what that is like. However, more importantly, it's kind of weird as we spend some time with his character to believe he was ever a Stormtrooper. Like, I get he was a sanitation worker but why is he so shitty? Why is he scared of everything? I felt like this story would have worked better if he had simply volunteered to become a part of the First Order to pay some debts as opposed to being raised from birth in this militant organization. That said, I still appreciated that his character had some backstory and an arc.

I just feel like the whole movie had too much crammed into it, so confident in the trilogy it is setting up that it didn't believe it needed to explain anything to you or present you with a contained, satisfying story. It felt like it was this thing that was needed to move all the characters into their places for the future movies and cared little at how forced it all looked. Rey and Ren battle only to have a casm open up beneath them to physically separate them as they eye each other, dun dun dunnnn "To Be Continued..."

Well, fuck you. I came to see a movie not "Pt. 1a The Force Presses the Snooze Button for 5 More Minutes of Sleep."

The whole film just lacked any sort of originality and instead just repackaged ANH but added in more characters and further split the roles of the original cast of three into about five. I just keep thinking back to Knights of the Old Republic when I finished the film, the best SW "movie" outside of these films to date. KOTOR is a true SW story that has all the feelings and heroic arc of the OT but at the same time manages to tell it's own original story, with its own surprising twists, with it's own original cast. It actually adds some cool characters with interesting personalities into its story as opposed to ripping off archetypes from the OT. With TFA we get BB-8 (R2-D2), Rey (Luke Skywalker), Finn (Han Solo), and Han Solo (Ben Kenobi). While KOTOR gave us HK-47, T3-M4, Bastilla Shan, and Carth Onasi. Why can't we get something as creative as that cast in this film? Why is Cpt. Phasma lame as all hell but Calo Nord this wonderful and hilarious badass? Why is Kylo Ren's "twist" laughably predictable and then Revan's revelation so wonderfully magical?

I don't know, I think I'm done ranting. I now that sounds really negative but I didn't hate the film, it was alright, but nothing special to me. As a huge fan I expected more, especially from JJ. I feel ST 09' is a better SW film than this movie.

Further randomn thoughts:
-Captain Phasma, lol what the fuck was that all about. Again, fuck you for not creating an actual contained movie I don't want to wait for two more movies for you to create a "cool" secondary villain.
-Random Stormtrooper electro-prod stick, why him?
-I liked the lightsaber duels, just enough flash and just enough "realism"
-WAY too much humor in the film, like can people speak in complete sentences without some forced joke in between?
-I laughed at Han's death because it dragged on so long setting it up when it was obvious when he stepped on the platform he would die. Do we need 5 minutes of obvious telegraphing?
-You really needed to put a Porkins stand in in the film? REALLY!? REALLY!? Fuck you, JJ!
-I didn't like the new musical score, it just didn't feel SW.
-I liked Ren, spoiled little brat who is barely in control.
-Why is Poe in the film? Useless character along with Phasma, should've died in the opening.
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These are essentially my thoughts too :( Some additions of my own:

- Freakin' loved Rey. I lost it when she Force grabbed the lightsaber. Was her character a little to undefined? Yup. Don't care. Too excited for the movies finally having a female, lightsaber wielding Force user. And she's a tech geek to boot? Be still my heart.
- That last shot was just awful. A spinning helicopter long shot? Really? Should have been a close up of Luke as he said "No, it's yours now." Wipe to credits.
- Was it just me (or the theater I saw it in), or was the music somewhat quiet for most of the movie? As the credits started I was thinking well shoot, the music wasn't all that great and then the credits music sounding awesome. Where was that in the movie?
- I really like the active villain being a sniveling Vader worshipper. Not so sure I like him being Han and Leia's son. I'll pass final judgement on that after seeing IX. And his helmet looked kind dumb without the hood over his head.
- "Snoke" is a really dumb name for a really cool villain. It's "Dooku" all over again.
- As a prequel lover, I was full blown giddy at the mention of a "clone army."
- When the Lucasfilm logo came up, a guy behind me went "Aww yeah! ... Sorry, couldn't help myself."
- I somehow laughed at all the jokes, and thought there were too many. I have no idea what that means.
- Did they even have to pay Mark Hamill for this? He didn't have a line! He didn't even need to be a member of SAG to appear in this movie.
- Totally agree that Captain Phasma is the newest inductee to the "Cool looking villain who's not used nearly enough" club. Her and Boba are the charter members. Grievous and Maul are lesser members, because at least they got to fight.
- The movie seemed to last forever. But I don't mean that as a slight. It's been 10 years since the last movie and most of that time was spent thinking there was never gonna be another one. Every extra second it seemed to last felt great.
- I can't decide whether the star getting finally killed off and going out right as Kylo went full dark side is a nice touch or too in your face.
- Poe was cool and all, but he was too slight a character. He's a great pilot. That's literally all we know about him. He has no traits beside that. Thank God Oscar Isaac is awesome.
- The first teaser had me freaked out that the designs were gonna suck and that J.J. was gonna go for far too many crazy camera shots. Thankfully the actual movie didn't go that way. Really liked most of the creature and location designs and J.J. kept overactive camera shots to a minimum. Still hate that one from the teaser though.
- I'm probably crazy for this, but I kinda wanted more lens flare.

Prompto said:
You know who else fell down an endless shaft after being stabbed by a lightsaber?

This guy


Han Solo to come back in Episode 8 with robot legs confirmed
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Is it bad that I thought this almost immediately? lol
 
VistraNorrez said:
Agreed. As for Phasma, it wasn't even that she was underused it was that she was a non-entity. She was completely nonthreatening. A shame because her look is so iconic to me, more so than Kylo Ren.

And the ending wasn't just a cocktease, but a cop out. Anyone can create a cliffhanger if they end a scene just as it's starting. I couldn't invest anything in it emotionally because all it had going for it was nostalgia. There was zero substance to it. JJ basically said, "Here Rian, you finish my ending for me".
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I thought the ending was really good. Luke looked great, and it makes you anticipatory towards the next movie. The whole movie you're waiting for Luke, and then they give you just a taste that makes you want more.
 
robotrock said:
She has an incredible amount of midichlorians
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That doesn't mean shit. In the prequels, the clone wars and rebels high midichlorians (aka force sensitivity) are worth nothing more than cool reflexes or visions if you don't train your ass off for real force .powers.

Ezra in Rebels has been show to have trouble mastering mind tricks.

Rey is way too OP. But she still cool.
 
TAJ said:
Major prequel flashbacks.
"The next one, guys... Trust me, the next one."
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I remember thinking before seeing episode 3 how DESPERATELY BADLY I wanted it to be better than episode 2.

I'd be pretty much fine with 8 and 9 being just a little below this one, if the quality is pretty similar throughout the trilogy. That's probably the best compliment I can give it. The next film has a lot to live up to... rather than a tiny bar to clear.
 
Tobor said:
Nope. Not even remotely the case. This one is the one.
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Bear Force One said:
TOTALLY agree. This one is fantastic. Nothing to "make up for" in the others.
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I think people are misunderstanding what that poster is saying. I think that poster is just making the general comment and thinking back to the prequels with a melancholy tone and maybe contrasting with the feeling after this one where they are no satisfied by seeing a Star Wars movie that carried the same tone as the original trilogy. Or, maybe I'm projecting my own thoughts onto that post.
 
Scientist Supreme! said:
I find it disappointing that people believe this.
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Why? It's true. You need to reestablish Star Wars in cinema after the PT, especially when this is the foundation for the whole Disney era of Star Wars. They can go wherever they like in 8 and 9, but I understand completely why 7 had to be a back to basics and safe OT-influenced entry to serve as a return to form for Star Wars fans.
 
Blader said:
This movie also had the most dynamic camera work of any Star Wars, but given the directorial pedigree of the franchise, I guess that'd be kind of a given anyway.
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While I did enjoy them letting the camera just really move around a bit in the action, as well as some of the more striking choices in framing and shots here and there, I feel this camera-work didn't really carry throughout the film as a whole because the dialogue lacked that same finesse. Their choices in filming the dialogue was unfortunately pretty conservative which Tony Zhou's short video essay on the geometry of a scene addresses at the start. The video as a whole is a great example of how it can be done and perhaps what directors should strive towards rather than static, back and forth exchanges where it very much is just people standing and talking. I've only seen The Force Awakens once so far so it may be not as bad as I think but from what I remember, it was a step down from the original trilogy where conversely the dialogue was shot in a dynamic way. Take for instance the rather awkward scene where Leia kisses Luke. We have a variety of shots here, close in and pulled back, and even though it's just Han and Leia talking we have a feel for where everyone else and how they feel in regards to their exchange. It feels so much better when the director doesn't force us into a small lens of faces and shoulders.

In this sense, I felt it failed to capture the feeling of the first three films. It may be a minor gripe compared to say the delivery of those lines from the actors and the quality of the writing, however, it's hard for me to look past it when not only are the characters done really well, but these conversations are arguably the most important parts of the film as they progress the plot, establish these characters, and make up the drama.
 
Theater had a line that wrapped around it and that wasn't surprising. That after we left, a line just as big being there is something I've never seen before. Movie's gonna be huuuuge.

Easily one of the best theater experiences I've ever had. Crowd applauded a lot all throughout and after the credits when the manager asked if we liked it the response was thunderous. Han made me cry and everything after that got me in the feels, like when Rey ignites the saber and Luke's reveal. The wait for 8 is going to be harrrrrrd.
 
I thought the movie was great. Relied a bit too much on the old cast, and was a tad obvious, but overall I think it did precisely what it needed to as a set-up for the following two flicks. I wish it had been longer and certain scenes had been cut shorter, as I think there were just a few too many moments that dwelled a beat too long and others that just breezed through (that final lightsaber battle was like 3 minutes).

Still, I thought it was excellent. 4/5 stars.
 
Mega said:
Good point, forgot about that. I think the rest still stands. I don't think anyone believes they are all kidnapped, brainwashed babies. A lot of the officers look like total assholes who like their evil organization... which they don't consider evil anyway, just right path -- see Phasma and vibroblade Stormtrooper scolding Finn for being a traitor "cop/Nazi/whatever". Finn simply took matters into his own hands and saw through the veil. Others, don't. There are clear parallels to Nazis, corrupt cops, etc. who go along with mistreating and inflicting violence on others. Regardless of their past, they become complicit and basically deserve to pay for their crimes. I'm really not seeing how there was wanton unnecessary death glorification of Stormtroopers in this.
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That's the thing I don't understand the need to add complexity to the Stormtroopers, with the prequels they became Clonetroopers and now they are brain-washed babies, why? Why can't they just be goddamn Space Nazis? Again, like you said those Officers sure look like Nazis who truly believe and can we really believe everyone was recruiting through brain washing? I just don't get it. However, I do believe the film glorifies the violence directed against them. The theatre I was in was laughing, along with me, at some of their deaths especially when Chewbacca was blowing them away.

It's hard to compare them to corrupt cops when unlike real life cops who are adults who have to make choices, these Stormtroopers we are led to believe are raised from birth to be soldiers. They are brainwashed to believe in the First Order and if they show any sign of resistance are taken to be reeducated. Tell me, do you think Finn would have turned had he been sent to reeducation? So now I have to think about all those troopers who might have turned but were reeducated and became killer robots again.
 
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