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

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That helicopter shot at the end should've either been cut entirely or been a wide angle two shot from the side with the ocean in the background (maybe as a tiny nod to Kylo's mention of Rey imagining the ocean or whatever it was he said).

The shot they have now just feels jarring and out of place.

Agreed.

In general, I think some of the shot selections in this movie were a bit lackluster, but nailing the ending is especially important and they didn't.
 
Contrast this movie with all the prequel yackity-tack exposition. This was so much better.
I feel like this went a TAD in the other direction though, with not enough exposition. I still have abaolutely no idea what the power dynamic is between the First Order and the Resistance. I'm not asking for a nice hallway walk-and-explain, but as it is I really don't what happened that caused these two factions to be in the positions they're in, or even exactly what positions those are.
 
I saw a screenshot of Han dying but quickly closed it. I didn't really see what happened but as soon as he walked up to Kylo I knew what was gonna happen. Damn it.
Got spoiled on that watching a twitch stream yesterday. I hoped it was a fake spoiler, but I was pretty dissapointed when I saw that it was real.
 
It's a parallel to the Jedi way of doing things. Jedi give kids a choice to join, First Order just grab them. Finn was taken by evil forces and rebelled by being good, Ben was taken by good forces and rebelled by being bad. Rey is the anomaly because she was taken by good forces AND then by bad forces... and her goal was merely survival.

It's pretty damn clever writing.

So how do you feel about our heroes blowing up a bunch of people who were kidnapped and brainwashed since birth?

How is that clever?
 
Yeah, the crowd went wild for Han, Leia, R2D2, Admiral Ackbar, hell even Nien Nunb got some cheers, but nothing for Luke. I think we were all waiting for him to do something more. I liked the buildup with the stairs in that scene and the accompanying score, but the Luke reveal itself left a lot to be desired.

I thought Luke being there was a misstep to be honest. Film should have ended with Rey and Chewie setting out to find Luke. Him showing up was too much of a 'SEE YOU IN TWO YEARS LOL' ending.
 
Really liked the movie overall. It was a lot of fun and I'm interested where these characters go. My biggest concern is that we will get more of a reinaging of the original trilogy has opposed to it breaking new ground. I'm sure it can't all be the same, but Disney does seem to be a company that would be okay with playing it safe with the trilogy.

Also, Poe is what Wedge would be if he had updated fx. Dude is nuts.
 
It's also worth pointing out that I haven't even seen the damn movie yet, I'm just in here because this thread is basically a carnival inside of an active volcano and I was never going to pass that shit up

I think if you gave people a poll it would end up around a 7/7.5, which is perfectly acceptable, I think its around a 7, its just that there is so much that could have been better, its not a million miles away from being a really good film which is almost as horrible as it being terrible frankly, because you can see the good in it but it never quite goes to the right places.

Eh, I'd hang it on 9s, since the positives seem to outweigh the negatives in most people's eyes.

I personally like all the "this was stupid. That was stupid. This didn't make sense. 10/10"

Kinda like this. Movie seems like a crowdpleaser that's got some real flaws behind the surface and the fanservice.

It's fun. It could be a lot better though. You have some potentially great characters for the sequels (except for the gawd Han Solo :( )

so now that Rian Johnson is making something that will likely be freed of the shackles of "hey remember those old movies? make it EXACTLY like that" and he'll be able to do his own thing it's gonna be awesome.

Now that shit's going to get weird. Do we get Brick Rian or Looper Rian? Either way he's going to probably have Rey be really into robutts or some shit
 
There was someone complaining in one of the prerelease threads about lightsaber duels in the OT vs PT and how the OT they didn't look heavily choreographed with the sabers trying to kill instead of hitting each other. Of course, Abrams was totally going to fix that.

Welp, joke's on you.

Also, if Ben's so powerful, use Force powers when fighting FFS.
I think you misunderstand me. I do think Abrams fixed it.

Actually, if you look at the OT lightsaber duels, they're not that impressive. The one in ANH is by far the worst, although to be fair Alec Guinness was an old guy and probably not up to all of the stunts that would be required. Still, there is a lot of Flynning and "hit the other guy's saber".

By contrast, the lightsaber duels in TFA are much more violent and visceral, and it actually feels like the people involved are fighting with longswords and trying to kill each other with them.
 
Considering my crowd popped for every returning character simply appearing onscreen, I was kinda surprised when Luke turned and nothing happened. No gasps, no cheers.

But then I was like "Well, maybe they're reacting the same way I did when I saw him at the press screening." Which was to notice that his mouth was hanging open, and he looked slightly crazy and not all there, which was weird as shit when the music was trying to tell me this was a sorta-kinda uplifting moment.

It felt like the moment needed to NOT be a helicopter shot, and needed to have him speak. Say SOMETHING.

Everyone was waiting for him to say something. Look at his eyes when he takes off the hood and then look at him after he sees the saber. It's like he woke up from a dream.
 
Did anyone else think that the CGI on Snoke was terrible?

I kept telling myself that it was just a hologram of Snoke, and that he will look much more realistic when we actually see him in person in the film.

He still looked a little weird though.

He looked like the cave troll from LOTR to me, which isn't a compliment.
 
So how do you feel about the Resistance blowing up a bunch of people who were kidnapped and brainwashed since birth?

How is that clever?

The Resistance is an army at war. They worked with the Ewoks in ROTJ, who likely ate Stormtroopers. I don't think they dwell and neither should we.
 
What also could have been cool is if, when Rey offered the lightsaber, the last shot was it shimmering in her hand, a bit like when Luke pulled his lightsaber from the Snow in ESB, perhaps indicating his powers with the force had atrophied and he is trying to get it back.

I dunno, I can think of a thousand ways that scene would have been better.
 
Your father, Han Solo.

Our son.

My grandfather.

WE GET IT. Got really grating after the tenth time.


There was someone complaining in one of the prerelease threads about lightsaber duels in the OT vs PT and how the OT they didn't look heavily choreographed with the sabers trying to kill instead of hitting each other. Of course, Abrams was totally going to fix that.

Welp, joke's on you.

Also, if Ben's so powerful, use Force powers when fighting FFS.

I'm nitpicking because I mostly enjoyed it but had some issues with the dialogue and plot structure.

It was for the sake of young viewers and casual audiences. I saw the movie at a screening for clients of my workplace and a bunch of people did not pick up on the various relationships nor have a firm memory of the OT (if any viewing experience of it at all). I had to explain obvious stuff to coworkers after. Some felt it was Game of Thrones-levels of confusion in how much you were expected to pick up on. I don't think it was that bad but I can see why it was a bit hard for a total non-SW fan to follow.

Re Ben, I think a combination of emotional turmoil over his father, the wound distracting him, lack of deep fighting experience and sheer arrogance led to his sloppy fighting. He was showing up, sidestepping with ease and toying with him a bit and yet Finn still landed a clean hit and lasted a while. Anyone in the PT or OT would have ended that fight in seconds.

Rey is clearly an experienced and highly gifted Force user from Luke's academy who's regaining her memory and powers she had as a kid. She clowned him in force grabbing the lightsaber. I don't think Kylo could have knocked her around with the Force with her latent abilities and his condition.
 
Got spoiled on that watching a twitch stream yesterday. I hoped it was a fake spoiler, but I was pretty dissapointed when I saw that it was real.

I knew Han was a dead man walking as soon as Harrison Ford was cast, but I expected him to go around when Obi-Wan did in the original Star Wars. He did a lot more than I was expecting, and honestly was a lot better than I thought he'd be, too.
 
It's a parallel to the Jedi way of doing things. Jedi give kids a choice to join, First Order just grab them. Finn was taken by evil forces and rebelled by being good, Ben was taken by good forces and rebelled by being bad. Rey is the anomaly because she was taken by good forces AND then by bad forces... and her goal was merely survival.

It's pretty damn clever writing.

What? Ben wasn't taken by anyone, Han and Leia are his parents who raised him. They apparently sent him to train to be a Jedi with Luke though I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been against his wishes.
 
Considering my crowd popped for every returning character simply appearing onscreen, I was kinda surprised when Luke turned and nothing happened. No gasps, no cheers.

But then I was like "Well, maybe they're reacting the same way I did when I saw him at the press screening." Which was to notice that his mouth was hanging open, and he looked slightly crazy and not all there, which was weird as shit when the music was trying to tell me this was a sorta-kinda uplifting moment.

It felt like the moment needed to NOT be a helicopter shot, and needed to have him speak. Say SOMETHING.

I think it's just that they are overselling the character. I think when all is said and done having Luke be in hiding is going to be of the dumbest things Abrams/Kasdan could have done. It's so against his character established in the OT.

We're just suppose to believe he abandoned everyone after his cousin killed everything he built. That he just gave up. And that's what I don't like that they wrote that character into a corner for Johnson.

Luke doesn't need to be some mythological figure.
 
A solid 7/10 for me. Solid film but I feel it could have done a better job expanding the universe. Would have liked it if the big weapon wasn't such a death star analog but I guess the entire film was riffing on the of trilogy.
 
What? Ben wasn't taken by anyone, Han and Leia are his parents who raised him. They apparently sent him to train to be a Jedi with Luke though I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been against his wishes.

'Taken in' then. Point still stands. Evil couldn't corrupt Finn, good couldn't save Ben. They strongly hint that they hoped the training would remove the Darth Vader in him. It didn't work.
 
It just hit me that they basically pulled a Tron Legacy with Luke and just had his dumb ass hide for forever

THE ONLY WAY TO WIN THE GAME IS NOT TO PLAY, SAM
 
I knew Han was a dead man walking as soon as Harrison Ford was cast, but I expected him to go around when Obi-Wan did in the original Star Wars. He did a lot more than I was expecting, and honestly was a lot better than I thought he'd be, too.

Yep and Kylo being his son telegraphed it a mile away as well.
 
Rey/Finn/Han were good, though, even if the Finn-love angle felt a bit forced.
Honestly I liked it. Hell, half of NeoGAF was professing their love for Daisy Ridley when the promo materials started coming out, and she isn't the literal first exposure to a normal adult human woman in peoples' lives (I hope).
 
It just hit me that they basically pulled a Tron Legacy with Luke and just had his dumb ass hide for forever

THE ONLY WAY TO WIN THE GAME IS NOT TO PLAY, SAM

it was in the back of my mind that he's kind of being a shit letting all these people get into this peril just to find his chill spot.

i bet he will feel guilt over solo in ep 8. maybe chewie will choke him or something.
 
It's not hand-holding. It's bad editing. You keep trying to frame my argument like I'm suggesting there be a minute long scene with them arguing or something, when I'm specifically saying all that needs to be shown is a second or two establishing the character is still around and then they get an exit. Maz boarding a shuttle and saying "I'll catch up with you later" or simply waving from a window. Done. No need for a scene. Just a shot.

Semi-important characters just drop off the board in this film and it's not a good editing decision.

Yep editing around the Maz castle attack was noticeable weird.

1.Spies call in bb-8 at castle.
2. Cut to a totally unrelated action, like everyone forgot they were chasing bb-8, of the HUX speech and fireing the superweapon. Ren is just chilling on the deck watching the beams.
3. Either right after or a short bit after, castle is attacked and all of a sudden Ren is now showing up at the castle. This just flowed really odd to me. Making it seem he was in 2 places at once doing different things almost.
4. Big battle and chase into the woods.
5. Resistence shows up, is cleaning up the place.
6. ren captures Rey and walk her back to the ship non chalantly and in the open. And slowly fly off with Rey.
But , wait, where the hell did the resistence x wings go during this part? We never see them again here. Last we saw was them winning and cleaning up. Next time we see Poe is back at the base. They should have blown up Rens ship or at least shot at or been attacking the leaving ships and tie fighters. But they were just gone?

Its obvious a lot of stuff was cut, which is true.
 
Does anyone get the Comics? I get the shattered empire comics and noticed in the film there was that moment when the 5 planets were destroyed by the death ray thing. They showed a shot on one of the planets of a black girl- is she the one from the comics?
 
it was in the back of my mind that he's kind of being a shit letting all these people get into this peril just to find his chill spot.

i bet he will feel guilt over solo in ep 8. maybe chewie will choke him or something.

Luke sounds bitchmade. Some tragic shit happened but you still gotta man up

Should've just ended the movie with Luke taking his hood off, and Kylo just backstabbing his ass because fuck it
 
When Chewie had Phasma subdued, I thought she had long flowing locks, but it turned out it was just Chewie's arm behind her head

Which is a lot better than the idea that she just has this mass of hair hanging out of her helmet
 
This was wonderful. Just got out.

I still believe Luke has gone totally fucking nuts with the weight of how important he is to the balance of the force.

I'M SO GLAD THEY LEFT QUESTIONS FOR US. THIS IS HOW SEQUELS ARE SET UP. Like we barely know anything about Kylo. We hardly know who the fuck Rey is.

Can't wait to see it again. I'll type up my full thoughts tomorrow.

Loved it until Han showed up.

ur cray.
 
Yep editing around the Maz castle attack was noticeable weird.

1.Spies call in bb-8 at castle.
2. Cut to a totally unrelated action, like everyone forgot they were chasing bb-8, of the HUX speech and fireing the superweapon. Ren is just chilling on the deck watching the beams.
3. Either right after or a short bit after, castle is attacked and all of a sudden Ren is now showing up at the castle. This just flowed really odd to me. Making it seem he was in 2 places at once doing different things almost.
4. Big battle and chase into the woods.
5. Resistence shows up, is cleaning up the place.
6. ren captures Rey and walk her back to the ship non chalantly and in the open. And slowly fly off with Rey.
But , wait, where the hell did the resistence x wings go during this part? We never see them again here. Last we saw was them winning and cleaning up. Next time we see Poe is back at the base. They should have blown up Rens ship or at least shot at or been attacking the leaving ships and tie fighters. But they were just gone?

Its obvious a lot of stuff was cut, which is true.

Yup, and than they leave the scene in with Han taking chewie's bowcaster, which already happened in a much more organic way 10 minutes earlier. During the attack on Maz's castle it felt incredibly forced.
 
I like that Kylo Ren's character is LITERALLY "shitty bootleg Darth Vader" as an actual plot point. I actually feel like that makes him even more believable as a villain and will go far towards his inevitable development into becoming an actual badass as the trilogy goes on, as opposed to the try hard "I really wanna use the Dark Side" kid that he is in this movie.

They kinda did that with Anakin except in reverse, yet everyone hated on it. If Kylo becomes Vader 2.0, people should complain that he was once a whiny kid.
 
Oh, and the film looked great in 2D, might try to catch it again before it leaves theaters to see if it grows on me with a second viewing.
 
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