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[meanspartan]

I think it worked in this movie, but it is a little weird that lightsabers seems to behave like Harry Potter wands, having a "will" and all.

Or maybe it's just that one, with the force imbuing it with power thanks to its two powerful previous owners?

 

[Inferno313]

Yeah, but why wouldn't the Republic know this? Even if the location of the planet was secret at least knowing the first order was trying to build it.

Why would the Republic not be able to say "yo remember the Death Star that killed a planet? They are trying to build one 10 times that size! We might need to do something about this before we all die!"

Instead it appears the shadow Resistance organization had to be formed. Made no fucking sense.

*Psst* the real reason is that Abrams wanted to evoke the imagery of the Rebellion, and that a scrappy upstart is more sympathetic to the audience than a huge army.

Which is how creative decisions are made in every story.

 

[Waldini]

Luke Skywalker has vanished. Some old man has a secret map to his whereabouts but we don't know who this old man is or why he's willing to give up Luke's location despite his wish for secrecy.

R2 had the plans all along but he's in sleep mode until the very end because Episode 8 and 9.

FTFY.

I'm amazed at how people want all the answers jammed into one movie.

4-5-6 = Redemption of Darth Vader.
When Episode 1 got announced we all knew what was going to happen in 1-2-3. This is a SEQUEL Trilogy. Nobody has answers yet ... we will ... somewhere in 2019.

 

[Sylas]

Also, was it just me or did the setting where they found the saber reminiscent of Arthurian legends?

The location was definitely supposed to invoke fantasy taverns with the fact that it felt cozy, but not cozy for you--the traveler. There was a wise woman that runs this intergalactic tavern who knows a whole lot, and she just so happens to live on/near a lake.

And then she gives the heroes the Sword of Destiny that brings them to their true calling.

It reminded me a lot of The Lady of the Lake and Excalibur for some reason.

Anyway, I generally agree with a lot of the opinions I"ve seen. The characters were great, which is a very good foundation for the sequels even if the story/world wasn't as strong. I really liked the Kylo/Han confrontation, Chewie getting a hit in, and how Kylo vs Finn/Rey played out... up until the point that Rey started winning. I would have stopped it at just getting one good exchange in with another wound to Kylo, he sees her as a legitimate threat then they get separated. To have her actually fighting him evenly for several minutes and clearly winning towards the end was a little silly, he's supposed to have been trained by Luke and clearly a powerful fighter.. holding blaster bolts in mid-air and all... an injury can be enough to help her survive and get a hit in but just went too far.

I think a big thing they were trying to show with Benlo was the fact that he isn't a Sith, but is tapping into the same powers that the Sith do. Using your rage and emotions as fuel for your powers does make them stronger, but unless you understand how to control those emotions--you're vulnerable to an absurd degree. Benlo lost control of his emotions several times throughout the movie. The Sith may have been wrong, but their training was integral to actually harnessing the Dark side of the Force.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

So can we safely conclude at this point that TFA is actual Star Wars and will be remembered fondly as part of Star Wars instead of being shunned and disowned like the prequels?

I remember the prequels getting hate immediately and from what I've seen almost everyone loves TFA.

 

[meanspartan]

The moment I got chills on for some reason was when Han and the gang were captured but then you see the X Wings coming in from the distance....fucking chills and the biggest grin.

 

[DeviantBoi]

All those years and Han never tried Chewie's bowcaster?

Or maybe they were just poking fun at how even Chewie never really used in the OT.

 

[ngower]

Alright, I've had some time to process my thoughts.

- They should have spent 15-20 more minutes building up Rey/Finn/Ren's backstory. Not so much their past as just building the foundations of their respective story arcs. Finn's came closest, but we really don't know ANYTHING about Rey and then all of a sudden she's whooping ass. I want something akin to New Hope where you have to build up to the hero story, and not just throw them right into it.

- All of the big surprises were painfully obvious: Ren's father, Han's death, Rey's lightsaber/force abilities...

- Speaking of Rey, how did she become so proficient with a lightsaber? And why is Kylo Ren so terrible with one? You'd think someone who is far along in their training would be better than someone who has never used one before.

- Phasma and Poe seemed almost superfluous. Unless they feature more prominently in the later films, I think they were something of excess.

- The CG on Snoke is bad. In a film that has a lot of really good practical effects and some strong CGI when needed, his CGI stands out as very very poor. It's gonna look so dated in the future. Hope Snoke is practical in the later films.

I really dug the film. It was beautifully shot, the landscapes/environments were spectacular, the action sequences were pretty well done...but overall it felt a bit rushed. We needed a few moments to breath and let the story sort of marinate, but I felt like as I was processing this or that plot point, I was thrown right into another huge battle sequence. There seems to be a good mix of all the dialogue and politics of the prequels and the action of the original trilogy.

I'm going to rewatch it and fully evaluate, but I think it was still overall very strong. My complaints are mostly with the stitching and fabric quality than with the overall garment itself, if that makes sense.

 

[Herbs]

FTFY.

I'm amazed at how people want all the answers jammed into one movie.

4-5-6 = Redemption of Darth Vader.
When Episode 1 got announced we all knew what was going to happen in 1-2-3. This is a SEQUEL Trilogy. Nobody has answers yet ... we will ... somewhere in 2019.

exactly. same with dismissing characters outright. I stated before that Phasma seemed under-utilized but I'm guessing they have more in store for her story and hopefully they do and the beats work. but saying Finn was pointless? Man that shit flew right over his head but maybe he's seen the other two films?

 

[meanspartan]

So can we safely conclude at this point that TFA is actual Star Wars and will be remembered fondly as part of Star Wars instead of being shunned and disowned like the prequels?

I remember the prequels getting hate immediately and from what I've seen almost everyone loves TFA.

Oh absolutely.

Some people are already ranking it among the originals, saying it is better than Jedi even. I don't know about all that quite yet (need to see it a couple more times and see how it sits with me), but it is certainly in that conversation, and clealry way better than the prequels.

 

[DrForester]

I do have to say that the dumbest thing about the movie was everyone on the Resistance planet seeing the weapon blow u p the Republic.

JJ needs to learn how big space is and how it works. Least in Star Trek you could say Spock was on one of Vulcan's moons.

 

[Tizoc]

Actually I assumed Kylo was a clone of Vader or some sort
Could Rey be Luke's daughter or granddaughter?

 

[Woorloog]

I do have to say that the dumbest thing about the movie was everyone on the Resistance planet seeing the weapon blow u p the Republic.

JJ needs to learn how big space is and how it works. Least in Star Trek you could say Spock was on one of Vulcan's moons.

Superluminal weapon. I assume the explosion is also superluminal for some reason, thus visible to elsewhere.
Very handy for terror purposes, when you think about it.

 

[chaislip3]

Saw it last night and had some time to think on it. I fucking loved it. Rey, Finn, and Poe were great new characters, who SHOULD get more screen time in future movies, especially now that Han's gone.

Out of the new cast, I was definitely impressed with Boyega the most, and I thought Adam Driver was great too, with or without the mask. Daisy was good, and she'll definitely improve, and Oscar Isaac was Oscar Isaac (i.e. awesome).

The plot was fine. Sure, it was a little...reminiscent of the originals, but I can't be too surprised that they wanted to be fairly safe with this one. The lightsaber duels were some of my favorite in the series. I loved how raw they were. I definitely thought that it had the best dialogue out of all the movies. It was way funnier than I was expecting.

I'm very excited to see where Rian Johnson takes VIII, and I'm especially interested to see how Benicio del Toro's character fits into all of this since Hux and Phasma both survived.

Oh, yeah. Rey's totally Luke's daughter.

I'll need to see it a few more times to properly rank it, but if I had to do it now:

ESB
TFA
ANH
ROTJ
ROTS
TPM
AOTC

 

[The Flash]

I kinda want there to be an extended version. I want to see exactly how Poe got off of Jakku.

 

[Sylas]

I do have to say that the dumbest thing about the movie was everyone on the Resistance planet seeing the weapon blow u p the Republic.

JJ needs to learn how big space is and how it works. Least in Star Trek you could say Spock was on one of Vulcan's moons.

Star Wars locales have always been 2 things.

1) Each planet has precisely 1 city.

2) Each planet is as close to the other planets as it needs to be. Nothing is important until it's mentioned and then it's clustered very closely together.

I think it's kinda silly still, but it's always been that way!

I kinda want there to be an extended version. I want to see exactly how Poe got off of Jakku.

I'm gonna say that it's gonna be addressed in a later film. It seemed too conveniently glossed over. There's likely more to that story.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Can I just say, it was nice seeing Rey not lose her shit with Finn for being lied to.

 

[Ithil]

Alright, I've had some time to process my thoughts.

- They should have spent 15-20 more minutes building up Rey/Finn/Ren's backstory. Not so much their past as just building the foundations of their respective story arcs. Finn's came closest, but we really don't know ANYTHING about Rey and then all of a sudden she's whooping ass. I want something akin to New Hope where you have to build up to the hero story, and not just throw them right into it.

- All of the big surprises were painfully obvious: Ren's father, Han's death, Rey's lightsaber/force abilities...

- Speaking of Rey, how did she become so proficient with a lightsaber? And why is Kylo Ren so terrible with one? You'd think someone who is far along in their training would be better than someone who has never used one before.

- Phasma and Poe seemed almost superfluous. Unless they feature more prominently in the later films, I think they were something of excess.

- The CG on Snoke is bad. In a film that has a lot of really good practical effects and some strong CGI when needed, his CGI stands out as very very poor. It's gonna look so dated in the future. Hope Snoke is practical in the later films.

I really dug the film. It was beautifully shot, the landscapes/environments were spectacular, the action sequences were pretty well done...but overall it felt a bit rushed. We needed a few moments to breath and let the story sort of marinate, but I felt like as I was processing this or that plot point, I was thrown right into another huge battle sequence. There seems to be a good mix of all the dialogue and politics of the prequels and the action of the original trilogy.

I'm going to rewatch it and fully evaluate, but I think it was still overall very strong. My complaints are mostly with the stitching and fabric quality than with the overall garment itself, if that makes sense.

How in god's name is Snoke supposed to be practical? The reason he is CG is because that design can't be done practically unless it were a puppet, and then you have Andy Serkis there for no reason.

 

[kurahador]

I think it worked in this movie, but it is a little weird that lightsabers seems to behave like Harry Potter wands, having a "will" and all.

Or maybe it's just that one, with the force imbuing it with power thanks to its two powerful previous owners?

Nahh...that hallucination thing was because she's in a Jedi Temple.

 

[Herbs]

Saw it last night and had some time to think on it. I fucking loved it. Rey, Finn, and Poe were great new characters, who SHOULD get more screen time in future movies, especially now that Han's gone.

Out of the new cast, I was definitely impressed with Boyega the most, and I thought Adam Driver was great too, with or without the mask. Daisy was good, and she'll definitely improve, and Oscar Isaac was Oscar Isaac (i.e. awesome).

The plot was fine. Sure, it was a little...reminiscent of the originals, but I can't be too surprised that they wanted to be fairly safe with this one. The lightsaber duels were some of my favorite in the series. I loved how raw they were. I definitely thought that it had the best dialogue out of all the movies. It was way funnier than I was expecting.

I'm very excited to see where Rian Johnson takes VIII, and I'm especially interested to see how Benicio del Toro's character fits into all of this since Hux and Phasma both survived.

Oh, yeah. Rey's totally Luke's daughter.



I'll need to see it a few more times to properly rank it, but if I had to do it now:

ESB
TFA
ANH
ROTJ
ROTS
TPM
AOTC

Agreed on that order. Will have to reevaluate in a few months as the hype from seeing it last night is still strong.

How in god's name is Snoke supposed to be practical? The reason he is CG is because that design can't be done practically unless it were a puppet, and then you have Andy Serkis there for no reason.

It's easy man, you just build him and work him and stuff. Puppets or some shit. /s

 

[meanspartan]

Alright, I've had some time to process my thoughts.

- They should have spent 15-20 more minutes building up Rey/Finn/Ren's backstory. Not so much their past as just building the foundations of their respective story arcs. Finn's came closest, but we really don't know ANYTHING about Rey and then all of a sudden she's whooping ass. I want something akin to New Hope where you have to build up to the hero story, and not just throw them right into it.

- All of the big surprises were painfully obvious: Ren's father, Han's death, Rey's lightsaber/force abilities...

- Speaking of Rey, how did she become so proficient with a lightsaber? And why is Kylo Ren so terrible with one? You'd think someone who is far along in their training would be better than someone who has never used one before.

- Phasma and Poe seemed almost superfluous. Unless they feature more prominently in the later films, I think they were something of excess.

- The CG on Snoke is bad. In a film that has a lot of really good practical effects and some strong CGI when needed, his CGI stands out as very very poor. It's gonna look so dated in the future. Hope Snoke is practical in the later films.

I really dug the film. It was beautifully shot, the landscapes/environments were spectacular, the action sequences were pretty well done...but overall it felt a bit rushed. We needed a few moments to breath and let the story sort of marinate, but I felt like as I was processing this or that plot point, I was thrown right into another huge battle sequence. There seems to be a good mix of all the dialogue and politics of the prequels and the action of the original trilogy.

I'm going to rewatch it and fully evaluate, but I think it was still overall very strong. My complaints are mostly with the stitching and fabric quality than with the overall garment itself, if that makes sense.

Agreed on Phasma, she was kinda eh.

But Poe? Poe was awesome, intensely likable, and commanded the screen every time he was on it.

 

[Werd]

So does anyone think there is an explanation for Luke's saber that was just delayed, or was the "good question for another time" bit the last we hear of it.

 

[Magnus]

One bit that kinda took me out of the movie:

Did anyone else notice that when Leia was resting her head on Han, and they went to the close up, it was SUPER out of focus? Or was that a flaw with my screening? Everything else was in focus, but it felt like they were really trying to not show the harshness of age on Carrie Fisher's face.

Otherwise, loved it. Had a blast.

Haha, yes! I thought my glasses were fucking up.

 

[Kaibutsu]

Porkins 2.0 y'all!

 

[WadiumArcadium]

Nahh...that hallucination thing was because she's in a Jedi Temple.

Maz Kanata's castle wasn't a Jedi Temple unless I'm missing something? It was touching the lightsaber.

 

[meanspartan]

Nahh...that hallucination thing was because she's in a Jedi Temple.

Ya but then later the lightsaber came to her instead of Ren.

 

[munchie64]

- They should have spent 15-20 more minutes building up Rey/Finn/Ren's backstory. Not so much their past as just building the foundations of their respective story arcs. Finn's came closest, but we really don't know ANYTHING about Rey and then all of a sudden she's whooping ass. I want something akin to New Hope where you have to build up to the hero story, and not just throw them right into it.

I dunno, we spent a good few minutes with Rey before she met BB8, where we really learned all we need to about her life. Granted, more time for breathing room on the Falcon.

 

[reggieandTFE]

People complaining about Snoke CGI did you go 3D or 2D I saw it 2D and thought he was fine.

Also whilst Ren is having his tantrum and destroying that room, the two storm troopers that just run the other way is hilarious.

I saw it in 3D and the low quality stood out even with the dim lighting compared to someone like Moz Kanata. More disappointing is the design; he's like a scarred up Gollum. :/

 

[jett]

They never addressed this, but I'm assuming it will be answered in the next movie along with who exactly the Max von Sydow character was.

Episode VIII: Exposition Boogaloo.

At least Abrams isn't directing or writing it, otherwise we'd get even more questions and mysteries without any answers whatsoever.

 

[Herbs]

So does anyone think there is an explanation for Luke's saber that was just delayed, or was the "good question for another time" bit the last we hear of it.

I'm guessing we'll find out. There is no resolution in the canon that I'm aware of that explains what happened after Luke's hand was cut off and the light saber fell.

 

[Fox Mulder]

- Speaking of Rey, how did she become so proficient with a lightsaber? And why is Kylo Ren so terrible with one? You'd think someone who is far along in their training would be better than someone who has never used one before.

He was injured and just struggled to kill his father. Maybe he just sucks at fighting since he used his force powers to freeze people in place.

 

[Ragnorok64]

I don't believe a single piece of Star Wars media in the history of the franchise has ever treated the size of the galaxy with any amount of realism.

It's kind of funny, but due to how the movies are cut, hyper-space travel is basically getting faster and faster with each movie.

 

[Aurongel]

"A LASER CANNON!

JUST LIKE THE DEATH STAR!

NO, THIS IS WAY DIFFERENT. THIS IS HOW BIG THE DEATH STAR WAS... AND THIS IS HOW BIG THE NEW DOOMSDAY WEAPON IS".


Prequel trilogy levels of cringe from this scene. It made my skin crawl from how stupidly out of place it was. It's bad enough that the film poaches it's third act tension from the first film but directly referencing the similarities is just... Stupid.

 

[Jintor]

One thing I didn't understand about Finns character is if he was raised by the new order from a clearly super early age to be a storm trooper why was he so sassy and jokey? Do they have sass classes in new order academy? Do they teach concepts like "boyfreind" and stuff? I wish he was more awkward and less quippy I guess is what I'm saying

It felt to me like you attach blood to a stormtrooper face and suddenly you get a whole vat-grown personality, lol

 

[Kaibutsu]

Can I just say, it was nice seeing Rey not lose her shit with Finn for being lied to.

Yes, this is a nice realistic touch. Not everything has to be soap opera levels of dramatic and anguish

 

[Arkos]

So who else is disappointed that Kylo Ren wasn't Jar Jar

 

[Sylas]

I saw it in 3D and the low quality stood out even with the dim lighting compared to someone like Moz Kanata. More disappointing is the design; he's like a scarred up Gollum. :/

Bolded is what I agree with. I don't think Snoke's CGI was terrible--I think he was a hologram and it was supposed to be kinda jarring. The lower quality of it could be used to communicate a certain "offness" about the character immediately.

"There's no way he's that large when he's first on scree--oh, he's just a hologram. Okay!"

That sort of thing. We'll see how he looks when he's there in person, but right now I'm content with chalking his lower quality CGI onto the fact that he's a hologram, and giving it an element of falseness is easier to swallow than the color-corrected actors they used in the PT.

Ya but then later the lightsaber came to her instead of Ren.

She was using a force pull on the saber. She's stronger than Kylo in the force. Likely because they wanted to show that rage and hatred alone does not make you powerful.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Can I just say, it was nice seeing Rey not lose her shit with Finn for being lied to.

Now imagine if George had written that scene.

"Finn, you're breaking my heart!"

 

[KoruptData]

Loved the movie. I have no complaints. I'll wait to judge the story in another 4 years. Good lord I will be 38 by the time this story wraps up.

 

[DeviantBoi]

I just hope Snoke is not the Emperor or one of his clones (that was part of EU, if I recall correctly).

People are complaining that TFA is too similar to ANH, so having the same bad guy in the new trilogy be the same bad guy from the OT would bolster their complaints.

 

[Blader]

- Speaking of Rey, how did she become so proficient with a lightsaber? And why is Kylo Ren so terrible with one? You'd think someone who is far along in their training would be better than someone who has never used one before.

She knows how to wield a weapon already.

She's being subconsciously guided by the Force.

Kylo Ren is wounded, having taken a straight blaster shot to the gut.

 

[d1rtn4p]

"A LASER CANNON!

JUST LIKE THE DEATH STAR!

NO, THIS IS WAY DIFFERENT. THIS IS HOW BIG THE DEATH STAR WAS... AND THIS IS HOW BIG THE NEW DOOMSDAY WEAPON IS".


Prequel trilogy levels of cringe from this scene. It made my skin crawl from how stupidly out of place it was. It's bad enough that the film poaches it's third act tension from the first film but directly referencing the similarities is just... Stupid.

Lol yep.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

I kinda want there to be an extended version. I want to see exactly how Poe got off of Jakku.

I want to know WHY Poe got of Jakku. Wasn't his mission to find BB-8?

 

[GreySquirrel]

Saw this last night with purposely no knowledge of anything apart from some almost impossible to avoid things like the picture of Han and Chewy.

Thought at the time it would have been awesome if at the end, Luke force pulled the lightsaber to his hand and the movie ends with a closeup of his hand grabbing it. But maybe that's a bit too cheesy.

 

[Herbs]

Now imagine if George had written that scene.

"Finn, you're breaking my heart!"

"I know"

 

[Dusktildawn48]

When is the next movie slated for?

 

[kurahador]

Maz Kanata's castle wasn't a Jedi Temple unless I'm missing something? It was touching the lightsaber.

The movie doesn't say it, but that scene is pretty similar to the one in cartoon series Star Wars Rebels.
Safe to say that place used to be Jedi Temple. Maz Kanata seems to know something about the Jedi too.

Ya but then later the lightsaber came to her instead of Ren.

I think that was Rey making use of the force.

 

[Blader]

Can I just say, it was nice seeing Rey not lose her shit with Finn for being lied to.

everything about their interactions was such a breath of fresh air.

 

[bill0527]

One thing people haven't really mentioned.... how about those new physics on the Millenium Falcon.

That old hunk of junk was doing some things at the Jakku ship graveyard I didn't know were possible.

 

[Woorloog]

I just hope Snoke is not the Emperor or one of his clones (that was part of EU, if I recall correctly).

People are complaining that TFA is too similar to ANH, so having the same bad guy in the new trilogy be the same bad guy from the OT would bolster their complaints.

Pretty sure Lucasfilm has made it clear he is a new guy. But just who and what he is is left a mystery, probably until the next film.