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[TangoAlphaLima]

So is Finn force-sensitive or not? I mean, I think he is, but they leave it a bit ambiguous.

Nothing about the movie hinted that.

Why do people keep asking this about Finn? There is zero chance he's force-sensitive.

Rey is the Luke character of this trilogy, and Finn is the Han Solo-ish character of this trilogy. I wouldn't be surprised to get more Jedi other than Rey, but I'm 99.9% sure if we do, we haven't seem them yet.

 

[stupei]

I don't think they really did anything to overly promote the character though. Again, the only thing anyone ever talked about was that Phasma was cast as a woman. Nothing ever about her character.

Gwendoline Christie was very prominent in the press tour, which is a huge part of promoting a movie that a lot of people are going to avoid spoilers for. Phasma certainly received more attention than Hux, who plays a much more important role in the film. Not saying that they suggested she was a major character, but the amount of time spent talking about her definitely gives the impression she'll have more than four lines.

 

[DownGrader]

ANH is exciting from the first scene till the end with the bonus of being original.

Only for the first time. I really don't like rewatching Episode IV despite liking it - it just drags on and on. I even remember Lucas admitting that there's not so much going on in ANH and it considered to be fast-paced only in 1979 because the universe was new and a lot of things were left unexplained. (This is from Blu-ray commentary, as far as I remember.)

 

[Croatoan]

The "Wookies were enslaved" stuff was EU only and never conveyed in the movies at all, that's glorified fan fiction. The only Wookie we actually see in the OT is a free one who runs with Han Solo. Plus, enslaved or not, what sounds like a safer plan? Working on a planet with 8 foot tall beasts that hate you because you enslaved them or 3 foot tall teddy bears that generally didn't give a single crap about you until the Rebels showed up.

Not to be a dick but Chewie was not free. He was enslaved to Han via a life debt. Chewie is actually free now due to Han's death. Which makes the big guys anger and hurt after Kylo killed Han all the more touching.

 

[Valus]

I knew someone who came out of the movie swearing that Rey is Luke's daughter. While I doubt that because Han and Leia would have known, does anyone else feel that way?

Without a doubt she is his daughter.

I saw the film last night and idk. I liked it overall but it felt too much like a new hope 2.0.

-There was the bar scene with Han in both films
-The young skywalker in the desert who is good with machines and is struggling to get by but gets caught up in something and leaves
-The death star 2.0 that is BIGGER AND BADDER WOO. And look, it can destroy FIVE WHOLE PLANETS AT A TIME. woooo bigger and badder.
-It gets taken out the same fucking way as the death star, as it's charging its death beam at the good guys a group of brave pilots find a pivotal weak spot
-There's the very important information put into a droid that needs to be brought to the resistance
-The big character dramatic death to make you hate the guy

I'm sure there's more that I missed. It makes me appreciate the prequels in a new light because despite being majorly flawed, at least they had their own identity.

 

[kaiju]

In theater now here we go fam

 

[ZZMitch]

So pls explain why you think it is better.

I think the characters and acting in TFA is much better than ANH. I also think TFA is more exciting than ANH, which I watched a few weeks ago in preparation and was a tad bored (at least compared to the greatness that is ESB). I really loved the ending bits of TFA too. The raw emotions of Rey and Kylo, who are really just two kids who don't know their full power, going at it with lots of energy (but less skill and precision) was in my opinion really well done. Poe and Finn were also great and some of my favorite characters in the series.

Also if you look at my ranking I never said TFA is better than ANH. I had them equally rated. Although my gut feeling is that years down the line after multiple viewings I will eventually rate TFA above ANH. I think TFA has one of the weakest musical scores in the series, for example, while ANH is great in that regard.

 

[Blader]

lol @ this notion that Mark Hamill is close to death. He's fucking 64 years old! He's not 90 (Max Von Sydow, who actually is close to 90, looked great in this). And he's in better shape now than he has for like 15-20 years.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

It being the original doesn't make the film better in my eyes, if anything it makes it a bit worse since there's a lot of janky things in ANH since it came out in the 70s. Things that I overlook because I know the movie is old as hell but those things are still there.

If I'm just looking at them as movies and not cultural phenomenons than TFA is just all around better.

It's more emotional, funny, exciting and scary.

I love the TFA but there are so many things wrong with it and that is with seeing it only twice.

You say it is more emotional, but why? I felt no emotion, I felt nothing when my favourite character in film died because it was obvious for a few minutes what was going to happen and they made him look like a fool.

Funny? how when all the funny scenes errrrrrrrrrrr reference the original films.

Man, disagree wholeheartedly.

fair enough

 

[gutter_trash]

was anyone else surprised by all the similarities to episode 4?

droid gets important data
droid stranded on desert planet
droid stumbles into unlikely hero
unlikely hero takes droid off world
important data provided to underdog organization
trench run
big explosion of ultimate weapon

old man killed by Sith Apprentice

 

[WadiumArcadium]

anyone who rates ROTS over ROTJ is not a real Star Wars fan

ROTJ has the real Anakin.

ROTS has the fake Anakin.

And you've invalidated your opinion entirely.

 

[Frog-fu]

Loved this scene, but I thought the funniest scene was when they capture Phasma and Finn gets right in her face going "I'm in charge now! Me! I'm in charge!" and Han just goes "Ok dial it back."

That and the "that's not how the force works!" line. Man, the chemistry between all the characters in this movie is so great. Bummed we won't be getting anymore Finn/Han banter. RIP.

Finn is the life and soul of the movie for me. Everything the guy did was either awesome or hysterical. I say it again, Boyega could have chemistry with a rock.

He also had a pretty good scene with Maz when he tells her she doesn't know shit about him. Boyega's expressions were on point.

I so need to see more of Finn and Poe bromance in VIII though. I thought it was awesome Poe gave him a name. I get the feeling they'll be like brothers, especially if Poe teaches him how to fly.

 

[Future PhaZe]

anyone who rates ROTS over ROTJ is not a real Star Wars fan

ROTJ has the real Anakin.

ROTS has the fake Anakin.

RotJ is such a bad film after the Han attempt aside from the Luke and Vader fight though.

RotS isn't better--but its a film that moves a lot throughout.

 

[GPsych]

Yes it is. It plays with audience expectations and genre in such a delicious way. It also has interesting characters who go through compelling arcs, and world building that is mostly done by showing and not telling. In addition, it's thematically rich, it's essentially a sci-fi action thriller that is ultimately an argument for the necessity of strong parenting.

Different strokes I guess. This is a Star Wars thread, so I won't bother debating those points, but in my opinion, Looper's plotting was some of the worst I have seen in a big theatrical release. Star Trek Into Darkness was worse, but not by much.

 

[The Flash]

If there's going to be romance in VIII the only logical choice is Rey/Poe.

Spoiler

Because Poe is a boss and I like him a little more than Finn.

 

[Anton Sugar]

was anyone else surprised by all the similarities to episode 4?

droid gets important data
droid stranded on desert planet
droid stumbles into unlikely hero
unlikely hero takes droid off world
important data provided to underdog organization
trench run
big explosion of ultimate weapon

Don't forget "planets destroyed by ultimate weapon". There is also "fighters in space wait on humans before the assault can be a success" though I guess that's ROTJ.

Yeah, it was a bit much--they could have deviated more, or should have.

 

[Fliesen]

Man, disagree wholeheartedly.

seeing as ANH is a by-the-numbers hero's journey, it's not original either.

was anyone else surprised by all the similarities to episode 4?

droid gets important data
droid stranded on desert planet
droid stumbles into unlikely hero
unlikely hero takes droid off world
important data provided to underdog organization
trench run
big explosion of ultimate weapon

no, NOBODY ELSE drew parallels to ANH

but seriously, people are cherry picking so they can call it an ANH "remake", meanwhile the movie is actually a 'remake' to the structure of the ENTIRE original trilogy.

The Han Solo / Kylo Ren moment resembles the one in Empire
Much of the structure of the final battle (Super Weapon protected by a shield, that has to be deactivated by a small squad led by Han Solo, which then opens up said structure to being entered by an X-Wing that point blank shoots vital components of the superweapon. Meanwhile, a light saber battle between the hero and the dark jedi is happening) is straight from ROTJ. (the 'race against time, rebel base is in danger' aspect is from ANH, of course)
Rey being taken by Kylo Ren while Finn watches them take off is similar to the moment in Empire where Leia has to watch Han being taken from her.
The cellar in Maz Tanaka's bar, was a transformative moment to our hero like the cave on Dagobah in Empire.

 

[KevinCow]

Guys, am I reading this right?

More than $100 million in tickets have been presold in North America. The movie ticket service Fandango said it has already sold more tickets for "The Force Awakens" than any movie over its entire theatrical run.

TFA sold more tickets in its opening weekend than any other movie ever in their entire run? How is that even possible?

 

[CorrisD]

The other thing which annoyed me was the two second star jump to find Luke at the end, they should have indicated that some time had passed. It was like popping to the shops for some milk, but they had similar issues with travel distance and time throughout the film (something which was also a problem in JJ's Star Trek)

It's nice to know I wasn't the only one bothered with this, it's such a small thing but in previous Star Wars they never arrive somewhere so quickly, there's almost always another scene and some difference in what was going on before or characters walking back in the room. Same for Star Trek, they'd warp around the galaxy and while doing so go do something else to come back to the bridge before they arrived.

JJ has done this across his films now, both Star Trek and now Star Wars seem to have some instant travelling times. Star Trek Into Darkness was especially bad with it, it would take a matter of minutes to warp across a galaxy but getting blasted and thrown out of warp still got them to the place they were going anyway. It's like he has no patience and wants characters to be where they need to, all their adventures seem to happen over the course of a day, and as someone who notices these things it can be annoying to watch sometimes.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

While the film doesn't make it explicit, I think it's abundantly clear that he knows that Vader is his grandfather. The mask, the comment about how Rey's lightsaber is his, etc.

I suspect part of the whole fall to the Dark Side is about him trying to live up to Vader's family legacy.

How will they reconcile that with Vader's redemption? Could it be that Luke kept what happened on the Second Death Star a secret?

 

[Dash_Riprock]

I wonder how salty George is right now

He's crying all the way to the bank.

 

[Liquidsnake]

The execution of Anakin's backstory left to be desired. But it WAS convincing. It made a lot of sense. It might have had clunky writing and acting, but the fundamentals absolutely work. His fear of losing loved ones was played well with his mother, the fact that his transgression of the jedi code forced him to have only one ally, the chancellor, he turned into a mass murderer because he felt cornered. Palpatine played his anxiety well. Poor execution, obviously, but I still can relate to what happened and I think it was decent.

Kylo is literally a piss baby. Yes they can make anything out of him, in the future, with more info, but right now, he is a little whiny brat that killed his father and was "waiting a long time for this".

Vader had nothing to go back to, if he did things would be entirely different (and we know that with his interaction with Luke once he learns the truth).

Kylo had everything. Humanity, family, love, legacy, even power (as son of Leia). It's going to be pretty hard for them to make a 12 years old turning evil feel intense.

The fact that he was so torn in this movie also means that whichever motivation he had, was absolutely not solid conviction, which means it wasn't justified to be that evil in the first place.

The only thing they can do, is emphasize how Snoke got into his head and made him a puppet.

I havent seen it yet, but considering what you said. How can you kill your father? What did he do to you that warranted such a decision.

 

[Slacker]

Why do people keep asking this about Finn? There is zero chance he's force-sensitive.

Rey is the Luke character of this trilogy, and Finn is the Han Solo-ish character of this trilogy. I wouldn't be surprised to get more Jedi other than Rey, but I'm 99.9% sure if we do, we haven't seem them yet.

Agree 100% although I'd say Poe is probably more likely to fill the Han Solo role.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

was anyone else surprised by all the similarities to episode 4?

droid gets important data
droid stranded on desert planet
droid stumbles into unlikely hero
unlikely hero takes droid off world
important data provided to underdog organization
trench run
big explosion of ultimate weapon

And the mentor of new protagonists killed by old relationship.

Yeah it flew a little too close to ANH for me to ever rank it above that film.

 

[friskykillface]

If there's going to be romance in VIII the only logical choice is Rey/Poe.

nah

Finn + Rey forever

 

[DownGrader]

Friendzoned for life. At this rate he has more chances of getting it on with Poe.

And there's probably an art of it somewhere already.

 

[NimbusD]

It takes energy from a sun

Ok. So just one sun? But the first time it was used it didn't use up the sun fully? Cuz like, it' didn't go dark the first time. But then they knew it would the second time. Also they could see the beams in space from the ground, so they were in the same galaxy? The whole spacial relationship of that thing to everything else made no sense.

 

[Sephzilla]

I wonder how salty George is right now

He's crying all the way to the bank.

Even though he's rich as fuck, George always seemed really salty that people rejected the prequels (the ones that were primarily his) and embraced the originals (the ones that other people had more impact on). So I imagine he's salty seeing someone else do Star Wars better than him.

 

[Slacker]

Guys, am I reading this right?



TFA sold more tickets in its opening weekend than any other movie ever in their entire run? How is that even possible?

The numbers will be huge, no doubt. I didn't realize until recently that they were showing the movie starting Thursday night at 7:00 PM at my theater. Good way to get a few extra hours of "opening weekend" sales I guess.

 

[Slaythe]

I havent seen it yet, but considering what you said. How can you kill your father? What did he do to you that warranted such a decision.

As I said, Kylo was 12 when he turned, so the only route they can go is pure manipulation from Snoke, turning him into a puppet.

Not a thought through decision with high stakes.

Him killing his father will hopefully haunt him forever and bring him back to the light.

 

[Ithil]

No idea how anyone can rate TFA on the same level or above ANH

ANH changed how movies were made and how people viewed them.

TFA is just a weaker version of ANH.

What has this got to do with anything?

 

[Owari]

TFA > RotS > ESB >>>>> RotJ > ANH > AotC > TPM

ROTS>ESB? You must be smoking some dank shit, and I like ROTS.

 

[WoolyNinja]

I love the TFA but there are so many things wrong with it and that is with seeing it only twice.

You say it is more emotional, but why? I felt no emotion, I felt nothing when my favourite character in film died because it was obvious for a few minutes what was going to happen and they made him look like a fool.

Funny? how when all the funny scenes errrrrrrrrrrr reference the original films.



fair enough

It seems like Han knew he was going to probably be killed, but it was his son. This was his last ditch effort to save his son from the dark side. It was either save his son or die, so no, I don't think it made him look like a fool.

 

[Frog-fu]

I love the TFA but there are so many things wrong with it and that is with seeing it only twice.

You say it is more emotional, but why? I felt no emotion, I felt nothing when my favourite character in film died because it was obvious for a few minutes what was going to happen and they made him look like a fool.

Funny? how when all the funny scenes errrrrrrrrrrr reference the original films.

I didn't think Han looked foolish at all. To me he looked like a father that loved his son and wanted to help him no matter what.

That made his death all the more emotional to me. He went out doing something entirely selfless and out of love for his wife and son. I can't think of a more fitting death.

 

[stupei]

Baffled with people saying Finn got "friendzoned" (ugh). Like, you guys are all just fucking around, right?

Just because she didn't make out with an unconscious man days after meeting him doesn't mean she has zero interest.

Agree 100% although I'd say Poe is probably more likely to fill the Han Solo role.

Already a member of the rebellion, rescued by a stormtrooper, and leaves data with a droid.

Poe is Leia.

 

[munchie64]

As I said, Kylo was 12 when he turned, so the only route they can go is pure manipulation from Snoke, turning him into a puppet.

Not a thought through decision with high stakes.

Him killing his father will hopefully haunt him forever and bring him back to the light.

Where are you getting the age from?

 

[Maybesew]

Are we supposed to know anything about the supreme leader? or is he supposed to be mysterious the way the emperor was in ep 4? There didn't seem like much about him discussed in the actual dialogue except for when han and leia talked about him corrupting their son.

 

[Shuggananas]

Ok. So just one sun? But the first time it was used it didn't use up the sun fully? Cuz like, it' didn't go dark the first time. But then they knew it would the second time. Also they could see the beams in space from the ground, so they were in the same galaxy? The whole spacial relationship of that thing to everything else made no sense.

All of star wars happens in the same galaxy
Do you know how big a galaxy is ?

 

[emb]

Uh, he knows. He said "grandfather" in the movie. He may not know the redemption part but that is unlikely. Who knows what Luke told him.

I wouldn't be surprised if the family tried to hide information about Vader, so that Ben didn't get tempted. Then Snoke or someone similar reveals all that, leaving out the part where Vader turns, convinces Ben that it's his legacy to carry on.

 

[Slaythe]

The numbers will be huge, no doubt. I didn't realize until recently that they were showing the movie starting Thursday night at 7:00 PM at my theater. Good way to get a few extra hours of "opening weekend" sales I guess.

Marketing and internet , social medias and shit.

Forzen isn't that good of a movie, compared to Aladdin and Hercules etc.. and yet it blew everything.

The more money in marketing, the higher the numbers get.

Jurassic World was a below average movie and yet ....

Speaking of which, VII might be a bit disappointing, but it was ten times better than Jurassic world, at least...

 

[TheOctodad]

Are we supposed to know anything about the supreme leader? or is he supposed to be mysterious the way the emperor was in ep 4? There didn't seem like much about him discussed in the actual dialogue except for when han and leia talked about him corrupting their son.

No, he's a mystery.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

lol @ this notion that Mark Hamill is close to death. He's fucking 64 years old! He's not 90 (Max Von Sydow, who actually is close to 90, looked great in this). And he's in better shape now than he has for like 15-20 years.

For real, Yoda lived to 900. Mark's got a long way to go.

 

[mattiewheels]

So Snoke was a hologram projection? It didn't seem clear that he was, and he ended up just looking like a ridiculous 50ft guy that took me out of it every time he appeared.

 

[Blader]

Finn is the life and soul of the movie for me. Everything the guy did was either awesome or hysterical. I say it again, Boyega could have chemistry with a rock.

He also had a pretty good scene with Maz when he tells her she doesn't know shit about him. Boyega's expressions were on point.

I so need to see more of Finn and Poe bromance in VIII though. I thought it was awesome Poe gave him a name. I get the feeling they'll be like brothers, especially if Poe teaches him how to fly.

The chemistry in this movie was fantastic. Finn and Poe, Finn and Rey, Finn and Han, Rey and Han. And the antagonism between Finn/Rey and Kylo Ren.

Probably overall the best acted Star Wars movie yet.

 

[jett]

The trench run was the only time I thought Force Awakens paralleled A New Hope a little too much.

Starts on a desert planet.
Droid has big important data hidden.
Unlikely hero finds droid, realizes it has important data, embarks on spaceventure to deliver that data.
Unlikely hero meets grizzled, old hero.
Villain dresses all in black, uses a black mask, and a red lightsaber.
Old hero gets killed by villain. More specifically, in the OT, the twist was that the hero was the villain's son. In this movie, the twist is that the villain is the hero's son.
Planet-sized doom weapon.

 

[Einchy]

I love the TFA but there are so many things wrong with it and that is with seeing it only twice.

You say it is more emotional, but why? I felt no emotion, I felt nothing when my favourite character in film died because it was obvious for a few minutes what was going to happen and they made him look like a fool.

Funny? how when all the funny scenes errrrrrrrrrrr reference the original films.

Because it is more emotional? I don't know how to explain that I felt more for these characters during the movie than I did with past movies. My sister was in tears in multiple parts of the movie.

There were tons of funny bits in the movie that didn't reference ANH.

Anytime BB-8 did something humorous it got a huge laugh from my theater, the Stormtroopers backing away with Kylo destroyed the control room, "that's not how the force works", Finn popping off in front of Phasma, "So I talk first? You talk first? How does this work", "stop grabbing my hand!" and tons of other really funny lines that I can't remember right now.

All of the above were funny without having seen ANH.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Corrected facial proportions, fixed jaw line, altered lips shape, clearer eyes, Hair placed over the ears. Surface blur on the skin.
That's the corrections I see on the photoshop cover.

Wow where is the young Ford, I can't tell them apart ...

Dawg, I hope you look exactly like your father, otherwise I'm gonna assume your mom got knocked up by the mailman.

Agree 100% although I'd say Poe is probably more likely to fill the Han Solo role.

I don't really see that, given that Poe is the dashing Resistance pilot leader from the start. Finn at least has the same bad/neutral-to-good character arc as Han. Plus, Finn is telling lies to get the girl, with that romance angle going on. Finn isn't a 1:1 analog of Han, but I think he's closer to him than Poe is.

 

[GungHo]

was anyone else surprised by all the similarities to episode 4?

droid gets important data
droid stranded on desert planet
droid stumbles into unlikely hero
unlikely hero takes droid off world
important data provided to underdog organization
trench run
big explosion of ultimate weapon

No. Abrams is a fanboy and repeating motifs to the point of inanity is a Star Wars staple. There will undoubtedly be a big reveal, party split, a seduction, and a main character captured/imperiled in Ep 8 and the mastermind will be confronted and there will be a final seduction and a chance for redemption in Ep 9.

 

[Sephzilla]

Uh, he knows. He said "grandfather" in the movie. He may not know the redemption part but that is unlikely. Who knows what Luke told him.

I wouldn't be surprised if the family tried to hide information about Vader, so that Ben didn't get tempted. Then Snoke or someone similar reveals all that, leaving out the part where Vader turns, convinces Ben that it's his legacy to carry on.

I cant see why Luke wouldn't tell everyone about Vader's redemption. You'd think "I used the light side to turn Darth freaking Vader good" would be the opening subject of Why The Light Side Is Better 101 at the Jedi Academy.

 

[Shanks D Zoro]

The darkside clouding their judgement.

Snookie must have truly been powerful

Only for the first time. I really don't like rewatching Episode IV despite liking it - it just drags on and on. I even remember Lucas admitting that there's not so much going on in ANH and it considered to be fast-paced only in 1979 because the universe was new and a lot of things were left unexplained. (This is from Blu-ray commentary, as far as I remember.)

Fair enough, I have seen the film over 100 times and never felt bored watching it, understand if others have different opinions. I just love its simplicity

I think the characters and acting in TFA is much better than ANH. I also think TFA is more exciting than ANH, which I watched a few weeks ago in preparation and was a tad bored (at least compared to the greatness that is ESB). I really loved the ending bits of TFA too. The raw emotions of Rey and Kylo, who are really just two kids who don't know their full power, going at it with lots of energy (but less skill and precision) was in my opinion really well done. Poe and Finn were also great and some of my favorite characters in the series.

Also if you look at my ranking I never said TFA is better than ANH. I had them equally rated. Although my gut feeling is that years down the line after multiple viewings I will eventually rate TFA above ANH. I think TFA has one of the weakest musical scores in the series, for example, while ANH is great in that regard.

TFA is more flashier than ANH, but ANH is just a brilliantly told good vs evil story.