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[Jobbs]

Who the fuck is Darth Plagueis. Sorry, but I'm not great with Star Wars canon anymore since I stopped caring after the prequels. I can't tell if this is a real character of if it's a troll gag about Lucas' dumb naming conventions. :/

This was the guy Palpatine talks about in ep3, the guy who had the secret of bringing people back from death or whatever.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Kylo noticing him...a Stormtrooper...after destroying that village.

I think he's force sensitive.

Yep. It can easily be chalked up to "he sensed the 'good' in him" or whatever. But I prefer he sensed something of the force in him/around him.


I don't know why it amuses me so much....but my audience at 7:00 PM literally clapped and went nuts for each of the old character's appearances---EXCEPT Leia. I don't know why she got no love. Even the 2 seconds of Ackbar we saw got applause.

 

[Joeytj]

Did they blow up Coruscant?

No. It was Hosnian Prime, the current capital of the Republic. That was one of the defects of the movie, that it probably didn't explain enough what had happened with the Republic.

The New Republic elects different capitals for its Senate to be headquartered in, as well as their fleet.

It was a big blow to the Republic, but they most likely will just elect a new capital and Senate, and formally declare war with the First Order.

 

[Savitar]

People are joking about Han coming back right?

He comes back in a General Grevious like exo suit wielding two blasters and two lightsabers.

Also he jumps a lot.

 

[Sanctuary]

There was no chance that The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and his co-writer Lawrence Kasdan were going to throw R2-D2 himself in their narrative garbage can. He's too much of a fan favorite, and they're too aware of Star Wars history. But that kind of grim-and-gritty updating wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility given Abrams' track record. His Star Trek films have reached for the same cynical, aggressive tone, with their arrogant, entitled Jerk Kirk facing off against a perpetually seething Spock. And they did throw out plenty of other things about the Star Trek mythos, from the austere adult tone to Spock's heroic sacrifice.

The Force Awakens isn't affected by that particular insecurity, and confidently tears off in the opposite direction, at hyperdrive speeds. It wastes no time in introducing a new, younger generation of protagonists — characters with their own agendas, and with relatively little sense of the history that created them. But in spite of the new faces, The Force Awakens worships at the feet of the original Star Wars trilogy on a beat-for-beat, moment-for-moment, even prop-for-prop basis. Much like Abrams' 2009 Star Trek, Force Awakens is a stealth remake, with a certain amount of narrative squirming done to make it into a sequel.

"an alternate-universe version of A New Hope that just happens to be set in the same universe"

The approach has its problems. It's too easy at times to predict where The Force Awakens is going, because it follows 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope closely enough to tread on its Jedi robes from behind and trip over its own feet. This time around, the lonely hayseed living on a backwater desert planet and pining for escape is a woman, Rey (Daisy Ridley). The adorable bleeping astromech droid carrying crucial data to the Resistance is the globular BB-8. The intercepted-and-captured courier who sends BB-8 on with the data, the black-masked-and-caped villain who captures him, the vast and powerful organization this villain serves — they all have different names now, but they're all fundamentally intact from A New Hope.

And so is virtually every other element in the movie. Luke Skywalker has become his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the bearded old hermit in hiding. Princess Leia has become Mon Mothma, weary leader of the Rebellion. Han Solo ... has reverted to being Han Solo, the rakish smuggler whose mouth and overconfidence keep getting him into trouble. And of course it all comes back down to blowing up another Death Star. Even the effects harken back to 1977, with those corny retro wipes, those familiar music cues, a wide-scale return to physical effects instead of digital ones, and even a Wilhelm scream thrown in. Some narrative elements have been moved around and reimagined, but the spine of the story, and most of its nervous system, are intact from the origin story we all remember. This is an alternate-universe version of A New Hope that just happens to be set in the same universe.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/18/10543196/star-wars-the-force-awakens-a-new-hope-nostalgia

 

[Maintenance]

Wait, wouldn't, like, sucking a whole star from a system completely fuck that system's gravity up instantly?

Shhh.

 

[Matticers]

The novel hints about Rey's relationship with Luke/Han/Leia when she succeeds in getting the saber using the force instead of Ren....

....she gazed down at the weapon now resting in her hand.
"It is you" Ren murmured
His words unsettled her. Not for the first time, he seemed to know more about her than she did about herself.

Has anyone downloaded the novel and read some of it yet? I'm really curious to hear how it is. I'm thinking about getting it myself.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Wait, wouldn't, like, sucking a whole star from a system completely fuck that system's gravity up instantly?

Well... not instantly.

 

[Syf]

Just watched it a second time and though this is the case with many films I really could see in several places where bits had been cut out for what I'm guessing was time and not flow. I'd be interested in seeing these deleted scenes.

I hope there's a director's cut or something. It did feel like it was missing pieces.

 

[A Link to the Past]

No way they don't.

Plinkett reviewing Star Wars is why anyone knows who they are. They can't not do it.

On the other hand though, Plinkett didn't do a real review of Star Trek: Into Darkness, a movie that was very bad :v

 

[Junior Asparagus]

Who the fuck is Darth Plagueis. Sorry, but I'm not great with Star Wars canon anymore since I stopped caring after the prequels. I can't tell if this is a real character of if it's a troll gag about Lucas' dumb naming conventions. :/

Purportedly Palpatine's former master. Was mentioned in Episode III.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Plagueis

 

[Sectorseven]

If they bring Lando back I hope it's just a cameo or him sitting at a desk. I like Billy D, but he isn't very spry.

 

[The Boat]

Kylo taking notice of him...a Stormtrooper...after destroying that village.

I think he's force sensitive.

He even knew his "name".

So now that I'm posting in the right thread, can we all agree that the final shot is horrendous and possibly, most likely, the worst final shot of all 7 Star Wars films simply in terms of cinematography? A spinning helicopter shot? In 2015? In a Star Wars film? It was ridiculously bad to me.

Yeah that annoyed me a bit, because I loved everything from that scene and then comes the spinning shot. Really bad decision.

 

[Muppet345]

Man, they really understood the importance of casting this. The cast has so much chemistry together and it's really the glue to the whole movie. Hell, even Kylo Ren has chemistry with the rest of the cast, despite being the antagonist -- the Ren/Rey scenes were great.

Finn & Poe's friendship was so adorable, too.

 

[duckroll]

I already regret asking.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

So now that I'm posting in the right thread, can we all agree that the final shot is horrendous and possibly, most likely, the worst final shot of all 7 Star Wars films simply in terms of cinematography? A spinning helicopter shot? In 2015? In a Star Wars film? It was ridiculously bad to me.

Not only was that shot awful. The previous shots held on Luke's face waaaay too long, and it nearly turned into a comedy with the "closer...closer!" on his red-eyed face. It would've been ten times better if he even simply walked up to her and took the saber to look at it. Handed it back. Or if he turned away. SOMETHING. It wasn't a great way to end a great movie.

 

[aliengmr]

I was watching a review where the reviewer felt that Finn being good with the saber cheapens the coolness of it. Did you guys feel Finn was good with using the lightsaber? Unless my memory is hazy on it I felt Finn was barely getting by with the lightsaber when someone else had to save him the two times he used it.

Didn't seem anyone was "good" with a saber. I loved the less choreographed feel of it. Seemed that Finn would have been trained to use melee weapons.

 

[Trokil]

I just watched to movie and I was bored. It is the same movie Lucas already produced, just with better effects. The did nothing new, only that some stuff is worse, because some of the movie tropes they used are terrible overused by now. The abyss to stop the lightsabre battle that was really bad.

And Kylo’s tantrums were so cringe worthy I felt embarrassed during the film. How should a brat like him strike fear in the heart of the enemy. It was almost worse than emo Anakin during the prequels.

 

[korona15]

Some thoughts after seeing it last night

CGI Snoke sucked. Really took me out of the film when I saw him. Why not use a real actor? He looked like a second-rate Lord of the Rings character, sort of Orc-like. Just lame, corny-looking and too cartoony.

Also, the John Williams score. Anyone else think the music didn't uplift any scenes? I was waiting for something iconic from him and nothing.

Lots of clunky exposition too. After talking about it with my friend for a couple of hours last night, we both were disappointed. Agreed that so many visuals were stunning though. I did like how the First Order were ruthless and pulled no punches.

Didn't like the constant echos to A New Hope. Fuck man, come up with something new!!

 

[MHWilliams]

I'm disappointed. She should have been the one to wreck Finn with that shock weapon.

THAT WOULD'VE MADE SO MUCH MORE SENSE!

Man, now I'm angryish.

Are we all agreeing that Finn is not a Force user at this point? Or is there something there. I can't tell if Kylo sensed the Force in him at the camp or if he just felt Finn's fear. I'm curious as to where they take him next episode. Could go a couple different ways.

Probably not, but could go either way, given how you read certain scenes.

LMAO at 55 mentions of the word "Jacen" in this thread thus far.

Yo, they called him Ben, but that was Jacen Solo.

I was watching a review where the reviewer felt that Finn being good with the saber cheapens the coolness of it. Did you guys feel Finn was good with using the lightsaber? Unless my memory is hazy on it I felt Finn was barely getting by with the lightsaber when someone else had to save him the two times he used it.

Did not chop off his limbs, lasted longer than I expected against Ren and got a solid hit in.

That he lasted at all is kind of impressive.

 

[ZeroMaverick]

Well... not instantly.

Shhh.

lol okay


I fucking loved the movie though. Was really relieved when Snoke turned out to be a hologram. I was really disgusted at the idea of him being some super huge dude. lol

 

[Sephzilla]

They have a big problem in the two next movies:

Spoiler

Who's going to fly the Falcon in the next space battle when Rey is dueling someone?

 

[Messypandas]

So now that I'm posting in the right thread, can we all agree that the final shot is horrendous and possibly, most likely, the worst final shot of all 7 Star Wars films simply in terms of cinematography? A spinning helicopter shot? In 2015? In a Star Wars film? It was ridiculously bad to me.

People laughed in my showing. Not sure JJ fucked up that last scene so bad.

 

[Ganzlinger]

Complementing my previous post, the saddest part about Han's death is that when you look back, the original trio will never get their happy ending.

Han was killed by his own son, thus Leia lost her lover and her son went to the Dark Side. Luke failed Ben as his master and lost his best friend. Even if Luke and Leia manage to succeed, that won't be the same without Han.

 

[Ovid]

To be fair, he wasn't evil anymore when he took off the helmet.


He could simply be sensing Finn's internal conflict.

From a Stormtrooper? I don't know about that.

He sensed a disturbance, a disturbance in the force.

 

[Travo]

Who the fuck is Darth Plagueis. Sorry, but I'm not great with Star Wars canon anymore since I stopped caring after the prequels. I can't tell if this is a real character of if it's a troll gag about Lucas' dumb naming conventions. :/

Palpatine mentions Darth Plaguies the Wise, someone who could create life through the force.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Here's how they should have done it

Crane shot

Luke turns, without pulling his hood down

Rey holds the lightsaber out to him

Roll credits

 

[Takamura-San]

Just watched the movie, and going to watch it again tomorrow. Few thoughts:

Expectations:

* Not a boring movie
* Better than the PT

Both met.

I still have mixed feelings about Luke's role on the sequels. That is besides being a teacher for Rey. He looked broken on that last shot of the movie.

I also felt that the Han/Kylo reveal could have been handle better. Instead of Snoeke stating it. Maybe him saying: "The droid is in the possession of your father" and Kylo responding "Han solo...". It would make sense as he never refers to him as father.

Still nitpicky on an otherwise great movie.

 

[Tookay]

So now that I'm posting in the right thread, can we all agree that the final shot is horrendous and possibly, most likely, the worst final shot of all 7 Star Wars films simply in terms of cinematography? A spinning helicopter shot? In 2015? In a Star Wars film? It was ridiculously bad to me.

Yeah, it just looked awful. I know what they were going for, but they didn't quite achieve it.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Here's how they should have done it

Crane shot

Luke turns, without pulling his hood down

Rey holds the lightsaber out to him

Roll credits

Instantly better

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Kylo taking notice of him...a Stormtrooper...after destroying that village.

I think he's force sensitive.

He even knew his "name".

Finn is not force sensitive. Kylo took notice of him because the Stormtroopers were given the order to fire on the villagers, but Finn was the only Stormtrooper who did not fire...

 

[MrPressStart]

Finn was remarkable. He reminded me of a young Han Solo. Rey is obviously this generations Luke.
Poe could be chewbacca/ lando/ Akbar ...
Of course one of the things I like about this movie is the way these characters can and will be their own.

Kylo Ren is just bad ass. I love his character. The design, the conflict, the potential.... He is going to be epic in the next movie ....

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Now that's Maz Kanata has been revealed as a 1,000+ year old force sensitive who seems to know everything, think we'll see her in Rebels?

PLEASE.

she's so fucking perfect and wonderful.

god this was the best fucking movie i've ever seen

 

[Messypandas]

Looked like cosplayers filmed by a $20 drone

 

[zswordsman]

How do we know what Plagueis looks like? We never see him

On his wookiepedia page there's art of his species. Which basically look like Snoke.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

No way they don't.

Plinkett reviewing Star Wars is why anyone knows who they are. They can't not do it.

I forgot they did a Star Trek 2009 Plinkett video. If they did one for that movie, they can definitely do one for this movie.

I look forward to everyone on the internet magically coming up with new critiques after the Plinkett video.

 

[Einchy]

PLEASE.

she's so fucking perfect and wonderful.

god this was the best fucking movie i've ever seen

"Where's my boyfriend? I like that Wookie"

She's the best.

 

[A Link to the Past]

PLEASE.

she's so fucking perfect and wonderful.

god this was the best fucking movie i've ever seen

You're like the first person besides me that I've seen who thinks that Maz is great lol

 

[MisterHero]

I hadn't really thought about this particular issue, but I guess these droids are sentient/self-aware AI. I guess it could happen...?

That or digital midichlorians!

Nanomachines son

 

[oneida]

Kylo taking notice of him...a Stormtrooper...after destroying that village.

I think he's force sensitive.

He even knew his "name".

Kylo is effectively his commander.

 

[Sephzilla]

I didn't mind the helicopter shot however I would have preferred a static angle shot of Luke looking at Rey as Rey holds out the lightsaber. Plus don't all other Star Wars movies end on static shots?

 

[Maintenance]

I fucking loved the movie though. Was really relieved when Snoke turned out to be a hologram. I was really disgusted at the idea of him being some super huge dude. lol

Same here, I was thinking for a while "why the fuck is there a huge giant in this throne".

You're like the first person besides me that I've seen who thinks that Maz is great lol

I liked her too.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I didn't mind the helicopter shot however I would have preferred a static angle shot of Luke looking at Rey as Rey holds out the lightsaber. Plus don't all other Star Wars movies end on static shots?

It kind of felt like a product of its time. The helicopter shot is kind of a thing now, right?

 

[WadiumArcadium]

You're like the first person besides me that I've seen who thinks that Maz is great lol

I liked her. I didn't like how we don't even see what happens to her after the castle collapses. Show her escaping or something at least.

 

[Matticers]

I just watched to movie and I was bored. It is the same movie Lucas already produced, just with better effects. The did nothing new, only that some stuff is worse, because some of the movie tropes they used are terrible overused by now. The abyss to stop the lightsabre battle that was really bad.

And Kylo’s tantrums were so cringe worthy I felt embarrassed during the film. How should a brat like him strike fear in the heart of the enemy. It was almost worse than emo Anakin during the prequels.

I don't think he was supposed to strike fear in people... yet. His whole point was to show how untrained and unharnessed he is. They give you just a glimpse of his potential and how strong he can be but he's far from what he could become. But he wants to become that and if he does, he could/should be one of the stronger villains the franchise has seen. He already seems like he could do some things with the force that nobody else has done. As far as I know, anyway.

I also don't mind the abyss because I would have been irate if we had another Darth Maul situation on our hands. Don't be getting rid of villains after one movie. Build them up.

 

[MattyG]

So now that I'm posting in the right thread, can we all agree that the final shot is horrendous and possibly, most likely, the worst final shot of all 7 Star Wars films simply in terms of cinematography? A spinning helicopter shot? In 2015? In a Star Wars film? It was ridiculously bad to me.

YUP. I think I already said it in here, but they should've cut from the close ups to a wide two shot from the side with the ocean (like Kylo mentioned Rey had dreamed or whatever) stretching out in between Luke and Rey in the background.

 

[Scorpion Soldier]

Finn is not force sensitive. Kylo took notice of him because the Stormtroopers were given the order to fire on the villagers, but Finn was the only Stormtrooper who did not fire...

When Starkiller first shoots through that series of planets, there is a shot of the people looking up at the sky and screaming, but there's one confusing thing about it. The screams are still audible in the next shot with Finn looking up, so is this purely the editing or is this what's causing him to look up in the first place? Because that completely changes the context of things.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Luke's first words should be, "who are you?" and look super confused. Give him Alzheimer's.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Finn is not force sensitive. Kylo took notice of him because the Stormtroopers were given the order to fire on the villagers, but Finn was the only Stormtrooper who did not fire...

I could argue that Kylo had to get all force-y with Poe and later Rey to pull thoughts out of their heads. How could he just standing there know that Finn didn't shoot? He certainly didn't watch them shooting. He was walking back to his ship then sensed something and looked at Finn.

I completely think it was a misdirect, and I agree the intent is simply that Kylo knows Finn didn't shoot/isn't like the other troopers. I just don't like it, mostly because I'm disappointed that Finn won't turn out to be a Jedi also.

 

[Summer Haze]

So who was the guy at the very beginning of the movie who gave the map piece to Poe? He knew Ren was Solo's son and I got the feeling he might've been someone from the OT but I didn't recognize him. Wedge, maybe?

I'd also like to know this.