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[Truant]

Just saw it. Best Star Wars film ever made, by a landslide.

I loved how the film gave us different looks and perspectives at stuff we've been living with for 30 years. Like Finn stepping on the control panel in the Falcon cockpit, seeing the inside of a AT-AT, seeing the gunner seat of a Tie Fighter, etc.

Pros:

Fantastic new characters, loved them all
Genuinely funny moments
Everything felt grounded and properly retro-futuristic
Old cast felt natural, just enough screen time


Cons:

Music felt more like Super8 than Star Wars at times
Snoke. Terrible design and a shitty reveal. They should have kept him more in the dark. CG looked rough as well.
Some characters looked way too young

All in all a fantastic film that had a lot to accomplish in a few hours, and succeeded at most of it. I wish the rumors that Kylo was an occultist that collected Sith artefacts were true. I like the more occult part of SW, especially the obsessive Sith from The Old Republic era with their dark temples, rituals and ancient relics.

 

[Discotheque]

rooting for gugu and gina rodriguez to get that role. really like both. pretty interesting set of young actresses they're looking at.

considering all the casting that's been done so far on this series they really seem to have a finger on the pulse of the hot actors at the moment.

 

[excelsiorlef]

lol... My opinion.. I cant have one?

Did I censor you in any way.

I was laughing because you basically said nothing other than it sucked.

Each to their own but when we're in active discussions about the movie it's much more interesting to hear why.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Do they ever explain how the resistance finds the location of Starkiller?

Recon ship. The First Order then tracked that to find The Resistance base.

 

[Boke1879]

Just saw it. Best Star Wars film ever made, by a landslide.

I loved how the film gave us different looks and perspectives at stuff we've been living with for 30 years. Like Finn stepping on the control panel in the Falcon cockpit, seeing the inside of a AT-AT, seeing the gunner seat of a Tie Fighter, etc.

Pros:

Fantastic new characters, loved them all
Genuinely funny moments
Everything felt grounded and properly retro-futuristic
Old cast felt natural, just enough screen time


Cons:

Music felt more like Super8 than Star Wars at times
Snoke. Terrible design and a shitty reveal. They should have kept him more in the dark. CG looked rough as well.
Some characters looked way too young

All in all a fantastic film that had a lot to accomplish in a few hours, and succeeded at most of it. I wish the rumors that Kylo was an occultist that collected Sith artefacts were true. I like the more occult part of SW, especially the obsessive Sith from The Old Republic era with their dark temples, rituals and ancient relics.

With Luke being at the first Jedi Temple. I'm hoping he was there trying to figure out information on some "ancient evil"

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Recon ship. The First Order then tracked that to find The Resistance base.

They say that in the movie?

They've been fighting the First Order for years and never thought to do this until they destroyed a solar system?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Kylo Ren is too much of a bitch, he needs to toughen up if he wants to live up to the cool Vader mask.

Also 99% chance that Rey is the daughter of Mark Hamill doing his best Ewan McGregor impression.

 

[Brakke]

I think Starkiller charges from the sun it's near but it doesn't take all it's energy per shot. Did they say that anywhere in the film?

Also, why are are applying physics to Star Wars?

It eats the entire star to fire on the Resistance. (Which is a ragtag crew that only exists on one planet so why bother, just bring in a capital ship and do regular-ass orbital bombardment.) Do you propose it sucks in all of a star's stuff, fires, then just... leaks star stuff back out?

Starkiller is ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

We're applying physics to Star Wars for the same reason we're pretending there's anything useful in Rey's vision: it's fun!

It could also use some of the energy from the consumed star for propulsion instead of firepower.

Newton's Third and the frictionless vacuum of space mean propulsion and firepower are the same thing.

They say that in the movie?

They've been fighting the First Order for years and never thought to do this until they destroyed a solar system?

Yep and yep. "Snap" flies recon. I think that's Greg Gunderwhatever?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Just saw it. Best Star Wars film ever made, by a landslide.

I loved how the film gave us different looks and perspectives at stuff we've been living with for 30 years. Like Finn stepping on the control panel in the Falcon cockpit, seeing the inside of a AT-AT, seeing the gunner seat of a Tie Fighter, etc.

Pros:

Fantastic new characters, loved them all
Genuinely funny moments
Everything felt grounded and properly retro-futuristic
Old cast felt natural, just enough screen time

Cons:

Music felt more like Super8 than Star Wars at times
Snoke. Terrible design and a shitty reveal. They should have kept him more in the dark. CG looked rough as well.
Some characters looked way too young

All in all a fantastic film that had a lot to accomplish in a few hours, and succeeded at most of it. I wish the rumors that Kylo was an occultist that collected Sith artefacts were true. I like the more occult part of SW, especially the obsessive Sith from The Old Republic era with their dark temples, rituals and ancient relics.

The bold is something I keep coming back to. I'm really shocked at how invested I feel in the new characters, across the board. Poe, Finn, Rey and Kylo were really nailed to an extent I don't think anyone saw going in. Perfectly cast and with natural chemistry between them all. I want to see the next film because I want more Star Wars, but above all I really want to see these characters back.

 

[Squire]

I know it's technically a young adult book, but I really recommend reading Before the Awakening. It has stories revolving around Finn, Rey, and Poe from before TFA begins, and it actually provides some solid background. For instance

Spoiler

why Finn is decent with a lightsaber, why he decides to defect from the First Order, and how Rey knows so much about flying and fixing starships.

It's also written by Greg Rucka who mostly writes pretty prestigious, adult comics.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Newton's Third and the frictionless vacuum of space mean propulsion and firepower are the same thing.

They stuck a giant gun in it.

They stuck some engines on the back of it.

Physics aren't needed here.

 

[Brakke]

Physics aren't needed here.

So what! They're fun!

 

[User 73706]

Here are 2 minor things that bugged me.

Chewbacca's crossbow gun was really powerful against the Storm Troopers. It was like a grenade launcher. When he shoots Kylo Ren, it was just a blaster wound.

The projectile could get weaker over large distances, or Ren was cognizant enough to dampen the blast, but still too emotional to stop it completely.

 

[Cow Mengde]

It has to though. It ate a star the first time it fired.

Here's how it works: after it eats the first star it isn't bound in orbit anymore so it goes spinning off on a tangent. When it fired the canon, Newton's Third means the planet gets pushed away from the direction of the bolts. Between these two forces it can line itself up to fire and be pushed toward a new star to eat. Also hyperspace.

Or it just moves by Space Bullshit.

That's a good point. Or maybe it has giant planet size thrusters.

 

[Starsailor]

The bold is something I keep coming back to. I'm really shocked at how invested I feel in the new characters, across the board. Poe, Finn, Rey and Kylo were really nailed to an extent I don't think anyone saw going in. Perfectly cast and with natural chemistry between them all. I want to see the next film because I want more Star Wars, but above all I really want to see these characters back.

And that's why there will not be a drop like AoU.
This movie feel like the first harry potter book.

 

[ginger ninja]

I know it's technically a young adult book, but I really recommend reading Before the Awakening. It has stories revolving around Finn, Rey, and Poe from before TFA begins, and it actually provides some solid background. For instance

Spoiler

why Finn is decent with a lightsaber, why he decides to defect from the First Order, and how Rey knows so much about flying and fixing starships.

I was just about to ask which new Star war novels should one read to scratch the itch created by the movie. So far I am going for the movie novelization and Before the Awakening, are there any else that cover the period between 6-7 ?

 

[sphagnum]

I really want to know what explanation the new books are going to come up with for how the First Order got the funding to build this thing.

 

[Brakke]

That's a good point. Or maybe it has giant planet size thrusters.

A "thruster" is just a gun that shoots a bazillion tiny tiny tiny particle or molecule-sized bullets super fast.

 

[Mix Master]

oh man kylo's masked voice was perfect. it was a blend of muffled and clarity at the same time, so good tbh.

"A Droid stole a freighter?"

 

[excelsiorlef]

They say that in the movie?

They've been fighting the First Order for years and never thought to do this until they destroyed a solar system?

They literally say a recon ship is reporting back.

They had no idea where they were or what they were doing before that first shot. It was basically a Pearl Harbour moment.

Resistance then sent out a recon ship and probably via tracking the energy residue found Starkiller base. Scanned it and flew back. The First Order then tracked that ship to find Leia amd The Resistance base (this is also directly mentioned that in the film)

 

[sphagnum]

I was just about to ask which new Star war novels should one read to scratch the itch created by the movie. So far I am going for the movie novelization and Before the Awakening, are there any else that cover the period between 6-7 ?

The Aftermath trilogy (only the first one has been released so far), the last part of Lost Stars, and Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away (collection of short stories) plus the e-book The Perfect Bait take place between RotJ and TFA.

Also the comic Shattered Empire, the upcoming C-3PO comic about how he got that red arm, the upcoming novel New Republic: Bloodline, and two short stories - Blade Squadron: Zero Hour and Bait.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Kylo Ren is too much of a bitch, he needs to toughen up if he wants to live up to the cool Vader mask.

Also 99% chance that Rey is the daughter of Mark Hamill doing his best Ewan McGregor impression.

Lol, why is the voice in the vision basically a DNA paternity test to some people?

 

[OricWindstar]

oh man kylo's masked voice was perfect. it was a blend of muffled and clarity at the same time, so good tbh.

"A Droid stole a freighter?"

The way Driver says "Anything else?" always fucking gets me. Then the way he says "What girl?" reminds me he's not fucking around.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

They literally say a recon ship is reporting back.

They had no idea where they were or what they were doing before that first shot. It was basically a Pearl Harbour moment.

Resistance then sent out a recon ship and probably via tracking the energy residue found Starkiller base. Scanned it and flew back. The First Order then tracked that ship to find Leia amd The Resistance base (this is also directly mentioned that in the film)

Ok, so they say they sent out a recon ship. They still don't explain how that recon ship found the planet. You are assuming they tracked the energy. Correct?

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I really want to know what explanation the new books are going to come up with for how the First Order got the funding to build this thing.

Slaves? Kinda like the pyramids.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

That's a good point. Or maybe it has giant planet size thrusters.

The two Death Stars had no visible propulsion systems either. They just moved it wherever they felt like moving it.

 

[excelsiorlef]

The bold is something I keep coming back to. I'm really shocked at how invested I feel in the new characters, across the board. Poe, Finn, Rey and Kylo were really nailed to an extent I don't think anyone saw going in. Perfectly cast and with natural chemistry between them all. I want to see the next film because I want more Star Wars, but above all I really want to see these characters back.

This is exactly it. Out of nowhere dynamic chemistry between all the leads. Strongest acting of the entire series comes from those 4. It's why this is my favorite because the characters and the acting and the relationships are so damn good. Especially after a second viewing.


Side note the John Williams' score is so much better on a second viewing. It's his subtlest of the series by far but some great stuff in there.

 

[Squire]

The bold is something I keep coming back to. I'm really shocked at how invested I feel in the new characters, across the board. Poe, Finn, Rey and Kylo were really nailed to an extent I don't think anyone saw going in. Perfectly cast and with natural chemistry between them all. I want to see the next film because I want more Star Wars, but above all I really want to see these characters back.

This is exactly how I feel and I'm pretty sure this is my favorite Star Wars because of it. Mark Waid (a comics writer, who's written SW stuff) was saying on Twitter last week that the odds of making a set of characters inside the first 20 minutes of something are incredibly low, and yet, TFA pulls it off. I think it's the movies greatest strength and it can't be complimented enough. It's definitely what I'm in for.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Ok, so they say they sent out a recon ship. They still don't explain how that recon ship found the planet. You are assuming they tracked the energy. Correct?

Yes because they didn't know before hand so logically that's probably what they did.

 

[OricWindstar]

Side note the John Williams' score is so much better on a second viewing. It's his subtlest of the series by far but some great stuff in there.

It's grown on me considerably since my first viewing. Rey's Theme was always great, but discovering it works as a counterpart to The Force's theme put it up in the top-tier.

 

[sphagnum]

Slaves? Kinda like the pyramids.

Yeah, but the Empire's greatest projects - the two Death Stars - were absolutely miniscule compared to the retrofitting of a planet with a sun-absorbing canon. And that was a galaxy-spanning power with unlimited resources, not a rump state in the Unknown Regions.

 

[nicoga3000]

Saw it again today and loved it just as much.

Question that I must have missed - who is the guy at the beginning that gives Poe the map piece? How did he get that piece?

My first thought was that he was like Obi-Wan from the OT and was the person that was tasked with watching over Rey when whomever dropped her off in the flashback (I'm convinced Luke dropped her off to protect his daughter).

Also, after a second viewing, Kylo Ren is definitely an excellent badguy. He's super unstable and impulsive. Also, he is quite a formidable force user. And the struggle he has with the light and dark side and the emotions he goes through before killing his dad were much more apparent knowing what's going on. Even more excited for VIII now!

 

[Sharpeye]

Does the First Order use any Clones? Early in the movie I think Kylo asks if Finn was a Clone but I missed what the officer said.

 

[Johndoey]

Kylo started the movie being a cool guy then soon after revealed himself as whimpering and ineffectual. I hope they dont try to sell him as a huge threat in the next movie. He worked for this movie but otherwise I dont know.

 

[Scrooged]

That's a good point. Or maybe it has giant planet size thrusters.

One of the Resistance commanders mentions that it has a giant warp drive.

 

[Boke1879]

The characters is definitely the big draw. They pulled it off. You really root for the good guys. Finn, Rey, Poe. Adam Driver does an amazing job as Kylo. The character they portrayed for him was executed well.

And YES. The soundtrack is definitely more pronounced after viewing it a 2nd and 3rd time. Rey's theme is so good. Definitely more subtle but it works.

 

[BocoDragon]

Does the First Order use any Clones? Early in the movie I think Kylo asks if Finn was a Clone but I missed what the officer said.

No. He was explaining that Finn and his other trainees since birth were better suited to be used than clones.

Now that I think about it... that was a great line to explain to the audience that troopers were no longer clones. It was a necessary line and it worked on its own terms to explain the nature of troopers in the First Order. I never even thought about what information it was intended to deliver... but it was absolutely necessary because a lot of the mainstream audience thinks clone troopers = stormtroopers.

 

[sphagnum]

Does the First Order use any Clones? Early in the movie I think Kylo asks if Finn was a Clone but I missed what the officer said.

No, they raise children from birth to be Stormtroopers. The idea came from General Hux's father, Brendol Hux, who was the commandant at Arkanis Academy during the time of the Empire. He wanted to create a better type of soldier by creating warriors who had the loyalty and skills of Clonetroopers with the genetic diversity of Stormtroopers (which made them less susceptible to biological agents). He got the idea of raising children from birth from the Jedi.

 

[Boke1879]

Does the First Order use any Clones? Early in the movie I think Kylo asks if Finn was a Clone but I missed what the officer said.

No. They take them from birth and indoctrinate them. So they are normal people.

Kylo was just trying to undermine/give Hux shit because Finn committed treason.


Pretty much just said Snoke should consider a clone army if your troops are going to do this.

 

[nicoga3000]

No, they raise children from birth to be Stormtroopers. The idea came from General Hux's father, Brendol Hux, who was the commandant at Arkanis Academy during the time of the Empire. He wanted to create a better type of soldier by creating warriors who had the loyalty and skills of Clonetroopers with the genetic diversity of Stormtroopers (which made them less susceptible to biological agents). He got the idea of raising children from birth from the Jedi.

Where do you learn this?

 

[Boke1879]

Where do you learn this?

A line from Finn when they are at Maz's bar and he's talking to Rey when she's asking him not to go. I believe he says he's been taking from his family and the FO is all he's ever known.

That other stuff is found out either through books or other outside merch.

 

[BuckRobotron]

Just got back and quite enjoyed it. Overall solid cast, but when Harrison Ford showed up the energy level of the whole movie kicked up. Of the younger cast, Adam Driver was the standout with Kylo Ren. I sort of expected something interesting from early reports but he really sold the inner conflict, the confusion and anger fighting the pull of the light. Even looked the part of Han and Leia's son.

I'd heard the final fight made him look weak but it was made abundantly clear again and again that he took a bad hit from Chewie when he was in that trance after the Han moment.

And of course very interested to see where they go with Rey now, get some explanation of her background and Bourne-like omnicompetence. Ridley seems a very good fit for the character so far.

Lastly, the fanservice moments really stood out to the younger crowd. My nephew brightened up when he saw the Falcon, was ecstatic to see R2-D2 awake, etc. Brother, nephew, father went along and all liked it

 

[Boke1879]

Also BB8 was so damn cute. When they landed at the resistance base and he bumps past Finn hauling ass to get to Poe. lol.

 

[Kilrogg]

Kylo Ren is essentially Anakin done right.

Anakin in the prequels was just an annoying brat who did a completely unrealistic switch from good to child-murdering evil because his master wouldn't give him a promotion.

Kylo is an actual conflicted young man who struggles to control his emotions (see whenever he gets angry and destroys shit with his lightsaber) and needed one final test to choose his destiny: to kill or not to kill his father. Also, I liked the whole twist on temptation. Being tempted by good is something I've rarely seen in fiction, if ever. It makes you understand that, from Kylo's point of view, he's the good guy, and everyone on the light side of the Force just 'succumbed' to the light side.

That doesn't mean he's done perfectly in my book: I wish we knew more about how his mind got twisted into thinking that murdering his father was the right thing to do to stop the pain. I wager we'll learn more about his training with Snoke in Episode VIII or IX.

(I hate Snoke though, he looks like ass. Palpy forever!)

 

[Tesseract]

my dad had our whole theater laughing during the funny bits,

he laughs like ricky gervais

 

[Cow Mengde]

BTW, I wonder how much Mark Hamill got paid for standing in front of a camera for 5 seconds?

 

[Jeffolation]

Watched TFA in theatre three times, now working my way through the despecialized editions. About to start Jedi but holy hell I can't wait to go back a revisit TFA again. Chewbacca getting upset when Han is frozen landed so much harder knowing what eventually happens.

And I dunno why I love this part so much but when a random storm trooper recognises Finn, yells "Traitor!", drops his blaster and engages him in melee combat is just the fucking coolest thing ever.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Yeah Snoke is by far the weakest thing about TFA. It's why I hope they just reveal him to bea Wizard of Oz type guy and Ren takes him out to assume control.

 

[sphagnum]

Where do you learn this?

Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy. Hux sets up the initial "club" for the foundation of his new project in that book. Which, when you think about it, is kind of weird, because the implication is that he's going to have these top level students impregnate each other to create the first generation of Stormtrooper babies for him to indoctrinate.

I'm sure there will be some weird fanfiction.

 

[Scotch]

I saw it tonight, and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. My fear was that it was gonna be completely forgettable (i.e. Marvel stuff), or downright bad (Avatar). But no, it was actually properly good. Great cast, great characters, some funny lines, great action and cgi. I might actually wanna see it again.