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Okay, finally saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Suppose it goes without saying that spoilers will follow.

(Amazingly enough I've managed to remain spoiler-free this entire time. I think I deserve a medal)


Okay, so I FINALLY saw the movie that everyone else on the planet had seen 5 months ago. Overall, I liked it. Right from the opening scene in that village, you can immediately notice the difference in directing between TFA and the prequels. Everything looks actually real and organic, unlike Lucas' affinity to slather everything with CGI. Unfortunately, some of the aliens still look and move very poorly like that alien lady in the bar. I guess we still got a long way to go.

My opinion on the story is... mixed. The plot seems to be essentially the same as the plot to Ep. IV. I don't mind reusing such things, but I didn't like the execution. I mean, you go through nearly halfway throughout the movie, and then they introduce this new Death Star 2.0 thing, which is more power, and kinda cool, I guess, but it just feels like it randomly shows up. I mean, compare it to the way the Death Star was handled in Ep. IV, where you know about it right from the start, and you get a good feel for what's at stake. Yes, this new machine destroyed way more planets, but despite that, for some reason there didn't seem to be as much tension, imo.

I like the idea of a stormtrooper performing an act of mutiny and joining the good guys, but again, I'm not sure I like how it was handled. I mean, don't get me wrong. I actually really liked Finn. In fact, the fact that he was such a likable character, was probably the most surprising thing about the movie. But he just seems like a regular, typical Joe. He seems to work good as comic relief and a side character, but to have the whole movie centered around him? I dunno, not really feeling it.

And then we have the worst part of the movie, imo: Kylo Ren. Good god, this guy was such a loser. He was whiny, emo, and wasn't even a particularly good warrior. He got injured several times while fighting two completely inexperienced light-sabre wielders. Can you imagine Vader, or Dooku getting hurt by a bunch of scrubs? This guy is the shittiest sith lord in history. Which is a shame cause I really liked his threads.

Also, Snoke? Really? Snoke? I thought only Lucas was capable of coming up with the dumbest sounding names.

Still, overall I enjoyed it. Was hoping it would be better, sadly. I'd rank it above the prequels and RotJ, but under ANH and ESB.

edit: Oh, also it was pretty cool to see they got Mark Hammil to return...for 10 seconds, lol. Still, that was a pleasant surprise.
 
Nice job remaining spoiler-free. I actually liked how Kylo Ren was portrayed:

Unrespected even by stormtroopers and officers, a whiny wannabee Darth Vader. It's a big contrast to how such villains normally show up, and now he has a movie or two to become something much more sinister. "Character growth" but in an evil direction.
 
I love Kylo Ren, he's the most interesting character in the film.

It was wonderful that he wasn't just another, more powerful Vader.
 
Kylo isn't Sith, which doesn't make sense since he's so obsessed with Vader - and him being such a non-villain makes me think he's really going to turn to the light side.

Tons of plot issues, IMO, but I don't think that's what Disney planned to cater to.
 
Oblivion said:
My opinion on the story is... mixed. The plot seems to be essentially the same as the plot to Ep. IV. I don't mind reusing such things, but I didn't like the execution. I mean, you go through nearly halfway throughout the movie, and then they introduce this new Death Star 2.0 thing, which is more power, and kinda cool, I guess, but it just feels like it randomly shows up. I mean, compare it to the way the Death Star was handled in Ep. IV, where you know about it right from the start, and you get a good feel for what's at stake. Yes, this new machine destroyed way more planets, but despite that, for some reason there didn't seem to be as much tension, imo.
Click to expand...

Lucas was generally pretty good at creating iconic characters and situations, whether we liked them or not. The Death Star floating out there in space like a malevolent entity is a hell of a lot more iconic than the
Starkiller base
, and the movie goes through an extra step to explain how it works.
 
My main reaction after watching it was:

"This is what everyone was hyped about?"

With this expression

W18LRcv.gif
 
I don't think we can call Rey an inexperienced lightsaber scrub yet. We don't know her back story. She could of already been in training and had her memory wiped. She could also be the daughter of some very powerful Jedi's.
 
Kylo Ren isn't Vader or Dooku, though. He's a wannabe who can't even build a proper light Saber. And that's what makes him such a great and unique villain in SW. Every other Sith Lord has been this cold calculating type that rarely ever loses his cool.
 
Kylo Ren's volatility feels like what George Lucas was trying to go for with Anakin in the prequel films and failed to capture. He's a fascinating antagonist.
 
Kylo Ren is by far the most fascinating part of the movie.

He counters this continued belief perpetuated by fiction that evil people are only "the angry old people that, once they die, we can be done with," or cyborgs or whatever. That villains should be these cool preternatural badasses, and don't have something genuinely human and twisted at their core.

Kylo Ren is necessary because he represents the angry, misguided school shooter who seems like nothing more than a petulant whiner until he does something horrifically evil. He's the next generation that has taken all the wrong lessons from history, and continues a cycle of oppression that will never go away.
 
Jotaka said:
I too saw the movie just now... and more and more I think JJ Abrans can only copy other people work in his movies. This movie is a copy of A New Hope.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. It was designed to serve several purposes it would seem: fan service for the rabid support base, reboot the universe for a new generation and wider audience, wash the taste of the prequels out of people's mouths, make a good movie.

So it shocks me not at all that they used the New Hope outline to make this film.
 
To be fair, Kylo is not a Sith Lord. Far far from it. He may become one in the later movies but right now he's just apprentice status. Kylo's probably my favorite character in TFA.
 
I liked this movie a lot. Rey is bae, Finn is probably my favorite Star Wars character ever, JJ's direction is better than prequel era George and it's easily hands and feet the best looking Star Wars movie ever. I have to see this movie a couple more times but in my opinion, it's the second best Star Wars movie right behind Empire.
 
Kylo is a good character because he's such an atypical villain and has two more films to grow in either direction - light or dark. It's a better take on the Anakin story, because

A) We don't know if he will end up staying with the bad guys

B) We start with him already having made his turn

C) He's powerful, but young and inexperienced (Anakin was this too, but Ren pulls it off better)
 
Agree with the OP, but the more I think about this movie, the less I like it. Although, I do find Boyega and BB8 growing on me.

I'll spare you the typical the Kylo Ren complaints.
 
Blizzard said:
Nice job remaining spoiler-free. I actually liked how Kylo Ren was portrayed:

Unrespected even by stormtroopers and officers, a whiny wannabee Darth Vader. It's a big contrast to how such villains normally show up, and now he has a movie or two to become something much more sinister. "Character growth" but in an evil direction.
Click to expand...

They would want to make his character grow in a logical sense, I hope they don't just present one scenario and have that be that. I guess what I am saying is that I hope they don't just throw a dart at a dartboard ala Snyder did with Superman's character in MOS and BvS.

The Force Awakens was ok, it wasn't the greatest (I'm not a Star Wars fan like many others..... don't even watch the EI - EVI every year... might watch them every 4-5 years or so) have seen better films and seen a lot worse. I thought some of the call backs were good (Han and Chewie's interaction with the younger characters) Leia was useless and a waste of time.

I rolled my eyes at the updated circumstances of Episode IV plot lines. If I wanted to watch Episode IV again, I'd watch Episode IV.

To me the film was more a case of Disney saying oh look we have the rights to Star Wars and here is a taste of what Disney flavored Star Wars films will be like. It barely continued the main Star Wars "story", it felt more like a gigantic toy commercial.
 
Shaanyboi said:
Kylo Ren is by far the most fascinating part of the movie.

He counters this continued belief perpetuated by fiction that evil people are only "the angry old people that, once they die, we can be done with," or cyborgs or whatever. That villains should be these cool preternatural badasses, and don't have something genuinely human and twisted at their core.

Kylo Ren is necessary because he represents the angry, misguided school shooter who seems like nothing more than a petulant whiner until he does something horrifically evil. He's the next generation that has taken all the wrong lessons from history, and continues a cycle of oppression that will never go away.
Click to expand...

I think this was the smart way to go. Setting the groundwork for a complex villain vs the simple embodiment of evil we got in A New Hope. Vader, until the sequels, was much like Sauron, evil incarnate. A caricature done very well but a caricature nonetheless.

Trying to replicate that would of been foolish. They would of failed miserably because Vader is too iconic. Better to go the other direction and watch a person's transformation into a Vader type figure. Like the prequels tried and failed.
 
Shaanyboi said:
Kylo Ren is by far the most fascinating part of the movie.

He counters this continued belief perpetuated by fiction that evil people are only "the angry old people that, once they die, we can be done with," or cyborgs or whatever. That villains should be these cool preternatural badasses, and don't have something genuinely human and twisted at their core.

Kylo Ren is necessary because he represents the angry, misguided school shooter who seems like nothing more than a petulant whiner until he does something horrifically evil. He's the next generation that has taken all the wrong lessons from history, and continues a cycle of oppression that will never go away.
Click to expand...

Spot on.

This and the fact that Kyle Ren parallels the real life narrative of creating another Star Wars villain. Disney and JJ Abrams knows that no matter what they do they'll never get another villain as iconic or as culturally significant as Darth Vader. And it's this consent anguish over the fact that you will always be 2nd. It was surprisingly really well written.

I'm so glad that we finally got one good villain in one of these big action movie blockbusters. I can't even remember the last time.
 
Rey was the center of the movie, I would argue. And awesome.

Ren grew on me.

He's fantastic because he's a villainous padawan. He's how Anakin should have been portrayed.
 
Order of appreciation

The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
A New Hope
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace
The Force Awakens
Attack of the Clones

So pretty bottom tier. Only surpassed in mediocrity by anything with Jar Jar Binks.
 
Star Wars fans have taught me Kylo Ren, from the major motion movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is the best film villain of all time. I thank them for this.
 
Kylo Ren is the best thing to happen to Star Wars since Yoda or Boba Fett. This didn't need to be its own thread no matter where your opinion falls.
 
Blizzard said:
Nice job remaining spoiler-free. I actually liked how Kylo Ren was portrayed:

Unrespected even by stormtroopers and officers, a whiny wannabee Darth Vader. It's a big contrast to how such villains normally show up, and now he has a movie or two to become something much more sinister. "Character growth" but in an evil direction.
Click to expand...

He was entirely respected by the stormtroopers and officers. What indicated any sort of disrespect for him?

Nobody was laughing about Kylo Ren
 
Rockk said:
Spot on.

This and the fact that Kyle Ren parallels the real life narrative of creating another Star Wars villain. Disney and JJ Abrams knows that no matter what they do they'll never get another villain as iconic or as culturally significant as Darth Vader. And it's this consent anguish over the fact that you will always be 2nd. It was surprisingly really well written.

I'm so glad that we finally got one good villain in one of these big action movie blockbusters. I can't even remember the last time.
Click to expand...
I never thought about it but you could almost imagine that the entire Kylo Ren arc was a channelling of the writers acknowledging this fact and an outlet of their own frustration when crafting the new generation villain. Good post haha.
 
I thought Ren was interesting. It was cool to see the idea of succumbing to the dark side flipped with Ren fighting the pull of the light side. As for his combat prowess it's been said thousands of times that he got shot in the chest by Chewie's bowcaster, a weapon that sent many people flying five yards when hit by it.
 
Kylo getting beat up by a couple of scrubs was the worst part of the movie for me. It's completely ridiculous. I also agree about the Death Star 2.0 thing. No real tension at all. In EP IV the Death Star felt like its own character and Darth Vader and the emperor just felt like vehicles for the evil that was the Death Star. However, Kylo was the most interesting character in the movie and sets up for a very good sequel. The tensions were supposed to be with the characters and the Death Star 2.0 was just a stage for it to play out. However, the supporting cast around Kylo failed to drive home the turn to evil. It almost felt like the movie had a forced split personality between action and character development and as a result didn't do either exceptionally.

In the end a good movie and I hope the second movie doesn't spend forever on developing Luke but I think it will and will be a fill in movie until the third installment where the two characters can actually shine.
 
TheExecutive said:
Kylo getting beat up by a couple of scrubs was the worst part of the movie for me. It's completely ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Who were you texting the 3 times that the movie showed you Chewie's bowcaster was OP, Kylo Ren then being shot by said bowcaster and the two times the movie showed you that he was seriously wounded from said bowcaster shot?
 
TheExecutive said:
Kylo getting beat up by a couple of scrubs was the worst part of the movie for me. It's completely ridiculous. I also agree about the Death Star 2.0 thing. No real tension at all. In EP IV the Death Star felt like its own character and Darth Vader and the emperor just felt like vehicles for the evil that was the Death Star. However, Kylo was the most interesting character in the movie and sets up for a very good sequel. The tensions were supposed to be with the characters and the Death Star 2.0 was just a stage for it to play out. However, the supporting cast around Kylo failed to drive home the turn to evil. It almost felt like the movie had a forced split personality between action and character development and as a result didn't do either exceptionally.

In the end a good movie and I hope the second movie doesn't spend forever on developing Luke but I think it will and will be a fill in movie until the third installment where the two characters can actually shine.
Click to expand...

He rekt Finn and he had a crippling injury to his leg. Hardly some humiliating defeat.
 
TheExecutive said:
Kylo getting beat up by a couple of scrubs was the worst part of the movie for me. It's completely ridiculous. I also agree about the Death Star 2.0 thing. No real tension at all. In EP IV the Death Star felt like its own character and Darth Vader and the emperor just felt like vehicles for the evil that was the Death Star. However, Kylo was the most interesting character in the movie and sets up for a very good sequel. The tensions were supposed to be with the characters and the Death Star 2.0 was just a stage for it to play out. However, the supporting cast around Kylo failed to drive home the turn to evil. It almost felt like the movie had a forced split personality between action and character development and as a result didn't do either exceptionally.

In the end a good movie and I hope the second movie doesn't spend forever on developing Luke but I think it will and will be a fill in movie until the third installment where the two characters can actually shine.
Click to expand...

Cant say I agree about the Ren fight criticism, it was well established he was pretty damn injured.

I will say the weight of the larger conflict presented in the film was pretty poorly established. Then again I haven't really felt any of the films in the series have really captured that aspect of their stories so I can't hold it against this film too much either. And as you said, and like all the films, the setting and situation is just used as a tool for the more personal soap opera to play against.

It will be interesting to see where they take the series now that they got the reboot/remake film out of the way.
 
Adam Blue said:
Kylo isn't Sith, which doesn't make sense since he's so obsessed with Vader - and him being such a non-villain makes me think he's really going to turn to the light side.
Click to expand...

Being a dark side acolyte does not make you a Sith. The Sith are a specific organization with a particular culture, ethos, and rites. It's just like how using the Force for good doesn't make you a Jedi.
 
Ooccoo said:
Order of appreciation

The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
A New Hope
Revenge of the Sith
The Phantom Menace
The Force Awakens
Attack of the Clones

So pretty bottom tier. Only surpassed in mediocrity by anything with Jar Jar Binks.
Click to expand...

Oof...really disagree there (heavily).

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Episode IV: A New Hope
Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Force Awakens exceeded my expectations and is now my 2nd favorite Star Wars film.

Dated CGI and horrible acting aside, I like Revenge Of The Sith more than Return Of The Jedi by a hair (the Endor stuff just takes WAY too much out of ROTJ's running time).

Fuck The Phantom Menace. Fuck whiny little Anakin. Fuck Midi-chlorians. Fuck not giving Sebulba and Darth Maul more screen time. Fuck not actually showing the conditions of the Naboo people in first person (God for bid we show them actually doing something and at least attempting to fight against the takeover)...but most importantly, fuck Jar Jar Binks. Fuck him to death.
 
sphagnum said:
Being a dark side acolyte does not make you a Sith. The Sith are a specific organization with a particular culture, ethos, and rites. It's just like how using the Force for good doesn't make you a Jedi.
Click to expand...

Really? Who can use the force but aren't a jedi?

Oh also. Wasn't there something said in one of the previous movies that only jedis could use light sabres? So if so, how was Finn able to do so? Unless..
 
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