Just came back from it. Holy shit it was GREAT!
I do have a few questions though:
1/ I'm confused about the whole Republic/Resistance/First Order thing. I thought the Resistance and the Republic were the same thing at first but it seems not. Are the Republic "good guys" or is the First Order part of it? What even IS the First Order?
2/ What was the Falcon doing in Jakku? And what were Han and Chewie doing that made them find it so soon after it took off? They seemed like they hadn't seen it in a while even though they found it like two minutes after it took off.
3/ Han seemed like he had never seen Chewie's weapon in action. Wtf?
4/ So... is it Ben Organa or Ben Solo?
5/ Was Max von Sydow a Jedi in hiding? Seemed like he knew Luke or something but he didn't even have a lightsaber.
6/ Did Captain Phasma survive?
7/ One of the Stormtroopers had a red shoulder pad. Is that meant to be a specific character or is it just a higher-ranking trooper (or multiple higher-ranking troopers)?
8/ Why would a map of Luke's location exist? Also it seemed like R2-D2 randomly woke up for no reason.
9/ (There may not be an answer to this yet) Is Snoke a giant or is that an effect with the hologram?
10/ Rey called Finn "my friend" in their last scene. -> Friendzone?
11/ That kid in Rey's flashback, was it a young Rey? I thought maybe it could be Anakin since she also saw a vision of Luke.
1) This is poorly explained, somebody else can definitely explain it better than I can. The main idea is The New Republic is what the Resistance was in the Original Trilogy. They signed a peace treaty with the First Order which is what remains of The Empire. The Resistance refused to sign the peace treaty and wish to fight the First Order. The Republic is secretly supporting the Resistance. This was allegedly in a book somewhere, and I learned of it through this thread. Solely from movie knowledge the most we can understand is that The Republic don't seem to care too much about the First Order, the remnants of the Republic, whereas the Resistance recognise them as a threat and have resolved to fight them, and this has been secretly backed by the Republic (who care about them, but not enough to intervene themselves and launch a galactic war).
2) Unclear as of now. The movie's explanation is that the ship was involved in a series of robberies and sales and ultimately ended in Jakkar. Whether this is the truth, or there is another reason, remains to be seen.
3) It's more that he's never tried it himself I think. This is unsatisfactory to some.
4) Ben Solo I believe.
5) His purpose is unclear. The common belief seems to be that he was in hiding on Jakku in a similar position to Ben Kenobi, so that he could watch over Ren, make sure she's alright, and when the time is right bring her to Luke if necessary (or some variation).
6) Yes.
7) I assume it's meant to be an indication of rank.
8) Unclear as of now, presumably it's for Ren. Note that R2-D2 also awakens when Ren returns. It could be that Luke used the force to reactivate him from afar, or it could be that Ren's presence, now aware and accepting of her connection to the force, awoke R2-D2.
9) He's tall (seven foot) but it was an effect of the hologram similar to Palpatine's appearance in A New Hope but far exaggerated.
10) Not really, she's been through a lot with him and they've developed a bond. Maybe it'll progress to be more, maybe not, but given the character traits I don't think they'll go down the route of a romance at all.
11) It depends on the time, do you mean the kid in the desert planet? If so, that was Rey, yelling "come back" to her parents/guardians after being dropped on Jakku for the first time.
Somebody can correct me if I was wrong on these, but most of it was my understanding from the film.
( One of my fav films this year, just below Fury Road in my ranking.
