Star Wars: The Force Awakens [SPOILERS ABOUND]

Good lord, one film per year?

 

This is Disney. Monetizing properties is their business.

 

i would smash rey so hard, god DAMN. my new crush.

It was a good movie. Not great not bad. I really liked what they did with Kylo Ren, he looked awesome and his old school lightsaber was awesome.

 

People like Kylo Ren? These same people better have not complained about how Anakin was presented in the prequels. Dude should have kept his mask on the whole movie.

And shit, let's not get started on that lightsaber.

 

In the lore, Kylo Ren's lightsaber is made using a rough crystal, so it's not as focused as it could be and is inefficient. There's two exhaust openings on either side of the hilt that allows for excess energy to be released-- and it just so happens to double as a cross guard.

I don't understand your comments regarding explosions and 'mindless pew pew pews' when you also rather have had Michael Bay direct the movie Purrin, that seems kind of puzzling to me. And no, Michael Bay was never actually good. Bad Boys was funny at parts, but that's about it.

 

That's good to know then.

 

The thing about pew pew is that it's exactly what I want to see in a Star Wars movie. I was 11 when I saw the original on the big screen back in 1977 and the thing that blew my young mind then was everyone using awesome looking laser guns. Whether fired from handheld pistols or X-wings, the look and sound of blaster fire in Star Wars is iconic and I love it.

I get why you guys have pacing issues with the movie, but for me, it made me feel like a kid again in a theater. If I want great characters, pacing and academy award winning drama, I'll see a Coen brothers movie. When I see a Star Wars movie I want shit blowing up and a fun ride for a few hours.

Oh....and I'll predict this now: Force Awakens will be nominated for Best Picture. Certainly doesn't deserve to win, but it will be nominated.

 

Just so you know, that's all fanboy retcon rationalization for the weird shit that goes on. Star Wars fans have been doing this a while now. The cynic in me says that the Kylo lightsaber only exists to sell a new thing to kids who already own the Vader, Luke, Yoda, Maul lightsaber and couldn't justify another unless it was cool and different. Practically the saber makes absolutely zero sense.

 

You can say what you want about Ren's lightsaber, but the fact that it's something new to the big screen is exciting in my eyes. I was wow'd by Darth Maul's double-sided saber, and I liked the crude appearance of Kylo Ren's saber.

 

Lightsabers pretty much sum up Star Wars - Awesome looking but completely useless in a practical sense. And with that in mind, why does Chewbacca have a laser crossbow? It's because a prop guy back in the 70s thought it looked cool, that's why.

And since we're picking apart a space movie featuring 7 foot tall walking dogs, two-legged fish admirals and such, here's my gripe with the film:

After being with Chewbacca for at least 40 years are we really supposed to believe Han NEVER ONCE fired Chewie's crossbow before? It's like he had never seen it before this movie.

 

That's a cop-out. Dual sided quarterstaff has a basis in combat reality. Lightsaber with a non-functional crossguard bothers those of us who are above the age of 13.

These small nitpicks aren't the problem. This new generation of action movie blandness is TFA's real problem. The line that it's meant to appeal to kids is also a lame cop-out. There's no reason we can't have both.

 

Given that Rey spent the first half of the film walking around with that quarterstaff, my guess is that we'll be seeing a blue one of these pretty soon when she sits down to construct her own weapon. And that will be there to sell toys to kids too.

Re: Anakin, the biggest problem with Anakin in the prequels wasn't that Lucas scripted him as a bratty teenager. It was that Hayden Christensen's line readings were complete and utter shit. IMO emo Adam Driver nails most of his lines (*cough*..except the bridge scene when it probably mattered the most). Driver even nails the "Traitor!" before the short Finn/Kylo lightsaber duel even though the script didn't do a good enough job establishing why a high-ranking, force sensitive dark-side trainee would give two fucks about a defecting stormtrooper.

 

Saw it and liked it. I found it a very enjoyable movie with many things going for it, especially for the next 2? movies.

I rank it either 2nd or 3rd in terms of Star Wars films, tied with the original 1977 film as a film. Star Wars (1977) blows this thing completely out of the water in terms of cultural significance. Like the Episode 4, Ep. 7 is an enjoyable but flawed film. Similarities include lack of character development and flimsy story. Ep. 4's story was more coherent unbelievably, while Ep. 7's was really incoherent (who is fighting who for what? Plot devices explained away in 5 words or less.).

Empire Strikes Back is my #1 Star Wars film and ranks really high on my favorite movies of all time.

I feel JJ Abrams was in a no win situation. He had to pay homage to the first 2 trilogies. I see this film as a setup film. He introduced his characters, payed homage to the old and did a farewell tour (hopefully) of the old set pieces (desert planet, death star, rescue, etc). Yes, totally agree that there was way too much of Eps 4-7 in Force Awakens. Now I hope he opens up his universe and starts moving his characters forward and explore the ramifications of what he has setup.

I liked the twists and the echoes of the new characters in relation to the old characters. I wish Rey was way less "deus machina" as she is painted into a corner, a la Neo in the Matrix. What can you do if your character can already do EVERYTHING? I liked that this movie is much more influenced by the first trilogy: aliens not stereotyped accents

In terms of lore and how it fits into first trilogy canon and second trilogy canon, I like the possibilities with what JJ Abrams has started.

Again, very enjoyable movie. I forgot I was holding a bag of popcorn while watching it.

 

I think Hayden did the best he could with his given lines. Although he obviously didn't fare as well as the more seasoned actors.

 

While were retconning stuff:

He was disadvantaged by having some of the worst lines in the film.