Star Wars: The Force Awakens Discussion (HERE THERE BE SPOILERS)

Highly enjoyable film, with some flaws, no doubt. It's impossible to make a movie like this and be perfect. Mostly because we all have different expectations.

Yes, the amount of references and similarities to the OT (mostly ANH) were a lot. I didn't mind. Yes, StarKiller seems like a rehash, but it worked for me.

In the end, I saw a great movie, that made me feel so many things. The only real problem I had, was

Spoiler: Spoilers

Han's death not having the big emotional impact I was expecting it to have. Maybe because I saw it coming, or because the lead-up in the scene was a bit to long. But it was a gutpunch.

But finding and flying the Falcon for the first time, Han and Chewie interacting, the lightsaber duel.....It was all simply perfect.
And BB-8... That little droid was so much of a character. Amazing work done there.
Poe and Finn..... Somehow, that was one of the highlights for me. The few scenes they had to together were just gold.
Solid performances really, Adam Driver surprised me. Kylo really felt like an annoying brat at times, with temper tantrums and all. And that worked, for me at least.
John Boyega and Daisy Ridley really nailed it. Not a moment throughout the movie where I felt their performances fell short. I had expected both Ford and Fisher to dail in a lot, but they delivered.
And Domhnall Gleeson.... His speech to the troops.... That send shivers down my spine. Hux is truly full of hatred and anger.

So yeah, all in all, I am one happy camper. This was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a much faster paced movie, that would go from action to action to action. But there was so much more in there, so much more depth and emotion. Sure, the plot at times seemed a bit to simple. But you know, I don't expect deep and thought-provoking plots with loads of layers in a movie like Star Wars. The plot served to show us characters we can rearlly connect with, and give us amazing visuals to gawk at. That's as A New Hope was originally, and this definatly captured that spirit, but in a new fashion.

 

That shot in the trailers seems to have been intentionally misleading. The shot of Maz's hand holding out the saber was used but it was Rey she was offering it to rather than whoever was wearing that blue sleeved dress.

 

I couldn't remember Rey actually taking it from Maz before refusing. That's why I was a bit iffy about whether it ended up included.



That does look like Rey's grey undershirt-thing.

 

I think it is an alternate take for the scene where Maz hands the saber to Finn. The angle is the same.


Does anyone get a Jaina Solo vibe from Rey.

 

I just thank the Living Force they didn't call him "Porkins."

I felt the same way about his name before I saw the movie. After actually seeing him: the weird name... kind of suits him, and adds to his air of weird mystery. (At the very least it didn't give me a mental image of George Lucas staring in a mirror and repeating the word "dookie" over and over.)

I actually thought it contributed to the improvised feel of the First Order: nobody's worked up the guts yet to tell the Supreme Leader that his chosen name doesn't sound intimidating. They're working the Galactic Empire's template but they don't have all the beats in line just yet.

 

If there is, though, one thing that really bugged me, it's

Spoiler: Here there be massive spoilers

Han and Ben's struggle. It was too long, and you figured Han was gonna die. It made impact a little less to me. Still emotional, but it could have been more of a shock moment. It was nicely saved with Han reaching out to touch his son's face, forgiving him and telling him he still loved him. Not with words, but with a show of affection.

 

Ewan McGregor has a line of dialogue in Rey's Force vision?! I totally missed that!!!

I'm surprised to see more people aren't complaining about Luke's five second silent cameo. This is the one thing that really, really bugged me. It's especially crazy because J.J. said the reason he took the gig was because he wanted to show what happened to Luke after ROTJ... then he goes and creates a story that Luke isn't even in...

So, I just realized something. Finn is NOT a Force sensitive? Only Rey is? Actually, my pre-existing theory about the Force awakening after thirty years of silence is out the window and I'm confused. What does the title mean? What was Snoke talking about when he said "there has been an awakening, have you felt it?" What woke up? Because we know that Luke was training new Jedi. People have been getting powers. So what changed? Why is the movie called The Force Awakens?

 

Well, History (concerning Luke) became Legend, which became myth!
That's what happened to Luke after ROTJ.

 

I'm not 100% sure about Finn not being Force-sensitive.... During the raid in the beginning, at one moment, Ren felt something, and turned towards Finn. This might just be Ren sensing Finn's fear and all, and part of a misdirection so we'd all asume it was Finn being Force sensitive. But who knows....

 

I watched the trilogy again this weekend and I was surprised to note that you barely see the bowcaster at all. I don't think it's in A New Hope and it only shows up very briefly in the other two. I'm pretty sure the first time we actually see it is when he comes out of the Falcon when it's hiding in the asteroid and he doesn't even use it then.

Because we know the meat of his story is going to be in the next film. This ending was merely a hook for the sequel. Yeah, it would've been nice to have a line or two from him, but it's not a big deal.

 

Voted "it's a trap" somewhat in jest. It's an entertaining movie. It just didn't bring anything that new or exciting to the table. It was all fairly predictable. The humor was just a little too corny at points, some bits should have been played a bit more seriously. I don't remember much about the EU stuff, it had a lot of "hey look these guys are bringing the empire back and they got an EVEN BIGGER super weapon" which seems to be what this movie was doing but... I didn't quite follow. The rebels won right? There's a New Republic more or less? Or has Leia just been mostly sitting in bunkers fighting an endless war? On the one hand they keep calling them "The Resistance" on the other Death Star Planet Edition is zapping some government planet or something?

Did JJ wake up one day and say "You know what, the Empire in the originals just didn't look enough like nazis!"?

Just where they put the characters didn't really work for me. Oh great, Luke fucked up just like Ol' Ben with his apprentice, and then fucked off to hide in a hole while billions get slaughtered. Han's... a freighter captain... lost the Millenium Falcon again to some scoundrel or another and uhhh. he transports... space monsters. Or something.

Leia sat in her war bunker for 30 years while completely forgetting how to act.

It was a fun movie, but it's as disposable as your average Marvel movie. Star Wars deserved better but there was too much money on the line for this to not be the movie.

 

Same here.

 

I thought he just noticed the one storm trooper standing stock still and staring at him, and picked up on his feelings. Phasma also seemed to notice Finn was out of sorts, and that he didn't fire at the villagers (assuming her demand for him to get a weapons inspection was anything unusual.)

If I was going to take a swing, I'd say the similarities between Marvel and Star Wars films comes from the Star Wars series (all of it) being the template for the modern blockbuster. Both TFA and Marvel were trying to emulate the Original Trilogy, it's just TFA was actually licensed to do so.

Speaking of comics, has anyone read the latest 'Princess Leia' comic? I've been eyeing it, but the trades are pretty pricey here if it turns out to be shit.

 

I don't think that Finn is Force-sensitive, but we don't know for sure. I think that he may have been 'nudged' to do the right thing by the Force. That's what the movie is referring to as the Force 'awakening.' People with the right skills are being forced into conflict to meet this new Dark Side threat.

 

Nailed it. (And saves me the trouble of a long write-up).

As for the complaints about a simplistic plot with huge holes? Hello! Has anyone actually seen a Star Wars movie? They are rich in symbolism but as stories, they are no more sophisticated than the 30s--50s serials upon which they are modelled.

I was a bit disappointed in the music, relatively speaking, but Williams is in his 80s, well past his creative peak--and it wasn't bad.

My ten year old son summed it up in a word: AWESOME. I agree.

 

The soundtrack was a bit thin but Rey's theme will go on to be one of the great Star Wars musical pieces, I think.

 

<<Speaking of comics, has anyone read the latest 'Princess Leia' comic? I've been eyeing it, but the trades are pretty pricey here if it turns out to be shit.>>

The only two Marvel Star Wars comics I haven't liked are the Leia and Chewie series.

 

The movie worked it's magic on me. I was actually thinking it wasn't going to but the second half of the film nails it and got me one, two with a knockout in the final round.

 

I think "Was Coruscant the one that blew up" has now replaced the RIDICULOUS (and thankfully now defunct) "Kylo Ren is Luke" meme.

No - it was not Coruscant. That planet is closer to the core. The planet we saw destroyed was Chandrila - Mon Mothma's home world.

 

Agree and disagree with a lot of both

Liked Driver, Boyega, Snoke was intriguing.

Not sure about Ridley...kept thinking 'the next Keira Knightley'? (wooden sometimes, but potential)

Score was disappointing...no new great leitmotifs as the OT.