Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[mattrobin90]

Loved it. I was never a huge fan of Return of the Jedi and the only prequel that I thought was tolerable was Revenge of the Sith, so I'd rank TFA behind Empire and A New Hope. Looking forward to seeing how Disney carries the story forward.

[A Sith Lord?]

I'll give my thoughts. Just got home.

[Show spoiler]I loved it. But am I bad for saying I may have been entertained by the prequels more? I loved Rey, Finn was cool, and it was great to see the old cast again.

I loved Kylo, and even after he took off his mask loved it as well. Great job.

Hated seeing Han die, but I suppose H.Ford wanted to be out of the Star Wars thing sooner and this was a nice send off for him. To me he was definitely the best supporting character in this. That scene on the catwalk though was great...

It was weird seeing Leia in the plastic surgery and CGI face, and her voice... ugh.

BB was great. Chewy was great.

I think a few criticisms I have of the movie are the forced moments I feel that JJ tried to push on us. Some of Finn's stuff were funny but some of it were just going overboard. Also, that weird part of Kylo and Rey just holding the lightsabers against each other adn Rey zoning out for what seemrd like 10 seconds (hmmm... the force!?)

Really didn't like how they see Rey across the big open room one second, and two seconds later they catch up with her no problem.


After watching this movie, I think I appreciate Lucas' approach to CGI in the fantasy areas of his universe a bit more in the prequels. I will say that the CGI in this movie, was slightly better than prequels. The prequels suffered from bad green room, but it is nice to know that for it's time in 2005 we got decent CGI out of ROTS.

Loved Poe's character, but the no real explanation of how he survived and showed up later...

I'm kind of disappointed in the score. It wasn't as moving and into the scenes as the Prequels. There were good moments, but the score seemed like it dragged at times instead of going in with the flow of the scene.

Lastly, man it was only 10 seconds but to see Luke again was awesome.
Sucks we're going to have to wait a year and a half to see Luke again.

I personally think, Ep 8 will mirror Episode 2 in that, I think Leia will be killed, and Luke in Ep 9.

I'm wondering if turning Ben Solo back to the good side of the force will be one of the major subplots of this trilogy.

Also about Luke, I wonder if he knew about everything that was going on. In 30 years he's probably become so powerful with the force, that he was sensing everything that was going on. Probably felt sadness when Han died, and also felt Leia's grief at that moment too.

I also wonder if he set this in motion to activate R2 to beacon them to him. Luke's probably been confiding in isolation with Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gonn, Mace, Anakin

[A Sith Lord?]

I missed the credits, was there any tip of the hat to Lucas?

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by MasturB

I missed the credits, was there any tip of the hat to Lucas?

I know it said it was based on characters created by him. I can't remember if he got an Executive Producer credit though. I did like how Kenny Baker was near the bottom of the cast as an R2D2 consultant. Was he really? C'mon.

[cminer72]

[Show spoiler]Rey's mother is Mara Jade. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. After all, Disney had to find a way to take this popular character from the novels and add her to the cinematic universe.

[mysticwaterfall]

Oh yeah one question - who was the guy at the beginning supposed to be? Everybody acted like he was a big hero from the OT but I couldn't tell who he was.

[A Sith Lord?]

I actually thought this movie paid homage to the prequels rather well.

[Show spoiler]Han dying was just like seeing Obi-Wan die in ANH, or Qui-Gonn die in TPM. It was the catalyst for the protagonist to become even stronger with the force. It set off Finn and Rey, just like it took Obi-Wan to the next level in TPM against Maul, and Luke to the next level in ANH.

Rebels destroy a bigger version of the death star, just like they did in ANH.

Empire/Order destroys innocents with the bigger death star. This time instead of planets, solar systems.

Kylo Renn was very similar to a young Anakin. Angry, overly compassionate, lost, being deceived by his master, full of rage, and erratic. Loved his family, but ended up being the reason they died. Even his hair looked like ROTS Anakin.

I wonder if when Luke was trying Kylo, he told him "your grandfather was a master ruler in the old Empire, but he turned back to the good side". So when Renn says "I will finish what you started" it just means less because we know Vader turned back to the good side of the force before he died.

Where was Carrie Fisher's daughter in the movie, or did I just miss that altogether?

Also, I wonder if Luke is Rey's father. Maybe he was the one who dropped her off on that ship in Jakku.

Does Finn have force capability? I mean he dueled Kylo for a little bit, albeit he was wild.

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by mysticwaterfall

Oh yeah one question - who was the guy at the beginning supposed to be? Everybody acted like he was a big hero from the OT but I couldn't tell who he was.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lor_San_Tekka

[mysticwaterfall]

Originally Posted by Mandalorian

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lor_San_Tekka

I see. I guess I don't feel bad now.

[A Sith Lord?]

[Show spoiler] Not gonna lie, I thought when the ground split between Rey and Kylo, that Luke was making a badassery entrance to stop her from killing her cousin.

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by MasturB

I actually thought this movie paid homage to the prequels rather well.

[Show spoiler]Han dying was just like seeing Obi-Wan die in ANH, or Qui-Gonn die in TPM. It was the catalyst for the protagonist to become even stronger with the force. It set off Finn and Rey, just like it took Obi-Wan to the next level in TPM against Maul, and Luke to the next level in ANH.

Rebels destroy a bigger version of the death star, just like they did in ANH.

Empire/Order destroys innocents with the bigger death star. This time instead of planets, solar systems.

Kylo Renn was very similar to a young Anakin. Angry, overly compassionate, lost, being deceived by his master, full of rage, and erratic. Loved his family, but ended up being the reason they died. Even his hair looked like ROTS Anakin.

I wonder if when Luke was trying Kylo, he told him "your grandfather was a master ruler in the old Empire, but he turned back to the good side". So when Renn says "I will finish what you started" it just means less because we know Vader turned back to the good side of the force before he died.

Where was Carrie Fisher's daughter in the movie, or did I just miss that altogether?

Also, I wonder if Luke is Rey's father. Maybe he was the one who dropped her off on that ship in Jakku.

Does Finn have force capability? I mean he dueled Kylo for a little bit, albeit he was wild.

[Show spoiler]The scene when the lightsaber landed in the snow during the fight with Kylo, that reminded me of when Luke was in the cave on Hoth. That was when we saw how far Luke had come with the Force. Rey was just figuring hers out. I'm wondering about Luke and Mara Jade, too.

[y2jman]

anybody theater had folks dress up or lightsaber actions i'm going to wear this tomorrow btw

[A Sith Lord?]

Originally Posted by cynatnite

[Show spoiler]The scene when the lightsaber landed in the snow during the fight with Kylo, that reminded me of when Luke was in the cave on Hoth. That was when we saw how far Luke had come with the Force. Rey was just figuring hers out. I'm wondering about Luke and Mara Jade, too.

[Show spoiler]I really think Mara Jade and Luke knowingly left Rey there in Jakku

Perhaps, he was the one that stole the Millenium Falcon and sold it to the dealer so he knew it would be in the shipyard again.

I mean Yoda used to have good foresight, and we know at this time Luke is stronger than Yoda or Palpatine ever were so it's possible he foresaw this happening.

[stvn1974]

I loved it. Reminded me of the original film's fun with the intensity of the Luke vs Vader in the Emperor's throne room of Return Of The Jedi.

Adam Driver was fantastic as was Daisy Ridley.

I went to an 8:30 showing and we could hear the clapping and cheering from the 7:00 show their viewing ended.

Star Wars is back and I had a smile on my face so big I was afraid I was going to swallow my head.

Now I need to get some sleep because I have tickets for 9am tomorrow with some family.

[A Sith Lord?]

Who's got the best SW-TFA t-shirts?

I really wanna get one of Luke.

Speaking of which,

[Show spoiler]does anybody have an image of Luke with the hood off from the movie?? Really want to make that my avatar in a few weeks when everyone has seen the movie.

[V2David]

This is a fun, entertaining Star Wars movie which fans should enjoy. Take a deep breath, this is not the abomination that The Phantom Menace was. That being said, the movie is not in the same league of A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back. Not even close. But it does set up the characters and story for a sequel. I would give it 3-1/2 stars out of 5.

The pluses:
+ Great casting of new characters. Daisey Ridley is a star.
+ Fun to see the originals
+ Lot of fanfare (but not in a bad way)
+ Practical effects - No bad over the top CGI action scenes
+ Can't wait to see the next one, despite any criticisms. It really is set up nicely for future sequels.

The minuses:
- Repeated plots (how many times do we have to see a "Death Star"?)
- New characters are not given enough time to develop
- Didn't care for well-being of characters except perhaps Rey.
- Certain characters mastery of a light saber without any training.
- Lack of suspense and tension with some key action scenes (including the "Death Star")
- The annoying, unnecessary changing of names (ex. Rebels and Empire).
- Kylo Ren is given too much screen time, and therefore is not as menacing (but I guess this was by design)
- We are told a lot of plot developments instead of seeing it (but with 30+ years passed, there probably wasn't much they could do).
- Score was horrible. Sure it is still Star Wars, but Williams phoned this one in.
- Not sure this movie will have much replay value once fans see it a few times. The movie is a nice transition between the old and the new, but once the next sequel comes out, I have a feeling this one will simply be bypassed.

The Star Wars movie you are all waiting for will be the NEXT one. This one was just the appetizer.

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by y2jman

anybody theater had folks dress up or lightsaber actions i'm going to wear this tomorrow btw

There were some Darth characters, a few stormtroopers and one Leia that I saw. No one was allowed to wear masks or carry light sabers or Star Wars type weapons. Most everyone wore SW t-shirts.

[Bizdady]

Star Wars was amazing!!! The Dbox was actually pretty cool! Seats moving and shaking to the action was fun. Can't wait to see it again Saturday!

[Ironhorse75]

I loved how real episodes 4-6 felt. When they referenced the myth of Luke Skywalker, the history and the present felt like they were part of the same timeline.

I don't and probably never will get that feeling between 4-6 and 1-3. 1-3 will always feel disjointed.

Originally Posted by V2David

The minuses:
- Certain characters mastery of a light saber without any training.

[Show spoiler]To me it was the reverse. Rey and Finn weren't exactly showing any technical proficiency. I was more so disappointed in the lack of skill in Ren. He should not have been so easily overwhelmed. Injured or not.

[The Great Owl]

I will not discuss plot points of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in my review, because I do not wish to lessen anyone else's enjoyment of the film. I can, however, assure fellow longtime Star Wars fans that Episode VII succeeds in capturing the joys of cinema that we all felt when we saw each subsequent entry of the original trilogy so many years ago. This new movie should be first viewed in a theater setting with a large audience, simply for the experience of cheering along when well-loved characters appear on the screen and when the impressive new characters shine in their own moments.

Filmmaking has changed in so many ways since the original Star Wars trilogy, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that director J.J. Abrams and his crew have managed to retain the tangibility of those older films by using extensive practical effects, while also employing computer-generated visuals to show battles, creatures, and spaceships in ways that I could only dream about when I saw the older films during my childhood. I never once felt as though I were watching a cartoon, as I did quite often when I first saw the movies of the prequel trilogy, because Star Wars: The Force Awakens brings us the best of both worlds with old and new special effects techniques.

Special effects can only carry us so far, though, and I'm also pleased to report that the characters are, once again, the main draw. I loved hearing the dialogue of iconic figures from the original trilogy movies, because the familiarity allowed me to step full-tilt into the good old Star Wars universe, as though I were being reunited with wonderful old friends. I was equally impressed, though, with the establishment of many new characters whom I expect that I will also enjoy following in future installments of this franchise. This new movie shows us awesome heroes and incredible villains alike.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens does go somewhat overboard when it comes to catering to the nostalgia of older fans, and the J.J. Abrams trademark of overusing lens flares is in full swing, but these are only minor complaints. Fortunately, I was more than happy to acquiesce and and fall in line with the nostalgia trip, because, like everyone else in the audience, my eyes lit up when I saw something that I recognized from the previous films.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is everything that I hoped that it would be, and I cannot wait to see where the upcoming stories take us. Highly recommended!