Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Post-release)

[Reelo]

I have been reading reviews all around since last night. Honestly I tend to gravitate towards the negative ones, why? I think its because as a fan I am curious why people dislike or flat out hate the movie. After leaving the theater I thought, "its the Star Wars movie most of us wanted." Not the most incredible or original storyline, but right in line with what a Star Wars movie should feel like.

But what you put down here is spot on for me personally. I loved the movie. I think partially I enjoyed it so much because it was so much better than the prequels that it almost removed that bad taste from my mouth after all these years. like we moved on from it and have a fresh new ground to look forward to.

But the point of my comment is, Thank you. This review is a great reflection, and from one fan to another, I appreciate it!

And it reflects my view as well. Is it the Star Wars movie to end all Star Wars movie? Certainly not. But it completely washes away the sour aftertaste of the prequels and is just fun to watch. JJ took all the right ingredients of the OT-cocktail, so to speak. It should be no surprise that the taste is close to the original one. With the PT, GL had so many ingredients in his list that the end-result was barely drinkable.

 

[CutThumb]

I've been told it was Hosnian Prime ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hosnian_Prime ) that got smoked along with the others which I did not recognise. That was one of a few "I've got a bad feeling about this moments" about the film I had,JJ copying what he did to Vulcan in ST. And somehow the seemed to shrink an enormous SW universe into a smaller one ,with every planet seemingly next door to each other and I hated that. Along with that awful B wing, Hans freighter and his new technique of jumping into hyperspace from a standing start and out of it blindly straight into a mountain. When you alter the physical environment of the universe people tend to notice. It was things like that that made me score this a B+ instead of an A star.

PS Augh and Jedi 72
You might be right about the alien hand I can't remember it exactly, the scream she made made me close my eyes and ears!!!! DO remember the clever flashback to what looked like the Cloud City corridor and the rest. And I did smile to myself when Maz skipped when she was asked how she got hold of Lukes lightsabre !!!!! Theres been ALOT of speculation about that!!

PPS IF JJ EVER missed a moment to win the hearts of a million star wars fans over ,it was by NOT having Jar Jar running in that crowd as the planet got toasted (if he lived that long).

 

[p51]

Here's my take after seeing it last night:
Way better than the prequels. Zero doubt of that
Weaker looking and acting bad guys this time. Empire goes Emo, it seemed
I didn't like any Imperial uniforms other than the normal stormtrooper ones
Didn't get the motivation. Why'd Finn flip? You don't see what led to this (it's no spoiler as it's clearly in the trailers). Who's this new Sith lord? I hope some of these things get answered later on
Overall, it really felt like the good old days of SW for the most part. Loved that
BB-8 was really cute but not over the top. I bet kids will love the little droid. I didn't think they could make a droid cuter than R2, but they did and I'm just fine with it
Not the best movie I've ever seen but I felt just fine paying for the ticket at premium prices. I saw it in 3D but you're not missing much at all by seeing it in 2D. I'd have rather a 2D showing but the 3D was all I could get into

 

[mattycsi]

Just seen it for the second time. It was even better next go round, partly because I could relax more without worrying whether it was gonna suck. I could easily have picked up another ticket and walked right back in (damn kids and work )

On Rey's saber skills, earlier in the film we see her take out 2 bigger thugs with her staff quite easily. She is clearly used to protecting herself and a staff isn't massively different to a sword. I had no problem at all with her taking on Kylo so well. Factor in that he is badly injured and not fully trained also, I don't see the problem with it.

On her force prowess, what I found most interesting, was that it started to come out strong when she was in direct confrontational danger. So there fore scared and angry, I'm interested to see if that's played on further in VIII.

My personal theory is that she is not family and is one of Luke's pupils from the academy. possibly the only one that got out from Kylo going postal. It would make sense in terms of mirroring the OT, as Obi Wan wasn't connected to Luke. I did get the distinct impression that Han and Leia, knew who she was and there seemed to be recognition of her by Luke too.

 

[Marv]

My personal theory is that she is not family and is one of Luke's pupils from the academy. possibly the only one that got out from Kylo going postal. It would make sense in terms of mirroring the OT, as Obi Wan wasn't connected to Luke. I did get the distinct impression that Han and Leia, knew who she was and there seemed to be recognition of her by Luke too.

So if she isn't family how did she win the saber when they both went for it, would have though the force was stronger in the Skywalker line?

 

[mattycsi]

So if she isn't family how did she win the saber when they both went for it, would have though the force was stronger in the Skywalker line?

There's more force sensitives out there than the Skywalkers. There's no hard and fast rule they are the most powerful of all time. Also, Kylo has some strong power in him, but he is wild, erratic and unfocused, and again, injured and just been in duel. He wasn't in that bout fresh as a daisy.

Plus if she was Luke's, and Han had just bumped into her in outer space I think he would have stuck to her more closely than letting her wander off into woods of an unknown planet whilst know the FO are likely to be turning up real soon.

 

[TK765]

Starkiller base was dealt with FAR too easily (although if you're going to contain the power of a sun inside a planet...I guess that's what you get)

I loved the movie and think it ranks up there with SW & ESB, way better than Jedi.

Going in based on the trailers and the poster I knew that there was another planet killing machine, I was just really hoping it wasn't going to use this trope again and then see it dispatched so quickly. Maybe disable it, build up to it, elude to it or I would have been just as happy not to have this plot device again.

It's still a great movie D

 

[cayman shen]

I keep reflecting on Terminator Genisys, which was a catastrophe. It essentially did the same thing this movie did, half-rebooting and nodding to the earlier films' greatest hits. But while it fell utterly flat in TG, it worked (barely) here. A lot of love was put into this flick.

Best place to get First Order TK armor?

 

[Clutch]

Can we stop saying better than the prequels? I think that is pretty much a given.

 

[p51]

A couple of things still confuse me.
How did Rey just know she was going to be able to use the force on that Stormtrooper like that? She had heard of the force but who'd have tried using it if they didn't previously knew that had it in them, in that situation?
What happened to Finn between being busted for not capping anyone and then fleeing? I just don't get the motivation there, especially as he'd been a stormtrooper for a while before that.

Can we stop saying better than the prequels? I think that is pretty much a given.

Fair enough.

 

[Pikezer1337]

I feel like I'm in the minority in that Han dying just takes me out of the movie. Yeah I kind of saw it coming. Han dying is stupid. You have some of the most iconic characters in cinema history. Their stories ended and we were contempt with that being the end. It's not fair to come back thirty years later only to kill one off and change everything. I want to know their stories but not if it means one of theirs ends. This world means so much to me and I'm afraid that when I watch the original trilogy it won't be the same knowing that Han is dead.

 

[mattycsi]

A couple of things still confuse me.
How did Rey just know she was going to be able to use the force on that Stormtrooper like that? She had heard of the force but who'd have tried using it if they didn't previously knew that had it in them, in that situation?

I think reading Kylo's emotions let her know what she had, and why not give it a try, she had nothing to lose and no other way out at that point.

What happened to Finn between being busted for not capping anyone and then fleeing? I just don't get the motivation there, especially as he'd been a stormtrooper for a while before that..

Phasma and Hux state that he was to sent or to be sent for reconditioning. Finn later tells Rey that he couldn't be part of it during his first battle and wanted out. So I'd say that the attack on the village was his first deployment

 

[Coop]

Loved the movie and baffled by all the criticism about how the movie is tied together with ridiculous coincidences. I guess they've never seen ANH...

 

[glunark]

I have a theory on Rey that is not as simple as "She is Luke's daughter" and ties the OT with the PT.

What if when Luke went into self imposed exile and no longer used the force, the force itself made another woman pregnant like it did with Anakin.

Anakin never knew he could use the force until Qui Gon showed him, and Obi Wan taught him.

Maybe Rey never knew she could use the force too, when she was near Anakin's lightsaber, the resonance of something that was used by another person created by the force drew her to it, and started activating her hidden talents, but they were still largely dormant until she was mind probed by Anakin's own grandson.

There were clues in that scene that instead of probing her mind, she had in fact probed his, and learned everything of the force from him, then later in the fight, when she called the sabre to her hand, everything suddenly snapped into place.

Sure, he was trained, but only his mother was a Jedi, if Rey is truly a child of the force, then she would be as strong in it as Anakin was before he started losing his limbs.

That is why she bested him so easily, because she is the new chosen one.

R2's low power mode could only be turned off by proximity to a Skywalker, and Rey might not be one by birth, but by the will of the force.

 

[joshvanrad]

Loved the movie and baffled by all the criticism about how the movie is tied together with ridiculous coincidences. I guess they've never seen ANH...

Try to keep in mind that RPF is like the most brutal place on the internet to critique a film. If even half of the responses here are positive then the film is basically a cinema masterpiece.

 

[Contec]

Which I don't have a major problem with, but I do think it's a little weird that they named their kid after someone Leia never met and Han thought was a crackpot. It seems a more likely a name Luke would give to a child because of his genuine love and respect for his mentor.

Oh lord, maybe Han and Leia were raising LUKE'S kid? Squeeee! I can't handle years of speculation!

Leia : " Hey luke, you remember that night we spent together after the battle of HOTH where you needed to go and find yoda and did not know when you where coming back......Guess what!!!"

 

[p51]

I didn't want to mention what happened to Han. But yeah, the theater was silent when that happened. My jaw hit the floor with a very loud clang.
So, Phasma was offed at the end? They made such a big deal of that character just to snuff her so fast.

 

[nitrox]

He actually says in the film that it was his first battle.

 

[joshvanrad]

I didn't want to mention what happened to Han. But yeah, the theater was silent when that happened. My jaw hit the floor with a very loud clang.
So, Phasma was offed at the end? They made such a big deal of that character just to snuff her so fast.

I don't think she's necessarily gone. Cinema rule #54: if you don't see it happen, assume they are still alive.

Her character was kind of an "afterthought" for the film, and she wasn't really a part of the original story, so who knows what happens to her. But I hope they bring her back after the reception she got from the fans. But who knows, maybe she's just another Boba Fett.

 

[glunark]

There is a rumour going around that the alien they stole the falcon off tracked them down, and confronted Rey, at which point Chewie rips his arm off.

Might have had to be cut for the ratings.