Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens, on BluRay and Dvd April 5th, 2016

[reddsun1]

Went to see it with the kids tonight. Good, but not great...

Loved the locations used to set the backdrops. There were a fair number of scenes that felt a bit like re-hashing the old storie(s) just to showcase the bigger, better sfx; like Abrams is taking every opportunity to go: "See? See how much better I can do it than the original guy did it?"

I know that every film is influenced to some degree by films that have come before. I couldn't help but think: there's some anime parallels here, by jove...

This Supreme Leader Snoke: dafug is this guy supposed to be? Zentraedi Gollum?

Rey: is she supposed to be a Jedi? or a Newtype? What's with the wunderkind performances at everything she touches--with no training whatsoever?

Poe: who the hell does he think he is, Max Jenius?

Sorry, but this Kylo Ren just came across as a lightweight, for me. You, sir, are no Vader. Seriously. Capt. Phasma was more intimidating than he was (that, and I do have a thing for bad-girls ). LOL, there were literally gasps of disappointment from the fangirls in the theater when he took off the helmet. Well, there was that one thing he did. With that one act, he crossed a threshold. That made him irredeemable, I'd say; there's no coming back from something like that. I don't know if you chalk it up to poor storytelling--resorting to over-the-top acts to create another ooh-ahh moment from the audience, or what.

I like Fin's character, and his back-to-moviemaking-basics, white-hat vs black-hat motivations; how he does what he does "because it's the right thing to do." It just pegs the bullsh*t meter with how quickly he gets to where he is. Here we have a guy who's apparently been trained and programmed since early childhood, only to have his epiphany and change sides--by the end of his first mission? You f'in kiddin' me? I couldn't help but have a problem with the big escape with Poe scene. Dude had no problem hopping behind the controls of a gun turret and mowing down scores of his former comrades to make their getaway; the same guys he will have spent a lifetime bunking, eating, training with. Bad form, Mr. Abrams; you asked us to ignore the backstory just so you could have an excuse to show us some cool 'splosions an' sh*t.

ed: the SFX were admittedly kickass, though. The Starkiller firing scene was like: got. dayum!

Edited December 23, 2015 by Dangard Ace

[mickyg]

Not sure I completely agree with all that's been said about Finn so far regarding

His jumping to the other side so quickly and being so quick to mow down his brothers in arms. If you go back to the scene where he flips out, he's done it because he realises how horrible the First Order is, right after they massacre a whole village in front of his eyes. And later, he explains that they're not going to stop and the guy is terrified. I think he realises that there's nobody left with any humanity in the First Order and so shooting his way out is now a simple case of "take out the bad guys or they're going to take me out soon enough." Yeah, it's still a bit jarring to see him turn like that but it sort of helps my head get around it when I look at it that way.

As for Kylo,

Yes, definitely crossed a line there. But remember Vader did the same thing when he slaughtered the younglings. Can't come back from an act like that? Luke would argue that's not the case.

If anything, I was overwhelmed by how even as bad as this act was, there's a good chance Leah will still love her little boy. I'm not sure they'll go that route but it would be a pretty powerful redemption story if that's the route they go with it.

[areaseven]

Just wondering: The Sandtroopers have different colored shoulder pads. What do the colors designate?

[renegadeleader1]

Just wondering: The Sandtroopers have different colored shoulder pads. What do the colors designate?

Officer ranks.

Orange is Senior

White is junior

no pads are enlisted.

[myk]

I took it as truth, what Kylo was saying to Han. I believe he is conflicted, as evidenced by his "conversation" with Vader's Helmet. I think he IS being Torn apart as he said to Han....he just knew he wanted to side with the dark, while Han was thinking he may come back to the light. He MAY have had a moment of consideration....but once the sun died and the light faded...it was all over.

I completely disagree with MYK about Ren being a whinny brat. He really seems light a mentally disturbed person to me. He doesn't just kill his subordinates the way Vader did, but instead releases his rage in other ways. I am really looking forward to learning more about him. While Anakin may have started good and then been suduced by the dark side, Ben may have started out as a troubled person that is being called to the light. Han said he thought there was too much Vader in him....not Anakin, but Vader.....and Leia regretted sending him to Luke for training. Now whether that is because she knew he wasn't mentally/emotionally ready for that or because that decision lead to him running into Snoke remains to be seen. I truely believe that the next movie....like Emipre....will start fleshing out these things. He just seems like a completely different take on the "fall to the dark-side" instead of a good person being seduced by the dark, I think he is a bad/troubled person being seduced by the light.

I'm so pissed off with you for not agreeing with me and giving me my way that I picked up my Dooku light saber and destroyed my living room. I also demolished my bathroom. Then, I choked the next door neighbor who told me that my 3rd party Transformer was delivered to her instead of me. And then after that another neighbor who has no experience in hand to hand combat was able to defeat me in melee combat. Afterwards, I cursed my dad for being a failure as a father, and then I sat down, asked my pictures of Duke to Go's avatar for guidance, and then cried myself to sleep, just like Kylo Ben/Ren would... Edited December 23, 2015 by myk

[anime52k8]

MOTHERfrakkING SPOILERS!!! :angry: :angry:

[taksraven]

MOTHERfrakkING SPOILERS!!! :angry: :angry:

Just go see the movie, dude.

[Dangard Ace]

Who didn't use spoiler tags? I put a one week length of time that people should use spoiler tags. That's until this coming friday. Whom must I bestow upon the moniker of JarJar Binks or DG2099?

[azrael]

Watched it.

It's OK. Acting was better than the prequels. Better dialogue probably helped there. I liked Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and Oscar Issac. John Boyega? He was OK (I'll get to his character in a bit). Action was OK. Some parts of the dogfights were kinda nauseating. I don't like converted to 3D, but that was the earliest showing and I had other stuff to do.

It was a good movie, but the story didn't feel great (I'll be covering lots of it under spoiler tags further down). It could have taken some risks but choose to play it safe and stay close to ANH. There could have been more story and less paying homage. John Williams score? Didn't even notice it. There was no bit of music that stuck in my head which makes me question why they even called him in. Captain Phasma? Again, what was the point of her character with so little screen time? Some story elements felt a little too convenient. Reminds me of something Qui-Gon said in TPM about luck and the Force. Parts of the story (which I'll get to under spoilers) felt just a bit too convenient while a few didn't really need to be there. Some of the scenes they cut from the trailers actually would probably have been better left in the movie. At the same time, this movie leaves a bit too much open for the following movies.

TL;DR, I enjoyed my time spent it but it didn't feel memorable or mind-blowing.

- The Resistance. A Republic "sponsored" militia that the Republic doesn't want to be associated with (according to the additional materials). How about a different name for starters? They aren't being oppressed or occupied so what are they resisting? Back in the now-defunct-EU, the New Republic actively dealt with the Remanent of the Empire. In this, the New Republic, going by the additional materials, wants to ignore this problem. We stay on our sides and what? You expect them to abide by that? The New Republic kicked their asses and you expect them to stay down? If they spent some movie time answering this, I won't feel like I'm missing something here.

- Word travels fast these days. Spies and informants all over the place. And then the First Order shows up like 10 minutes later.

- Finn. One sortie and he's ALL spooked after being raised to fight for the First Order. And he has no problem shooting his comrades? And he worked with Sanitation at Starkiller base? And then what, 5 minutes with Rey, and he's a love-sick puppy. Yeah, that boyfriend line was an eye-roller. Then he's a coward, then he's a fighter. His character is just all over the place.

- Snoke. Someone has a complex to have a hologram that big. Sidious/Emperor use the big-face hologram but this guy does the full body shot of him in a chair.

- The gangs. Guess they needed a way get on the Falcon and stay there.

- Kylo Ren. I don't think Uncle Luke can help anger management issues. While I'm interested to see how he turned, his list of reasons don't seem compelling. Mom & Dad still love him. Moved in with his uncle in Bel-Air the Jedi Academy. Obsessed with grandpa???? Grandpa had compelling reasons to turn to the Dark side. Obsession with grandpa's naughty side doesn't seem compelling. I hope they elaborate in the next film. But he really needs an anger management counselor.

- 0-3 with Death Stars. They should really stop building these things. And how close are these systems that they can see a planet blow up from another star system? Light doesn't travel that fast.

- The doctor and Chewie scene. Somehow I feel like Chewie is Grandpa Simpson. Chewie is a vet of the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War and she's paying him lip-service.

- Kylo vs Rey. That's pretty much how I would expect a fight between an injured and clumsy fighter like Kylo vs a girl who probably has had a lot of CQB experience with thugs. To me, the prequels still did it the best with the saber fights (even the cinematic trailers for KOTOR is how I expect fully-trained Jedis to fight). Kylo probably hasn't had much practice in actual saber fighting. Kylo's swings were too strong and Rey's thrusts were over-extended. It felt like he was just trying to disarm her until we got to the 2nd half of their fight when she was actually fighting back.

- Is Rey a Mary Sue? Maybe. She seemed to grasp the Force a little too quickly. Even by the start of ESB, Luke only had the basics down. She figured how to do mind manipulation already.

[Chronocidal]

As far as the Kylo vs Rey fight went, I'm pretty sure he actually was trying to disarm her. Snoke had requested he bring her to him before they fought. I also get the impression that Kylo really isn't very good at using a lightsaber yet, he probably has had no one to actually train against with one.

Making Rey that powerful already did bug me a bit, but if she's who I think she is, she probably inherited a lot of what she's been displaying, both in terms of mechanical skill and in piloting. I think the fact that she got inside Kylo Ren's head told her quite a bit, and may have inspired her to even try the mind trick in the first place.

The superweapon though, and how people saw it? That was pure JJ-ism, straight out of 2009 Trek. There is no reason anyone on another planet should have been able to see that happen, unless they were on a planet within the same star system, and even then it's a stretch. The target planets themselves I can understand, I took that as just being a main planet with all its local moons going at once. Seeing it from Maz's place was just nonsense. I just took it to mean that they felt like they had to show everyone reacting, since they didn't have anyone trained in the force well enough to sense all that death.

The Resistance stuff makes sense in the context of the background material, but that will take some spoilerific research beforehand, and it's not made clear in the movie. While the Empire and New Republic signed a treaty years back, the First Order is apparently ignoring the treaty and building something to destroy the New Republic.. meanwhile, they can't go after the First Order without breaking their own treaty, so they're helping the Resistance under the table. Sounds like they just wrote a bad treaty that lets people get away with tons of crap, and keeps the New Republic's hands tied.

Watched the movie a second time tonight, and looked for confirmation of a couple of things.

The vision when Rey touches the lightsaber was confusing the first time through, so I missed a good deal of details. The Cloud City chamber where Luke fought Vader definitely appeared, followed by Luke touching R2 for some reason. The scenes with Kylo give me the impression that maybe he wasn't Luke's only student.

As far as the end scene goes, my brother and I both looked for it hard, and yes, there's definitely a marker of some sort on the ground in front of Luke, possibly with writing on it. The obvious thing is a grave for someone, but I think the question of who it is will be a big point of the next movie. I'd guess it's very likely to be Rey's parents, or possibly parent, depending on who she is. I'm convinced that she's either Luke's daughter, or the daughter of some of his students who were killed by Kylo when he turned.

The daughter thing just feels much more likely, since I don't know why Luke would bury her parents near him, and I won't be at all surprised if Rey's mother is the one buried there. The age difference between Kylo and Rey also just isn't large enough for that to make much sense, since unless Kylo's a lot older than he looks, I don't see how he could have been turned when Rey was still the age she was when she was hidden.

The part I'm trying to figure out is what exactly Kylo was referring to when he was interrogating her, about the ocean, and the island. Was he trying to direct Rey's thoughts to something, or was he seeing those images in her memories? If it was her memories, that might indicate she'd been on that planet with Luke before.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Chronocidal

[myk]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Han Solo state that Luke had been training a new generation of Jedi, as in more than one?

[Dobber]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Han Solo state that Luke had been training a new generation of Jedi, as in more than one?

Yup

Jeremy Jahns spoiler review has a great, IMO, summation of Kylo Ren. Pretty much how I feel about him.

Chris

[Duke Togo]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Han Solo state that Luke had been training a new generation of Jedi, as in more than one?

Yes.

Some (not all) of the criticisms I'm seeing here are people missing (or misunderstanding) stuff in the film. Especially reddsun. Dude, stop playing on your phone during the movie and pay attention.

If I have the time today I'll try to respond to some of these and maybe clarify a thing or two.

[taksraven]

- Is Rey a Mary Sue? Maybe. She seemed to grasp the Force a little too quickly. Even by the start of ESB, Luke only had the basics down. She figured how to do mind manipulation already.

Um, Luke did use the Force in ANH to give him the guidance to blow up the freaking Death Star. I think that his skills were getting pretty advanced by the end of ANH. As it was pointed out, Rey was copying what Kylo was trying to do to her, so she had some guidance.

[Mommar]

Um, Luke did use the Force in ANH to give him the guidance to blow up the freaking Death Star. I think that his skills were getting pretty advanced by the end of ANH. As it was pointed out, Rey was copying what Kylo was trying to do to her, so she had some guidance.

There is also the possibility that due to her strong connection to the force it would be easier for her to pick up and execute on it. Some people do actually have a natural ability to pick up concepts. My Ex-girlfriend could pretty much take anything physical and excel at it in a few short weeks. Show her a complex dance move, she could do it. Show her some martial arts, she'd be a better fighter than you in a week. She went from never shooting a bow and arrow to hitting six to eight bullseyes in three weeks. People practice for years before they can do that. She could also pick up a musical instrument and be able to play it at a fairly high level in maybe two to three weeks time. It's possible if there's an aptitude, and they show Rey having one hell of an aptitude.

[Roy Focker]

Did anyone see or hear the "Jub Jub" Easter egg?

J.J. told Conan Obrien that "Jub Jub" was in the movie. I missed it.

[ErikElvis]

Who were your stand out actors?

I ought daisy was awesome and driver was not far behind.

[areaseven]

Who were your stand out actors?

I ought daisy was awesome and driver was not far behind.

The puppeteers behind BB-8.

[Kanedas Bike]

Who were your stand out actors?

I ought daisy was awesome and driver was not far behind.

Agree, Daisy, Adam, John were all really good in their respective roles. Oscar Isaac I thought didn't really have a chance to extend his chops outside of really once scene (in the spoiler below).

Oscar's best scene was the interrogation. He also did good well in the escape scenes with Boyega.

Also, I think, or hope, that Kylo Ren will become a more compelling villain in the upcoming films. I agree with some thoughts already posted about him being a disturbed kid that for whatever reason has an inclination to the Dark Side over the Light as evidenced by him stating that he can feel the pull to the Light Side of the Force compared to other characters who are always fighting against the Dark Side, like Anakin and Luke.

And all in all, this movie had the best acting of all of the Star Wars films, OT and PT included. IMHO of course.

-b.

[Keith]

All things considered, I really do enjoy the movie, but...

If the originals and prequels were Lucas making the movied he wanted to see, then TFA is Disney trying too hard to make the film "the fans" wanted to see. It's a complete checklist of "wouldn't it be cool if's."

- Wouldn't it be cool if the Death Star were bigger?"

- Wedge got a big role?

- We got to know a Storm Trooper?

- There were an even bigger badder Sith?

- Luke & Leia's kids from the EU were there?

etc. It's fine for now, but don't want it to drive the franchise. Or to put it another way, I don't want Luke to turn into Rick hunter.

[Duke Togo]

All things considered, I really do enjoy the movie, but...

If the originals and prequels were Lucas making the movied he wanted to see, then TFA is Disney trying too hard to make the film "the fans" wanted to see. It's a complete checklist of "wouldn't it be cool if's."

- Wouldn't it be cool if the Death Star were bigger?"

- Wedge got a big role?

- We got to know a Storm Trooper?

- There were an even bigger badder Sith?

- Luke & Leia's kids from the EU were there?

etc. It's fine for now, but don't want it to drive the franchise. Or to put it another way, I don't want Luke to turn into Rick hunter.

What Lucas wanted to see was shite. And I haven't seen anything that says Snoke is bigger and badder.

Also, it's quite clear they fear Luke. Truly fear him.

[Dynaman]

Saw it today (and stayed out of this thread till now too just in case).

My opinion is that it is a solid Star Wars movie, easily the 3rd best (behind Star Wars and Empire).

There are plenty of things to pick apart but for the most part I just let them slide by (and anyone trying to make ANY scientific sense of the Star Wars universe is in need of therapy...

All that said...

Kylo was truly pathetic as villains go however. They tried to make him look like Anakin Skywalker and it just looked silly. The 'serious' dialog he had was cringe-worthy too.

[Duke Togo]

Saw it today (and stayed out of this thread till now too just in case).

My opinion is that it is a solid Star Wars movie, easily the 3rd best (behind Star Wars and Empire).

There are plenty of things to pick apart but for the most part I just let them slide by (and anyone trying to make ANY scientific sense of the Star Wars universe is in need of therapy...

All that said...

Kylo was truly pathetic as villains go however. They tried to make him look like Anakin Skywalker and it just looked silly. The 'serious' dialog he had was cringe-worthy too.

Yeah, we'll have to agree to strongly disagree on your spoiler tagged bit. Driver has been universally lauded for his performance, and it's a brilliant start for the character. Easily the best and most dynamic villain we've seen on film this year.

[wwwmwww]

Not certain if this is directed at me or not but I don't need or want the science explained. Let me state this differently. Let's say the movie is set on Earth and the bad guys come into the system with the intent of blowing us up. They fuel their weapon by consuming the Sun while the good guys fight to stop them. The good guys eventually destroy the bad guy's weapon before it fires but after it has consumed the Sun. And the next shot is of people celebrating in the daylight on Earth. Is that really ok? I just feel something needed to be explained a bit better. I would hope 99% of the population would know we can't get along without the Sun so I would expect this to bother more then just me. I enjoyed the movie and I'm doing my best to ignore this issue but it just feels like something poking at me and it feels like there are a 100 ways this could have been done better and not created this odd situation. ANH for example had the death start in orbit and and it had to get past the planet before it could fire. That makes perfect sense to me.

You guys are actually trying to apply scientific laws to Star Wars? Seriously? I think you guys want the Star Trek thread.

There are plenty of things to pick apart but for the most part I just let them slide by (and anyone trying to make ANY scientific sense of the Star Wars universe is in need of therapy...

[TangledThorns]

Finally saw it today and my nerd rage grows the more I think about the film. I won't dwell on its mysteries as that is typical JJ Abrams crap that he likes to inject into his work, see LOST. Thankfully he won't direct anymore SW films, he is the Starbucks of cinema. The only good thing about it was the young cast, stellar, however the story and soundtrack was the worst of the series. Even the lightsaber duel was weak, Rebels and Clone Wars had way better melee action than TFA's. Below is how I ranked the films so now if you will excuse me I need to watch ROTS to get the taste of TFA out of my mouth!

1. ESB
2. ANH
3. ROTS
4. ROTJ
5. TFA
6. AOTC
7. TPM

Edited December 23, 2015 by TangledThorns

[anime52k8]

Just go see the movie, dude.

I am... tomorrow.

[Keith]

What Lucas wanted to see was shite. And I haven't seen anything that says Snoke is bigger and badder.

Also, it's quite clear they fear Luke. Truly fear him.

Meh,4.5 out of 6 movies weren't crap, and none were retreads. My point was more that fans shouldn't so strongly dictate content.

And so far his projection is decidedly bigger.

[derex3592]

Going Saturday night with a date for the 3rd time! 2D normal theater this time..with giant new leather recliners..winning!

[Dio]

Upon second viewing, I noticed a couple more things:

(1) Rey's grasp of history is conspicuously spotty. She remembers the Millennium Falcon's chain of ownership, but doesn't know of Han as anything but a smuggler. She's also the only character to mention both Skywalker and the Force as a legend, whereas the others around her have a better grasp of the historical facts. One assumption could be that her Jakku upbringing kept her from learning most of this, but I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't pick up some rumors in a junkyard that sees enough interstellar traffic to maintain a lot of used ships. The other (very popular) idea that she had some kind of memory block put in place is really tugging at me now.

She also has a very strong, almost programmed desire to go back to Jakku to wait for her family. Several times, even in the face of contradictory odds (like a Star Destroyer floating over it and her hometown/occupation being reduced to rubble), she wants to turn around, and it doesn't begin to go away until she touches the lightsaber and gets a pep talk from Maz Kanata. It seems way too forced to be homesickness or misplaced belief, I'm thinking Jedi mind trick. As she gains Force powers, I think she's also rebuilding some memory, though I also think the island vision is more like Luke in ESB seeing his friends in Cloud City than a suppressed memory.

(2) Kylo Ren, when he's praying to Vader, asks him to "show him again the power of the Dark Side," as though they have had some interaction before. Not sure if I'm looking too deeply into this one, but it seems like an odd choice of words.

(3) Also re: Ren, Leia says at one point "that's why [she] sent him away to train with Luke," and the references to Snoke make me think he got the mask from Snoke, along with the belief that he now had to live up to Vader's legacy. Coupling what was likely a problem child strong in the Force with two parents who don't know what to do with him abandoning him to Hogwarts (from his perspective), a mentor who can offer him a family connection is going to be a powerful draw.

Not related to the story, but a little nerd overlap:

The Rathtars really made me reconsider the threat that Malboros pose in the Final Fantasy series.

[myk]

Going Saturday night with a date for the 3rd time! 2D normal theater this time..with giant new leather recliners..winning!

I normally boycott 3D. The first 3 times I saw FA was in 2D, but a chance get together had me see it in 3D and I actually enjoyed it; the dogfighting actually got me lightheaded...

[areaseven]

I've already seen this film three times - once on IMAX, and twice on regular 2D. After New Year's, I'll watch it on a Dolby Atmos™ theater and make a comparison.

[Chronocidal]

Apologies if this showed anything anyone didn't want to see, the spoiler tag seems like it broke.

It wasn't anything serious, just speculation about Rey's history on Jakku.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Chronocidal

[Negotiator]

Not related to the story, but a little nerd overlap:

The Rathtars really made me reconsider the threat that Malboros pose in the Final Fantasy series.

totally thought of them too

[Kelsain]

Hopefully no spoilers to anyone, but I think this movie contains one of the best lightsaber duels in the entire canon. For once, we see something that doesn't take place in a hangar or on a catwalk. Ever since the first trailer, I thought the interaction between saber and forest would be very dynamic. I was not disappointed. A brutal battle between characters I was invested in, nothing flashy, way better than the over choreographed battles of the PT. Only Vader vs. Luke in ESB carries more weight for me.

[derex3592]

I'll go along with that. It was also cool that it was kind of like "my first lightsaber duel", no one was really good, just angry and driven.