Star Wars: Episode VII (December 18, 2015) ***SPOILERS***

#951
#951
what I liked the most

After they mentioned the way the new Death Star thing takes the power from the sun, I loved how one of the characters mentioned that as long as there was sun, they still had time. I immediately thought...oh this is great. The film will get more and more dark. As the dark side gains more power, the worst will happen right here. The death we saw was inevitable. Kudos to using the draining-the-sun story as a juxtaposition of the battle of the light side of the force vs the dark side.

Also I loved Han telling him that that's not how the force is used.

Also also the guy sitting behind me and a couple seats over with a distinctive laugh at the 9am showing this morning...I hope he ran into a pole. So damn annoying and laughed ridiculously loud at everything, whether it deserved laughs or not. Even some of the sad parts he laughed loudly. There was a child directly behind me and I was pissed cause I figured he'd kick my seat and be annoying. He was silent. But distinctive laugh....ugh.
 
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#953
#953
Panthro said:
Who cares? The original movies were awesome, so I'm fine with ripping them off a little. It was so well done.
I just got out of it and it is so good!
Click to expand...

Agreed. Awesome movie.

Everybody's a critic.
 
#954
#954
Speaking of critics. My thoughts on the finished product:

The Good

-new characters were really good, especially Rey. She was my favorite, and THE star of the movie IMO, eclipsing even Ford. I get the sense that the destruction of Starkiller, seperating her from Kylo, kept her from doing a very darkside thing. She seemed to have a lot of anger, and understandably, after what had just happened. Reminiscent of the scene in Jedi where Luke attacks Vader in anger. Finn and Poe were also good. It seems some people have a dislike for Kylo being emo, but I thought he was great. He is not completely trained yet. Loved it when he kept pounding his wound. Intelligent writing and not something just any writer would think to pick up on. Reminds me of Roy Batty driving the nail into his hand in Blade Runner. Kylo is one tough mofo to take a shot like that and keep ticking. I expect, with his completed training, he will be more of a Vader-like badass going forward.

-good dialogue, and funny. I enjoyed the bickering between the characters. This is one of the things that made A New Hope and Empire so good. Tho I thought the Han and Leia stuff was kinda weak.

-excellent pacing. The movie kept moving for the most part, and didn't dwell in one place for too long.

-good action. The ground combat was more realistic than any of the previous movies, and the stormtroopers were a little more intimidating. Loved the line about going back to clone stormtroopers. Best of all was the lightsaber duel. Felt very raw and emotional. Wasn't all swinging and missing and clashing. Some shots landed.

The Bad

-lazy writing. I can forgive a lot of the "rhyming" with the OT, but from day 1 when I read the script almost a year ago that the new Death Star was overboard. They could've come with something...anything...else.

-coincidences. Guess that could fall under lazy writing, but some were pretty eye rolling. Some could've been fixed with editing, some were just bad on the page to begin with. I still don't get why R2-D2 just happened to wake up at the perfect time, unless we're saying now that droids are strong with the force, or the Falcon ending up on Jakku

-editing. So much of the ambiguousness could've been solved with better editing. After reading the script, some of the editing decisions they made are baffling, and could've explained much, unless they've decided to change plans. If it was for simple lack of time, they should've cut out some things like the creature attack on the freighter. There's no reason to not understand why Rey is the way she is with the force when its in the script. Or how Maz's lightsaber got into her possession.

-C3P0 was obnoxious. He overdid it.

-the score. As a bit of an afficionado for film scores, Star Wars scores, and John Williams, this was by far the worst Star Wars score. Outside the old motifs, it was very generic and not memorable. There's not a single piece I can hum. I think this is one area where Star Wars misses Lucas, as he had a big hand in the scores. It also doesn't help that this was done in LA, and not with the LSO. The quality was also not as good.

The Ugly

-I think Snoke is interesting, but he looked like bad CGI from Lord of the Rings

-the CGI creatures in the freighter also weren't very good and felt out of place

-Luke Skywalker is a *****

Overall I would rate probably somewhere above Jedi and Sith (if Sith had better direction and dialogue, it would've been better), but nowhere near A New Hope or Empire.

Now comes the test. Can they make a good Star Wars without Han Solo? I think the next movie will be better, and I have much more faith in Rian Johnson than I do JJ Abrams.
 
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#959
#959
It was...pretty good. It was clearly a set up piece and didn't take many risks in attempt to attone for the prequels. Kind of a "okay, here is the film that gets us back on track, NOW we can branch out" kind of way...and the more I think about it, the more I'm okay with it.

Also, I agree with Volwark. I was extremely disappointed in the score for this one but I guess it goes back to not wanting to be too different yet.
 
#962
#962
They took a lot out of it. In the movie it became more of a vision and less of a flashback. For example:

-Han and Leia dropping off Ben to be trained (which in fairness is later explained in exposition)

-Ben and a girl who turns out to be Rey being trained by Luke (which explains how Rey knows to use the Force)

-Snoke getting in Ben's head. It's suggested that brainwashes Ben telepathically

-Kylo joining the Knights of Ren

-the Knights of Ren getting the lightsaber

-Maz stealing the lightsaber from the Knights
 
#963
#963
Volwark said:
They took a lot out of it. In the movie it became more of a vision and less of a flashback. For example:

-Han and Leia dropping off Ben to be trained (which in fairness is later explained in exposition)

-Ben and a girl who turns out to be Rey being trained by Luke (which explains how Rey knows to use the Force)

-Snoke getting in Ben's head. It's suggested that brainwashes Ben telepathically

-Kylo joining the Knights of Ren

-the Knights of Ren getting the lightsaber

-Maz stealing the lightsaber from the Knights
Click to expand...

When did any of this happen? Did I just completely forget this scene?

Edit: are you saying this is what happened in the leaked script?
 
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#964
#964
Yeah it was in the script and the call sheets, not actually in the movie. My only guess is that they're saving it for the next movie, cause I'm pretty sure that...

Rey is Luke's daugher
 
#966
#966
Volwark said:
Yeah it was in the script and the call sheets, not actually in the movie. My only guess is that they're saving it for the next movie, cause I'm pretty sure that...

Rey is Luke's daugher
Click to expand...

I hope that's not the case. It feels a little too obvious.
 
#967
#967
Panthro said:
Volwark said:
Yeah it was in the script and the call sheets, not actually in the movie. My only guess is that they're saving it for the next movie, cause I'm pretty sure that...

Rey is Luke's daugher
Click to expand...

I hope that's not the case. It feels a little too obvious.
Click to expand...

twins do run in the family, though...

also if we're going based on the stuff from the prequels, Jedi aren't meant to be breeding

this isn't really a spoiler as I don't know jack, but just my guess
 
#969
#969
My wife and I saw it last night. We both liked it a lot. Definitely had an old school feel to it and seemed to fit in well with the original trilogy. It certainly "felt" like a Star Wars movie. It was definitely better than any of the prequels, though I'm not sure that's saying much. There's simply too much good about the film to list so I'll only list my nit picks...

1.). I did not like Supreme Leader Snoke's character design at all. He looked like one of those cheap cgi orcs from The Hobbit movies. I thought they should've made him humanoid with a guy in makeup and costume. With such an emphasis put on practical effects in this film, this was a really odd design choice that stood out in a bad way.

2.). This was easily the weakest soundtrack of any of the Star Wars films. Absolutely nothing stood out. It seemed like it was mostly a mishmash of previously used scores. There were no Duel of the Fates or Emperors March moments at all. This is an area where I feel George Lucas was missed the most because he always put a huge emphasis on film score with the critical points of his films. Here it felt more like an afterthought.

3.). The the whole "force awareness" with Rey seemed too rushed to me. She basically went from never using the force to suddenly doing mind tricks and holding her own with a trained sith apprentice? That seemed like a bit of a stretch to me. Even Luke needed training from Obi Wan and Yoda before he could go toe to toe with Vader.

4.). C3PO and R2D2 had very little purpose in this film. They have always had crucial roles in all the Star Wars movies. Other than R2 completing the star map to find Luke, it felt like pure fan service.

5.). The whole planning and execution of destroying Starkiller Base felt way too familiar to the destruction of the two Death Stars. Plus, you have a planet sized star base that is capable of destroying entire star systems and you destroy it in the first act? Where the hell do you go from there?

6.). Kylo Ren is officially the biggest dick in the galaxy! Not really a film flaw. I just hated seeing one of my all time favorite movie characters get punked by his own son!

7.) After all the marketing hype and build up of Gwendolyn Christie's character "Captain Phasma," I was left completely underwhelmed. I hope the next movie shows her being the "badass" she was hyped to be.
 
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#970
#970
crusse10 said:
twins do run in the family, though...

also if we're going based on the stuff from the prequels, Jedi aren't meant to be breeding

this isn't really a spoiler as I don't know jack, but just my guess
Click to expand...

But if Rey is Leia's kid, wouldn't they have let on to that a little? Han told her, "I saw our son" but never said, "oh yeah, I offered our daughter a job, too."
 
#972
#972
I just have to say...

the scene where Kylo Ren uses the force to suspend that laser blast in mid air and then releases it right before they leave Jakku is one of the coolest damn things I've seen in this entire saga!

Also, I really like how Abrams was able to show the physical effects of the force on someone, like when Kylo freezes Ray's arm. You could literally see the energy wave of the force overtake her and made her catatonic. I don't think any of the other films captured that as effectively as this film did!

Also..

I loved the overhead perspective of the Star Destroyer in the opening shot eclipsing the planet. That's an angle we haven't seen before in an opening shot.
 
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#974
#974
just saw it this morning! Words that are coming to mind:

Fantastic - emotional - exciting - familiar

Still trying to process everything....

Reviews are spot on though; Abram's nailed the old look and feel of the originals
 
#975
#975
Panthro said:
But if Rey is Leia's kid, wouldn't they have let on to that a little? Han told her, "I saw our son" but never said, "oh yeah, I offered our daughter a job, too."
Click to expand...

I honestly feel like this is one place where we've been cheated. The answer is almost assuredly one or the other. Unlike with the original, where I assume people didn't see it coming that Vader was the father, this is something people will expect however many years it takes before they delve into her backstory or just flat-out mention it. At this point, for it to be an incredible cinematic reveal, she needs to be...like...Obi-Wan's grandaughter. Or 1/4 little green man with pointy ears. Or PALPATINE. Now that's intrigue.

But again, Jedi were not supposed to reproduce. That was part and parcel to Anakin being seduced by the Dark Side.
 
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