Official Star Wars: TFA Review Thread (SPOILERS!!!)

What line made it into the final movie that refers to Luke's previous run?

Oh I remember. Biggs telling Luke regarding Vader and his two wingmen

"They're coming in much faster this time!"

 

Here's another question - Did they forget that Luke lost his father's lightsaber along with his hand and had actually built a new, green one? I mean, they remembered the hand, but the lightsaber was what the hand was holding when it got chopped off. I think it was even shown falling toward the planet when he fell out through that garbage chute.

 

I don't think they forgot about it. But clearly it mattered that it would be Vader's light saber. IIRC, what you see falling at cloud city is his hand, not the saber hilt.

 

True, but his hand was holding the saber. That's why Vader chopped it off - to disarm him. They also made a point of explaining that he'd built his own lightsaber in the next movie.

 

Yes, he definitely did not have the same saber in Jedi, I don't think anybody disputes that. It makes sense that he would still have that one, and that a long lost saber would be the original. How Mos got it, we'll, "that's a story for another day."

 

ok, saw it Friday with my wife, klnew about the death and Ren's identity. I've read that story before with Jacen Solo, but I was absolutely devastated by what he did. I walked out of the movie like I did generations, with Kirk dead and the Enterprise-D in pieces. I was sad but like with the promise of another ship named Enterprise on its way, I was truly won over by the galaxy's last (formerly new) hope: Luke Skywalker.

Then I saw it again yesterday. I took my 7 year old daughter. This time when Rey and Chewie took off in the Falcon with the crowd cheering, I honestly started to cry. My daughter was sitting next to me, and I honestly believe now that Rey is Luke's daughter and her coming to find her dad after he hid her away to protect her from Ben broke me. I started sobbing with this possible Father-Daughter dynamic in a film as my little girl watched mesmerized along with me.

 

Yeah, I was much more emotional and teary eyed on the second viewing, too. I'm sure part of it was that I knew and expected what was coming next, so the emotive juices got a head start. But part of it was also that I was watching it with my daughter. Unlike my boys, who went with me for the first viewing, she studiously avoided spoilers and the trailers. While they were almost giddy, she was pretty much awestruck. Every time I looked at her, she had her hands to her mouth and this look of complete infatuation in her eyes. It's hard not to get choked up by that.

 

There's probably not much to it. The whole theme of Star Wars is "re-use, recycle".

The first scenes in Episode IV are a bunch of Jawas re-using and recycling droids. Uncle Owen's lines are mostly about re-using and recycling moisture and then about buying some good used droids. Then Luke has to sell his speeder because leaving it parked would just be a waste. So they fly off on a ship and end up on the Death Star, in a garbage chute that's obviously for recycling. And of course after blowing up the Death Star Luke's first concern is whether R2 can be repaired or recycled. And all through Episode IV Lucas re-used and re-cycled lines of dialog from the cutting room floor.

In Episode V we have Luke re-using and recycling his taunton, turning into a pretty nifty shelter, and then Han getting frozen in carbonite that was normally used for, well, storing and shipping without waste.

In Episode VI was have the Ewoks re-using and recycling everything, even using Storm Trooper helmets as drums, and of course the Emperor's determination to use young Skywalker to replace the older model, because having the older model make more kids would be wasteful compared to simply re-purposing an existing Skywalker.

Then in Episode I we find young Anakin working in a recycling center and building his own pod racer from scrap, along with his own droid, C3PO. I'll skip the rest of the prequels because they're garbage and go right to Episode VII where one hero is a former Imperial sanitation worker (re-use, recycle!) and the other scavenges used ship parts in a recycling yard.

There is no way Anakin Skywalker's light saber escaped all the re-use, recycle bullshit that infects the entire galaxy. The worst that could have happened is that it might have ended up as a lamp in somebody's apartment. And of course it was written into the script because nobody was going to build a new light saber when the prop department still had a perfectly good used one.

 

Sincerely glad she liked it Gul. It seems the movie has reached its goal of of appealing to younger crowds as well as satisfying the older generation. Although I do have a younger friend who grew up with the prequels and likes them better. He hasn't seen TFA yet though.

 

We had that, and it's known as the Prequel Trilogy.

My boss at work who's been a fan since opening day in 77 said he liked this movie, but didn't love it. That's a pretty fair assessment of this film. It does what it needs to of setting the story and characters up and passing the torch so to speak from the old heroes to the new.

Finn and Rey work as characters. I'm not sure if TPTB are setting up romance in the future, but any given scene showing their friendship and caring for each other had more emotion and feeling than any of Anakin Skywalker and Padme's forced romantic scenes in either of their movies.

Which, OMG, characters actually fucking MOVE in this film! How great that J.J. didn't sit on his ass drinking coffee and looking through only two cameras. There's a sense of urgency where it needs to be.

The humor? Awesome. My favorite was Threepio and his awkward timing when Leia and Han talk for the first time in years. Which....sigh. I felt bad that the two lost two of their three children in the EU, and now their (apparently) only child here has joined the dark side, too. Still, I like that he isn't a Vader clone, as hard as he tries.

Lastly, I can count the number of times we see a lightsaber pulled out in this film, and that? Best departure from the prequels. The lightsaber was all but ruined in its overuse in the last films. These fights weren't as beautifully choreographed as those ones, and thank God for that. Rey and Ren's fight took place in snow, in one location and little movement, and the whole thing was maybe four minutes tops to show off Rey's increasing power. No overblown 15 minute CGI wank fest needed.

If anything, the person phoning this in the most was...John Williams. None of the music stands out aside from the classic themes. Even Episode I got Duel of the Fates.

It's nothing that utterly kills the movie for me, however. The few obvious uses of CGI (such as Han's lady friend from Cantina 2.0 and certain shots with BB-8) don't take away from the story. J.J. gets Star Wars.

Now, I'm off to find the R2D2/BB-8 fanfic that I'm sure someone's gotten around to writing this weekend.

 

Saw it with the Mrs. & kids this weekend. Will delve into more detail later. Enjoyed it overall. Good re-introduction film to the SW universe for a new generation.

The Good:
- new characters: Rey, Finn, Poe
- familiar characters: Han, Chewie, Millenium Falcon
- action sequences were quite cool
- the bar operating lady on the jungle planet.

The "Meh":
- VERY Derivative from previous source material!!!
a) new mega-weapon just Death Star writ even larger
b) substitute "giant thermal oscillator" for "small exhaust port" and you've got the same weakness
c) even a bit of a fucking TRENCH RUN while attempting to destroy it.
d) snow planet? Check. Forest planet? Check. Desert planet? Check. /me snores
- Han's demise...predictable, but at least well done.
- Political setup of the Galaxy? Perhaps just a wee bit more info than "Republic" vs "First Order"? Who controls more systems? Are they openly at war? Hell, splash a map across the screen for a few seconds. Throw me a bone!

The Bad:
- Kylo Ren: temper trantrums, wears a mask for no reason whatsoever, once he removes it...big-nosed Jewish kid who looks nothing like either of his parents. Can't out-fight two different people who've never wielded a lightsaber previously.
- Snoke: not fearsome. Not very fleshed out, either, so at least they can fix this in Ep #8
- Leia/Han relationship: just...awkward and uncomfortable
- Luke without ANY lines. WTF!!?!?!?!?!!!

 

I'm not sure what the mask was about. Vader needed it to stay alive.

Also, and I assume this Wil be a answered in the next two films, but given that he's grown hearing the tragedy of Vader's manipulation and eventual redemption, how the hell does this kid get mixed up with the Sith?

 

Wait 'til Rey learns a bit more about the lightsaber, especially the part where Vader chopped up a bunch of little kids with it.



It probably makes me an asshole, but every time I see that scene, it makes laugh.

 

I figure the mask is an element of his Vader fetish. He wants to be Vader, he wears a mask to help with the transformation.

 

Maybe he turned to the dark side for he same reason he wears the mask. People make fun of how he looks.

"Your a Jedi? You've got to be joking. You just play one in a high school musical, right?

Gul reminds us of another point, which is that we all lived in fear and terror of Darth Vader until Luke pulled his mask off. The Skywalker we all saw made Jared Fogel look like Bruce Lee. You pop the helmet and you've got the Stay Pufft marshmallow man with a mild case of acne. Vader had seen less sunlight than the average Star Wars super critic on 4chan.

That scene was of course filmed long after George Lucas had divorced or fired anyone with the slightest clue about connections between visual inputs and human emotions and reactions. Of the thousand faces he could have put behind that mask, he chose the loser in his high-school year book who is a manager at Donut World in San Jose, probably because Lucas never grew up.

 

Saw it last night with my lady... While I want to take some more time to digest it, I think this may be my favorite Star Wars to date. I definitely like it more than RotJ & ANH.

I like the new trio in Rey, Fin and Poe. Rey, or should I say Daisy Ridley has to be the find of the century. She's seems to be a phenomenal young action actress at this point. In contrast to Luke Skywalker in ANH who was seeking a life of adventure and to join the rebellion, she wanted to stay on Jakku content to wait for her parent's return and actually shed a tear when she realized that wasn't to be. She actively ran away from Luke's saber before she came to the realization that it was her true destiny. That scene where Kylo Ren was trying to use the force to get info out of her and she was like "oh... So you like mind tricks? Well watch this!" And turned the tables on him... I was just all smiles at that point. I thought I was ready to cheer when Fin got the light saber and started to fight Storm Troopers, but when Rey got it in her hands for the first time, I almost got goosebumps!! There was something so Zen about watching her realize her potential on screen and finally coming face to face with Luke Skywalker. Such a huge bummer that he only had like 45 seconds of screen time if that.

Sad to se Solo die, but it was completely predictable. Episode 8 & 9 may see the death of Luke and Leia as well to complete the handing of the torch. Looking forward to more viewings!

 

Please stop.

 

Alphamans back!

 

I'm so glad we got simple OT like lightsaber duels. I prefer that over the jumping and craziness. Although I am fine with two lightsaber me in each hand, but wouldn't want to see it again unless in SW:Rebels.

 

The Fetts along with many other characters in the Star Wars universe wore helmets for no other reason than they looked cool..

 

Which is pretty silly and contrary to human nature, if you think about it. About the only people who wear full face helmets are motorcycle riders, and they take them off when they get off the bike. Medieval knights only closed their visors when they went into battle. Full face helmets are rather stifling and you can't eat or drink in them. Further, it makes no sense for storm troopers to be wearing full face helmets inside their own base on a planet they completely control. If US Army soldiers have to walk down the halls of the Pentagon in full combat gear it means we've already lost. And finally, unlike medieval armor that was always quite distinct, there's no way storm trooper can tell each other apart. This would cause a host of operational difficulties because you often would have no idea who you were talking to, and if you relied on a radio link you couldn't even tell if you were talking to the soldier you were looking at. He could just be some other soldier who happens to be looking at you. And of course the inability to identify people visually already caused the loss of not one, but two Death Stars because all a rebel has to do is put on some imperial armor and walk to wherever they need to go.

 

My impression was that it wasn't an open war, and that for Leia to go help the insurgents in the territories still controlled by the former Empire, she may even have had to go against the wishes of the Republic's government (or at least against official policy). The Republic might be more concerned with holding itself together and view the Imperial remnant as a sleeping bear that shouldn't be poked.

 

The dumbest thing about the stormtrooper helmet is that apparently it can't even function as a gas mask.

 

It's also completely useless at preventing injury or they wouldn't get slaughtered by teddy bears.

 

Finally got to see it, was pretty much what I expected. I like the new cast, they have good on screen chemistry. Half expected to see Finn pull off some force stuff, it would explain his "turn" and I hope he's not going to end up getting droided out. Found him a bit too "quirky", but its just a thing that's popular now, it's probably gonna date the film a bit. Rey had some pretty good scenes, but she seemed the least "fleshed out", and it's all because they are holding back for the "big reveal" of her being a Skywalker. I like the characterization she did have, it felt like she wasn't just doing everything because she was the "good guy" and I like how both she and Finn tried to nope the hell out when first confronted with the weight of their situations. Didn't like the whole zero to force user in 12 seconds, though.

Not sure how I feel yet about Kylo Ren. His motivation mostly seems to be Vader envy, and to be fair, he's got the tall, whiny, emo kid part down, but given what we have for his story I just don't realistically see how he got to where he was, although the way he portrayed his conflicted nature was done quite well. He also suffered from a degradation in power, confidence, and skill as the film went on. The beginning does a good job of setting him up as a quite powerful threat, and about halfway through (coincidentally at about the point the mask comes off) the writers decided he needed to be poorly trained and unready.

That said Han and Chewie stole the movie. Enough said.

The best part of the movie was the energy, which pretty much everyone had in spades, save for the big bad evil guy. I guess because of the rest of the movie's pacing, which is fairly quick, and to be honest, the movie's weakest point, as it makes some of the friendships feel a bit inorganic, but when we get to the chamber scenes with this giant holographic Palpatine clone, time seems to slow down considerably. And it seems like they try to force a sibling rivalry vibe between Ren and the General whose name I cannot recall right now that just made me cringe a bit.

 

Emo Kylo Ren has a twitter account!

Much, much more at the link.

 

You know, people botch about the temper tantrums, but I liked it. It was funny and fun seeing him destroy shit. Also, I felt it was kind of menacing.

 

Despite the tantrums, he was still less emo than Anakin Skywalker.

 

I don't get the criticism of Kylo Ren (a.k.a. Ben Solo).

I think the whole point of the character is that he's a conflicted, angry young man with strong hero worship and/or daddy issues. To that end, Adam Driver did a fantastic job.

 

Agreed, Kylo Ren was great, but I still think the twitter account is funny.