i miss star wars :(

[MiraBindo]

Anyway Poe and Finn still have this JD/Turk from Scrubs thing going on. Maybe it's a bond they share because both of their characters are just paper thin. Literally no substance at all, just a string of charismatic one liners. "He's a great pilot! He used to be a stormtrooper! Watch as they share an apartment together and let the hilarity ensue! It's the Odd Couple, Star Wars edition!"

 

Would watch the crap out of this show just like i did with Scrubs. Take my money.

 

I don't have anything else productive to add to this debate. I loved this movie but i don't feel the need to defend why, everyone can decide for themselves how they felt about it.

Edited December 25, 2015 by MiraBindo

[Frenesi]

You know, it's actually funny how much SW hype has to do with perception of the new movie.

 

I'm from Russia, and, as you might imagine, we don't have such a cult built around SW. There are a lot of people who like movies, definetely, but few of them go deeper, into things like EU. Full-out SW culture is more of a thing of geeks, and even there it never reached american levels of obsession.

 

So, you know what is general rating for Ep.7 on russian-speaking sites? 3.4 out of 5. It doesn't even break 4.

 

Meanwhile, most of english-speaking resources go like "10/10, OH MY GOD 10/10". Interesting, isn't it?

Edited December 25, 2015 by Frenesi

[SithKoriandr]

You know, it's actually funny how much SW hype has to do with perception of the new movie.

 

I'm from Russia, and, as you might imagine, we don't have such a cult built around SW. There are a lot of people who like movies, definetely, but few of them go deeper, into things like EU. Full-out SW culture is more of a thing of geeks, and even there it never reached american levels of obsession.

 

So, you know what is general rating for Ep.7 on russian-speaking sites? 3.4 out of 5. It doesn't even break 4.

 

Meanwhile, most of english-speaking resources go like "10/10, OH MY GOD 10/10". Interesting, isn't it?

 

Really? Most reviews I've read haven't given it a 10/10 or even a 5/5.

 

Even RT gives less than a 100% (94%) which is just based off of positive reviews and the Audience Rating is 91%

 

So all together, they're giving it an A rating.

[Frenesi]

Really? Most reviews I've read haven't given it a 10/10 or even a 5/5.

 

Even RT gives less than a 100% (94%) which is just based off of positive reviews and the Audience Rating is 91%

 

So all together, they're giving it an A rating.

 

That's what I'm saying. Russian internet is somewhat isolated in that regard (language issues and all that), and reviews drastically differ from english ones.

[Orlogg]

Imho, the film creators (JJ Abrahams c.s.) had a tougher job than many people seem to realize: the SW audience isn't a homogeneous crowd. Long-time fans and people who are into the EU are just a part of that. The movie should also be entertaining for people who watched the previous trilogies, and, relevant to explain the lack of depth many people perceived, newcomers. All the references to te original Star Wars movie (later renamed IV - A New Hope are more a combination of a tribute to that movie, and refreshing viewers' memories, than a ripoff.

 

All in all, there are certainly things that I regret, but probably much less than in the Prequel Trilogy (which, imho, was great in expanding the Star Wars universe, but poor in storytelling; most of all in its portrayal of Anakin and his transformation into Vader, which was silly to the point of being embarrassing.)

 

Btw Nice review JDiablos. Please allow me to use it as a frame to add my own 2cts to.

 

But what about Luke Skywalker's character development thus far give us any inclination that he'd just abandon the fight? Doesn't make sense that he'd have left. Let's say 30 years changes a man and Luke did decide he needed some time on his own...

Well, apparently whatever happened, was something VERY severe. In-story that is.

 

Out-of-story they turned Luke's reintroduction into a giant cliffhanger for the next movie. It also gives Mark Hamill more time to lose a few pounds.

 

Finn is a stormie who's been brainwashed from a young age to act in a certain way but he really doesn't want to. So he doesn't. Brainwashing from a young age isn't really something you just shrug off because it's a Wednesday and you don't feel like killing folk. Plus your buddy died and now you can't put together a decent poker game and that's bumming you out. But let's say Finn is the 1 in a million guy who can just say sod off to a complete and total indoctrination from an extremely young age. Just say "Nah, not into it" to the only life he's ever known or even knows exist. All that being pushed aside. The blood man! When has that ever been a thing? It was so strange and took me completely out of the moment to see blood from a blaster fire injury covering his mask. And I get that they did it to distinguish him from the other 50 or so troopers running around but it killed the whole thing for me. Aren't blasters fire? Don't they just burn or singe? Wouldn't cauterization happen?

Lol, I'm totally here with you; I explained the blood by 'realizing'/pretending that running around in such a blaster fight setting, makes it more likely to get hit by stuff being blownup.

 

About Finn: his character is probably the biggest flaw in the movie (apart from the physics, but I presume that all SW fans have already decided to discard that anyway). Like you say, he has been indoctrinated into a cult since his early youth. Yet he comes off as a fairly normal youngster, psychologically and morally. It is not even the decision to desert that I find odd here — but the fact that Finn (who until then was only know as FN-2187 and probably had to be in uniform, including a helmet, for most part of the day for most of his life) can engage in casual social contact, that is unbelievable. Even if he'd deserted from a kind of Hitler Jugend, which members at least had a name and a face, he'd had severe problems adapting. North Korean defectors often had ambivalent feelings of reverence for decades after they escaped their country. So, at the very least a more realistic Finn would have been socially awkward. The way he is acting now, makes one believe that there has in fact not been any indoctrination at all — just military training. But Hux's speech and the imagery used by the First order, does suggest it is a Nazi Germany / North Korea type of organization.

 

(Compare Nazis, North Korea, First Order )

 

Then all hell breaks lose and out of nowhere and with no sensor warnings whatsoever because Han is clumsy and just lets people sneak up on his freighter and get the drop on him (because we associate Han with being a rube who is easily tracked by those who wish him harm and has no mechanisms in place to warn him of impending danger). Then it's just too much. Like there's too many characters there. It's not just Greedo here there's a few different characters introduced with no real background and stuff just starts happening. Like a lot of stuff. Just anarchy without real plot.

I liked that part, with the Scottish and Malaysian (?) gangs. (I wonder if these Asian dudes really spoke Malaysian or some other SE Asian language, or that it was just a SW madeup language.)

 

And go to this bar that's very nostalgic and Han tells the kids to be careful. So the girl walks to the nearest door, into the basement and immediately finds Luke's saber. Cool, I like plot devices in lieu of real story let's just skip 5 minutes of unnecessary story telling. The guy wanders off and these friendly guys who Han told them to be wary of like 5 seconds ago are willing to take him on free of charge and just let him roll with them.

Didn't Maz say that they would take him in exchange for work? So, it's more like he would be washing and ironing their cloths and stuff, during the trip.

 

 

Anyway Poe and Finn still have this JD/Turk from Scrubs thing going on. Maybe it's a bond they share because both of their characters are just paper thin. Literally no substance at all, just a string of charismatic one liners. "He's a great pilot! He used to be a stormtrooper! Watch as they share an apartment together and let the hilarity ensue! It's the Odd Couple, Star Wars edition!"

I agree it was very odd, but I can imagine that extreme, potentially lethal and traumatic circumstances can forge strong bands of friendships in just some minutes. It's the entire psychological background of Finn what I find hard to digest.

 

 

It's almost like everyone from the Original Trilogy has had a complete personality overhaul that even 30 years of life wouldn't necessarily explain.

Thirty years is a long time. Hitler's reign only lasted twelve years; we can assume it severely changed the personalities of most of the people it touched. We do not know most of what happened between Palpatine's death and TFA (maybe the general storyline of the EU minus the Yuuzhan Vong but afaik all of that has 'legends' status now) but we do know Luke was training Jedi and that his nephew, Han and Leia's son, turned to the dark side. So, things got sore.

 

Death Star #3 was not enjoyable for me.

I sorta liked the idea of turning an entire planet into a superweapon, but I cringed when

• it sucked the energy of a star
  
• the resistance members watched some explosions in the sky, which would suggest those hit planets were really close, like if they are all on moons of the same gas giant
  

SW was never the place for scientific realism, but never before it was so blatantly in the foreground

 

Btw I liked how, when the SuperWeapon shot, the light reflected in Hux's eyes.

 

Not sure how Hux found Kylo and was able to escape off planet in time considering Kylo just wandered off into the forest. Seemed a poorly though out story piece there.

Actually, afaik, we don't even know he did, do we? I can't remember I saw Hux actually finding Kylo — but it would be almost unthinkable and very unsatisfying that in the next movie we would learn that Kylo has died. As he's actually part of the Skywalker family, he cannot be a Darth-Maul-one-episode vilain.

 

All that said though. I enjoyed the movie. It was fun. Actors were fantastic. I liked Finn, even though I thought the character was poorly written.

Agreed.

 

For a movie it was good, for the next chapter in the Star Wars story it left me unsatisfied.

Well... My overal emotion is enjoyment coupled with relief — I had feared it would be bad!

 

This significantly mirrors my emotions when TPM was released. I can remember I actually felt tears running down my cheeks when I saw the Star Wars logo on screen, after, what was it, 16 years or so? (I saw it in the morning, immediately after a night shift — one tends to be less emotionally stable ) And I liked that movie, but there were some oddities. The later prequels had even bigger flaws (especially in the storyline concerning Palp and Vader). I never really liked the post-RotJ books (most of them I only know from reading sniplets, and the overal storylines on Wikipedia) and I recently learned that this imho fairly awful Clone Wars cartoon series is considered canon. So, my expectations were not very high tbh.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Orlogg

[Turajin]

I think the most haters have read the non-canon books and for reasons wanted something from the books.

Well, the books where Canon, for decades, long before moneyhungry Mickey Mouse Inc. decides to take a dump on the fans and tell them "the universe you love ain't canon anymore". My interest in the new Star Wars Movie died the second I heard that news.

[maxetius]

Well, the books where Canon, for decades, long before moneyhungry Mickey Mouse Inc. decides to take a dump on the fans and tell them "the universe you love ain't canon anymore". My interest in the new Star Wars Movie died the second I heard that news.

 

feh. I'm glad they did it. all that yuuz vong star trekky ******** had no place in star wars.

 

 

 

and best of all, it is no longer subject to the random whims of George Lucas and his gems like 'korriban sounds too much like coruscant i want you to rename it even though its been in the canon for 20 years' or 'People might get confused that there is another character named Anakin even though he's a Solo, you need to get rid of him asap'

 

to hell with that nonsense. i'm glad it's gone. at least now they can actually build a universe that compliments itself rather than contradicts.

Edited December 27, 2015 by maxetius

[maxetius]

Actually, afaik, we don't even know he did, do we? I can't remember I saw Hux actually finding Kylo — but it would be almost unthinkable and very unsatisfying that in the next movie we would learn that Kylo has died. As he's actually part of the Skywalker family, he cannot be a Darth-Maul-one-episode vilain.

 

Novelization clears up what can't be cleared up in a 2 hour movie, luckily.

 

Movie could have used MORE. That's really my only complaint. I doubt many would have complained given Fellowship of the Ring theatrical release clocked in at almost 3 hours and in general the superfans and standard moviegoer alike happily sat through it.

 

 

Also, anyone who complains about Kylo not being as good a villain as Vader has fundamentally misunderstood his character.

Edited December 27, 2015 by maxetius

[Esron]

honestly, i rather liked the movie.

Maybe its just me, but i tend to lean more into the science-fiction part of the movie instead of the slicing and dicing of it, cause hey if you think about it, and think long about it, then why not just start out with stuff like "sound in space" planes maneuvering like they do in space in these movies or hell even go into the fact that they made a lazer beam emenating from a stick stop in mid air but still attached to the stick ( any one that has ever used a lazer pointer knows how far the beam actually goes which pretty much is as far as the light takes it and it only stops when something blocks it )

so yeah... like i said, its just silly old me really

[Falensawino]

The few people who didn't like the movie probably sleept through it, because the reasons they give are just nuts. Not liking it is everyone's right, but at least try to elaborate a minimal coherent opinion before unleashing the nerd rage.

Movie was fun. Characters were well acted if not well fleshed out. Dialogue was funny. Problem was the plot was sloppy (even though it copied heavily from A New Hope it was still sloppy). Bioware would have written a better story, Tim Zahn would have written a much better story.

 

That's my problem with the movie. I have such high hopes and expectations for Star Wars. This didn't make it. For a movie it was good, for the next chapter in the Star Wars story it left me unsatisfied.

You went above and beyond the call of duty typing up that response. This thread was poorly started and has no discussion to it. Some people might appreciate it if you wrap most of your reply in spoiler tags because you gave a synopsis of the entire movie, scene by scene. It was great, I agree with you on most issues you pointed out. (I just read Orlogg's response to you, it's too late for spoiler tags now, this whole thread needs a [spoilers] tag in the title)

 

I too was expecting something greater from the Force Awakens, but what I got was a "A New Hope part 2," an introduction to the new trilogy. I wanted an Empire Strikes Back out of Episode 7 immediately, but every film maker has to space out their movies and leave the heavy thought provoking themes for later Acts.

 

As an introduction, The Force Awakens served it's purpose, it was a good first Act.

 

JJ Abrams already regrets not optioning to direct more films, he read the episode 8 script and has Director envy and script envy. The new director will have a better script to work with.

 

The 'Star Wars: Episode 8' Script is So Good That J.J. Abrams Wishes He Could Direct It

 

One of Abrams’ longtime friends and collaborators, Greg Grunberg, recently told the Washington Post that Abrams is having some serious regrets not directing Episode 8.

 

According Grunberg, Abrams has never reacted to script as strongly as he did for Episode 8.

 

He said: ‘It’s so good, I wish I were making it.’

 

My expectations for Episode 8 are even higher, I really hope it delivers the explorations into the force we expected. TFA didn't explain what an awakening in the force was.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Falensawino

[Staavis_SC]

The new movie is everything but amazing. My face was marked in horror, as I watch this abomination yesterday. I am still trying to find words of how horrible this was. it was a mockery of SW at best..

 

I think that the people who think this movie is awseom, like me, saw the trailers and thought "wow..j.j, might actually have done it"..and now that they have seen it, they refuse to accepts the truth. And the truth is, that this movie should never have been done.

 

I find myself missing George Lucas, and to be honest, I would rather sit down and watch an edited version of SW:TPM where only Jar Jar's scenes are included, than watching this filth again.

 

My fan boy heart bleeds for saying this, but it's the honest truth.

 

A bit extreme I think.

 

I can say this at least: JJ didn't frak up TFA as badly as he frakked up Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. I will give him that much, but that isn't saying much. It's like saying the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge wasn't as big of an engineering disaster as the Challenger disaster.

 

The biggest letdown of this movie (in my opinion) is that it was a re-run...or maybe more accurately it is like the Dukes of Hazzard Reunion movie they made back in the early 1990s. Alot of nostalgia, not alot of substance.

[Garravesh]

as I said before SW is dead...left in its place is a new version.....2nd and 3rd wave feminists love this movie because it is Hunger Games in Space......

 

Saw some videos of some mother foaming at the mouth because her daughter now has a female hero to worship in the movies...I guess Leia Organa was not a hero.

 

I still cannot entirely place my finger on why I hate the movie with such a fierce passion. As I read blogs and experience other peoples views I am starting to see my opinions are not alone and are not unwarranted.

 

This is as close as I can put it into words.

 

SW IV-VI was about a journey of a hero. Along the way the hero had friends and companions. His story never eclipsed the story of the others....it was just as important as the love story between a smuggler and a princess.....the friendship between a smuggler and a wookie..the banter between droids and the death of a Jedi Master(s).

 

In the telling of this tale...the force awakens......The story of some desert scavenger eclipses all other tales or stories throughout the movie almost entirely.

 

In ep 4-6 there is a story of Luke. He begins a child and is whiney, like daddy. He learns there is the force and it has power over the universe........being shown by Ben and then Yoda he is able to learn to master force albeit very slowly. He can barely lift rocks properly...cannot lift an X Wing out of the drink. in EP 6 he finally has developed as a Jedi and becomes much more serious as to his calling....and can use the force fairly well.

 

In contrast we are force fed this idea that Rey is a great pilot..can already fly the Falcon and starts to MASTER THE FORCE, in just, what feels like, a few days w/o a mentor. It totally breaks the reality factor for me in the SW universe.

 

Do I miss SW? nah....it never leaves my side....the books, videos and audio books........

 

This new Star Wars does nothing for me...at all in any fashion.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Garravesh

[Askarulez]

Well it is just my personal opinion but i liked the moviei like the characters probably the plot is too similar to episode 4 but we ll have to see how it expand in the next movies

To follow the books is not always a great thing cause 1) books are Always better no matter what and that could generate hate we are not talking about something so iconic and legendary like Talkien's that they are forced to follow it and respect the author, in this case they OWN IT 2) i totally understand the need to want the surprise factor the NO SEE WHAT?S COMING feeling that is a respectable and understandable choice

I respect everybodys opinion but lets face it no matter what they do nowdays there are people that are gonna hate and love the new star wars product

so i can only say that i enjoyed it and i am looking forward to whats next like i am looking forward to the Rogue one and Han solo story so i am a happy camper

 

To me the feeling of the original trilogy ll never be recreated no matter what cause it was something new, fresh , it didnt have anything to live up to and it was so ahead of its time that somehow ll always be missed but we are lucky to have

Edited December 28, 2015 by Askarulez

[Ntol]

Well, the books where Canon, for decades, long before moneyhungry Mickey Mouse Inc. decides to take a dump on the fans and tell them "the universe you love ain't canon anymore". My interest in the new Star Wars Movie died the second I heard that news.

 

This was largely my thoughts before watching the movie, but still I tried to give the new Star Wars a try, both because of curiosity and because of my brother´s expectations (even though he´s no Star Wars fan like I used to be I have been feeding him Star Wars lore for my entire life).

 

So there I go to the theatre, trying my best to keep an open mind about the movie, perfectly knowing that the original (and IMHO real) Star Wars lore was gone forever and this was another take on it. I knew I wouldn´t be buying more EU material, due to the original one being cut by Disney and the new one because I have no guarantee the exact same thing won´t happen in twenty or thirty years.

 

Yet, what I witnessed that day marked the death of Star Wars for me. Had they respected the original EU I would have been perfectly fine with. Had they completely scrapped the whole EU I would have been reluctant but would have accepted it. Yet Disney managed to go beyong my worst nightmares and do the unthinkable: destroy the EU and grab random pieces and put them back together. How can you have the guts to claim something sucks and then use the pieces you like while throwing the rest away?

 

When I heard the word "Ben" I only stood in the theatre due to respect to my brother, who had bought the tickets. They cannot even come up with an original name?

Also, here I was thinking one of the reasons the EU "sucked" was because the power levels. *Laughs at the Sun Destroyer compared to Starkiller base* *Laughs at anything EU Luke did compared to Kylo Ren stopping a laser mid-air and Rey mastering Force persuasion, lightsaber combat and telekinesis without a master teaching her*. Oh, but of course this doesn´t suck because this is a movie instead of a book and has the "canon" label attached to it.

 

Thank the Force for SWTOR being the last standing village in the Asterix comics.

[DarknessInLight]

The new movie is everything but amazing. My face was marked in horror, as I watch this abomination yesterday. I am still trying to find words of how horrible this was. it was a mockery of SW at best..

 

I think that the people who think this movie is awseom, like me, saw the trailers and thought "wow..j.j, might actually have done it"..and now that they have seen it, they refuse to accepts the truth. And the truth is, that this movie should never have been done.

 

I find myself missing George Lucas, and to be honest, I would rather sit down and watch an edited version of SW:TPM where only Jar Jar's scenes are included, than watching this filth again.

 

My fan boy heart bleeds for saying this, but it's the honest truth.

 

You are not alone sir. I have felt many of the same feelings. There is something missing from The Force Awakens. No one can deny that.

[SithKoriandr]

Saw some videos of some mother foaming at the mouth because her daughter now has a female hero to worship in the movies...I guess Leia Organa was not a hero.

 

Padme either. What can we say but, some people are just stupid.

[JDiablos]

Padme either. What can we say but, some people are just stupid.

 

Padme did nothing but make terrible decisions.

 

Leia was highly sexualized in the OT which I think causes people to marginalize her value compared to the menfolk like Han and Luke. She was also the stereotypical damsel in distress in ANH, spent Empire falling all over herself as she couldn't resist the 'bad boy', and of course Return was her in a slave girl outfit followed by a bunch of ewok stuff that most people block out while Luke handles the Emperor and Wedge and Lando blow up the death star.

 

They're both strong willed women, I'll grant that, but neither of them are lead characters whose actions move the movie. Rey is the first real lead character Star Wars has seen provided they don't end up overshadowing her with Luke or Finn or even Kylo.

 

As for the whole women lead characters in movies thing. I know this probably isn't the community that likes this kind of thing but Hugh Grant's recent movie Rewrite pokes quite a bit of fun at this new trend in movies and books. In fact watching this movie I thought of Rewrite and chuckled a bit thinking of the way the movie producers in that movie were portrayed.

Edited December 29, 2015 by JDiablos

[Rhoulicas]

Best movie I've seen in years. Favorite Star wars being ROTJ, force awakens is second. And I first saw Star Wars when in the theatre when I was 2 months old.

[SithKoriandr]

Padme did nothing but make terrible decisions.

 

I recall her just kicking butt in Ep1 and Ep2, don't recall much for Ep3.

[ConVallian]

I recall her just kicking butt in Ep1 and Ep2, don't recall much for Ep3.

She was preg with luke and leia

Edited December 29, 2015 by ConVallian

[JDiablos]

I recall her just kicking butt in Ep1 and Ep2, don't recall much for Ep3.

 

She did kick a lot of butt in 1 and 2. She also...

 

Was the Ruler of the planet when it was conquered. This is the kind of thing that's normally blamed on leaders in history books. Also there's a very terse relationship with the Gungans that probably dates before her time but her inability to normalize relations with them early on certainly casts her as poor ruler.

 

Made a poor decision to contact Naboo when they were in hiding.

 

Fails to recognize Palpatine for what he is, and ultimately plays a large part in his attaining power.

 

Engaged in a romantic relationship with what we can all agree was a very flawed individual. (I'm not a woman but what exactly were Anakin's attractive qualities? I'm being serious here what were they? Like name 3! You can't can you?)

 

Left Jar Jar Binks in charge in her absence.... (This is just blatant disregard for the seriousness of her position as Senator. Also this single act more than any other leads to the Empire rising)

 

Helps convince Anakin that they 2 alone are capable of answering Obi-Wan's distress call and winds up getting them both captured without achieving any great success in freeing him.

 

Secretly marries a Jedi and engages in a forbidden relationship that has no real possibility of ever truly succeeding. Was probably the worst thing to happen to either one of them as it ends up killing her and is the trigger for Anakin's path to the dark side.

 

Fails to recognize Anakin's descent into darkness until too late, much as she failed to see past Palpatine's deception until it was too late.

 

Unwittingly brings Obi-Wan to the final confrontation with Anakin.

 

A lot of these are plot devices certainly, but that doesn't make her any less culpable. Also Padme ultimately played nothing more than the Love Interest of the main character (who was a man). While she did kick a lot of but and was a very strong willed and intelligent(?) woman she ultimately boiled down to nothing more than Darth Vader's girlfriend in a lot of ways.

[eriksarcasm]

Best movie I've seen in years. Favorite Star wars being ROTJ, force awakens is second. And I first saw Star Wars when in the theatre when I was 2 months old.

 

Because you already kinda saw this movie... when you were 2 months old. Like I did.

 

We're "founders"

 

The thing that puts me off is that it doesn't "feel" like Star Wars. At all. Say what you want about the prequels, at least they worked within the given rules of the universe. The filmmakers of TFA threw all but the basics away and wrote fan fiction. Just like they did with the other great sci-fi franchise Abrams directed.

 

I could go on but it's late and I'm old and tired. So I'll just say this: I'll always love Star Wars, no matter what. But this movie... tested that love, in a way not even Jar Jar and midichlorians ever did.