Star Wars

[N-4K0]

They could have written it so that the super weapon in Starkiller Base was damaged and left useless, with the planet and the rest still intact. That could have been one of the build-up's for episode VIII, the threat that Starkiller Base was left damaged and useless for the time being.

Also I'm going to watch it again the 28th along with a friend who couldn't come along when we went to see it on the 16th.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Error404

[Ultron]

No...please no more laser weapons..it'll be a mistake if they bring back starkiller base

As mentioned those scenes were way too choreographed. And while they looked good, it didn't have the raw energy and emotion of, say, Vader vs Luke 2. Sword fights never ever look like they did in the prequels.

Meh. That fight is alright. I do not enjoy Luke as a jedi (because he was a rather poor one) and have never taken Darth Vader as a serious combatant. He is so slow and clunky when dueling and it shows in the movies. Of course I can't blame Lucas, the movies were made in a different time. The Prequel fights are more interesting to me but I do get the sense that they're too choreographed, like you said. I specifically think of the part with obi wan and anakin where they just swing their lightsabers around before clashing. I do, however, think the Darth maul duel is easily top 3 lightsabers duels in the star wars movies. That one is pretty good.

I'm very excited to see where Rey goes though; I like her as a protagonist so much more than anakin and luke. She has a lot of potential and she is very well acted and compelling

Edited December 22, 2015 by Ultron

[Robert8]

I love the new characters! Rey is the best character Star Wars has put out since the original trio, and I'm excited for her future as a Jedi! Finn was great, too, and I'm really curious about his parentage (since Maz said she's seen those eyes before, I think they're hinting at someone we already know). Poe was awesome as well, and I can really see him as a Han Solo-type character, just wish there was more of him in this movie. As for Kylo Ren, I think it's interesting making him Han and Leia's son (I guess the Dark Side runs in the family ), and while he did seem a bit weak at times, it makes sense as he is still training with the Dark Side, unlike Darth Vader who was a badass right from the start, Kylo Ren needs time to get there. I'm thinking his arc might be about redemption, and bringing him back to the Light Side, I think that would make a very compelling character arc.

As for the death of Han Solo ( ), I saw it coming from a mile away. I didn't want to see it happen, but I had a feeling it was coming. The way they did it though was very powerful, with his death coming from his own son, which will definitely have consequences in the development of Kylo Ren as a character. In a way, it sort of had to happen (besides Harrison Ford wanting to kill him off). I think Han would have taken the focus away from the new characters in the new trilogy, so saying goodbye to him was the best thing to do.

Poe is totally the new Han Solo. And he has tragic hero written all over his face.

About Han Solo's death

1. Harrison Ford wanted it to happen since the original trilogy. I read somewhere that he agreed to reprise the role for Episode VII just for that.

2. Kylo Ren is replacing Darth Vader as a villain. Replacing Darth f*cking Vader..... That's not easy. So they had to make us hate him at any cost to see him as a real threat. It was like a validation of his villain status.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Robert8

[N-4K0]

No...please no more laser weapons..it'll be a mistake if they bring back starkiller base

Of course not bringing it back as it's now destroyed, but rather leaving it disabled and useless for the time being, and perhaps attack the base again and destroy the whole planet in episode VIII before the New Order could use it again.

I think that could have been better, bringing a new twist since both Death Stars and Starkiller Base were destroyed in the same movie they were all introduced.

[Jedi-Bendu]

1. Harrison Ford wanted it to happen since the original trilogy. I read somewhere that he agreed to reprise the role for Episode VII just for that.

A while ago he admitted he was wrong about that and was glad they didn't kill off Han in the originals.

The fact that he agreed to return for TFA because he gets killed in this one is unconfirmed and a rumor that has been floating on the web for some time.

[Jedi-Bendu]

Regarding Lando.......last weekend I got the chance to ask actor Billy Dee Williams some questions,including his absence in TFA en his possible return in VIII.....

http://www.starwarsawakens.nl/interviews/exclusief-interview-met-billy-dee-williams-lando-calrissian/

(Or on my blog:)

http://starwarsinterviews1.blogspot.com/2010/01/billy-dee-williams-interview-lando.html

[Tariq j]

I thought the film was truly phenomenal, there were some nice Homages to the OT and PT and the sets and CGI was excellent and not overdone.

My only gripe would be Captain Phasma, its not everyday we see a Female Villain Captain and her role sort of felt... Cut down, if you know what I mean, she appeared in the first few scenes, she then appeared in the end, got captured by the heroes and that was it. At least we know she's appearing in the next film. Overall though, excellent film.

[HawkLord]

Phasma got captured super easy and didn't even put up a fight. Not a good sign from a character whose supposed to be way more hardcore than that. Here's hoping she gets some action scenes in the next movies.

Chewie also needs a scene where he goes alittle berserk and tosses Stormtroopers around. I was expecting it when Han died, but Chewie just went on a slight shooting spree instead.

[Vindicare]

I don't get all the complaints about the story...that's a pretty basic action movie template. I saw a picture years ago that compared Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, & Harry Potter. All had very similar plot points. I didn't even realize the Ep. IV notes until I read it here. It felt very nostalgic to me, not retreading.

I haven't read all the comments yet, but why are some people wondering who Rey's parents are? It's pretty clear who her father is. I'm excited to see where the saga goes with Ren. Seeing his progression, how he turned. I'm assuming he's the apprentice Luke had that was mentioned. Where's Ben's sibling? Will he have one?

[mediumsnowman]

Saw the movie today, the first half was brilliant but the second half just felt like a rehash of A New Hope. There were a couple things that bothered me:

R2 waking up randomly at the end

If Luke didn't want to be found why is there a map?

Structure of the New Republic (More on that later)

Phasma doing nothing

Who the hell was the guy who Kylo killed at the beginning?

Knights of Ren?

How did Maz get the lightsaber?

No Lando

For being assumingly divorced, and their son a murderous psychopath, Han and Leia reconnected really easily

On the structure of the New Republic:

I read some articles and the theory I think fits best it that the First Order was operating in the Outer Rim and the New Republic didn't publicly acknowledge them as a threat but formed the Resistance with General Leia as the leader, supplying them with resources but never engaging the FO themselves. A proxy war really, like in Syria, with an outside party supplying an inside group to fight a mutual enemy.

Of course that changes now that

Starkiller Base wiped out an entire Republic starsystem

I can't wait to see a huge MOC diorama of Hux's speech. I'd try it myself but there's no way I can afford it.

Edited December 23, 2015 by mediumsnowman

[Ultron]

Saw the movie today, the first half was brillkiant but the second half just felt like a rehash of A New Hope. There were a couple things that bothered me:

R2 waking up randomly at the end

If Luke didn't want to be found why is there a map?

Structure of the New Republic (More on that later)

Phasma doing nothing

Who the hell was the guy who Kylo killed at the beginning?

Knights of Ren?

How did Maz get the lightsaber?

No Lando

For being assumingly divorced, and their son a murderous psychopath, Han and Leia reconnected really easily

-R2: Yeah, that bothered me a bit as well. However, I am willing to give that one a little pause. JJ gave a pretty lame reasoning for R2 waking up in a recent interview but I feel he is just lying to avoid the actual reason. So I'll wait to see how things unfold in Ep. 8 before I count R2 awakening as a downside.

-Luke: My gripe is, who the hell made the map and how is there just this dotted line that goes to him!? Or is it a map to the temple? Wasn't explained well.

-Would've liked more Republic explanation as well

-Agreed about Phasma She didn't even get to fire her weapon once! Something tells me there was a deleted scene with her though because there was all this tension between her and Finn once he captures her, but nothing earlier in the films suggests such a dislike for her. All she asked was for him to submit his blaster. No biggie, really.

-Yes, it really bugs me that we don't know who the hell this guy is.

-Knights of Ren are very intriguing to me right now. While I would've liked some more info on them, I'm glad there's some mystery going into ep. 8, so it's not necessarily a downfall for me.

-I too want to know how she got it! They better explain that in the future.

-Yeah, too bad about Lando. But I also am not sure where he would've fit in logically.

-Han and Leia reconnecting seemed natural enough. They both missed each other and obviously are still in love.

[Vindicare]

Saw the movie today, the first half was brillkiant but the second half just felt like a rehash of A New Hope. There were a couple things that bothered me:

R2 waking up randomly at the end

If Luke didn't want to be found why is there a map?

Structure of the New Republic (More on that later)

Phasma doing nothing

Who the hell was the guy who Kylo killed at the beginning?

Knights of Ren?

How did Maz get the lightsaber?

No Lando

For being assumingly divorced, and their son a murderous psychopath, Han and Leia reconnected really easily

As for Artoo, I think he actually woke up because Rey was recognizing & using her Force power. I was trying to figure out who the old guy was too. Thought it may have been Bail Organa, because of the "she'll always be royalty" line, but he'd be dead by now. Best guess is he was apart of Leia's service when she was on Alderaan. As Maz said, it's a story for another time, which hopefully they'll go into & it wasn't just a deflector comment.

[N-4K0]

According to the info at IMDb, the old man's name (I would think it's the name) is Lor San Tekka.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Error404

[Im a brickmaster.]

after looking through some of the new TFW books it appears that the New Republic and The First Order are actual governmental/political groups and they had treaties with each other. (Which the Order violated by building TIE's and that new star destroyer in deep uncharted space)

[HawkLord]

According to the info at IMDb, the old man's name (I would think it's the name) is Lor San Tekka.

That's the correct name. According the the TFA Visual Dictionary, he was a leader in the Church of the Force. Non-Force users who worshipped the Force to some degree. Probably explains how he knows Luke.

[Junior Shark]

As for Artoo, I think he actually woke up because Rey was recognizing & using her Force power. I was trying to figure out who the old guy was too. Thought it may have been Bail Organa, because of the "she'll always be royalty" line, but he'd be dead by now. Best guess is he was apart of Leia's service when she was on Alderaan. As Maz said, it's a story for another time, which hopefully they'll go into & it wasn't just a deflector comment.

Yeah, I was getting the vibe that he was from Alderaan as well.

[wilson3a10]

i give 7.5/10 scores.

That battle at the star killer base is not majestic compared to the old movies. Why so few xwings to combat in one major battle.

[Clone OPatra]

This movie really needs repeat viewings to drink it all in. There's just so much information packed into the dialogue that can go by very quickly.

The second time watching it, JJ Abrams' explanation of BB8 asking R2 about the map totally IS right in the movie. BB8 rolls right up to R2 and says something in beeps and C3PO says 'it's no use asking if he has the map, he's in low power mode' (not exact dialogue but that's the gist of it). I'm not saying it's 100% spelled out, and I don't think anybody would get that R2 had the map from the Empire archives from when he was on the Death Star despite Ren saying the line about the map being in the Empire's files, but still, BB8 asking R2 about it is right in the movie. I can buy that it just takes R2 a while to boot up.

[Robert8]

Very interesting theory about Kylo Ren's motivation

http://moviepilot.com/posts/3696456

[rollermonkey]

JJ has also said that BB8 asking R2 about the map initiated the exit from low power mode, but with 70 years of data in his memory banks, it took R2 half the movie long to defrag his hard drive and boot up.

Threepio has had his memory wiped, Artoo never has.

Edited December 23, 2015 by rollermonkey

[CMP]

About the map: it seems clear to me that Luke intentionally left all the pieces behind for the next of the Jedi to find him. The Force would lead them to the pieces: he left one with someone I suspected to be a Jedi that was with Luke at his academy (he did recognize who Kylo Ren was), and he left the other within Artoo who I assume Luke activated remotely when he felt the Force awaken with Rey.

[Artanis I]

Didn't Luke lose his blue lightsabre in Episode V? Am I crazy, or did he have a green one in Episode VI? That didn't make sense to me.

Kylo Ren wearing a voice enhancing mask for no reason. (Except the rule of cool, which is debateable since he readily takes it off to expose a weedy nerd non-villian)

Here's another one that annoyed me, Poe: "I'll come back for you" and tells the droid to get as far away as possible. Both leave Jakku and never return, nor intend to. Makes no sense.

Phasma got captured super easy and didn't even put up a fight. Not a good sign from a character whose supposed to be way more hardcore than that. Here's hoping she gets some action scenes in the next movies.

Such a waste of a character, such a pointless character. Unless the events of Episode VII give her a huge vendetta to be awesome in the next movie.

About the map: it seems clear to me that Luke intentionally left all the pieces behind for the next of the Jedi to find him. The Force would lead them to the pieces: he left one with someone I suspected to be a Jedi that was with Luke at his academy (he did recognize who Kylo Ren was), and he left the other within Artoo who I assume Luke activated remotely when he felt the Force awaken with Rey.

I don't mind that.

[Tariq j]

Didn't Luke lose his blue lightsabre in Episode V? Am I crazy, or did he have a green one in Episode VI? That didn't make sense to me.

He did and there is some debate on that. I haven't seen the film very recently but the lightsaber is seen falling down until the large shaft.

After a quick watch on Youtbe, its possible that the Lightsaber got lodged in one of the tunnels like Luke did.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Tariq j

[Marvelfan120]

Okay, after seeing the movie Tuesday and wanting to spend a few days reflecting on what I saw, here is my analysis.

Did the film borrow from the OT: yes it did, however, when you're making a part VII of any story, that is going to be hard to avoid. I'm glad it borrowed the right things from the OT rather than the wrong things from the prequels. Looking back, i think one of the biggest problems with the prequels (especially Phantom what was George Lukas thinking...) was the effort to be too different. Going back to the original source material was a must. What I think was a bit genius about episode VII was exactly what they borrowed. For me, the film took all the best things from the OT, especially ep IV and V and put them in one package. You have the fun of episode IV, the relief of a major victory, opposed by the sadness of the death of an icon and you have episode V's shocking revelation that the fight is bigger than any one battle as we are left with a hero defeated and seriously injured. You also have a little bit of episode VI added with a character finding redemption after years of brainwashing to save the day. In the end, I think episode VII was a bit of a retooling of Star Wars and kind of covered the entire OT journey while begging a new journey at the end of the film. For me episode VII is the best star wars yet.

In response to a few other criticisms from other fans:

The idea that Rey is a bit of a mary sue is valid but, we're talking about star wars, the force can do anything: perhaps Rey was acting on instinct, perhaps she knew legends and was desperate enough to try anything. i like the fact that a some of what she does fails when she first tries.

The R2D2 randomly waking up thing was not a big deal to me. There are a lot of explanations for that... My idea is Luke had ordered R2 to power down until he could detect a trace of his old light-saber, then Luke could leave the saber in a place strong in the light side of the force where only a force sensitive person, strong in the light side could find it, by being drawn there.

As far as Hans fate, I'm glad they are moving forward with new characters and are using the original cast for roles like that of Ben Kenobi with aspects of his influence being split in a way between Han and Luke, separating the Martyr and teacher roles between them.

Anyway, I am so looking forward to episode VIII

[N-4K0]

Off-topic, but I couldn't resist as I found this