Author Topic: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)  (Read 46947 times)

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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #105 on: December 22, 2015, 09:56:42 PM »

Offline Redz

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I did not get the whole "nostalgia" thing.  I did not need Star Wars nostalgia. The nostalgia was going to come naturally from Han, Chewie, Luke, R2, C3PO, and Leia, and the prequels made it pretty clear there was going to be a certain nostalgic ship as well. And it would be fighting nostalgic tie fighters.

But I was very much under the impression it would be a NEW movie. Meaning new plots, new planets, new ships, new weapons, new themes, new problems, new characters, NNNNNEEEEEEEWWWW.

Instead I got recycled. Didn't have that new movie smell. Got that "we just stole your money after we mailed it in" smell.

God even the minor parts are recycled. I mean a thousand year old small person who is wise and knows the Force? Geeze. Is Maz Yoda's little sister or something?  Just dumb.

Is Yoda dead?

And speaking of dead, there had to have been a way for them to reincarnate Lando for a lil Billy D cameo. 

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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #106 on: December 22, 2015, 10:00:06 PM »

Offline Redz

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I agree about Rey's near instant aptitude with the Force. It was like watching Dragon Ball Z...I mean really...

I think the rub was that being pinned down brought it out naturally.  She was just using what's always been in her, it just became super wicked strong when she recognized it for it was.

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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #107 on: December 22, 2015, 10:11:53 PM »

Offline Lucky17

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Very much enjoyed it.
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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #108 on: December 23, 2015, 01:22:06 AM »

Offline MJohnnyboy

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I saw it an hour ago and I loved it. What's funny is I watch this movie and like others have said, it really enforces the notion that the prequels were AWFUL. This movie also had the right mixture of Star Wars elements and JJ Abrams' style of directing movies. Spoiler warning

Case and point: The character of Rey. She all the sudden discovers the force and knows how to use it to her advantage as a warrior. The movie implies that she clearly is a gifted jedi who has a mysterious backstory. That took me off-guard but knowing JJ Abrams and his tendency to make his stories mysterious, I think her backstory and power will be explained with time. Also, I watched her character and thought to myself, This is how they should have done Anakin Skywalker in the prequels. Someone who unknowingly has this power as a jedi and slowly but surely knows how to use the force to become a legendary fighter. Atleast with Anakin, even if he didn't know his own power as a jedi, the audience would have because we knew he was going to become Darth Vader. That's what makes the character of Rey so interesting. Her character has so much potential.

Something else that was phenomenal was the character relationships. Particularly between Rey and Finn. You got the sense of a budding friendship between the two from their interactions. Even though Finn had the hots for her early on you could see both him and her clearly connecting as people and having each other's back. Could they later fall in love as the trilogy goes on? Who knows? The movie leaves it open-ended between the two of them. Compared to yet again, the prequels, where all the relationships are told to us instead of being shown like with Obiwan and Anakin's "friendship", where you don't see them interact much together throughout the trilogy (Heck in AOTC you get more of a sense that they resent each other), or more infamously, Anakin and Padme's "love", where their relationship a. Doesn't make any sense and b. Is all told through awful dialogue.

You could also see the continued chemistry between Han/Chewbacca and Han/Leia. Han's death still shook me even though I saw it coming when I saw him talk with with his son. I'm going to agree with the more positive view of Kylo Ren in that I thought he was a great villain. I may have already said this somewhat with Rey, but Kylo Ren was what I think George Lucas wanted Anakin to be. An almighty sith lord who is power hungry but confused and may still have some good in him as a person.

I agree that "The Force Awakens" borrows a lot of elements from "A New Hope", but I saw it more as adding something new to these elements as opposed to blatantly ripping them off. The movie keeps you invested the whole time. You can't honestly tell me there were parts of this movie where you were bored, unlike the prequels. There was a scene of sitting and talking but the difference between that and the prequels was that something was happening during the sitting and talking scene that furthers the plot.

Overall, the movie, even if it left me with some questions, lived up to the hype. I hope to see it again soon and can't wait for episodes 8 & 9.

I mentioned the prequels a lot in this rant but it's just, to me, the prequels had so much potential to be great movies and they were absolutely awful, and "The Force Awakens" reminded me of what a Star Wars movie should be. The prequels on the other hand are not what Star Wars is about. So much of the story doesn't make sense. It's very boring and hard to follow. You don't care about the characters. They go with a "tell-don't-show" approach. The only reason why all three movies are connected is because they say that they are. However, what sticks out the most to me is that prequels demonstrated that George Lucas did not understand the mythos of Star Wars. There was a deeper meaning to becoming a Jedi than just swinging a shiny burning sword to kill people as told in the originals, but in the prequels, they in fact go against the real meaning of a Jedi. I will say "Revenge of the Sith" is the only enjoyable prequel out of the three, but it is still a very flawed movie.

But yeah, loved episode 7. Well done Mr. Abrams and good riddance Mr. Lucas.

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #109 on: December 23, 2015, 02:01:07 AM »

Offline fairweatherfan

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This seems appropriate for this thread.  IMPORTANT NOTE: Please start the YouTube link before clicking on Twitter link.  Kylo would want it that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo

https://twitter.com/KyloR3n

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #110 on: December 23, 2015, 07:18:53 AM »

Offline Mr Green

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I saw it yesterday with my dad. We both really enjoyed it even though there were many plot holes and much of the story was recycled from episodes 4 to 6. The only real concern I have is Kylo Ren's lack of credibility as a bad ass. He struggles to hold his own in a light saber duel against two amatuers plus he looks too much like a babyfaced John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Other than that it is definately worth watching on the silver screen. I rate it just below the originals but way above the prequels.

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #111 on: December 23, 2015, 10:30:15 AM »

Offline Lucky17

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I actually liked the character of Finn. A Stormtrooper with a crisis of conscience? He starts out as a bit of a coward, concerned only with self-preservation, but grows into a bit of a flawed hero, taking greater and greater risks (usually to save Rey).

I know people are down on recycled elements. But, if you're the Empire, and you still had the plans for the Death Star lying around somewhere, wouldn't you build an upgraded model a generation later with newer technology, instead of trying to build something completely new?
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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #112 on: December 23, 2015, 10:43:17 AM »

Offline Eja117

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I have a couple issues with a 3rd Death Star. Ironically the first seemed the hardest to kill, and the others relied on shields.

Next, it seems entirely too expensive and time consuming, and if something goes wrong you have a very serious problem. 

Next, this time around they didn't have the resources of the empire to draw on. You would think the Republic would have made this really difficult for them.

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #113 on: December 23, 2015, 11:12:29 AM »

Offline Lucky17

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I have a couple issues with a 3rd Death Star. Ironically the first seemed the hardest to kill, and the others relied on shields.

Next, it seems entirely too expensive and time consuming, and if something goes wrong you have a very serious problem. 

Next, this time around they didn't have the resources of the empire to draw on. You would think the Republic would have made this really difficult for them.

Aren't those last two the same concerns fans had with the previous iterations of the Death Star?
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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #114 on: December 23, 2015, 11:14:20 AM »

Offline Eja117

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I have a couple issues with a 3rd Death Star. Ironically the first seemed the hardest to kill, and the others relied on shields.

Next, it seems entirely too expensive and time consuming, and if something goes wrong you have a very serious problem. 

Next, this time around they didn't have the resources of the empire to draw on. You would think the Republic would have made this really difficult for them.

Aren't those last two the same concerns fans had with the previous iterations of the Death Star?
Sorta, but now they take their mistakes and make them even bigger, and with a Republic out there that you would think would be a major thorn in their side. I mean who are they taxing and stealing from?

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #115 on: December 23, 2015, 11:14:24 AM »

Offline fairweatherfan

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I agree that "The Force Awakens" borrows a lot of elements from "A New Hope", but I saw it more as adding something new to these elements as opposed to blatantly ripping them off.

I think the idea was to present the same story beats but put a different spin on them.  Like the daring mission to rescue a damsel in distress from the heart of the enemy's strength, but oops - she's not helpless at all, she's super-competent and has already gotten loose and is halfway to breaking out on her own.  Or, there's a new Sith badass in a black mask, but oh - he turns out to be a childish poser who's just wearing the mask to try and ape his scary grandpa. 

That said I think it didn't always hit those goals - it was so samey in a lot of places that the different spins got drowned out, most notably in the whole Starkiller set up.  But definitely entertaining throughout. 

Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #116 on: December 23, 2015, 11:29:45 AM »

Offline Donoghus

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I guess the bigger question with Starkiller Base was, are all the independent contractors that built the base already gone or is there going to be more economic fallout like with Death Star II?


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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #117 on: December 23, 2015, 11:53:34 AM »

Offline Casperian

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I can't get past the part where a movie with hundreds of lightsabers, a huge space battle, Jango Fett, and a fairly compelling mystery was bad.

I found it exceptionally entertaining, which is why I was there.

You want a boring as heck, virtually meaningless space movie, go for 2001 Space Oddessy. I've been more entertained literally watching paint dry.

During AOTC at the beginning of the clone war battle and again when Yoda was carving up Dooku people were literally jumping out of their seats, and it wasn't just the kids.

Well,  first of all, as AngryandIrritable already said, it's kinda pointless to compare Star Wars with 2001. One is a fantasy/adventure flick, the other is an allegorical director movie strong on imagery. Not that I disagree with you, I'm not exactly a Kubrick fan myself and thought 2001 was incredibly boring. The only thing these movies have in common, though, is that they both happen to play in space.

More to the point, yes, AOTC had hundreds of lightsabers and a huge space battle, but a) it's what happened in between the CGI spectacles that was boring, and b) those weren't even that good to begin with. Yoda rolling around with his lightsaber, beating up baddies by the dozen, cracking jokes in between, as if he was Fred Flintstone at the bowling center was neither particularly funny nor exciting. On top of that you had the usual trifecta of bad writing, bad acting and bad pacing.

Simply put, they're an all-around mess, even without the Star Wars label to live up to. It's a bad movie as "The Muppets on Tatooine", but it's a slap to the face as a Star Wars movie.
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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #118 on: December 23, 2015, 12:10:52 PM »

Offline Donoghus

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In regards to AOTC, it had its moments but I don't remember walking out of that movie being blown away.  Watching it years removed from theaters and its even more apparent how overblown the CGI is and how flat the acting it.

That being said, it had its moments;

-The chase on Coruscant

-The stuff on Kamino

- The Geonosis battles (both in the arena & the Dooku showdown)

The love story was godawful.  Absolutely terrible writing.


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Re: Force Awakens. (Possible spoilers)
« Reply #119 on: December 23, 2015, 12:12:30 PM »

Offline kozlodoev

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I actually liked the character of Finn. A Stormtrooper with a crisis of conscience?
He's also a practical impossibility in the SW universe, since all stormtroopers were cloned from Jango Fett, and Jango Fett wasn't black. So there's that.  ;D
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