Star Wars The Force Awakens discussion (SPOILERS)

YEMTrey

I read where Han didn't want to be part of the series anymore.  He's getting up there in age, 73.  I think he agreed to a percentage of the profits and moved on.  He did a good job in his role in this final part though.

JohnInCarolina

YEMTrey said:

I read where Han didn't want to be part of the series anymore.  He's getting up there in age, 73.  I think he agreed to a percentage of the profits and moved on.  He did a good job in his role in this final part though.

He just looked a bit too old to be running away from Storm Troopers.    

gdenby

YEMTrey said:

I read where Han didn't want to be part of the series anymore.  He's getting up there in age, 73.  I think he agreed to a percentage of the profits and moved on.  He did a good job in his role in this final part though.

I suspect that he figured his days as an action character might be getting a little hazardous.

Seems like the next round should get into some interesting twists. Definitely not going to repeat with "Kylo! I am your uncle." "I know that, what do you think. I'm stupid too?"

nolaegghead

If he didn't die, you'd see him like

tfhanson

I gave it B+.  I was all WFT, this is just a retelling of A New Hope.  Really, a third Death Star.  I think they could have and should have told a new story.  This whole, reboot to bring in new fans is just BS. It is lazy story telling.  If you can't come up with something new, don't tell it.

Acn

I generally agree with a lot of the comments here, it was pretty good, but mining so much of the same story kept its ceiling relatively low, but also the floor relatively high.  I also have to give them props for the casting - Finn and Rey had actual chemistry, at least there won't be the pain of watching Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman on screen together. 

I agree with @msloanon the reasoning behind playing it so safe in this one - it isn't to bring new people in, it is to reassure older fans that the franchise is in capable hands.  If they had gone off on an entirely new story and it didn't hit, the next few movies become much less lucrative.  I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic that Abrams will go in a more interesting direction

jimithing

JohnInCarolina said:

Wife and I saw it just after Christmas.  It's an entertaining movie, but I had much higher expectations.  So much of the plot a carbon copy of New Hope - bordering on ridiculous.  

The movie was missing a soul a little bit I think.  It felt focus-group tested.  

Hopefully now that this is done they will begin to take the series in some new directions, but I have to admit that after seeing the latest, I'm a little pessimistic.  

Pretty much my thoughts as well.  It felt like they were concerned with setting up other movies in the series rather than making a solid, stand alone movie.  I think JJ Abrams did a decent job of directing but the plot and scene changes just felt mechanical.

tfhanson

Acn said:

I generally agree with a lot of the comments here, it was pretty good, but mining so much of the same story kept its ceiling relatively low, but also the floor relatively high.  I also have to give them props for the casting - Finn and Rey had actual chemistry, at least there won't be the pain of watching Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman on screen together. 

I agree with @msloanon the reasoning behind playing it so safe in this one - it isn't to bring new people in, it is to reassure older fans that the franchise is in capable hands.  If they had gone off on an entirely new story and it didn't hit, the next few movies become much less lucrative.  I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic that Abrams will go in a more interesting direction

Honestly, I thought Finn was the new Jar Jar.  Incredibly annoying character.  Being one of the "older" fans, this did nothing to reassure me.  In fact, it made me less hopeful for the future of the franchise.  

YEMTrey

I'm not as concerned about the future movies to come.  There were enough characters and plots introduced in this movie that JJ Abrams can take this film in any direction he wants from here.
This first film was just the foundation to build from. 

tfhanson

Interesting, looks like Hans is still around.  I was just on IMDB and they are filming VIII and he is listed in the cast.

theyolksonyou

Maybe he's an honorary force ghost 

Ozzie_Isaac

I really liked it.

First off, you do not just kill Han Solo

2nd, I totally forgot about Leia.  I was trying to figure out how Luke and Han Solo had a love child.  I was thinking, "wow, this is a really progressive movie!"

tfhanson

theyolksonyou said:

Maybe he's an honorary force ghost 

Honestly, that was what I was wondering... 

Ozzie_Isaac

Acn said:

I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic that Abrams will go in a more interesting direction

Rian Johnson is directing VIII.

lewisj82

tfhanson said:

theyolksonyou said:

Maybe he's an honorary force ghost 

Honestly, that was what I was wondering... 

Could be anything, more than likely a flashback. I can't see Harrison Ford coming to do another one. 

I mean, hell, Alec Guiness SHOULD have a credit in Force Awakens. That was his voice they used when Rey had her "out of body experience" or whatever that was when she touched the lightsaber.

tfhanson

Remember what Sean Connery said about doing another Bond Film......

lewisj82

tfhanson said:

Remember what Sean Connery said about doing another Bond Film......

Touche.

JohnInCarolina

tfhanson said:

Remember what Sean Connery said about doing another Bond Film......

Something something... stick it up your ass Trebek!

henapple

Turd Furgeson 

Cookbook_Chip

Just saw it a second time - this time in 3D.  Pretty good 3D and did not get eye strain.  I liked it still - and actually like Emo Ren BETTER than the first go 'round.

tfhanson

JohnInCarolina said:

tfhanson said:

Remember what Sean Connery said about doing another Bond Film......

Something something... stick it up your ass Trebek!

LMAO

msloan

I just think that after 6 prior films and all of the thousands of movies depicting similar good vs. evil story lines that just about anything they do with a new star wars movie, including this one, will feel at times overly familiar.

it also doesnt help that they actually used another death star to be what the good guys all feared.  

to me there are very few stories left to tell that we will enjoy that will seem truly fresh.  what will make them good or entertaining will be how much we like the characters and invest in them emotionally, along with some well acted and written dialog.

because whether it's star wars or lord of the rings or marvel superhero movies......it all comes down to good guys facing seemingly an unbeatable bad guy or group of bad guys and whether they can overcome the odds.......and if you like the writing and characters along the way it makes it better.

for my money, the new characters, especially Rey, have me invested enough that I want to find out what happens to them, just like I did in the original trilogy.  I'm not as invested, but enough to keep my interest.  

tfhanson

There are web sites out right now dedicated to how similar New Hope and Force Awakens are.  It's not just the Death Star.   You are correct about the stories of Good vs Evil.  If you look into it, almost all stories ever told follow the same story line/pattern.  It is called the Hero's Journey.  If you analyse it enough, you will see that almost all movies/stories are the same.  New Hope and Harry Potter and the Soccer's Stone are the same story.  As is New Hope and When Harry Met Sally.
It's the job of the story teller to make his/her version of the Hero's Journey different then all others.  In the case of New Hope and the Force Awakens, they did not.

tfhanson

1. There’s a droid carrying valuable information who finds himself on a desolate desert planet.

2. There’s a Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed antagonist who arrives on the scene shortly after the information is handed off, looking for the droid.

3. There’s a desert settlement that is wiped out by stormtroopers.

4. There’s a hero who’s tortured by the bad guys to retrieve the information.

5. There’s a lonely, Force-strong desert dweller who dreams of more.

6. There’s a worldly old warrior who has to explain the Force to the next generation.

7. There’s a cruel military officer who holds a comparable level of authority to his Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed colleague.

8. There’s a mostly unseen supreme evil that’s pulling the strings from the shadows.

9. There’s a criminal element that’s owed a debt by Han Solo and attempts to kill him after he screws up their arrangement.

10. There’s a cantina filled with various alien creatures.

11. There’s a moment when one of the heroes abandons the fight as a self-preservation measure, but he eventually returns.

12. There’s a massive spherical weapon that’s used to destroy a planet.

13. There’s a base belonging to the rebel forces on a forest-covered world.

14. There’s a surrogate father figure who is cut down by someone previously close to him, who has turned to the dark side.

15. The hero watches helplessly from afar as the surrogate father figure is slayed.

16. There’s a coordinated aerial attack on the massive spherical weapon that’s monitored from a control room by Leia.

17. There’s a trench that X-wings flew through in order to fire on a vulnerability in the weapon and destroy it.

18. There’s a massive explosion that gives the rebels a major victory but likely allows the Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed antagonist to survive to fight another day.

henapple

It draws in new fans.... 

DMW

I just saw it today in 70mm IMAX at the Tuttleman theater in Franklin Institute. Stunning on a screen that size, you had to turn your head to the area of the action on the screen. It was completely immersive.

As has already been mentioned, the storyline was a re-hash of New Hope. I thought it was a bit weak.

We're convinced Rey is Luke's daughter. In addition to some of the above reasoning mentioned, R2D2 didn't wake up until Rey arrived. He sensed Skywalker is my theory.

Toxarch

I thought it was good. I avoided all trailers and everything before seeing it since all trailers ruin movies now. Unfortunately I did accidentally see one spoiler saying han and leia had a son. Saw that the day I was going to see the movie. 

Yes, it was very very similar to the original. Yes there could have been more to the story but this was an introduction setting up the next 2 movies. It was made for the old fans and for those who have never seen any of the other movies. 

One thing I kind of noticed, isn't that Luke's original light saber he was holding when Vader cut his hand off? You do hear Luke yelling "Noooooo!" from that scene. 

Where did Rey learn to speak every language including droid and wookie? She's a loner. And when did she learn to be a pilot?

I agree that Rey is likely Luke's daughter. 

I hate the actor they picked for Kylo Ren. There is nothing scary nor ominous about him.

And the pilot guy... It seems like they are trying to make this awesome pilot into a major character but he just shows up at times. I'm not really sure he needed to have a talking role. Maybe he'll be important in the next movie.

Did you see the size of that missing chunk of the galaxy that R2 had? How come none of that giant chunk (in BB8) was on any known space map? It's a huge piece of the galaxy and not on the edge of R2's map.

Boileregger

Took my son to see it yesterday.  I have to say I hated this movie.  To me, it was the weakest of all 7 by far (and that's saying something compared to Episode II).  And it is for all the reasons @tfhanson mentioned...total plagiarism of the original, but worse.  Much like Indiana Jones, I think I'm just going to pretend this last movie didn't happen and not watch any more.

Toxarch

If Lucas didn't like that they weren't going to use the stories he wrote, then why did he sell the franchise? Oh yeah, $4 billion, he did it for the money.

http://movieweb.com/star-wars-force-awakens-george-lucas-problems/

sumoconnell

lewisj82 said:

This fanboy's thoughts:

Yes, it's a reboot of New Hope. Done for a reason I think, to draw in new fans, give a familiar story. If they re-do the other two movies in the OT like this, I'll be a little disappointed. 

Vader is my favorite character in the SW universe (if you couldn't tell by my avatar) and I think Kylo Ren will provide an incredibly interesting character to watch as he grows. I hope they show Snoke (who has GOT to be a sith of some sort, I mean come on.) just break him and make him go full on bad, no more of this internal conflict. Star Wars villains are always great to watch.

My Rey theory: I think she was a youngling who was training with Luke when Kylo went batsh!t. Then she was dropped off on Jakku in the far corner of the galaxy in hopes that she'd not be found, that's why the old man in the beginning had the map. It was an insurance policy saying "In case of emergency here's a map to luke, by the way this girl who is force sensitive lives here." I really hope she's not part of the Skywalker bloodline. We already have enough of that in this movie. 

 I agree, and I think she is Han and Leia's daughter... Great movie.  Too bad too see Lucas all sour grapes on this.. No way his complaints will be viewed in any other way when the movie is blowing through records like this.  I thought he'd be smart enough to know when silence is the best criticism.    He's lost they way.. and letting the dark side take over.