Star Wars Episode VII: The Spoilers Awaken

Or maybe Han and Leia's daughter? And thus Renn's sister, etc. Didn't one of those 1980s Star Wars spin-off novels feature Han and Leia with Jedi twins?

And a real nitpick regarding the film: I was appalled to see, upon Chewie arriving back at the Rebel/Resistance base following Solo's demise, that Leia walks directly past him and straight for Rey to embrace her. Maybe the scene was cut and poorly edited, but it was an unforgivable faux pas given the film needed that moment between Leia and the Wookie.

Anyway, I don't understand why everyone in the galaxy doesn't just dispense with the Skywalker clan at this point. They've brought intergenerational chaos to the galaxy, and it appears to show no sign of stopping. Maybe Luke, in realising he'd failed with Renn as Obi-Wan did with Vader, decided to bug out and call it even. And yet, in trying to find him again, how many people died?

 

A lot of people have mentioned the Leia walking past Chewie bit, I did find that odd aswell...

I don't think she's his sister. I don't know their ages but I thought maybe she is Luke's daughter, once he failed with Ren he was worried he wouldn't be able to control her aswell so he had her taken to Jakku? I'm most likely way off.

 

WOW, just WOW!!! Star Wars is BACK, ladies and gents! Off to see it again in an hour. I'll have a full review soon.

 

IM SQUINTING GET THIS THREAD OUTTAHERE!

 

I think all the rave reviews are a bit over the top.

Some random thoughts:

It's a decent film, but all in all it lacks something. All the cheesy elements from the prequel trilogy are missing, and this film is worse off because of that.

I don't find any of the leads to have much charisma.

The story is a close copy of "A New Hope".

The whole film can be summarised so easily, some people are searching for Luke, various things explode and at the conclusion of the film, they find him.... The End.

 

I wasn't this disappointed after The Phantom Menace or any other prequel. Thomas Wolfe was right.

 

Saw it just now. Solid but exactly what I thought would happen - missing some magic and a bit too much homage. Overall, still worth seeing and a lot of fun. Hollywood's formula is basically sucker them in for the next one a year later - rinse repeat.

So is it confirmed Rey is Luke's daughter?

 

No.

 

Just saw it... Excellent. Felt like Star Wars. More comments to follow.

 

Question - So is Snoke officially Darth Plagueis? Seems to be based on artwork of Plageuis, but I'm not sure. Or he's just a random giant carnival puppet guy thingy with a **** ton of power?

 

I liked TFA, a good bit actually. It's far from a perfect film. But, as the first line of the film says "*This will begin to make things right*."

Five things I liked:

The first 20 minutes or so are flawless.
Han & Chewy's reintroduction.
Maz Kanata.
Kylo Ren and Han Solo interaction. While hard to watch, it affected me deeply. So I suppose it did its job.
Rey discovering she is force sensitive and ultimately fighting Kylo Ren.

Five things I disliked:

The Rathars.
Starkiller Base Attack.
Snoke.
One too many callbacks.
Still too much CGI.

That last one is a slight nitpick. There are just a few scenes where I felt like it was relied on too heavily. Other than that though, it is really only a slight gripe. I knew going in that I couldn't expect models and matte paintings throughout, it's not 1985, after all.

The biggest dislike I probably had was Starkiller Base and how that was handled but I accept it. It's Death Star 3. With Snoke, perhaps when we learn more about his character I'll be more invested. As of right now, I felt like the baddies were visiting the Dark Side of the Force's version of the Lincoln Memorial.

Looking forward, I'm excited to see Rey's character develop and what will come from the final moments in TFA. This can go in a zillion different directions and I'm excited to think that it might not play it safe and give us some unexpected twists and turns. Many unanswered questions, good luck Rian Johnson.

I would give TFA a 3 out 4 or a 3.5 out of 5. Whichever. It's a perfect continuation of the Star Wars Saga, mostly.

Ranking my favorites, I would go:

ESB
ANH
ROTJ
TFA

Close to 3a, 3b on the last two. I don't really consider the prequels.

It's hard to say goodbye to Solo, but I'm certain that was the only way they got Harrison Ford to agree to reprise his role.

Perhaps the best compliment I can give the movie is I'm excited to see Episode VIII (can't wait for a title so I don't have to call it that). That is something I honestly don't recall feeling with the Prequels; even if (to be fair) I already knew the outcome of those.

 

Just got home.....really enjoyed it.....for now, just a couple of things.....the only thing I really disliked was Snoke. All I could see the whole time was Gollum from LOTR.....it even looked like him a bit if you used your imagination. The best part of the movie was when Kylo Ren loses his mind and starts destroying the rooms with his lightsaber. Those were epic scenes.

- Buck

 

And one more thing.....would someone please hire more security on these dang imperial/first order bases? These things are way too darn vulnerable.

 

I really liked it with the caveats people have already mentioned above. My biggest issue was it paralleled Episode IV way too much. In the opening scene I wanted to say "Kylo Ren, only you could be so bold" when Max von Sydow (and he is...?) was marched out. And really, haven't we already sent a team to take out the shields to allow the X-Wings to take out the weak spot of a planet-exploding orb? Lots of criticism says it pays too much homage to the original and yes, the Falcon is shoehorned into the script and every now and then some prop or setpiece rears its ugly head. But it wasn't as groan-worthy as I expected based on the reviews.

Getting the negatives out of the way, I really liked Rey and Finn (Poe kept disappearing so we don't know him as well). The Ren / Han arc was thought out, maybe not perfectly executed, and we all saw the same result play out 38 years ago. It was also cool how they got the Kylo Ren question out of the way so quickly - it felt like a natural part of storytelling, and it makes me hopeful that they're not going to try and do a cheap reveal on Rey's parents in a future movie.

Overall while it lacks the magic of IV / V, it doesn't feel as factory-driven as most of the Marvel films or other series. We're going to be living with these characters for several films and they took the time to develop them. So there is heart behind this but it could've used more originality. I think JJ is a very good visual director while Rian Johnson's strength is story structure, so I'm looking forward to episode VIII.

Mark

 

Ren shot last.

 

I've read a few people on various forums say that it didn't have the magic of ANH. How could it? ANH was like losing your virginity, for want of a better term. That magic will never happen again. Did I feel happy leaving the cinema and did I enjoy the 2 hours I spent there? Yes. I'm going to see it again tomorrow. I'm about to start reading the novelisation.

 

Exactly right.

 

They should've called this film Another New Hope, Again...

JJ Abrams is just not a good filmmaker.

He's not creative.

 

Really liked it.

Prequels? What prequels?

 

If you mean it was forgettable and needed practice, then that's not saying much for A New Hope.

 

Did anyone else notice that the Storm Troopers are all fat now?

Or is that just a reflection of the 'average' these days compared to 30 years ago?

 

Yours was that bad huh? Oh well.

 

Did you have some kind of scented candle moment?

 

Nope, I'm allergic to them. I look forward to your next nitpicking post.