Star Wars - The Force Awakens

[Bram]

Very good.

I'm a big 70's and 80's Star Wars fan and I hated the ones from the late 90's-early 2000's.

Funny, action packed. I plan on watching it again in the theaters.

[TerryB]

you plan on watching it again

i don't plan on watching it at all

:ponder

[Bram]

Not a fan, huh? :D

[tough old man]

By the midpoint it was predictable as fuck.
Like it was written by my 13 yo nephew

[Holland Oates]

I was underwhelmed.

[Mickey O'neil]

I really enjoyed it. May go see it a second time.

[Testiclaw]

Boring. Really unimpressed. Nothing really original in design, plot, or writing.

If you're going to make a predictable story, you better make the rest of the experience outstanding.

It was definitely not outstanding, to say the very least.

[Turdacious]

Kept the things that made the original trilogy great and added a few new wrinkles. Not as much CGI as I expected-- a good thing. Worth watching and I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Protobuilder]

Huge fan. I've seen the originals more times than I can count and some of my earliest childhood memories were seeing them in the theatre.

This episode sucked. Perhaps not entirely as there were 3-5 genuinely fun moments but the only way you could say you liked it is if you hadn't seen any of the other movies or are a victim of some messed up pop culture recency effect where the latest thing you saw is inevitably the greatest. Abrams had a $200b budget to do whatever he wanted and came up with, let me see...zero advances on the plot. No new character exists that couldn't be described in near entirety by comparing to somebody from the original trilogy. Take Episode IV and V, reword them, give Harrison Ford $20m and a piece of the box office, toss half that in the directions of John Williams and Lawrence Kasdan to be sure the music is up to par and the dialogue is (admittedly) the best of the series and this is what you have. If they simply said it was a reboot, I would be fine with what I saw but to pretend it is anything but is ludicrous.

[TerryB]

:nobody

[Pinky]

Kept the things that made the original trilogy great and added a few new wrinkles. Not as much CGI as I expected-- a good thing. Worth watching and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I agree. It borrowed heavily from the original movies, which is probably why it was predictable, but it was still a lot of fun. I thought it played on nostalgia for the old films quite effectively at times.

I think my biggest complaint is that Kylo Ren was not an impressive villian. They did a reasonably good job at explaining his shortcomings, but it still meant that there's no Vader-like character in the movie. The end of the movie suggests they might fix that problem in the next installment.

Also, there were points where I thought Finn was straying into Jar Jar territory.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

I liked it. I was pleased Jar Jar Binks wasn't the evid leader

[Yes I Have Balls]

I liked it. Reboot? Sure. Redo? Sure. Destroy ANY reference to the shitty prequels? Done. I'm going to give Abrams and company the benefit of the doubt that in order to properly fire up the $4 billion-led Disney Hype and Merchandising Machine™ he had to a hard delete of anything that came after Episode 6 and show the younger kids what a Star Wars movie is supposed to look and feel like.

Hopefully the next 4 (7?) movies in the series including the standalones of Rogue One and the Han Solo biopic will provide more challenging story telling.

[WildGorillaMan]

I think the new heroes and their casting are solid, especially Rey. Although Finn veers into comic relief a lot.

On a counterpoint the lack of real villains was a problem. For all the hype about how cool and mysterious and dangerous Captain Phasma is she gets nearly zero screentime, and easily jumped and tossed down a garbage disposal. That would have never happened to Boba Fett.

Worse than Ren is the Ginger General. Totally out of place, and it felt like Ron Weasely had joined the Death Eaters.

[nafod]

Finn was definitely the sort of stormtrooper who would run his head into the door frame on a forcible entry.

How the hell did the good guys land on the planet-sized death thing and run into the other good guys in minutes? Thank god there was no IKEA store there.

Was Gwendolyn Christie actually in this? What character?

Kudos for not being as blood-coming-out-the-ears loud as Guardians of the Galaxy.

[Shapecharge]

I wondered the same thing about the big blonde she-hulk from GOT. She was Finn's stormtrooper supervisor in the shiny black shit.

[Grandpa's Spells]

Clearly the best Star Wars since Empire Strikes Back. I really enjoyed it, but did not expect it to be something it isn't. Hero's journey, overcoming adversity, finding courage, etc.

[TerryB]

I think the new heroes and their casting are solid, especially Rey. Although Finn veers into comic relief a lot.

On a counterpoint the lack of real villains was a problem. For all the hype about how cool and mysterious and dangerous Captain Phasma is she gets nearly zero screentime, and easily jumped and tossed down a garbage disposal. That would have never happened to Boba Fett.

Worse than Ren is the Ginger General. Totally out of place, and it felt like Ron Weasely had joined the Death Eaters.

You have the analytical horsepower to do this, but can't figure out which girls should and should not be posted in the naked girls threads.

[buckethead]

I thought Rey was wonderful, though she masters the force in like 5 min. Otherwise, poor movie

[Gav]

Just got back from seeing it. I essentially agree with Turd and Pinky (Oh God, what's happening to me). They did a great job of paying homage to the old and introducing the new IMO.

[DARTH]

And now our biggest and most knowledgeable fan will chime in, me. ( Hey I beat the fuck out of a chicks live at home in his 30s brother at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit 3 games in a row! Poor guy thought I was some Ju Jutsu asshole trying to fuck his sister - I was - that would not know shit about SW but the films. LOL! fucker should have seen my bookshelf!)


The Force Awakens A New Hope for the Return of the Jedi! I wanted to love it for nothing more than it might be setting up the baddest, most interesting Luke Skywalker ever. I wanted this to be great from the recesses of 38 year old emotions, awe, wonder and understanding. Star wars is my Iliad and Odyssey, this film did not make the grade for me even though as a stand alone film I enjoyed it and there were moments it came close.


That's this movie in a nutshell. I think Lucas was right on Charlie Rose when he said that they wanted to make a Retro blockbuster and he wanted to tell the next chapter.

I expect a generational saga like SW to have repeating motifs, I can buy how in ROTJ they once again faced a Death Star, similarities between each generations problems ect but this was a cut and paste and I blame JJ and think Kershner just held it together from going to complete shit.

Fucking some LAZY writing going on there or it's orders from up high. It was like it was put together by SW fans and that's part of the problem. Lucas knew you don't give fans their wish list, you give them something good, throw them a curveball here and there.

This film was missing one thing most of all and that thing is named George Lucas!

I am a loud "HAN SHOT FIRST!" guy, I'd give him shit on his reason's for changing that and a few other things but it's like off riffs from your favourite band. BFD? Fucker is like Slayer. You can find bands heavier, faster and truly sick in the head but Slayerbabies are only Slayerbabies, you want to hear Slayer play Slayer.

It's his vision, sure he does not always give fans what they want but SW without him at the helm is not SW, it's a story with Star Wars charcters in the SW Universe but it is not Star Wars.

Han Solo dyeing should have made me cry, period. If Tom Baker on a 21st century Doctor Who made me cry tears of joy than Han Solo being murdered by his own son while I sat next to my Sith heir and spare should have choked the shit out of me! Lucas would have made me do that, JJ Abrams can't, he failed and if I was truly Darth I'd Force choke him for his failure! ( Preferably in front of his replacement, tradition and all.)

3 out of 6 stars. All the previous 6 movies are better, IMO though 1 and 2 are only marginally so. ( Darth Maul, Qui Gon, Jango Fett, badassfucking multiJedi and landbattle, Anakin's first lost limb, ect.)

What did I like?

Han Solo as an old man. Ford was not doing a walkthrough, he became Han at 70 who had his world crushed.

Finn ( New Han composite #1) The man is like Han in that he quit the service out of conscience. like him he can be self serving in quiet moments but when a fight is on or a friend is in trouble he's in the fight at the front of it. Like Han he'll take a shot at anyone, fuck their rep.

Poe ( Composie #2) A pilot's pilot's pilot! He is the new Han in that department and he may have a connection to the Force, the new Expanded universe has some hints as well as what you saw.

The aircombat was great, but I wanted more!

I think their characters COULD develop well.

Rey Skywalker. Her personality, her badassness, the way she looked at Luke as she held out his father's weapon and how he looked at her. That threatened some dusty eyes. That's a little girl looking at her daddy and there is much power in that. As good as Ford was, Hamell equalled him in seconds. He's a better actor than most think and in this role that has caused some of his underestimation and typecasting as an actor, I think he might come on real strong in the next film because he sure did at the end of this movie.

Now let's address some things for those who can't buy a clue or think they know Star wars.

Rey has training, she did not just learn it in front of us. She was mindblocked, Force Amnesia. in real life people have amnesia but can remember and retain skills yet not remember how they acquired them. if we gave Geena Davis suspension of disbelief as a Jason Bourne with great legs in The Long Kiss Goodbye we can for Rey in a Space fantasy where she is probably the daughter of Luke. In the tradition of what is not said being said, Kylo Ren and Stimpy will never be as powerful as Darth Vader (but she can!)

Luke wanted her to not give herself away growing up ( like was done with him) but also wanted her to be able to take care of herself.


As for her whipping Kylo ren and Stimpy's ass in the sowrdfight, well besides the above;

The boy was hurt! They made a point (to the point of fucking stupidity! Han would have known years ago) of how powerful Chewie's Bowcaster is (never been fired on film before, always captured Imp weapons in his hands in the other films) and he took it and kept going. He also got in front of Rey and Finn, he was expanding massive energy and mental power to keep going.

And he had orders to capture her, I also believe among his many conflicts is that he knows who she is by this point and he loves her as she is his little cousin. He did not kill her before when he gave her a traumatic Dexter like childhood experience.

[Turdacious]

Will be interesting to see what they do with Mark Hamill. He's capable of doing some incredible work with Del Toro if they let Luke go a little nuts.

[Pinky]

The real shortcomings of Ren as a villian was not the fight at the end. It was his tantrums. (And the ridiculous casting.) Darth Vader force choked people who failed him. The aspiring Darth Hipster throws his shoes and breaks a plate.

[Yes I Have Balls]

The real shortcomings of Ren as a villian was not the fight at the end. It was his tantrums. (And the ridiculous casting.) Darth Vader force choked people who failed him. The aspiring Darth Hipster throws his shoes and breaks a plate.

Dunno, I saw his lack of control/twisted morality a refreshing bit of potential for real development. Vader never became more than one dimensional until Empire Strikes Back.

[baffled]

You guys are a bunch of fucking nerds.