[Star Wars] Non-spoiler thread

Dr. Chaos

Three hours until my butt is in the theater seat.

I'm ready, JJ. Let me bathe in your healing light and cleanse the CGI whacky cartoon characters from my nightmares.

Kneel

Absalon wrote: »

altid wrote: »

Regarding Phasma

Remind me again why did she just take down the shields with what didn't look like much of a fight? Those shields were kinda useful to say the least.

Yup, bothered me too. No incentive, no sudden switch from stoicism to acquiescence.

Yeah I should add that to my list of negatives.

Rhotbhar

So I went to see it at a midnight showing at one of my local cinemas here in Bristol last night. No spoilers, no discussion of the storyline...all I have to say is that, having been badly burned by the prequel movies, I went into this with high hopes and low expectations.

My faith has been restored. If this is an indicator of the new quality we can expect from the Star Wars franchise going forward, I can only say that I am one happy, happy bunny.

Wraith260

mori1972 wrote: »

So I went to see it at a midnight showing at one of my local cinemas here in Bristol last night. No spoilers, no discussion of the storyline...all I have to say is that, having been badly burned by the prequel movies, I went into this with high hopes and low expectations.

My faith has been restored. If this is an indicator of the new quality we can expect from the Star Wars franchise going forward, I can only say that I am one happy, happy bunny.

i want to awesome and agree to this cause it really is spot on as far as i'm concerned.

AlphaRomero

I don't understand people's love for Finn at all.

A non-trained non-force user managing to hit the trained dark force user with a lightsaber was a bit eye rolly, if he can do that then what is the point of being a Jedi or Sith, since any grunt with a sword can get lucky and kill you.

He is obsessed with Rey, like almost from the start. It's so quick it comes across as stalkerish, and as long as they address that in the future it will be ok. Rey just seems to see him as a friend and that makes sense completely in her character, whereas his concern for her comes across forced given their very brief interaction.

He was ok, not some revelation.

Albino Bunny

The bit with Fin getting a hit in and Rey beating Kylo is because:

a) He's not fully trained

b) he's not really commited to being a sith or a Jedi properly

c) He'd just being shot.

It didn't seem unreasonable that he struggled to do well in that state

Idx86

Guys, I am leaving my house right now to go see a new Star Wars movie.

The significance of that statement is just, yeah.

Älter

Regarding Finn

I sort of believed it when he hit Kylo for all of the reasons posted already. Additionally, I thought he was actually relatively decent with the lightsaber when going up against Ren.

We've already seen that some troopers get trained in melee combat. Sure, their shock batons aren't the same same shape or have the same heft as the lightsabers do, but thats what I saw when he fought the trooper. A bit of familiarity and precision with the weapon but also some due clumsiness

SanderJK

Finale location spoiler

Did anyone else groan at "Starkiller Base". Come on get someone else to name your projects.

Wraith260

SanderJK wrote: »

Finale location spoiler

Did anyone else groan at "Starkiller Base". Come on get someone else to name your projects.

to be fair the name was pretty apt considering how the weapon worked. a convoluted way of getting the name 'Starkiller' in there? perhaps, but they could have done a worse job of it.

RT800

Man, I'd pay twice the ticket price if they'd just let me watch this streaming at home.

SanderJK

Albino Bunny wrote: »

The bit with Fin getting a hit in and Rey beating Kylo is because:

a) He's not fully trained

b) he's not really commited to being a sith or a Jedi properly

c) He'd just being shot.

It didn't seem unreasonable that he struggled to do well in that state

The fact that Ren notices Finn on Jakku an immediately knows he's the defector felt like a hint he's at least force sensitive

davidsdurions

24 hours from now I should be just finishing that Star Trek trailer.

simonwolf

I concur with the general opinion that it was a really good movie and I am very pleased if this is the standard by which the other new movies will be built towards.

Some spoilers thoughts:

I think my only complaint is with the pacing of things. It felt like they were packing in a lot of stuff in a short period of time, especially in the first act or two, but I got over that.

I have to admit, there was a part of me that felt genuine sadness when the death happened. I was saying to my girlfriend that it almost felt like a family friend had died, and I had this odd feeling in me as I thought and came to terms with it.

My girlfriend, incidentally, had never seen Star Wars (any of it) before I sat her down and we watched the de-specialised original trilogy about two months ago. She was a fan of the new movie! Very happy that there's going to be a central female protagonist for the ongoing series.

Burnage

SanderJK wrote: »

Albino Bunny wrote: »

The bit with Fin getting a hit in and Rey beating Kylo is because:

a) He's not fully trained

b) he's not really commited to being a sith or a Jedi properly

c) He'd just being shot.

It didn't seem unreasonable that he struggled to do well in that state

The fact that Ren notices Finn on Jakku an immediately knows he's the defector felt like a hint he's at least force sensitive

Finn stuff

Also that when Starkiller is first used, Finn seems to hear what sounds like millions of voices suddenly crying out in terror and suddenly being silenced.

DevKimiko

Saw it last night with my partner and a friend. Enjoyment was had although I'm on board with a lot of the general criticisms that have been leveled at it.

General thoughts:

Loooved the opening stuff. Just a lot of really nice visual storytelling and character moments. Ren snagging that blaster bolt out of the air is such a great badass use of the Force and a great quick way to display his powers. Loved the look of everything as well, it's beautifully shot.

Got a bit muddle in the middle for me. The whole segment with the tentacle monsters felt a bit like filler that didn't go anywhere and I was kind of bored by it (though the opening of that sequence with everyone gunning for Han was fun). There was also like a five minute span on the Falcon where it felt like they were throwing too many references out there. I might have eye rolled a tiny bit when the chess board hologram popped on.

Just chatting to a co-worker and this point came up, Finn seems really well adjusted for a guy who was brought up as a trained killer. It would have been nicer to see a bit of a darker or ruthless side to him.

Phasma and Poe felt criminally under-used, I wanna see them show up again. Phasma capitulating to them so fast also felt weird to me. 3P0 was kind of annoying and I didn't expect to have that reaction.

I actually hoped... Han would die because he's the most killable of the original crew. Then I felt bad...

I liked Kylo Ren as an antagonist and also thank god for villains who stick around to be developed! No Darth Maul problem here. Loved all the new cast pretty much, Rey is really great and I'm super pumped to see more of her and Luke's shenanigans.

It just felt like they were a little too afraid to branch out into an all-new Star Wars adventure. A little too referency in parts, a little too A New Hope. Co-worker wished that the whole story had been more about finding Luke rather than re-treading familiar plotlines.

I said this walking out of the cinema too but I kind of feel more excited to see the next part than I am to immediately re-visit this one. This film more than any other really felt like it was the first part of a saga too. Lots of pieces set-up or left a mystery, which can be fine, but makes it harder to judge without seeing the payoff

Absalon

I was actually unsure whether

Kylo was going to turn decent/neutral or commit murder on the walkway.

Acting.

Maz-

You did it, J.J.. You fucking did it.

I'm so goddamn happy right now.

Spoilery thoughts:

It was so fucking good.

I can see where some of criticisms are coming from in that there are quite a lot of parallels to the original trilogy, but hell, if there's one thing you want to copy, it's the original trilogy.

Pretty much all of the new characters are fantastic, though I hope we see some more from a couple of them in future movies, Snoke and Captain Phasma especially (What happened to her, by the way? Did they really chug her into a trash compactor? :P

It was also really funny! The real kind of funny, not the "Jar Jar Binks steps into poop" kind of funny. BB-8's thumbs up, goddamn.

Kylo Ren was great. I love how much he tries to be like Vader, but clearly isn't (yet).

Speaking of Kylo, as soon as Chewie and Han split up to plant the explosives, I knew that one of them was going to die. Lessened the impact a bit, but hey. Still..I don't fully believe yet that Han is dead. Being cut by a lightsaber and falling down into a seemingly bottomless pit has been survived by some people before :P

Probably my favorite moment of the movie was Finn watching Poe do those sweet moves in his X-Wing. Holy shit, that shot was so amazing. Also, I still don't fully trust Poe. I think he might betray the good guys at some point..being interrogated by Kylo Ren, surviving the crash and miraculously turning up alive is kinda suspicious.

So, Mark Hamill must've had, like, one day on set, right? Kinda funny that he had more lines in the trailer than in the movie. I loved that he had long hair - must've been a wig though, he tweeted a picture of himself on set at some point and he had short hair.

Finn not waking up at the end of the movie was kinda weird. I mean, he's not gonna die or anything, but I wonder what they're gonna do with him at the start of the next movie.

Some questions about the plot & characters - maybe you guys can help clear them up:

Max von Sydow's character - there has to be something more to him, right? Who was he? Did he really die?

They mention that the Republic supports the Resistance. Why are they separate in the first place? Why aren't they the same thing?

The planet destroyed by Starkiller Base - was that Coruscant?

Speaking of planets, do we know the names of the ones other than Jakku? The Resistance looks like it might've been on Dantooine maybe? And Luke on Manaan?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go build a statue of J.J. Abrams and worship him as my new god.

Spaffy

McRhyno wrote: »

Burnage wrote: »

Okay, just got back from seeing this and I'm kind of drunk. So. Initial thoughts.

It's Star Wars. It's back. It's great.

But.

It feels very much like a retread of the first film. It hits many of the exact same plot points. It was only about half an hour in before I thought "Yep, Han is definitely going to die at the end of this." So for a lot of the film, I felt like I'd almost seen the same film before.

However.

I can see why the filmmakers needed to do this. There was a lot of excitement for this film, but a lot of skepticism, too. Everyone knows how disappointing the prequels were. They needed to be able to say; "Yes, we can make a Star Wars film." And this is it. But it's so Star Wars that it doesn't feel like its own film. Episode eight is going to be the break point; is it going to be a retread, again? Or are they going to feel more confident to move in their own direction?

I'm excited to see what happens next. I really, really hope that the next two are great films. Because if they are, then the sequel trilogy is going to blow the first six films out of the water.

I'd love hear more on this, because I'm starting to get really worried. What I've been hearing leads me to believe that this isn't a film so much as it's a product. Not a group of artists telling me a story, but a construction designed to sell me on something.

I can see how the pretty much unanimous exalted praise across the board would make you think that.

simonwolf

and if there's one thing we can say about the production history of Star Wars, it's that selling you things has been the furthest thought from any of the creators' minds

Maz-

Oh, and it's awesome that they get so many great actors to play some of the minor characters!

Greg Grunberg, Ken Leung and those two guys from The Raid!

Spaffy

A lot of people are saying there was 'not enough Phasma'. Is she an established character in the EU that is really cool, or did she do something really cool while I was in the bathroom...? Or do guys just be like, the Chrome stormtrooper outfit is rad, how come she has one?

Also how Finn made "Yeah, there is" the funniest line in what was a pretty funny movie, I dunno, but that made me laugh embarassingly loud.

simonwolf

Spaffy wrote: »

A lot of people are saying there was 'not enough Phasma'. Is she an established character in the EU that is really cool, or did she do something really cool while I was in the bathroom...? Or do guys just be like, the Chrome stormtrooper outfit is rad, how come she has one?

Also how Finn made "Yeah, there is" the funniest line in what was a pretty funny movie, I dunno, but that made me laugh embarassingly loud.

The EU is abolished, Captain Phasma is a new character.

I think people like her concept because she's a lady stromtrooper in a stylish outfit (chrome and cape, yes please), and want to see more of her because adding more lady characters to the historical sausagefest that is Star Wars is a cool thing

Katsuhiro 1139

Just saw it.

Now I can't sleep.

Grinning too hard.

Abhainn

Went to see it tonight. Wasn't expecting much from it after the trek movies but it was a good movie. It was still a JJ Abrams film in that

there's a few things you have to hand waive and the pacing get's a bit off in places but not as much as his other films. It's a much better film than the prequels.

I'm wondering what direction they'll take

Kylo Ren

The walkway scene was him committing to the dark side but he's a genuinely conflicted character. It was a surprise. The prequels totally failed at that when they tried it with Anakin.

Snoke otoh was a cartoon villain. They could expand on him later but I feel he'll just be there to exploit Kylo's weakness and isn't going to be a villain like the emperor.

Seems like they're setting up

Finn as potentially force sensitive and that Rey is

most likely a skywalker. Perhaps Kylo's cousin.

I want the next movie like... now.

simonwolf wrote: »

Spaffy wrote: »

A lot of people are saying there was 'not enough Phasma'. Is she an established character in the EU that is really cool, or did she do something really cool while I was in the bathroom...? Or do guys just be like, the Chrome stormtrooper outfit is rad, how come she has one?

Also how Finn made "Yeah, there is" the funniest line in what was a pretty funny movie, I dunno, but that made me laugh embarassingly loud.

The EU is abolished, Captain Phasma is a new character.

I think people like her concept because she's a lady stromtrooper in a stylish outfit (chrome and cape, yes please), and want to see more of her because adding more lady characters to the historical sausagefest that is Star Wars is a cool thing

That's true but

she doesn't do much in this film. It felt like there should have been a few more scenes with her but then there were so many characters and the movie was already pretty long.

She is pretty imposing when you first meet her. I'm just a bit down meh on her after the shield thing. That kind of soured me on Phasma.

Hedgethorn

3.5 hours left until the Force is Awakened (for me). And then, assuming I don't think it's inappropriate for my daughter, I'll see it again about 36 hours later.

Kruite

Ugh, someone posted shit in the starcraft general chat

Jazz

Managed to get into a late afternoon showing before the crowds all showed up for the sold-out evening shows.

There was a lot to take in and digest, and I'm gonna need to see it at least a couple more times to get it all. And I have questions and, yes, criticisms. But, overall, that was some damn good, proper Star Wars. And it's great to have a director who actually wants to direct actors, and draws good performances from them. Thanks, JJ!

Incredibly minor spoiler, like minor-est of the minor, but spoiler-ing it anyway out of respect for those of you yet to see it:

BB-8 is now one of my favourite things in all of everything Star Wars ever.

Proper BB-8 spoilers:

The lighter thumbs-up was the moment but every single time BB-8 was on screen, it was pure gold. So it was a real shame he got completely sidelined towards the end, relegated to astromech-ing Poe's X-Wing without so much as anything R2-ish to do.

McRhyno

Spaffy wrote: »

McRhyno wrote: »

Burnage wrote: »

Okay, just got back from seeing this and I'm kind of drunk. So. Initial thoughts.

It's Star Wars. It's back. It's great.

But.

It feels very much like a retread of the first film. It hits many of the exact same plot points. It was only about half an hour in before I thought "Yep, Han is definitely going to die at the end of this." So for a lot of the film, I felt like I'd almost seen the same film before.

However.

I can see why the filmmakers needed to do this. There was a lot of excitement for this film, but a lot of skepticism, too. Everyone knows how disappointing the prequels were. They needed to be able to say; "Yes, we can make a Star Wars film." And this is it. But it's so Star Wars that it doesn't feel like its own film. Episode eight is going to be the break point; is it going to be a retread, again? Or are they going to feel more confident to move in their own direction?

I'm excited to see what happens next. I really, really hope that the next two are great films. Because if they are, then the sequel trilogy is going to blow the first six films out of the water.

I'd love hear more on this, because I'm starting to get really worried. What I've been hearing leads me to believe that this isn't a film so much as it's a product. Not a group of artists telling me a story, but a construction designed to sell me on something.

I can see how the pretty much unanimous exalted praise across the board would make you think that.

Since you'd rather be sarcastic than engage with what I said:
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/12/16/star-wars-the-force-awakens-review
http://www.avclub.com/review/better-and-worse-force-awakens-returns-star-wars-i-229882

and the money quote:

As I watched a squad of X-Wings attack a planet-destroying superweapon that they could only approach after a group of intrepid heroes on the ground disabled the shields I wondered how a universe of infinite possibilities had brought us to this scenario yet again.

Cabezone

Really dude? How about a spoiler for folks who want to go in cold.

McRhyno

Cabezone wrote: »

Really dude? How about a spoiler for folks who want to go in cold.

Apologies, I realized that needed fixing after clicking "post"

McRhyno

simonwolf wrote: »

and if there's one thing we can say about the production history of Star Wars, it's that selling you things has been the furthest thought from any of the creators' minds

Including some ewoks instead of wookies isn't the same as impacting the entire structuring of the plot.

gjaustin

Just got back a few minutes ago.

All the new characters were great, but Finn was my favorite.

Dr. Chaos

That was good. Damn good.

Had a few issues but it did what it needed to do to wipe the slate clean for a new generation that hopefully won't remember Star Wars as Jarjar Binks and robots failing to impersonate human beings.

Han's Death felt like it didn't really get the gravitas it deserved. He got gutted and it felt like the drama of it passed a lil too quickly. An iconic film character is dead and it seems a lil too glossed over after the battle in favor of going after Luke.

The destruction of the new republic was kind of aggravating. I hate how much this movie works to move the universe forward....and then immediately do everything it can to keep things in the classic OT status quo. Kylo Ren destroying the new Jedi Order was equally as annoying in that regard so they could keep the jedi as this nearly non existent myth from the original trilogy.

Also that nazi speech complete with salute was hilarious.

Holy shit though, I'm in love with Rey. She's got Chewie, the millienum falcon and a lightsaber. We finally got a kickass female jedi in the films.

Definitely recommended but I also agree that in some ways it might be a lil too concerned with preserving the universe in the OT mold and also recreating it rather than blazing a new future.

Jazz

Dr. Chaos wrote: »

Holy shit though, I'm in love with Rey. She's got Chewie, the millienum falcon and a lightsaber. We finally got a kickass female jedi in the films.

I know, right?

(Sorry if anyone saw that. My bad.)

Dr. Chaos

@Jazz fix your quote, Jazz.

Edit: Heh. There we go.

Jazz

Dr. Chaos wrote: »

@Jazz fix your quote, Jazz.

Done as soon as I saw. :redface:

Shazkar Shadowstorm

DevKimiko wrote: »

Saw it last night with my partner and a friend. Enjoyment was had although I'm on board with a lot of the general criticisms that have been leveled at it.

General thoughts:

Loooved the opening stuff. Just a lot of really nice visual storytelling and character moments. Ren snagging that blaster bolt out of the air is such a great badass use of the Force and a great quick way to display his powers. Loved the look of everything as well, it's beautifully shot.

Got a bit muddle in the middle for me. The whole segment with the tentacle monsters felt a bit like filler that didn't go anywhere and I was kind of bored by it (though the opening of that sequence with everyone gunning for Han was fun). There was also like a five minute span on the Falcon where it felt like they were throwing too many references out there. I might have eye rolled a tiny bit when the chess board hologram popped on.

Just chatting to a co-worker and this point came up, Finn seems really well adjusted for a guy who was brought up as a trained killer. It would have been nicer to see a bit of a darker or ruthless side to him.

Phasma and Poe felt criminally under-used, I wanna see them show up again. Phasma capitulating to them so fast also felt weird to me. 3P0 was kind of annoying and I didn't expect to have that reaction.

I actually hoped... Han would die because he's the most killable of the original crew. Then I felt bad...

I liked Kylo Ren as an antagonist and also thank god for villains who stick around to be developed! No Darth Maul problem here. Loved all the new cast pretty much, Rey is really great and I'm super pumped to see more of her and Luke's shenanigans.

It just felt like they were a little too afraid to branch out into an all-new Star Wars adventure. A little too referency in parts, a little too A New Hope. Co-worker wished that the whole story had been more about finding Luke rather than re-treading familiar plotlines.

I said this walking out of the cinema too but I kind of feel more excited to see the next part than I am to immediately re-visit this one. This film more than any other really felt like it was the first part of a saga too. Lots of pieces set-up or left a mystery, which can be fine, but makes it harder to judge without seeing the payoff

Oh good thank you for generally capturing my sentiments for me

Overall tho: pleasing

Deo

So good!

And as for Phasma

I personally liked the idea of a villain that actually wanted to live. Finn had a gun to her head, and she knows hes capable of killing (which he does plenty of). It seems suggested that she herself is outside of the standard Stormtrooper Brainwashing, so I personally enjoyed the fact that she was like "Well, I fully trust my allies to murder the shit out of you, so I'll save my own life, yeah."

jungleroomx

McRhyno wrote: »

simonwolf wrote: »

and if there's one thing we can say about the production history of Star Wars, it's that selling you things has been the furthest thought from any of the creators' minds

Including some ewoks instead of wookies isn't the same as impacting the entire structuring of the plot.

The original Star Wars was a few acting performances away from being a toy commercial.