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OK, so, with all the interest in the Star Wars movie, I thought I would post some comments about the movie. Not a full review, just thoughts about it. Overall, I thought it was a solid piece of movie-making. Here are the positives:
1. I was entertained throughout and could follow the plot. Not true in all movies these days.
2 I thought Rey, the lead character was a good choice and acted very believably.
3. I thought it was cool that the evil kingdom was essentially a parallel to the Third Reich — the First Order. The lined up groups of followers, the banners, the screaming speeches — all that was reminiscent of Nazi Germany. At first I thought it was a cop out, or showed lack of creativity, but then I liked it as it helped me understand the kind of brutality to expect from the First Order, without the script writers having to expose it to me.
4. I was all fished in when Hans Solo’s son looked like he was going to repent. But when he kills Han Solo, it was a bit of a surprise. We spend the ride home trying to figure out how we could bring Han Solo back in future movies if we want to. We decided he was wearing a “Sabre proof vest” that bends the light sabre power around his body, making it appear as though he had been stabbed when in fact, he hadn’t. Like a reverse version of an invisibility cloak that bends light from BEHIND the character to make the character look invisible, except reversed to protect soliders from light sabre stabbings. We think Han could land on a platform below with storage containers breaking his fall, but is injured, but recovers. Who knows. Maybe we need to just accept that he’s dead
5. I liked a few of the references to the original movie — “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”, the musicians in the bar, which was a famous reference, etcetera.
6. I liked how our particular audience cheered when the camera first introduced the Millenial Falcon. Same when they saw Han Solo for the first time. It’s always cool to see how certain objects or characters have made it into the minds and hearts of the population to the point they cheer when they see such icons in future movies. I saw the same thing when Sean Connery appeared as King Richard returning from the Wars in a Robin Hood movie. Everyone loved to see it was Sean Connery. Someone even exclaimed — “It’s Sean Connery!!!”.
7. There weren’t any silly characters like Jar Jar Binks in the early movies to lessen credibility.
8. Normally, seeing old characters in movies is a downer for me, but it worked this time. I thought it worked except maybe with Carrie Fisher for reasons below.
Negatives
1. Carrie Fisher has a dental work problem, we think. Her dentures made her sound as if she whistles when she talks. This was distracting.
2. In some ways, it was a bit of a rehash of the very first movie in terms of plot.
3. I thought Han Solo’s son didn’t need his voice modulator. I know he was trying to be like Darth Vader, but heck, Darth Vader had made a repentant transformation in a previous episode. I found that part a bit unnecessary for some reason. The idea of the voice modulation is a great thing — it makes the character seem even more evil and formidable. I would have rather there was a practical reason for it.
Overall, a solid movie in the Star Wars tradition.
Your thoughts?
SD
Ha. We created a thread at nearly the exact same time. I deleted mine, here’s what I wrote: Here’s a thread to discuss Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
I’m not one to watch a movie looking for symbolism or to look for cinema tricks but every once in a while they’ll jump out at me. Han’s death was one of those. Off memory, as Kylo debated (I suppose there was a debate) whether or not to kill Han half of his face was lit blue, the other half lit in red showing the internal struggle of light vs. dark. Once the light from the star drained completely the light they used to light Kylo’s face went completely red showing an end to the debate. Just something that stood out.
One complaint that many share is that the story is very derivative of the original trilogy… and it was. I didn’t mind. I felt it did a nice job of utilizing nostalgia to tell everyone this is Star Wars and then wean the audience off of the original trilogy characters, well except for Luke. They copied elements of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back to introduce the new players and I felt like the ball is now firmly in the new cast’s court. There’s not much left for them to copy so I hope for something new out of the sequels. One concern that I do have is the change in who the director is for the sequels. I’d hate for there to be a jagged change in tone like with some of the Harry Potter movies.
The characters. I liked the new people a lot. The old cast, with the exception of Chewie and Luke didn’t really do it for me. Interaction with Chewie provided some really good comedic moments. Luke didn’t have a chance to screw anything up, all he had to do was glare at the camera.
Other complaints I hear is that the movie creates too many questions. What about this, what about that? I didn’t mind so much. I don’t like every little thing spelled out for me. Sure they could have explained a few things but even if they never get around to answering all these questions people come up with (a la Lost) I won’t mind. There needs to be some healthy space for people to flesh out the narrative with their own imaginations.
I thought it was great as well. Sadly, the Imax theater we saw it in had the volume too loud and I had to plug my ears at the action scenes because it actually began to hurt my ears about halfway through the movie. I’ve never had to do that in imax before so I think the theater just had it too loud. My husband said it hurt his ears as well. But I loved the characters of Finn and Rey. I was a little disappointed when Kylo Wren took his mask off. I was expecting someone who looked more scary. The eerieness of not knowing what he looked like helped with how threatening he was for me. But I don’t think it took away so much that he won’t be good in the next movies. I think it also didn’t help that he seemed weak compared to Rey who had no training. But someone else pointed out that it may have been on purpose because Kylo hasn’t had to fight someone else with the force for a really long time so he could have been that way because he was rusty. Made sense to me and i’m hoping he gets some training like Snope said and comes back stronger in the next movie. I’d like to see Rey and Kylo both have extensive training so we can see a more even fight between them. SD, character by character: Han: I felt like this one was phoned in but probably only because the acting by the new cast was so good. Rey stole the show.
Leia: They didn’t do much with her. She was just there because Leia needed to be there. In recent interviews with Carrie Fisher it makes me wonder just how much they can do with her as an actress. She’s a strong willed person and I wonder if she’s able to dial it back long enough to film heavy scenes. She did appear on the TV show 30 Rock but in that episode she played a character that is much like the care-free, I don’t care what you think, I’m me person that she appears to be in her recent interviews.
Rey: For me she made the movie. There’s all sorts of speculation out there that (not really spoilers because the movies haven’t been filmed) she turns bad and it’s Kylo that redeems himself by redeeming her. I suppose we’ll see.
Kylo:
SilentDawning wrote:I know he was trying to be like Darth Vader, but heck, Darth Vader had made a repentant transformation in a previous episode.
How many people know that Vader ended up redeeming himself? Did Kylo? Is that what is going to help him repent of his choices, discovering that Vader ultimately embraced the light? Maybe Rey discovers who abandoned her on Jakku and why, turns to the dark side but Kylo ends up saving her. Pure speculation.
Kylo’s anger and motivations where a little more on the surface and believable than Vader’s ever were. Anakin just up and kills a bunch of children because of… reasons
:flip a switch because Vader needs to be evilof the prequels. Always Thinking wrote:I was a little disappointed when Kylo Wren took his mask off. I was expecting someone who looked more scary. The eerieness of not knowing what he looked like helped with how threatening he was for me. But I don’t think it took away so much that he won’t be good in the next movies. I think it also didn’t help that he seemed weak compared to Rey who had no training. But someone else pointed out that it may have been on purpose because Kylo hasn’t had to fight someone else with the force for a really long time so he could have been that way because he was rusty. Made sense to me and i’m hoping he gets some training like Snope said and comes back stronger in the next movie. I’d like to see Rey and Kylo both have extensive training so we can see a more even fight between them.
I’m new to giving this much thought, but for me this was a really good choice on the director’s part. When he took his mask off, I thought, Oh, there he is, the little boy they birthed and loved. He’s still there. It led me to believe that he was more or less play-acting his evilness, that he didn’t understand himself why he was what he was. But after he killed Han …. Istillthought that. It made me think about evil and evil-doers. I was just focused on this episode. It’ll be interesting to see how they match him and Rey up in the future.
nibbler wrote:I’m not one to watch a movie looking for symbolism or to look for cinema tricks but every once in a while they’ll jump out at me. Han’s death was one of those. Off memory, as Kylo debated (I suppose there was a debate) whether or not to kill Han half of his face was lit blue, the other half lit in red showing the internal struggle of light vs. dark. Once the light from the star drained completely the light they used to light Kylo’s face went completely red showing an end to the debate. Just something that stood out.
It was observations like that got me A’s in my English classes in university. I love symbolism like that. I hope it was intentional — if not, still an astute observation. I guess red associates with blood and blue, with life. I think green might have been a better choice as I have rarely seen blue used to represent life….it does represent the ocean, which is a symbol of eternity in a lot of literature though.
Harrison Ford has said he wished that Han had been killed as a martyr / in a self-sacrificing act in the original trilogy in order to cement his character’s full conversion. For that reason, as well as the plot development, I liked his death scene (and, like Gerald in the next comment, I whispered to my wife that Rylo was going to kill Han as they started to talk in that scene). I LOVED all of the nods to the original trilogy. It made it much more of a sequel for me and a distinct departure from the trilogy that I refuse to associate with the real Star Wars movies. I think that was vital to them as they attempted to shed any association with the prequels.
Rey and Finn and Poe – perfect casting, character development, plot setting, etc. I absolutely loved that they used Finn to explain the storm troopers in that way – and I hope that explanation impacts the future plot in some way.
I loved Rylo’s look – for the same reason I like a couple of the newer Lucifer’s in the temple films. I want my evil to look good and non-scary.
I thought having Rylo essentially be responsible for Rey discovering her connection with the Force and her use of it was brilliant.
Quote:Always Thinking wrote:
I was a little disappointed when Kylo Wren took his mask off. I was expecting someone who looked more scary. The eerieness of not knowing what he looked like helped with how threatening he was for me. But I don’t think it took away so much that he won’t be good in the next movies. I think it also didn’t help that he seemed weak compared to Rey who had no training. But someone else pointed out that it may have been on purpose because Kylo hasn’t had to fight someone else with the force for a really long time so he could have been that way because he was rusty. Made sense to me and i’m hoping he gets some training like Snope said and comes back stronger in the next movie. I’d like to see Rey and Kylo both have extensive training so we can see a more even fight between them.
I’m new to giving this much thought, but for me this was a really good choice on the director’s part. When he took his mask off, I thought, Oh, there he is, the little boy they birthed and loved. He’s still there. It led me to believe that he was more or less play-acting his evilness, that he didn’t understand himself why he was what he was. But after he killed Han …. I still thought that. It made me think about evil and evil-doers.
I was just focused on this episode. It’ll be interesting to see how they match him and Rey up in the future.
Just saw it last night. The scene between Kylo and Rey was my favorite scene in the movie. I liked that they didn’t keep the mask on and that when he takes it off, he looks relatively normal. Also that he was undisciplined in his use of the dark side of the force. I think it set the stage for some interesting interactions between Kylo and Rey in the subsequent movies.
The movie really takes off when Han Solo appears and it felt like the same “Star Wars” I saw in 1977 (Yes, I’m that old). However, at a certain point in the film, I whispered to my wife “They’re going to kill off Han Solo!” and I was right. It seemed to me a mistake. Harrison Ford’s presence really boosts the energy level of the movie. He is so charismatic that the series will suffer from his absence…maybe. I guess we’ll see. Nice to see Mark Hamill at the end.
I’ve seen it twice, opening night and the following week. I loved it, it may be the best of the franchise so far (I’m having a hard time deciding between Empire Strikes Back and this one). Opening night at the theater was great, lots of cheering and applause, lots of energy from the audience. There was an audible gasp and a couple people shouted “no!” when Han died. FWIW, I did like the prequels because they finished the story of Darth Vader and that’s what I always thought the story was about anyway. In some ways I can relate to the guy, and telling the story of him from a young slave boy until he became Darth Vader and then redeeming himself for the love of his son ties it all up (although I admittedly don’t know why he became submissive to Darth Sidious when Mace Windu was killed). Back to Force Awakens:
Han – I didn’t see it coming until seconds before it happened. I choked up. Chewie, Rey and Finn seemed to have perfect shots at the time to just take out Kylo Ren, I don’t know why they didn’t. It does set up more of a protagonist/antagonist relationship with Rey and Kylo Ren, though. Their light saber battle solidifies that.
Rey – the new Luke. She can apparently learn from the force itself, but I also noticed that every time she learned or used some new (to her) force power, Kylo Ren was nearby and involved. Either the force is somehow seeking it’s own balance or (speculation) Kylo Ren is somehow using the force to instruct her.
Finn – I like the guy, I think he is force sensitive but will play no more than sidekick to Rey. I like how both of them acted and appreciate that Finn showed fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and frailty.
Maz Kantata – She was the sort of Luke’s Yoda/old Obi Wan to Rey. Clearly knows something of the force, but by her admission was not a Jedi. I think anything really quotable either came from her or Han. Lor San Tekka (the guy in the beginning who had the map piece) is also apparently very force sensitive and apparently knew Kylo Ren. Perhaps he was somehow involved with Luke training Jedi.
Kylo Ren – well acted. I also caught the symbolism with the good/dark when he was talking to his father (I did predict he was Han and Leia’s son). I wonder if he’s not somewhat like Snape in some ways and what he is doing will ultimately be for good. I don’t think it’s clear that he was the one who killed Luke’s other Jedi trainees.
I agree that Leia was just there because she was supposed to be, and I can say the same for R2 and 3PO. I liked them there but they didn’t play a major role in the film and it is conceivable the film could have left them out and been fine. Chewie was also there just because Han was – but he was a hoot!
That brings me to my biggest disappointment. Luke. Not that I don’t love Luke, but the reason he wasn’t in the trailers is because he wasn’t in the film. I was willing to wait until the end, but needed more. He will be in the next one and hopefully play a bigger role. However, if the aim of this set is to hand off to the next generation I doubt we will see a bunch from him. I’m expecting him to take Obi Wan’s role to Rey.
Suppositions: I think Rey is somehow related to Luke, perhaps a daughter, and was hidden as Luke and Leia were to protect them. Finn may likewise have been hidden and there may be others. I think it no coincidence that Lor San Tekka happened to be on the same junk planet as Rey (like it was no coincidence Obi Wan was on Tatooine).
As for the questions, that’s what makes Star Wars Star Wars. Some of us remember waiting 3 years to find out if Vader really was Luke’s father!
Quick thoughts: Thought it was a great film. Some people called it too predictable–and yes, it did err on the predictable side–but I think it was exactly what the franchise needed to do to press “reset” after the prequels while restoring and and beckoning back to original trilogy’s glory.
With that said, watching Han talk to his son–while I suspected that he was about to be killed–was torture. I almost yelled at the screen. I did mutter over and over, “He’s going to kill you!” to the person sitting next to me a few times. They probably didn’t appreciate that
😆 With that said, still a great scene.
I’m hoping Rey isn’t Luke’s daughter. It would be too easy. I want a better twist. Some people are saying she could be Ben Kenobi’s grandaughter. I’d be in favor of that
:thumbup: My only complaint is I have tons of questions and have to wait a few years to get more answers…
:clap: I actually don’t mind spoilers. I still want to see it. But haven’t we done the surprise family relationship “reveal” to death? Darth Vader is Luke’s Father, Evil Boy in the Force Awakens is the song of Han Solo and Princess Leah. Princess Leah and Luke Skywalker are brother and sister…and the list goes on. Maybe they should mix it up.. .or come up with a different type of reveal other than familial relationships…and what does it matter, I doubt if they have TR’s or are sealed
😆 I am voting for Rey to be Aunt Veru and Uncle Owens offspring. It’s like the lottery I may win. Yippee. mom3 wrote:I am voting for Rey to be Aunt Veru and Uncle Owens offspring. It’s like the lottery I may win. Yippee.
[img]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/c/cb/Comicbookguy.gif [/img] It’s Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. And Rey is far too young, she would have to be their grandchild or something.
(sorry, it’s one of those nerd itches that must be scratched – tongue in cheek post)
:angel: OK, I know only the super nerds will get this, but I think Rey may be Jabba the Hutt’s daughter! 😮
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