[Traveller]

10 hours...

Whole day offline I think!

[worry]

[Aptorian]

This is change I can believe in:

[Ribald]

I wrote a review of this today

Part of it is below, the rest is on the blog. https://thecriticald....wordpress.com/

Spoiler Free Review: Star Wars –The Force Awakens (dir. JJ Abrams, 2015)



Short Version:

A new Star Wars for a newgeneration. Plenty here to please oldfans and new. Finally an SF franchisethat JJ Abrams’ sensibilities mesh with instead of clash. No Jar Jar or midi-chlorians. Better than the prequels.



Actual Review:

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens JJ Abrams had a nearly impossible task,he had to please old fans and acquire new ones, pay homage to the old films,undo the errors of the prequels, and yet also create a new Star Wars for thenew generation. The film had to appealto children and adults alike and therefore had to indulge the older fan’s nostalgiabut not let it dominate the storytelling, have enough action and visual effectsto entertain today’s jaded youth but refrain from the frenetic screen clutterthat plagued the prequels making the actions sequences migraine inducing blursof sound and light, and, above all else, launch a new mythic storyline. Given that this was not just a film but alsopart of a multi-billion dollar media franchise and of one of the most belovedfilm franchises of the modern age, to say expectations were high is perhaps abit of an understatement.

So because anticipation was so great,because expectations were so ridiculously high, it should come as littlesurprise when I say that The ForceAwakens is a mixed bag. It isn’tterrible, and it isn’t amazing. It hadits high points and it had its weak moments. There were some great lines and some misses. In Abrams’ defence, no matter what heproduced it was not going to be able to please all the fans all the time, so Iam actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this. If we are measuring it solely against theprequels then in this regard Abrams cleared it with a parsec to spare. Against the original Star Wars: A New Hope… that is a more complex comparison.

Just in case anyone has missed thenumerous plot summaries, speculations, in depth interviews, featurettes,spotlight specials and extensive trailers and cast videos, a brief detail-lightsummary of the set-up is as follows:
There is a new villain, a dark militaristic force in the galaxy the First Order,led by a slimmer and slightly more sartorially elegant Darth Vader wannabe,Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

There are two new young heroes, Rey(Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega), who, despite their disparate backgroundswill undoubtedly turn out to be instrumental in saving the galaxy.

There is a new cutesy droid, BB-8,that is attempting to take the place of R2-D2 in our hearts, and comes close todoing so. Adorkable is the word thatsprings to mind.

And there are X-wings, Tie Fightersand all the classic elements of Star Wars galore. So rather than attempting to re-invent thewheel as the prequels did, Abrams went with tried and tested crowd pleasers.

So let’s start by discussing acouple of the really good points without getting into too many specifics as Idon’t want to spoil the film for anyone.

The opening wall crawl. There is something about the logo appearingand the wall crawl against the starry background while John Williams’ overture assaultsthe brain that will forever be ‘cool’ in my book. When the music started I couldn’t help it butgrin and feel excited. What was evenbetter was that there was no mention of a trade embargo, sanctions, disruptednegotiations or a diplomatic deadlock in a bureaucratic senate in the scrollingtext. It then pans down in classicfashion to a shot of a giant spaceship. I hope no one regards that as a spoiler, not least because it is a blandand generic version of the events, but also it is the classic opening and itoccurs in the first couple of seconds of screen time. Not a single, horrendously racist caricatureto be seen in the first minute. Soalready it is well ahead of The Phantom Menace.

It was also great having newcharacters to carry on the story. StarWars: The Next Generation, if you will. Asmuch as I loved the story of Luke, Han and Leia… and was less enamoured withthe prequels going back in time to set up the story of Luke, Han and Leia, itwas genuinely nice to have new characters, about whom I knew next to nothing,who promised to lead the story into new territory. Daisy Ridley’sRey is a nice change of pace for the Star Wars cinematic universe in that wefinally have a competent, intelligent, talented, and independent femalecharacter who is centre screen as a hero and not a spunky support or loveinterest to the main heroes. Strongly reminiscentof the young Luke Skywalker (they clearly shop in the same desert paraphernaliashop) it seems that Rey is going to be central to the entire new trilogy. Rather unkindly my brain automaticallylabelled her as Discount Keira Knightley and I haven’t been able to shake thecomparison.

John Boyega’s Finn is asurprisingly complex character who wants to be a hero, wants to do the rightthing, but is plagued by crippling self-doubt and more than a smidgeon of self-loathing. A curious mix for a hero in training, especiallyas he veers from the super-competent to the blaringly incompetent in a violentsee-saw fashion as the script demands, but it is certainly engaging to watch. Both Rey and Finn promise to develop evenmore fully as the series continues, and that is only a good thing as they havean odd dynamic on screen, and it will be nice to see them settle into theirroles and see what they can create.

Opposite them is Adam Driver’s KyloRen, who, at first glance, appears to be a bargain basement Emo Vader. Face mask, metallic voice, red light saber,dresses in black, temper tantrums because it is just so emotional, and willforce choke you as soon as look at you. However, he soon becomes a great deal more interesting and, as hisbackstory and motivations are explored, his character develops a depth and complexitythat Vader never quite achieved in the original trilogy. Admittedly, he is not quite as dominating onscreen as Vader, nor does he have the gravitas of James Earl Jones’ voice, butin a number of regards he is a lot more chilling and arresting on screen. Thankfully,unlike Tom Hardy’s Bane and Christian Bale’s Batman in The Dark Knight Rises you can actually understand what Driver issaying even when his face is obscured, something I was actually concernedabout.

[Aptorian]

I think what ever text program you used ate your spaces when you copy pasted this.

[Serenity]

I don't normally swear, but holy fucking shit, it was BRILLIANT! Actual characters, humour, drama, emotion, thrills. It should be renamed The Fun Awakens. Thank you JJ!

[Ribald]

Apt, on 17 December 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

I think what ever text program you used ate your spaces when you copy pasted this.

Well that is a pain in the arse. I am now going to have to double check that the copy on the site is actually legible.

Thanks for pointing it out. I hadn't noticed.

Sorry about that.


Edit: It seems ok on my site.

This post has been edited by Ribald: 17 December 2015 - 10:02 PM

[Traveller]

Heh, that was a blast. Are we spoilering? I managed to avoid spoilers, shots of sets and making-of documentaries so it was all new to me.

My thoughts half hour after it finished...

Spoiler

I loved the first half.. maybe three quarters. Characters, plot, acting, beautiful sets. Rey is awesome. Harrison Ford is totally back in the role. I found the finale was a little close to a remake of ANH though.
I can see why they killed off who they did; it kind of makes it more like ANH when Ben is lost. It was actually very close to Lucas/Kasdans original idea for the end of RotJ, including Ford's choice for Solo. Kasdan finally got his way!

Things I didn't quite get yet -
Reys parents?
Who the hell Snoke could be? (Also he was a little too Gollum for me)
Was that really it for Phasma? Really?
Who was Von Sidow meant to be? I didn't even hear his name so I guess it's not that important.
And finally, as I'll keep it brief.. suddenly total novices can duel with their first ever light-saber? Hm.

Good to see a real, passable sequel though - my eyes were a bit blurry for some reason for several scenes there.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 17 December 2015 - 11:56 PM

[Silencer]

Traveller, on 17 December 2015 - 11:20 PM, said:

My thoughts half hour after it finished...

Spoiler

I loved the first half.. maybe three quarters. Characters, plot, acting, beautiful sets. Rey is awesome. Harrison Ford is totally back in the role. I found the finale was a little close to a remake of ANH though.
I can see why they killed off who they did; it kind of makes it more like ANH when Ben is lost. It was actually very close to Lucas/Kasdans original idea for the end of RotJ, including Ford's choice for Solo. Kasdan finally got his way!

Things I didn't quite get yet -
Reys parents?
Who the hell Snoke could be? (Also he was a little too Gollum for me)
Was that really it for Phasma? Really?
Who was Von Sidow meant to be? I didn't even hear his name so I guess it's not that important.
And finally, as I'll keep it brief.. suddenly total novices can duel with their first ever light-saber? Hm.

To address some of these:

Spoiler

It was not revealed - probably intentionally, who Rey's parents were.
Snoke is another unknown, but quite possibly a Sith (as in, species), or else he's Plagius (ravaged appearance + knowledge of the Force).
I seriously doubt that we've seen the last of Phasma. Off-screen implied death, but we know you can escape trash compactors. XD
And finally - Finn got owned. Like, he got one lucky shot in on Ren, who was *badly* wounded from Chewie's heavy bowcaster shot, and then got torn apart. And considering he probably had some melee training, that shows how difficult it is to use a lightsaber. Rey is good at everything (lol), and is used to melee combat as her preferred approach. I thought she too was well losing until she tapped into the Force,though not as badly as Finn. Then she was badass. Really brutal style she has, too, I loved it. But that was against a very damaged Ren who was not fully trained anyway and is clearly not full darkside Vader-esque power yet either with all his conflict over Han etc. I thought it did a great job of showing their respective skills and what happens when an untrained user tried to fight even a weakened, incomplete Force user with a Saber...

[Nevyn]

Traveller, on 17 December 2015 - 11:20 PM, said:

Heh, that was a blast. Are we spoilering? I managed to avoid spoilers, shots of sets and making-of documentaries so it was all new to me.

My thoughts half hour after it finished...

Spoiler

I loved the first half.. maybe three quarters. Characters, plot, acting, beautiful sets. Rey is awesome. Harrison Ford is totally back in the role. I found the finale was a little close to a remake of ANH though.
I can see why they killed off who they did; it kind of makes it more like ANH when Ben is lost. It was actually very close to Lucas/Kasdans original idea for the end of RotJ, including Ford's choice for Solo. Kasdan finally got his way!

Things I didn't quite get yet -
Reys parents?
Who the hell Snoke could be? (Also he was a little too Gollum for me)
Was that really it for Phasma? Really?
Who was Von Sidow meant to be? I didn't even hear his name so I guess it's not that important.
And finally, as I'll keep it brief.. suddenly total novices can duel with their first ever light-saber? Hm.

Good to see a real, passable sequel though - my eyes were a bit blurry for some reason for several scenes there.

I am still trying to figure out how much I liked it. Three stars for now ... may eventually end up giving it another half.

But a lot of the same things bothered me.

In reply to your comments

Spoiler

Reys parents and Snoke I can accept as mysteries.
Phasma gets to do NOTHING, and yeah its annoying. Why bling out the character for that. And why is Finn so hostile to an officer who gave him the most gentle dressing down ever.
Von Sidow felt lazy unless we are missing a reference. Someone that tied into things that he knows who Ren is, and has the map fragment, and the identity never becomes important.
Rey outdoing a Sith who trained under Luke extensively and then his dark master, and showed some complete new abilities, when she's known she had the force for a day was weak. They should have had to team up to take down Ren

Now, things I liked

Spoiler

I like the set up of Ren for the next movie, even though too much parallel (discussed below). If you're going to have him be an incomplete bad, good way to finish the transition.
I like the thing that happened to that guy.
I generally liked most of the new characters.
The dialogue is much better than Lucas has ever managed.
Han and Leah were great

BUT ..... the things that are bugging me beyond the above

Spoiler

• This feels like getting back to Star Wars after prequels like Hangover 3 feels like getting back to Hangover. Very much build on a new hope skeleton, to the point of making me borderline uncomfortable. I mean, I love having the fighters back and the characters back, and the FEEL of the old series, but do we have to parallel the old story so closely? JJ went all out for nostalgia, but in doing so he probably left far more promising story possibilities on the cutting room floor. Desert planet! Potential Jedi with abandonment issues! Cantina! Death Star!
• The pacing feels awkward, and that makes some things sort of happen out of nowhere. Finn is going to be a main character, but one battle, a little blood and no dialogue, and suddenly he is looking to desert? A stormtrooper who worked sanitation knows the weakness of the new 'thing', and explains it in two seconds. No need to tell anyone how Han will get by the shield or Finn will deactivate? They plan a massive assault in 2 minutes on the back of a napkin. For that matter, both sides get tipped to the droids location early, and show up loaded up in what ... 10 minutes? I did not count the time, but it feels like they spent more time on Rey salvaging and haggling than they spent on the key plot points once the story was underway.
• Chewbacca was a little bit on the campy side. Maybe he also was, but it just felt too cute.
• Droids having secret death star plans sort of made sense in the originals. A secret map to find Luke? That both sides have the other piece for? And you can't find him without the larger piece? You have a segment about 1/20th the size of the total map that comes up. And with all the technology and star charts of the day you can't data mine and figure out the system without the larger chunk? I mean, if it was a vector and you needed the starting point that would make sense (but no cool throwback visual I guess.
• So the first order run nothing as of yet (governing wise), but they have non clone stormtroopers and have build a supermassive killer planet and fleet with no one stopping them or realizing the scale of the threat? The other side is the resistance, but there is still a senate and all that? It is tough to place who if anyone has control of much of anything.
• No need for explanation of when the first order popped up, how they have gained momentum, etc etc.
• It felt like Luke was only in the movie so they could say he was in the movie. Having the movie end with a journey to find him (again hyperspeed and fast cut and you're there), only for a face reveal is a waste. Just a teaser.

I think that's about it for now. Trying not to go into a bigger rant because I really did enjoy it for the most part.

This post has been edited by Nevyn: 18 December 2015 - 04:32 AM

[Obdigore]

Enjoyed it very much.

To answer your questions:

Spoiler

Luke + Someone.
A new big bad.
Probably not.
I'm guessing alderaanian ex-pat, but I don't know for sure.
Kind of. If Han was right (and he probably was), and as was revealed with the last look of the big baddie, his training isn't 'finished'. Which means hes certainly not a fully powerful jedi either.

I didn't like the big target much. Would have preferred much more space fleet battles.

I'm also confused as to what 'the resistance' is in regards to the Republic which was what, tolerating the First Order? I'm completely confused by that whole part.

[Nevyn]

Obdigore, on 18 December 2015 - 04:45 AM, said:

Enjoyed it very much.

To answer your questions:

Spoiler

Luke + Someone.
A new big bad.
Probably not.
I'm guessing alderaanian ex-pat, but I don't know for sure.
Kind of. If Han was right (and he probably was), and as was revealed with the last look of the big baddie, his training isn't 'finished'. Which means hes certainly not a fully powerful jedi either.

I didn't like the big target much. Would have preferred much more space fleet battles.

I'm also confused as to what 'the resistance' is in regards to the Republic which was what, tolerating the First Order? I'm completely confused by that whole part.

Spoiler

As to the Luke daddy thought, that it the obvious one, but it would raise questions. I mean, Rey seems to think of Skywalker as a myth, and whoever she was waiting for (presumed parents) seems to have been someone she knew. They could yet take it another direction

As to the confusion, I agree. They sort of trusted in the nostalgia and the action to carry people along for the ride, without having them sweat the details. Some of the set up is haphazard.

[amphibian]

Last week, I rewatched Fury Road for the fifth time. It's a tremendous movie that manages to make a "there and back again chase" plot work with velocity and extreme tension. In part, I wanted to feel the visceral rush once again to compare how that made me feel, despite never being a big Mad Max fan. I was not planning on watching SWFA, but about 20 friends all got together and bought me a ticket, which I accepted after 6 or 7 of them gave me individual pitches about how they would like it if I were there watching with them. They said that they really liked it, were super excited, that my 10 year vow to have nothing to do with Star Wars should be broken to come hang with them on this big day and so on and on. That level of effort and care touched me, so I went.

It's interesting to see how intense fandom of differing parts of Star Wars (or anything really) drives people to have different takes on the same overall thing.

I'm coming from a perspective in which I was a huge Star Wars nerd from ages 4 to 20 and then I quit cold turkey for 10 years (with only relapses for Matt Stover and JJ Abrams), did other stuff, found that I enjoyed other things way more than I ever did Star Wars, yet retained somewhat of a fond memory for what I did enjoy before Lucas's floundering and broken prequels trashed it.

So I'm not a fan of Star Wars, not like most of you. I'm not a full on movie critic either, but I do kinda know what I'm talking about there, and some of you listen to me because you've known me for a while and I listen to you.

I liked this movie. It's not the greatest of all time and has several problems/weaknesses, but it's fairly good. This and the future movies will connect well to new audiences.

Here starts the substantive discussion in spoilers:

Spoiler

The overall story works well. It works very well, actually. The characters who survive get to where they're going and the story is set up well for the future two movies. I liked how the Force is still kinda mysterious and that Han still talks about accepting that voodoo. This really shouldn't be a bunch of intergalactically famous mystics who openly run shadow governments as "benevolent enforcers".

I do have questions about why so few aliens were part of the strike force and planning session. One thing the original movies did well was to show that the aliens were heavily involved and that this was an alliance of non-humans and humans vs the oppressive and racist humans. This movie kinda wandered off that track a bit and it was odd that the one surviving alien from the strike force was Chewie, alongside five humans.

The younger actors can all flat out act. They're very good. Even the background ones were terrific. The older three were a bit weaker sometimes. I thought Carrie and Harrison were best when in motion, doing things as the busy, experienced people they are, rather than the Carries stands in front of Han scenes, even if they both did as best as they could do with those two scenes. Abrams should have had them move around/do something a little more during the scenes, even if it was sitting down in a hover car or loading supplies. However, I think Hamill outdoes the other two with the 1 minute of wordless acting he's in the movie for. Somehow, he and Abrams are able to convey a ton of emotion with just that turnaround and face close-up. I think he'll do well in a much bigger role in the next movie.

The individual action is - at times - tension-less in comparison to Fury Road. Some of this might be a Disney policy on not really showing death on-screen. Some of this is definitely Abrams' directorial tendencies. It's miles ahead of the prequels (minus Maul/Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan) and even ahead of something like Jupiter Rising. Speaking of that, how the fuck did the Wachowskis turn something as loony as an air-skating werewolf vs. a Little Green Man fighter jet pilot in Chicago into something dismal and boring?

The ship vs ship stuff was very fun early on and tense in the Dameron escape and in the Rey/Finn escape. The mass brawls on the Star Killer weren't as fun. I'm thinking that this was in part due to directorial/CGI choices. Weirdly enough, it felt like the movie walked Dameron back from the hot stuff pilot he was during the TIE jailbreak to a ho-hum pilot during the Starkiller battle until he dove for the gap.

The planet-busting stuff was visually impressive. However... I found it odd that the movie didn't much play up the emotional reactions of the Resistance to the discovery of a planet-busting weapon. Leia didn't flinch when that happened, did she? Did Rey? They could have had Dameron and Finn draw Leia and Han away from a circle of people yelling about how fucked up it was that the First Order was committing genocide on interplanetary scales now or something like that.

The early Rey vs the goons who try to mug her for the droid battle was great action marred by not great presentation. It was very well choreographed, but the way it was shown to us was not as good. The Rey/BB-8 chase of Finn was better done. I appreciated so much that Rey got herself out of trouble almost every single time and that's incredibly awesome. This movie did an A+ job of presenting her constant competence from the scavenging/sand dune sliding all the way to the final duel and escape from the exploding super-weapon.

The gunfights were where the tension-less stuff came in. It just wasn't well done. I'm talking about the village with Dameron and Von Sydow, the Finn/Solo/Chewie one, the Chewie vs storm troopers after Solo got launched off the bridge, and it took the alien monsters and Chewie/Solo being a more realistic type of badass to make the "back onboard the Falcon" shipboard one any fun.

Focusing on the saber duels: The all time best duel remains Luke vs Vader in Empire Strikes Back, with Luke vs Vader in RotJ coming second. So much tension, well presented blows, great hops in scenery, important plot coming out in these duels. Maul vs. Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan which despite being an overly choreographed piece of shit actual fight, had some of the best dramatic tension ratcheting up moments ever - that shield slices waiting game in particular. In SWFA, the sabers have actual weight to them. You can see the fighters move in response to that weight as they do what they do. It's a cheering thing to see and it matters to the tension and to my enjoyment of the action. Seeing Ren and Rey chop through trees and solidly land blows was tremendously fun. The not-great fighting done by Ren and Finn/Rey is fitting, as in the characters shouldn't really know how to fight all that well due to the rarity of lightsaber dueling. However, the presentation - as in the directing - is not as good as what Lucas did. Abrams cuts too often and often picks the wrong beats in which to shift focus. The editing of the last duel in particular is off until the chasm part comes in.

Strengths:

Massively strong development of Rey as a full and capable character. Not as strong development of Finn, but I'll take it too.

Moves quickly from place to place without dawdling too long, even during the Maz cheer-up/magic object gifting session.

Cute stuff was done right. Not overly cloying, not absent from the movie for too long stretches. Audience laughed at almost all of them.

Properly developed and strong villains (who aren't tossed aside immediately).

Good costume design, good ship/machinery/alien/landscapes design (what little we saw).

Problems/Weaknesses:

The gunfights. Pbbth. The little ambushes were ok. The gunfights weren't good - except the "back onto the Falcon" one with the alien monsters.

Occasionally moves too quickly from place to place. Directorial visual choices aren't A+ all the time, like they are for Fury Road.

Score doesn't quite match what's on-screen at some moments. Probably can't blame the composer for that.

Finn has considerable stormtrooper training if he's going on a hunt and retrieve mission with Ren, even if he works sanitation normally. He should be more competent in a gunfight, even if he's emotional about leaving the First Order or Rey disappearing. It makes sense for him to know the base weakness too (see previous considerable stormtrooper training). His saber dueling was alright, but that gunfight stuff after Maz's place was pulverized was sometimes jarringly incompetent for someone who looks to be a secondary hero for the trilogy. The improvisational grab of Phasma was smart, but the one cutesy moment that wasn't done well was him bragging and Solo hushing him. It didn't play right.

The Resistance should have been evacuating that planet as soon as the strike force had confirmation of the superweapon gearing up for a shot. Even if they get off the planet, the First Order is still going to blow up the planet. If they win, they can turn around and put the evacuees back. If they lose, they can save the evacuees.

Phasma completely disappearing after the shield got turned off was a note of discord. At least show a 2 second shot of her getting tossed into a hatch or something. Visually, it matters, even if Han says "Garbage disposer".

Minor note: when Han yells "BEN!", I was tempted to holler back "WHAT?" (Ben is my name) However, there were kids watching the movie, so even if my friends laughed, I didn't want to jar the experiences of a child.

Questions:

Who is buried in the grave Luke is at?

Why is the Supreme Leader not physically present at the Starkiller?

WTF is with Resistance? The last shots of RotJ had Coruscant etc. celebrating. The Alliance should still be around, even if it has a new name. Seems to be no need to constantly emphasize Resistance or whatever, even if Jakku was a First Order planet.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 18 December 2015 - 06:11 AM

[HoosierDaddy]

Tears. Awesome. 9 out of 10 on the cynical side.

[amphibian]

Btw, rewatching all the old lightsaber duels:

Darth Maul duels are terrible. Great tension in the 1 vs 2 duel. Otherwise so, so bad at fighting, at scene-moving, and at creating tension.

Obi-Wan vs Jango had a good beginning, but the hand-to-hand combat was awful - like the director/editors didn't understand how to show hand-to-hand combat at all.

Palpatine vs. Windu and the 3 others has a first half that absolutely makes sense. He slices through the three Jedi like they're nothing and he does it fast. It works. Then he and Windu start dancing. Ugh.

Nothing Yoda does makes sense. He has such a tremendous speed and experience advantage. He should be setting traps and rushing into the new openings, rather than spinning around like a top, even if he has a defensive mindset. Dooku also has such massive force power that he should be trying to finish people fast or to create opportunities to use those force slams. He doesn't use that strategy either.

Palpatine vs Yoda is bad. Just a stinker of a duel.

Anakin vs Obi Wan in RotS is great, until they get to the giant table. Violent, tension-filled, and really seems like Anakin wants to end Obi-Wan. Then it turns to shit dancing with ok to good using-the-scene movements.

ANH, Alec Guinness vs Prowse is actually kinda good. Both guys act out as though they are aware how even a tiny bit of touching by a lightsaber really jacks a person up. Very old school fencing-ish. I thought for a moment that old Guinness might not be able to make it look good, but even with a critical eye, it's alright.

ESB, all time best using-the-scenery/moving-the-action movements here. Everything is so, so good. All time great duel at balancing tension, character motives, and actual fighting. The presentation is genuinely excellent with great stage-setting early to make Vader look like a king being challenged. It might be THE film sword duel.

RotJ, great scene movement. Actual choreography starts great, but then suffers by a too quick Vader decline after Luke hides under the walkway.

SWFA, going spoilers

Spoiler

I'd say all of the duels rank comfortably above anything the prequels did. Shock maul stormtrooper vs Finn was solid and presented well, even if Finn should have known to be running and using his stormtrooper knowledge and saber to get a gun. Kyllo did well slicing through people in brutal fashion. Kyllo vs. Finn and Rey was very solid, even if not presented well.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 18 December 2015 - 07:28 AM

[QuickTidal]

That was utterly incredible. I was in awe for 2 hrs and 16 minutes. Loved ever last minute. And if I have complaints they are very, very minor...so minor that I can't think of some right now.

Spoiler

If we had to give up Jacen and Jaina...I'm well comfortable with Kylo Ren actually being Ben Solo. It seems rather obvious to me that Rey is Skylwalker's daughter from a previous association and he sent her to Jakku as a child to protect her (from Ben maybe? Or Perhaps Luke already knew aboutn Snoke at that point?) She's deinfitely not a Solo or twin of Ben/Kylo...but she IS a Skywalker descendant so that leaves Luke and (possibly Mara Jade?) someone as her parents.

Speaking of Ben. Driver was amazeballs as Kylo. that opening sequence with him holding the blaster fire frozen in midair FOR THE WHOLE TIME, only letting it go after he walked off. Fuck me that was badass. Pepper that with his petulant emotional outbursts aboard the Finalizer and you've got a complex chaarcter played extraordinarily well by Driver. The scene where he kills his father was WELL sold. The tears seemed real and I bought it. Couple that with JJ using the last of the suns rays going dark to mirror his decision to give in to the dark side complately. Just wow. And Chewie's rage and accurate bowcasting of troopers afterwards was sad. LOVE that he gets a shot off on Kylo that hits him too. That felt right.

Rey. Rey was a revelation. The epitome of what I'm looking for in a the Star Wars strong female protagonist. Constantly saves herself. Is badass. Loved the scene where she shoves back at Kylo with the Force. Loves pretty much everything to do with her. She was phenomenal. Daisy Ridley is the real deal folks.

John Boyega infused humour AND verve into his role. And he plays the stormtrooper/reluctant hero well. Every time He got excited ("Did you see that?! DID you see that?!" to Poe in the Tie Figher), I got excited. He handled himself well with a lightsaber...I'm PRETTY sure he's Force sensitive and Maz sensed that in him. So I think we will see him trained by Luke along with Rey in the next film.

Poe. Oscar Isaacs...totally sold me on the "best pilot in the galaxy" stuff 100%. Presence from the first moment on screen, and sold it every time. His X-Wing scenes were great. I think my fave being the one where Finn was on the ground fighting and the camera followed him as he sharpshot the troopers around Finn. Great stuff!

Lupita brought some splendid humour ("I like that wookie.") and gravitas to Maz Kanata. I bought into her knowledge of the Force. I liked her design, and I'd like to know more about her. Chances are she will need to be with the Resistance and the rEpulic now that her castle is dust...so we'll see more of her.

The returning cast, especially Han and Chewie were (of course) great! The banter between those two was like we'd never left them. I like that Han and Leia are still kinda rocky and that since Ben/Kylo went bad Han had to go off and do something else...but still returns to her.

I'd LIKE to say that I'm upset Luke didn't show up sooner than he did...but I find I really can't complain. His disappearance and its reasons (his Jedi Academy being destroyed by a turncoated Kylo and his knights) is a key plot point here, and it REALLY works. So that last shot of him has all the more resonance becasue its the end of that search which has perpetuated the movie.

I think now that I was probably right to guess that Supreme Leader Snoke is Darth Plagueis. He looks the part, and is scarred enough. Even though his role in this was mininmal (he's basically the Emperor in TESB; this nebukous evil leader who isn't present...yet). Snoke is a PROMISE of later things. I found that he was an enjoyable baddie and that Serkis (once again) brings gravitas to a mocap role. Loved that his holo was projected to look HUGE in front of Hux and Ren...menacing. Also, sidenote: The score that plays in ROTS when Palpatine tells Anakin of Plagueis...almost identicalt ot the score that played over Snoke's scenes....make of that what you will...but my guess is still Plagueis. I won't be pissed if it's NOT him...but I totally think he is.

I mean, this literally had EVERYTHING I was looking for in a Star Wars sequel...barring a Luke lightsabe fight (which I'm okay to wait for), and had me bolted to my seat for the entire running time.

Will most likely see it a few more times in theatre.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 18 December 2015 - 12:23 PM

[Brujah]

Posting Star Wars spoilers should be a crime.

[Brujah]

Also, anyone else catch the Big Bang episode last night, where they went to see the new Star Wars. Will Wheaton dressed as a vulcan. Funny stuff.

[polishgenius]

It was pretty good. I mean, as franchise re-invigorations go it wasn't Mad Max, but it was good.

Spoiler

The biggest thing that annoyed me was JJ Abrams' complete lack of understanding of the need for a sense of scale. He did it in Star Trek and he did it even more here. Travelling seems to take no time at all and I get that the Big Death Star was supposed to be super-duper interstellar firing but that wasn't nearly clear enough and even if it had been the visuals, though cool, were pony at establishing how far apart things were supposed to be.

And it was a little too similar to ANH, but nowhere near as annoyingly as STID's similarities to Wrath of Khan.

I liked all the new characters though. Apart from Captain Phasma who was totally wasted but will hopefully be brought back in an extended rivalry with Finn.
It was great that we got protagonists that behaved like actual young people this time. Didn't feel the need to be serious and myffical the wholetime. Before, it was pretty much just Han breaking that.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 18 December 2015 - 01:21 PM, said:

It was pretty good. I mean, as franchise re-invigorations go it wasn't Mad Max, but it was good.

Spoiler

The biggest thing that annoyed me was JJ Abrams' complete lack of understanding of the need for a sense of scale. He did it in Star Trek and he did it even more here. Travelling seems to take no time at all and I get that the Big Death Star was supposed to be super-duper interstellar firing but that wasn't nearly clear enough and even if it had been the visuals, though cool, were pony at establishing how far apart things were supposed to be.

And it was a little too similar to ANH, but nowhere near as annoyingly as STID's similarities to Wrath of Khan.

I liked all the new characters though. Apart from Captain Phasma who was totally wasted but will hopefully be brought back in an extended rivalry with Finn.
It was great that we got protagonists that behaved like actual young people this time. Didn't feel the need to be serious and myffical the wholetime. Before, it was pretty much just Han breaking that.

Better than MAD MAX for me...but I'm a die-hard Star Wars nerd...so I think it was always going to be that for me.

Spoiler

I'm not sure I get your "distance" gripe. I thought it was all fine (and moreover fits into the way the existing universe has always been portrayed.

I LOVED that there were mirrors to ANH...but there weren't TOO many, which was nice. He played it very deftly to ride that line. I mean think about it, Instead of Luke and Obi-Wan going to confront Vader and Obi-Wan dying...you get Han going to face Kylo in an attempt to turn him back and gets killed as a result. It's a flip of the ANH idea, mingled with Luke meeting Vader in Empire (father and son confrontation)...except in this case no fighting. Han with no weapon pointed, confronts his son and in an attempt to help his own soul AND keep his promise to Leia get his son back...only to be the thing that allows him to turn fully. Phasma was (I think) intentionally a Boba Fett. She's there to be cool, and we'll get more on her in the following films. The movie can only contain AND explain so many characters. So like Snoke, we get a taste of Phasma as a promise to what will come. She wasn't wasted, she was just not expanded YET. If that makes sense?

On another point: A few score notes (as I bought it last night after the screening, and tried my best to pay attention to it during the movie).

Which I'll also spoiler.

Spoiler

Kylo's theme is great. It's menacing, and yet not Imperial March levels...which feeds into his duality and the fight going on within him between the Light and Dark. I really liked it, especially how is is incorporated into the "Torn Apart" moment where he kills his father. Rey's theme is absolutely wonderful (you hear it best in the film when she slides down the dune with her junk to sell), but it's peppered throughout the film (like Luke's theme was in ANH) and it's almost lovingly brought into the final track "Jedi Steps & Finale" just before The Force theme swells up as Luke pulls back his hood and she holds out his lightsaber. Speaking of the Finale, after the circle wipe and the credits start to roll we get the same music we always have...BUt Williams has built upon it in an incredible way. It's the same old finale, but new, fresh, and interesting musically...and incorporates Rey's theme too.