ST Making sense of the Force Awakens

I think TFA made a lot cents. She didn't know almost everything about Han. She saw him as the smuggler, while Finn saw him as the General.

 

Two sides of the same coin.

 

The best explanaiton would be that preventing the Resistance from getting the map has priority over capturing it, but yeah blowing up the castle is not the most logical moment in the movie.

 

haha i know right? the problem is that Kylo makes it clear he reaaaaallllly wants that map and he's the one leading the attack on Maz' castle.

 

The first time i watched it, i had a tough time believing the brutality of the FO, especially after the massacre at the beginning.

FO is a really radical, 'delusional' organisation. the Empire was born out of the ashes of the Republic, with all it's fascist aspects, they thought they were doing good for the galaxy. The FO only took the evil aspects of the Empire, and 'improved' on them. During it's 24 years of existence, the Empire still had a Senate for 19 years, which still had a glimpse of significance until it's dissolution ( the Empire still worrying about rebels getting sympathy in the senate in RO). Bottom line is, FO didn't have any sort of 'responsibility' for it's actions, unlike the Empire. So when they see a village that hosted a rebel spy, they will burn it down. Their stormtroopers were all born in the Unknown Regions, brainwashed on the history, on how the evil rebellion exploited the mistakes of the Empire caused by it's 'softness', so they don't have any problems burning it down.


In terms of securing the map, Kylo probably figured it was already out of their initial reach, and that he should interrogate Poe to determine where it was. That's why he stayed in orbit.

 

Yeah, I thought the R2 storyline was was pretty bad, and his "awakening" was awfully convenient.

 

Of course, the real reason for that line is to tell the audience. I always just imagined that BB-8 actually replied something like "I know that, you dolt, I was hoping he would wake up if he knew I had this bit of the map!"

 

The Force Awakens Review I liked it.

This installment introduces a host of new characters. The New droid BB8 has grown on me aftera few showings, but I think that the same mistake was made with the droids as in the Prequils, they are machines not people. The opening sequence of the Storm troopers in the landing craft was good, I felt this owed a lot to Aliens, as directed by Ridley Scott. I like this because it showed that the storm troopers are people and can act as individuals, despite their conditioning. Where A New Hope took inspiration from WW2 movies and was made against the back drop of the Vietnam War, (Forest warfare on Endor) The opening scene of this film, showed Storm troopers with flame throwers, perhaps inspired by Japanese troops in WW2 and their jungle warfare. The Storm troopers harrassing the villagers is good and adds to the lived in Star Wars universe The blasters now send storm troopers flying, this is inconsistent with the Origonal series but the CG is good enough for this to be pulled off. In general the CG in the film has come of age and looks good, unlike the shot of Anakin's ship in the driod control ship in The Phantom Menace which was surpassed by some of the graphics on my Amiga 2000. Hux is quite convincing, the rivalry between him and Kylo Ren is quite good. Perhaps Hux could be a failed knight of Ren, and trys to convince Snoke that he can be trained. I do not understand how a scavenger living on the breadline in Jakku could learn how to fly a Korrillian freighter. Rey is shown to be force sensitive when she turns down a meal when starving to save BB8, she knows there is something special about the droid, or perhaps Luke is calling out to her. They could have done more with the make up to show that she is starving. Finn's defection is good and has some depth to it, an acknoledgement of the Milgram experiment. With Finn becoming a person, this could pave the way for a greater focus on the storm troopers, what is their quality of life like, there could be banter in the changing room, how are they treated by the officers like Phasma and Hux. We seea good reaction from from the storm troopers when they see Kylo Ren's fit of rage after Rey escapes from the restraint. I feel that Darth Vader's well controlled menace is far more effective. We see some good acting from Adam Driver even with his mask on. We could have had some mention of his past from Leia and Han, perhaps he used to torture animals. It is not clear what made Kylo Ren turn to the Dark side, was it shoddy Jedi training that did it, did Darth Vader's corpse call out to him?” Hux made a fine belicose speech while shaking with fervour. Is he conflicted at all? This would have been better directed at the subjects of a newly conquored planet than storm troopers who are forced to obey orders.. Does the First Order have business interests like the FSB. I felt that we needed something more orrigonal than Star Killer base, as new type of super weapon per haps. We live in a world of scyber attacks, hybrid warfare and terrorism, and cancerous espionage. Perhaps a wing of the Empire collapse and we have a post soviet style dictatorship, with an impoverished population. Perhaps a new class of star destroyers could have replaced Starkiller base. We could have Storm troopers who deserted after the Empire fell and lived ordinary lives on planets like Jakku. It was great to see Han Solo and Chewie and Leia back, having grown up with the origonal trilogy they are my favourite characters. Maz Kanata was a good addition, the Ska band was good. I also through that the robot denizens of Jakku were convincing and in line with the Star Wars aesthetic. The Scottish bounty hunter was good, I felt that perhaps something could have been added to Han Solo' character, he owes people money. He is transporting dangerous creatures for some reason.
The light saber fights in this were good, I enjoyed those fight scenes. Poe was well cast but think that he should have been in the Millenium Falcon. Finn and Poe's escape was great, I really enjoyed that, it all came together, the music everything. I look for ward to the next one, it should be great. Rey's origin is a secret and has fueled much speculation. The attack on Maz Kanatas tavern is effective. The rebellion and the force are associated with ancient and timeless surroundings. The destruction of the building could be something like the Taliban destroying Buddist statues by Stalin or the Taliban.
Per haps the First Order could capture scientists whoa re forced to develop new weapons. We could have the likes of Hux testing weapons on their own troops and captured villages. I was unclear why Kylo Ren needed the mask unless he was disfigured some how by Luke. Adam driver acts well in this, coming to a sudden stop when called by his father. John Boyega and Daisy Ridley need to work harder to produce chemistry. If Finn's advances are rebuffed a few times and they they fall for each other after being in battle a few times, the audience could connect with the characters more. Lukes appearance at the end of the film is a little puzzling. Presumably he went into hiding after messing up Ben Solo's training to mourn the loss of his padowans, and can't face the shame of what he has done to his nephew and his best friend's son. Of course now he is tasked with bringing order back to the galaxy. More ould be made of this drama. Perhaps there should hae been some dialogue. “Master Luke?” “Yes and you are Rey,” “We need you back Luke.” Luke responds and comes with Rey. But we will have to wait to see what dialogue emerges from the conversation

 

(facepalm) Ah yes, cue random movie review!

 

*Gives stern school teacher face*

" Now, Now youngling you will find no purpose of interrupting council meetings because you got excited, it's very cute, young one. We will stick your ideas to the fridge. Now, back to your lessons with Master MeBeJedi."

 

i thought kylo ren really liked to take the prey back to his lair so he wouldn't be all rushed and could immerse himself in digging through their heads. it reminds me of how anakin would calmly/slowly fix things; only this is breaking people apart instead (exact opposite). immersion in one's specialty as an, um, introverted activity.

i guess no one thought to leave BB-8 on the ship and Finn was actually worried about spies, but maybe they all forgot the droid? yeah... i remember reacting to that scene the first time. Finn says "spies" and then BB-8 is being paraded in front of everyone (especially after Maz makes sure everyone knows they are there).

i thought that Kylo Ren might know Maz? destroying her castle seemed kind of personal. "you're a friend of... Han Solo. i remember having to wait here while... Han Solo... went to you to get out of trouble and i hated it, and i hated you for taking... Han Solo's attention from me. well, here's what I think of you and... Han Solo."

 

I think that this was their attempt at trying to do the same sort of thing that Lucas did in ANH except that the difference is that there is actually a lot of exposition but it was not the more obvious kind but lots of drips of information placed all over the place.

From a Luke to Rey perspective we really get no strong idea of how Rey actually grew up on Jakku. Luke had Owen and Beru and was able to pilot ships because he had one. With Rey we don't know who looked after her from a young child and Unkar Plutt certainly didn't. She's a pilot because she says she is but how exactly is just another layer of mystery about her.

 

Luke is also a pilot because he says he is. Han is also a pilot because he says he is. Why do people find it easier to accept Luke's casual mentions of not being a bad pilot himself, and Han Solo's claims of being a great pilot, but not Rey's?

 

You say we don't know who looked after Rey as a child. The answer is pretty obvious, no-one did. That's why she's the way she is.

 

Well, Kylo Ren is kind of the gothic emo teenager who likes to sulk and think that he is always right. So it would make sense that he would use a condescending tone with the general when bringing up the possibility of the Clone Army. Also it would make a lot of sense for him to HAVE heard about The Clone Wars. After all it was a galactic civil war that gave rise to The Galactic Empire of which The New Order is the remnant of. It's like in the U.S. everyone has heard of the American Civil War, it's just some people know more about it then others.

 

I would submit you you that Unkar Plutt looked after Rey. During the flash back scene when Rey touched the light saber, we see a younger version of Rey screaming and the arm of Unkar Plutt in frame grabbing her arm and saying "Calm down girl." Plus when she is an adult she is working for the guy. So I would say that Unkar Plutt took care of her in his own way. Now granted this might not have been the best relationship in the world but it was still there.

 

I thought Unkar said "Come on, girl" as he was dragging her away to a life somewhere between indentured servitude and all-out slavery.

 

Because with Rey there is nothing really there to support it in the movies outside of her statements.

Luke has his family. They live on a farm. He has access to a ship. We see the model of it and it's in the garage. We have witnesses to his abilities like Biggs. We have Obi-Wan who understands from other people that Luke is a good pilot (and based on the way he watches him without Luke knowing the chances he has seen Luke flying are quite good).

Who raised Rey? We don't know. So where did she get any access to fly anything? We don't know. Is there anyone would even says they ever saw Rey fly anything? No.

So here is someone who needs to scavenge just to survive and somehow someway she has access to ships to fly? She barely can move anywhere for fear of her family coming back when she isn't there.

For Anakin of course we also have plenty of support. There is no question as the movies answer it.

For Rey the answer in book form is that she learned everything on flight simulators and this explains her "I can do this." Because she isn't at all sure she can. She is as surprised as Finn that she could fly that well.

The point is that if they weren't so fervent about creating mystery after mystery with Rey then could have easily filled in some basic details in the movie that support her piloting skills like Anakin and Luke.

In the books doesn't she stay with different people like a foster kind moving around?

 

It's not a court case, Qui-Riv; it's a bit of character background. It's a universe where space travel is common place, being a pilot is a notch above driving a car, and that's it. If the film tells us Rey is a pilot, she's a pilot.


Men simply are not subject to this level of scrutiny about the believability of their character traits at the beginning of their films, and I don't believe for a second that anyone really wants these films to waste valuable time establishing just how it is that a given character learned to fly a space ship.

Using the idea that Luke has a model spaceship as part of a case that Luke had a real believable pilot ability is nonsense/ with Luke we were told, not shown, right through the film until the bit where it became essential that he can do it. Rey just is a good pilot.

This is what casual sexism looks like.

 

what's strange though is whenever rey says she's a pilot everyone in the movie questions her about it. i realize this is in character for han (as he didn't even give luke the time of day when luke insisted he was a pilot). but finn also was in consternation. and then rey in anxiety is assuring herself she can do it. i feel like the movie kind of sets these things up in part possibly.

however, i feel that usually the force "precedent" is left out in this stuff because little anakin taught himself how to be a pilot apparently and he was a child. and after that it will never be unbelievable that any force sensitive is a pilot ever again. seriously it's not even a question after anakin, imo.