ST Star Wars: The Force Awakens...reviews

As a standalone film, ANH is one of a kind and is the only Star Wars film you could put on with virtually any audience and ensure everyone enjoyed it.
But within the saga as a whole, I always find that the lore, scale and mythology of the others leaves ANH looking a bit out of place, and it suffers as a result, despite being the best self contained story

 

I agree with you that the ending to ROTJ is unbeatable because it is a culmination of three film's worth of growth, very emotional and satisfying, especially seeing Luke become a powerful jedi. Also Luke, the Emperor, and Vader all in the same room duking it out? Yes please. And yes, Jabba's palace is magical, the muppets wish they had puppetry skills like those!

 

I agree with you Clint that TFA has made me appreciate the prequels a bit more. I'm not quite sure why because all three are still my least favourite.

For me ANH is pretty interchangeable with Empire as my favourite. I do love it's self contained aspect and I think the finale is still the best finale in cinema history let alone the saga (there's hyperbole for you). But I can see why some may feel it is slightly out of place.

But it's all nitpicking. What makes me so happy is that I, and people like you and Satipo, whose opinions I respect, place TFA third at best or even second.

Episode 8 can't come soon enough.


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I rank would rank as
1)The Empire Strikes Back
1.1) TFA
3)ROTJ
4)ROTS
4.5)ANH
1000000000) TPM
99999999999999999)ATOC
and I can't put down a number for TCWM (love the show after season 1though)

 

That's cool. Then can I sugget you dial back the rhetoric a bit? You're coming on a bit strong.

 

Finn and Rey seem pretty surprised to see him. I can only guess he is aware of quicker path..... Probably using tunnels to lookout posts, or something of that nature. Finn may not be aware of those, as that section of the facility did not seem to be his station.

 

That may be true, he would know Starkiller-Base better than Finn or Rey as he has lived there for at least a little bit. I will say, he runs very fast for someone with a devastating bow-caster injury.

 

He moves pretty fast in the fight, too. He's wounded, not disabled, though. He does look pretty darn grim when. He delivers the "we're not finished yet" line.

 

He does indeed move fast, the force is strong in him like Yoda(he moved fast too for an old bugger) I do wish he remembered that he could petrify his opponent's entire bodies with the force though, that was a really cool move earlier in the movie that he used and would have been very helpful. I also thought it was cool that he could stop blaster fire mid air and read minds.

 

I always felt there was a level of honor, even among bad guys, in a lightsaber fight. A "more civilized age" and all that. In that context, I think Kylo might have found it beneath him to freeze his opponent in a lightsaber duel. Not to mention that he wasn't trying to kill Rey, and Rey had already begun to resist his powers, both of which also help explain why he may not have used the move.

 

I wonder if that honor code(in someone who is trained as a sith by Snoke) extends even when he realizes he has a serious chance of most likely losing the encounter. After all he did murder his father while he was unarmed, I imagine if was willing to do that he wouldn't mind killing someone that(as far as we know) is a stranger to him. That is ok if that is the case, but that would be very honorable of him indeed.

 

In that case, even if his honor failed him, I think we can assume that Rey has learned to resist Kylo's powers at the moment of his defeat, and that he simply wouldn't be able to freeze her. Plus, I also think his wound was more inhibiting than a lot of viewers think it was.

 

Rey is indeed powerful, I agree.

 

At least for a time, in what seemed to be a "surge" of latent power. My guess is that Luke is going to have to train her to control that power.

 

1). ESB
2). ANH
3). TFA
4). ROTJ
5). ROTS
6). TPM
7). AOTC

- Empire is first because it, to me, is the gold standard by which the entire saga is held up to.
- ANH is second because it is what started it all; without it, we wouldn't have this franchise.
- Ranking TFA and ROTJ was tricky, but I ultimately ranked the former ahead of the latter because for me, TFA's superior tonal consistency helps it flow a lot smoother. What I mean is that in Jedi, Jabba's Palace, while great, just feels rather detached from the rest of the film and goes on a tad too long, and it's jarring to switch between the throne room scenes and the Ewoks fighting the Empire. TFA has no such disparities IMO.
- ROTS is ahead of the other prequels by virtue of sucking less than them.
- TPM is ahead of AOTC because it looks much better (not so much green screen) and still has a bit of that Star Wars adventure vibe. AOTC is simply a chore to watch and ugly as hell to boot.

 

More or less exactly how I would rank them


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Rating the films in order of how often I'll probably watch them on disc in the future (keeping in mind I've probably seen ANH 100 times, gulp):

1. TFA
2. ESB
3. ROTJ
4. ANH
5. AOTC
6. TPM
7. ROTS

This is different than my "best films" order. Both are in flux.

 

Yep, the 'Battle of Yavin' scene remains totally gripping to this day. I, on the other hand, can't understand the mindset that believes the first film to be "slightly out of place"; to me it's like putting the cart before the horse.

 

We all know Kylo has rage issues (as displayed throughout the ENTIRE movie) so it's pretty obvious at that point he was pissed off and looking for a fight. I mean cutting up rooms cause prisoners escaped? He needs something a lot bigger to vent his rage and frustration after just murdering his dad. Freezing them would not have been enough for him, hence why he calls out Finn for a fight. Also ya I thought that maybe they had to climb down from the higher place they were while Kylo just went straight into the forest hence he got there first.

 

I definitely think that he enjoyed the fight. He wouldn't have pounded his wound if he didn't want to get that rage going and readying himself for a fight... instead of just force choking someone etc. You could say the same for Vader on multiple instances - why not just choke the guy for ten seconds and kill him? Because that would not be satisfying enough when you are faced with another lightsaber.

 

I wish he had force choked inferiors instead of simply destroying his own equipment, it would make sense since he worships Vader and wants to be like him, and it is feasible that there were legends told of what it was like to be in the presence of the great lord. Vader. I really liked how Kylo could stop blaster bolts with the force, this was super cool.

 

Force choking would have been way to much of a Vader wanna be. The rage issues made his character completely unique and my favorite from the new movie. And I agree his force freeze was epic. When I saw it the night of the premiere I let out a loud "Oh ****!" Very cool

This Kylo ren talk does belong in a different thread though

 

He does dress like Vader, and has a voice modulator like Vader, and does keep his helmet with him, I don't think it is necessarily that far of a stretch to say him force choking inferiors is too wannabe. But I see what you're saying too.

 

It's possible there are limits on that power. After all, Vader seems to forget he can Force Choke Luke.

 

Why force choke when you can real choke someone you've pulled into your grip? So much more personal service.