ST Watching TFA and TLJ Back to back?

Now that TLJ Is out on digital has anyone watched TFA and TLJ back to back and if you weren't a fan of TLJ In the theater has watching them back to back changed your viewpoint of TLJ and or TFA? And If you Liked TLJ has it changed your viewpoint after watching TFA and TLJ back to back? I personally Loved both TFA and TLJ and I feel each time I watch TLJ It gets better and better! I have watched TLJ on Digital 3 times and the first time I watched It I watched TFA first then TLJ and I feel the two films fit nicely together and I cant wait to see how Abrams finishes this up...

 

I've been wanting to do this too but haven't had the patience. I wanted to "unwrap" the last Jedi when it was released digitally and devoured the film and extras and re watched it a couple of times.

I'm now at 10 viewings (with three of them digital) and it fits beautifully.

 

if you count the three viewings in the theater I am now up to 6 with 3 on Digital I plan to buy three versions of the Blu-ray for the box art and Blu-ray looks better then digital it just does!

 

I don't have it on digital, but I watched them back to back the first time I saw TLJ. In fact I did TFA/TLJ/TFA then the next day TLJ again.

They fit together very well. Unexpectedly, yes, but they line up. And it's very interesting to watch TFA sans mystery boxes. The Force vision takes on a totally different context, for example. TLJ actually gives Poe a personality you can superimpose over TFA retroactively. Rey's early scenes take on such a tragic element when you consider what really happened to her. Of course the Luke/Rey meeting at the end loses all ambiguity.

 

The biggest revelation for me when considering the two movies alongside each other is how much more Rey as a character clicks. I think her journey in both TFA and TLJ is difficult to recognize and suss out when taking each movie separately, but the two together makes Rey's arc gain a lot more clarity and you realize how much RJ's script actually continues what was set up in TFA with her.

Finn, on the other hand...

 

Yep, it's a tough transition. Finn feels so vital to TFA, such a big part of what makes that film work so well. That's absolutely not the case for TLJ. As someone who loved TLJ, this is one of the ways the transition from TFA to TLJ disappoints.

 

I love how TFA and TLJ come together now and also how they add to the saga so far. Many of the TFA clues were there all the time but people just didn’t follow Occam’s razor.

1) Rey refusing to sell BB8 has deeper meaning knowing what she went through.

2) Rey's ability with a staff are better explained by her practicing in a manner on her own that suggests she does that often on Ahch-To.

3) Kylo Ren's "I feel it too" line and Rey's first surprised look at him have greater meaning.

4) Rey's Jedi Mind trick among other aspects of Force awareness became aspects of her mind following her probe of Ben Solo. This is now canon thanks to the story group.

5) Rey turning the mind probe back on Ben Solo showcases her willingness to fight fire with fire which plays into some of her other angry moments in TLJ.

6) Ben Solo's desire for her despite having his mind probed by her forcefully and despite being cut by her after asking to train her helps setup where things go with them in TLJ.

7) Snoke's final training lesson is now very clearly that he wanted Kylo Ren to kill his biggest weakness in front of him: Rey.

8) Luke's exile and disconnection from the Force

Spoiler

lead to the Force awakening in Rey

as per the extended edition.

9) Rey's desire to keep her Force powers secret from Finn and Han in TFA extend to her keeping her Force bridge with Ben Solo secret from Luke in TLJ.

10) The mind probe revealing an island that she'd seen in her dreams comes back when she tells Luke that she'd seen the island only in dreams and also helps setup why she is starting to trust her visions since they seem to come true. The other being her vision of the future of facing Kylo Ren in the trees which happened.

11) Maz Kanata's line about how the people she's waiting for aren't coming back now makes more sense in TLJ.

12) Maz Kanata's line about how the longing she seeks not being behind her but in front of her and how there is one who might still come back starts feeling like it has to be Luke but then later feels like it might be Ben Solo and in the end is more like Luke.

13) Rey being dressed in junker clothes as a young girl in her Force vision makes more sense thanks to what we learn in TLJ.

14) The Jedi texts calling out to Rey on the island continues the idea of the Saber calling out to her in TFA.

15) Ben Solo wanting to find the island and Luke as early as TFA leads him to do what he can and drive a wedge between Luke and his new student as he had past students before.

16) Han Solo's line about where Luke went and why was close to what happened.

17) Finn's desire to run and then stay for Rey continues and then grows to the Resistance movement and others.

18) Kylo Ren did what he said he wanted to do in TFA which was finish what Darth Vader started when Vader briefly could have been leader of an Empire when he killed the Emperor.

19) The tracking of Wexley's ship in TFA leads directly to the destruction of Dquar base in TLJ.

20) Hux and Kylo Ren act like brothers in in TFA while Papa Snoke is physically farther away and then Papa Snoke beats both of them up physically in TLJ when he's physically in their presence.

21) One of the themes of the TLJ is that without teaching from past failures history is doomed to repeat and that's basically exactly what's happened because the Skywalker family chose to hide their family secret until the reveal in Bloodline.

22) Several earlier complaints about the prequel era Jedi and the Jedi's failure are brought together with Luke's lines but Yoda reminds that the failures were more about the individuals who made up the order and how the Order didn't learn from past failures and must.

23) Canto Bight's world building better connects to the world building established in the PT era and helps to connect the 3 trilogies more.

24) Sidious is mentioned by name, rather than Emperor.

25) Luke's dark side daze shot is visually reminscent of his dark side daze moment in ROTJ.
The look in his eyes and how he looks down at his hand help bring both of those moments together by design to imply that close calls without consequence and analysis may lead to failures in the future with concequence.

26) Luke's unconventional blind trust that without a real solution to his problems that escape and trust that the Force will find a way... first shown perhaps in the moment he reverted back out to the metal island in TESB and decided to jump without any way of knowing how it will play out... returns in him retreating to Ahch-To and hoping that in the absence of the Jedi something more worthy will come from the Force without really knowing how it will play out...

Spoiler

leads to the Force awakening in Rey

27) All of the big bads in ST ultimately are killed by their apprentice while the Master is killing someone the apprentice cares about. Only one ends with the apprentice coming back to the Light and the other ends with the Apprentice becoming the Master and asking the person he cares about to join him at the top.

28) Rey's abandonment issues setup in TFA are exploited as weakness in TLJ. One of the most common traits of young adults who were abandoned is instant attachments with new people and we see Rey continue to struggle with the difference between good relationships and bad ones.

29) Rey's scavenging skills as established in TFA are shown in TLJ when she steals the ancient Jedi Texts and later when she won't leave the broken saber behind.

30) Rey's lack of Force guidance from mentors is what separated her from Luke and Anakin in her first film and leads her to go astray faster and listening to a potential Dark Side mentor sooner in TLJ.

31) Rey begins a life at the bottom of the food chain and is offered by film 2 the opportunity to be at the very top of it.

32) Rey's shock at the world she's never known, as first expressed by her sense of wonder in TFA at all the green in the world, continues with her smiling at the first rain she's ever seen coming down from the Falcon as she lets it fall onto her hand.

33) Rey's anger over Han Solo's death continues with her calling Kylo Ren a monster and mourning Han's loss into TLJ until Ben Solo reminds her that parents suck by reminding her how awful hers were.

34) Finn being supportive of Rey, as established in TFA, continues in TLJ when her first showcasing of Force power to the world at large and her friends is seen, and Finn is the first one to run out and hug her. In TFA when he asked her how she got out she didn’t tell him about her powers.

35) Poe's smugness, snark, love of BB8, and shoot first and ask questions later that first lead him to joking "Who talks first?" continues into TLJ but become a weakness for him. His natural charm as a leader as first seen in TFA is also something that leads the crew to trust him more than new leadership.

36) Finn's combat training as first seen in TFA continues with the killing of his former child slave Master in Phasma in TLJ.

37) Finn's willingness to die to stand up to evil first seen in TFA continues into TLJ. It shifts from him being willing to die for Rey to being willing to die for the whole resistance.

38) The impact of the destruction of the Hosnian system, even though SK Base is also destroyed, still seems to have the galaxy apprehensive about what to do next and wondering just how powerful the FO are because of the compressed timeline. It’s only been a few days. Others are likely gathering intel on the chances of success versus the FO.

39) The notion that the Dark Side is the devil on your shoulder whispering in your ear to take the easier solution, as first explored in earlier sagas, is presented and explored and explained nicely in the ST.

40) The continuation of new Force powers, as first seen in TFA, continues into TLJ with a couple new additions to the canon.

41) The presentation and impact of the last great war and the parallels between WWI and WWII continue in TFA with the old base of Crait following the ship graveyard on Jakku.

42) The continuation of the 30 year advancement of humor, clothing, culture, and technology from the OT era to the ST continues with Death Star tech becoming miniaturized and more portable and the old ski speeders really showing what 30 years of aging around salt can do to poorly designed tech.

43) Ben Solo's belief that his father is a disappointment as first established in TFA makes more sense when you realize how status driven and power-driven he really is in TLJ when he insults Rey’s parents. It also helps explain why he is more impressed with his mother.

44) The notion that not all people are best suited to turning back people who've fallen to the Dark Side, as first established in the PT and later the OT, continues with Luke and Ben. Former masters have a dynamic with their students that makes that process difficult. Only people that the Dark Side users come to love seem to be what might possibly bring them back.

45) Luke’s mini redemptive arc mirroring that of his father’s work less darkness and murder to relate to and more regret morality and existential questions to relate to. Both father and son end up working through their mistakes, going out with one final act of good, apologizing to family, and becoming one with the Light where they can meet again.

 

I haven’t done this, and I probably wont because I don’t have the attention span or patience. However, it is clear when watching TLJ that they definitely operate as such (IMO), which is obviously a first for SW. However, I do feel this is both a strength and a weakness. The best I can do is watch TFA one night, and TLJ the next. I’ll be doing that in April.

And yes, I do agree about Finn somewhat, sadly. In TFA he felt completely vital. In a way, the entire film is pretty much unfolding before his very eyes. He, more than Rey, is the audience. Whereas in TLJ, he felt kind of like Han Solo in ROTJ. Just there, going through the motions.

 

I don't expect JJ to do any course correction for IX in light of TLJ, the way a lot of the disgruntled folks are praying to the ghost of Luke Skywalker that he does (along with the head of RJ on a platter).

Save Finn. It was clear that JJ (with LK) wrote and directed Finn/John with love, and more importantly, exuberance. While I give props to RJ for giving Finn his own plot, I just didn't leave TLJ with the impression that Finn was a great priority for him. I absolutely expect Finn to fare better under JJ again.

 

One of my favorite parts of TLJ was the pairing of Finn and Rose they were so cute together and Had great Chemistry I loved there adventure on Canto Bight It was honestly one of my favorite parts of the movie I also loved The Yoda scene so I don't get why so many people didn't like Finn or his characterization in the film? I also feel now the task of Abrams Is to make it all fit and a proper and fulfilling ending to the series and trilogy. Ultimately there are going to be people that are not happy with the Films and that's fine but If the majority of Fanboys Like or love the films that is the ultimate goal!

 

yeah I dont mind canto bright at all, and it is def johnson's nod to the PT, that planet could have easily fit into TPM or AOTC with no problem. then you got ach too and crait which could have been used in the OT especially esb and rotj and so the whole nine arc comes full circle from a design stand pt.

 

I actually feel that is more on JJ than Rian, he never finished finn's arc in TFA, his arc stopped bc of the injury suffered, and bc it was the end of the movie, lets say finn escaped the battle with kylo un injured on starkiller, There is no doubt in my mind that he would have tried to talk rey out of going to find luke, bc he knows the first order whole goal is to find and destroy the last jedi. So that arc fell to rian to finish his transformation from a guy on the run who cared about one woman to a guy who was truly rebel scum as phasma pointed out.

 

My issue with Canto Bight isn't that we see it, it's that we don't see it more. It just feels like Finn's arc was cut up in the editing room.

 

I do agree with that, Dj should have been used more as a catalyst for finn's arc in the movie.

 

That's why I admire what RJ tried to do. Finn's arc actually was like a mini-movie that, if fleshed out, could've been it's own film unto itself.

 

very true, and sometimes I think folks just look at the animal cruelty and child slaves as surface level, well of course those are bad, but there is also a deeper meaning to finn bc he was stolen as a child turned into a fighter/slave and probably tortured like the fathiers, (we are shown this to a small extent when the first order and phasma were not just content with killing finn and rose but torturing them first.) The DJ stuff also had great meaning but it was just glossed over bc of time. the whole pt being war is not just between two sides but has many factors and involves many people directly and indirectly. for instance those kids and animals are slaves on ag ambling planet bc most of those who enjoy that stuff got rich by using the war machine to make profits. there is some real deep stuff that could have been in there such as war do help economies, WW 2 helped the USA out of the depression, but at a lot of cost.

 

I wasn’t planning on doing it, but now that I think about it I might do it if I ever have the time on a weekend. To bad they can’t just start back to back.

 

I think they work well as 1 film so splicing them together is the way to go....so when TFA ends TLJ cuts immediately to that scene & then cuts back to the space battle......

 

well all 8 films work that way, back in the day after the prequels were all on DVD you guys never did a marathon on a lazy weekend episodes 1-6? I even did A marathon episode 1-7 back in 2016 after TFA Blu-ray came out I think all the films fit nicely together and I would totally recommend a saga marathon to people that haven't done it yet! you don't have to do it all in one day spread it out over a few days!

 

Honestly, this would have been very interesting...

https://uproxx.com/hitfix/star-wars-the-force-awakens-luke-lightsaber-toss-jj-abrams/

 

Yes, we would have had a Sanctuary thread already after TFA

 

The crazy thing is that it probably wouldn’t have changed some of the theorizing that went on back then on Reddit and in YouTube videos. Rey Walker theories would have just changed to:

“Obviously he wants to keep the saber out of his baby gurrrl’s hands! It makes perfect sense! Of course he wants to throw it away! Mara Jade probably died from a saber! He wants to keep Rey safe! This is where Luke takes over to keep Rey safe!”



And the disappointment talk would change from misreading his look or the direction in the TFA script to this on Reddit and on YouTube videos:

“Look... I wasn’t the biggest fan of the saber throw in TFA but at least it seemed like he was trying to keep his baby gurrrl Rey safe! Now that she’s not his baby girl and he had a dark period of his life Star Wars is not only ruined but it ruined my childhood!!!”

Thankfully, for all our sakes, the Force Forums aren’t the same as YouTube!

 

I've watched TFA again and it's just a far more re-watchable film that i stuggle to watch TLJ immediately afterwards.

TFA gave us everything we wanted (almost) and left us with so many questions and a new hope whereas TLJ went in a direction that was written and directed in such a way that it made it hard to watch and I think Rian hurt this part of the trilogy by trying to mark his own stamp on things and clearly went unchecked. (Even Lucas was in control of Empire and Jedi although not directing).

Some parts were good but alot of the movie wasn't in the spirit of SW as a whole and being the longest also makes this harder to want to jump in. The writing, story telling and directing should have been simpler not "smarter" in many respects because there are alot of plots that have no logic to them sadly, which have been covred and commented on by many elsewhere.

 

That sounds like you are trying to speak for everyone ("us"), not for yourself. Maybe you got everything you wanted out of TFA, but that doesn't mean that this is true for everyone. There are those who didn't get what they wanted out of TFA, just like there are those who didn't get what they wanted out of both TFA and TLJ, those who didn't get what they wanted in TFA but got what they wanted in TLJ, and those who were happy enough with both movies.

I don't know what makes you think that Johnson went unchecked. Clearly everything has to pass the desk of Kennedy. And as evidenced by all the bonus material, he also spend lots of time with the actors to talk about every issue. He might have been able to come up with what he wanted to do, but the fact that Lucasfilm has gotten rid of multiple writers and directors very much suggests that they have to like what you are doing.

I don't really see how any person - apart from maybe Lucas - could claim what is in "the spirit of SW", nor do I see any particular plots that have no logic in them. Well, at least not beyond what has been the norm in other SW movies. Which isn't to say that some plot lines couldn't have used a bit more attention in my opinion. Then again, I think there is a huge difference between having an opinion on something - whether it is good or bad - and trying to use said to opinion to argue things that move outside of what can be judged through an opinion (e.g. all that stuff about "not caring", "lazy writing", "not understanding SW", which are useless arguments that have little to do with reality).


The movie isn't released on home-video here yet, so I'll have to wait and see when it comes to judging the two when viewed in one run. So far the closest thing to that was watching them one day apart, and that worked just fine for me. When judged seperately, TFA would seem to be the more rewatchable to me, but that is more due to the circumstances. TFA is the start of the story, it is relatively self-contained, shorter, and has a positive note that is the norm for the first act. TLJ is longer, is obviously the middle part and thus not as self-contained, and runs on darker notes due to being the second act. In general, and this obviously something that cannot be done yet, I would say that watching all three parts of the trilogy would work out the best, alternatively watching TFA on one day, followed by TLJ and IX the next time. It will always be more satisfying to end a viewing sessions with the happy end, not on a darker note (even when there is a ray of hope in there). The obvious issue with that rule would be the prequels, which end in darkness, but there is little that can be done about that except watching the next one as well

 

I don't believe JJ would have had Luke toss it - I think Luke probably would have just handed it back to Rey & say I'm done with the past.......