ST Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in Episode VII

Wonder what he will look like in E8?

 

I thought it was part of his costume that got lopped off and not a hand.
The face injury is going to look badical as a scar in the sequel.

 

Good question. For simplicity, I guess that Finn will probably heal completely, like Luke after the Wampa attack and hypothermia.
Creatively, there are many cool options for Finn, post run in with Kylo Ren.

 

"Dark Father" (Darth Vader)

"Killer Son" (Kylo Ren)

Wonder if Kylo was named in honor of the urban Legend about concealing the Truth about Vader's role in the story being how he got his name.

Sounds like a possible idea Abrams might have..

 

Even though Kylo Ren is the only character to evoke the mythological and archetypal underpinnings of the franchise, I doubt that much thought was put into making his name have mythological/archetypal significance.

 

I really liked him as a character, but as a villain he was poorly handled.

 

He was the best thing in the movie for me....and I really liked the movie! Really looking forward to seeing how his character develops.

 

Anyone want to speculate about the marketing decision to show him unmasked in the Vanity Fair pictures back earlier in the year? I assume that it was a deliberate choice to show that Kylo was a) a humanoid b) not Luke .. but otherwise curious to know what the impact of the scenes would have been, had we been unaware.

The whole early reveal about his parentage would have been odd, I guess, if we had no idea what he looked like..

 

Overall, I liked him. I felt that they really got it right this time with the whole "angsty young man consumed by the dark side" thing. More over, he reminds me very much of his grandfather, Vader. He reminds me a lot of Hayden's performance in Revenge of the Sith--except, in my opinion, much better as a performance. Honestly, as far as villains in the Star Wars saga go, right now he's sitting #5 for me, behind Vader, Palpatine, Jabba and Boba Fett.

 

There's simply no denying he's Anakin's grandson. Kylo Ren is EXACTLY what Anakin SHOULD have been in the prequels.

He's a fascinating character....unlike any villain we've seen in a major blockbuster. He's completely emotionally unstable. I think Driver did an outstanding job.

 

Did anyone else laugh at Kylo Ren's line early on in the film when he says re. Poe "Put him on the ship". I think I may the only one who finds it funny. He just sounds lightly irritated by the whole thing.

Other best Kylo Ren quip "Your men certainly are experienced at high treason." and, of course, "A droid. Stole a ship?"

 

We were led to believe that the twist would be that Kylo is the son of Han and Leia. Instead, we were told of their relation from the beginning and the twist was that Kylo was willing to kill his own father. I'm glad they realized that "Han, I am your son" would be too obvious.

 

I completely agree. Adam Driver did a fantastic job portraying Kylo. I was on the edge of my seat every time he was on screen. And although I thought he looked just a tad goofy at first when he took his mask off I was pleased to see just how much screen time he had without the mask. It was nice to have such an emotional and captivating villain, which might not have been as possible if he'd kept the helmet on.

 

Why should we assume he is alive...obviously they would continue his arc but the film certainly doesnt imply he ever got up off the ground in the forest before it blew up?

Well he specifically led/snitched/informed the resistance all the details needed to bring down the first order on the starkiller planet. That makes him a little more traitorous i would think.

 

In a way, I'd sort of have liked to watch the film for the 1st time -

1. without having seen what Adam Driver looks like in the film without the helmet (the VF photoshoot)
2. waiting with his character revealing his face, until the moment he faces Han and he is told to remove the helmet by him.

But I'm nitpicking here. Considering how good I think Driver's performance was and how well written the character is, I really don't have any complaints. Like, at all.

 

I really like what we were served up in Kylo Ren. Like many elements in of TFA, there is a lot of rich story telling to be had about what happened before TFA, which I did not fully anticipate. For KR, I am as excited about finding out what happened to him to bring him to this point as I am to see where he goes from here (I doubt they he will be redeemed as Vader/Anakin was). The past story is as compelling as the future story.

Also, what on earth happened with Leia and Han's parenting (particularly Han's?)? Something must have really gone downhill there. We do get some great insight into this during the Han/Leia dialogue, speaking about how "there is too much Vader in him." To me, this is a crucial line. Vader's name not Anakin's is invoked, demonstrating that Han (who I'm pretty sure said the line, but only seen TFA once so far) did not understand Vader/Anakin very well, or didn't see past his dark side. Oh yes, this echoes ANH and the Owen/Beru exchange. Leia also doesn't contradict him. I get the sense that if Luke were part of that conversation he would have made the point that Anakin was the real man inside the shadow warrior Vader, and would tell Han not to reify the twisted Sith he became but rather focus on the honorable Jedi that he Anakin had been and ultimately proved to remain to be. Also, Han's line really shows how much of a "problem" or how "evil" he sees/saw Ben/Kylo even from back in the day. His "good parents" are even pushing him to be like DV in how they explain his behavior to each other (and yes, speaking as the father of two boys this could have an effect on young Ben).

 

Completely agree that Kylo is basically Anakin done right.

I was also a huge fan of his unique force powers. Freezing people (and blaster bolts!) in place. Invading people's minds and pulling out specific thoughts. Knocking a victim unconscious with a gesture.

All these techniques we've never seen in canon...but they still feel like the force. Its not just generic space magic like he started teleporting or something (I wonder whether these moves are self-taught like his lightsaber construction, or something Snoke passed on to him). And it creates such an interesting contrast--clearly this is a guy who is capable of some tremendous force powers, but he's also so out of control, and that makes him vulnerable.

Compare him to Rey, When things get tough and Rey needs to tap into the force, she calms down. She forces herself to relax, to let go of fear, to simply believe. When she first tries the mind trick it doesn't work, and then she focuses on calming down, and it works. When she's facing Kylo, the turning point is when she closes her eyes and becomes calm and balanced.

Kylo in contrast becomes increasingly frantic and unhinged as things get worse, and thats why he loses, despite his impressive powerset. Deep down, I don't actually think he truly believes in himself--and as Yoda would say, that is why he fails.

 

So I was watching the leak of the Forceback scene on reddit. If you go frame by frame. Rey (who we would assume is standing in for a younger rey) is lying on the rain soaked ground. A person who (if you go frame by frame) appears to be a knight of ren taking a swing at her with one of their non lightsaber melee weapons is stabbed in the back by Kylo. It then cuts to a wide shot of the 7 knights standing together facing rey (dead body in front of kylo and between Rey), and then a shot of Kylo walking towards her. It appears that Kylo may have saved Rey at some point during the jedi temple massacre. Why?

 

I like Kylo Ren's characterization, I really do. I like that he shows a lot of Anakin Skywalker in him. I like that he has major anger issues, and trouble controlling his anger, and I can see why Luke would consider himself a failure for not being able to correct this in Ben Solo. I love how they made Adam Driver resemble Anakin. His appearance echoes that of Anakin Skywalker, just with a bit darker color pallet. His attitude echoes that of Anakin Skywalker. His ambition echoes that of Anakin Skywalker. It's great characterization. But, the problem I have with "Ben Solo" isn't his characterization, it's this:

He's not original. Like, at all. It's not enough to really ruin the character for me (in fact, Adam Driver's nose stands out more than Kylo Ren's character origin), but it's still troubling just how much of the EU they used to create this character. He's basically Darth Caedus (Jacen Solo), with the name of Luke Skywalker's son (Ben), placed into the character design of Darth Revan.

 

Kylo's arc and characterization was wholly unique. Not once can I think of a character being "seduced" by the light.

 

If you watch the films in chronological order, Vader's penchant for Force-choking people to death takes on a very different connotation and context and becomes less about intimidation and more about being an echo of Anakin's anger issues, and, with that in mind, Kylo's outbursts of rage-fueled destruction felt like a nice callback to the way his grandfather had always been characterized.

 

Something about Snoke influencing him secretly, from birth is mentioned in the novelisation more than in the film. Also, I imagine that Han would've preferred that he didn't get into the whole Force business, which may have been a source of conflict. If Ben were as arrogant as young Anakin had been, he may also have been disappointed with either Han's colourful past (in contrast to his more glamorous mama's) or ashamed or who knows .. just a bratty teenager, albeit with telekinetic powers, who went through the "I hate my parents" stage but with a sinister figure off-stage encouraging him.

I can totally understand him resenting Han's dismissal of Vader's power or whatever - it is interesting that Leia is known by her adopted name in the films, implying again, that her Skywalker heritage isn't something she wanted to advertise, so perhaps Ben was upset when he found out who grandpa really was.

Finally, in the literature that's just been released (the concept art books and so on), there is a really cool theory that the Jedi were wrong to ignore the darkness of their abilities / the Force and that Luke is realised this and has turned a bit to the dark side .. the implication is also there, that Anakin's ghost may somehow have returned in the form of Vader to give dubious advice (which would then make Kylo's monologues and references to his grandfather, a lot less unhinged).

 

"A droid... stole a ship?" may be my favorite line in the whole film. Kylo Ren is not only psychotic, he also has a hilariously dry sense of humor.

 

OH - no ORANGE SITH EYES for Kylo!! So much more subtle !!!

Btw . Who is Darth Caedus ?

(never read the EU, in case you missed the point)

 

Darth Caedus is the Sith name of Leia and Han's first son, Jacen Solo. Jacen turns to the Dark Side and murders Luke Skywalker's wife. Luke's son's name is "Ben Skywalker". It just kinda irked me how the creation of the character of Ben Solo was through the hybridization of two similar EU characters.