A/V THE FORCE AWAKENS - The Official Movie Discussion Thread

Question: Could Starkiller base travel through space like the death star or does it just fire from the same spot everytime using it's host sun as a power source? Movie didn't really explain it all that well

 

I will concur with most of what has been said in this thread.

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Not a bad film (if you walked into the theatre and had no idea what SW is, this movie would probably blow your mind to subatomic bits), but, yeah, such a shameless remake of ANH it felt weird that this was supposed to be a sequel throughout, and its ambition begins and ends at "capturing that OT feeling". It worked as an exercise at capturing that OT feeling, it worked as a film, but did it work as a sequel to RotJ and as a SW saga film? Not really. It just didn't work as a continuation of the series, felt like some random Legacy of the Force adaptation or something. This thing just wasn't "Episode 7". It had the potential of being just great old-fashioned SW fun that really did capture the vibe of the OT, and that's exactly what it was... up to the point when the script focused on the Ben plot and all that until it turned into... well, yeah, Legacy of the Force.

Abrams's visual language annoyed me less than I expected it would because he generally kept it in check until the very end and because he did some truly beautiful shots. The camera was a bit too energetic for SW, but not nearly as much as in the other films he's directed, so I guess we got off easy.

Snoke was total $#€%, just the worst, most uninspired CGI Palpatine wannabe they could have come up with. A total waste of Serkis's talent. I assume they went with the most generic crap villain so that they could then spin it any way they want. Snoke could literally be Plagueis, Palpatine, some guy Luke was training, some ancient ghost, or, hell, even Maul; could be anyone, and I'm thinking they didn't know who he was supposed to be when they filmed it. The other thing that was total $#€% was the Starkiller Base firing sequence. Uninspired in the way it was filmed and totally nonsensical. Suddenly, the Republic was this big deal when it hadn't even been mentioned, and then it gets blown up, wait, so the Republic is what, a planet and its moons, and wait, what, that's not Coruscant is it, woah, so Takodana is, like, in the same system as the Republic capital, what, what??? That sequence was just pure amateur hour, and I really can't understand how it ended up in the fim.

The actors killed it, especially Boyega, he was the heart and soul of the movie. The mystical mystery stuff Ridley was burdened with worked against her, but she was very good. Driver was great, a truly threatening, scary and unpredictable villain. If only he had some sort of character arc, motivation, or anything (but no, more mystery crap, dumping exposition onto the next movie). Gleeson was fun, he hammed it to such a level that it almost became a parody, and it still worked. Isaac was fantastic, if his role were bigger he would have stolen the show from Boyega. Ford never look bored and made the film feel like goid ole' SW more than anyone else. Fisher brought something new to Leia which is exactly what the character needed at this point in the timeline (that is, to turn into friggin' Garm Bel Iblis), and Nyong'o created a very interesting and unique character out of what appeared to be written as simply "pirate Yoda".

So yes, mixed feelings. If the film had made its mind about not being part of the saga, it would have been great fun. Unfortunately, it seeemed to have decided it wanted to continue the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker about half an hour in, and then failed miserably at doing so. At this point, the more distance they put between themselves and Lucas's films, the better. They can do great things with this material, as long as they decide they want to move forward. The biggest problem with the movie was that it kept throwing things into the air and never stuck around to watch them land. Which means that, if they aren't left in the air, they'll land straight in the middle of the next film. But because the world the film built is so promising, the sequels, with a much better script, have the capacity for greatness even though they will have to explain all that stuff.

 

Like most people here, I liked it, I agree wholeheartedly with Ulicus' views. Love the characters.

My complaints and questions I know have no answer yet, but if they do, please do tell me; it was late and I might have missed something:

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- Who was that old fella who gave Poe the map?. Seemed someone important yet nobody cared that he died. Aberforth Kenobi?
- The desert planet... could have had any ecosystem really. I would have preferred Rey to be an urban street urchin for a change or something.
- Would it have killed them to put on some Rodian or Weequay makeup on some of the pirates?
- Where are the parkour guys they cast?
- The new death star blows up like 4 planets, we even see the people scared... but no one in the rebellion gives a ****? "Ah yeah, cross out another 300 billion people, like every Tuesday"
- Rey can easily use the Force mind control and has lightsaber skills... seemed like an easy action scene... but what if she has training but it's dormant, like Jason Bourne? Could it be she wasn't sold into slavery but hid there as the last survivor of Luke's school massacre? That would tie her vision of two seemingly unrelated topics.
- How convenient R2 just wakes up like that... Or was Luke remote controlling him or something?
- Were Phasma scenes cut?
- Snoke's CGI sucks. And he is totally Plagueis
- We don't see Hux, Phasma and Ren escaping do we?
- The First Order has very little background, so far it sounds like it was created just so we could see TIEs and Stormtroopers, but I guess it's because nothing about the state of the Galaxy was explained. they really went too far into removing "boring politics" from it
- Looks like Luke never bothered telling anyone that Anakin was redeemed at his last moment. Guess that what happens on the Death Star II stays on the Death Star II.
- I would have been utterly mind blown if the scroll had read "Episode X".

 

wut? the reviews were overwhelmingly positive

 

I also lol'd really hard at

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the guys from The Raid that they cast, everyone was expecting they would be force users or something and amazing martial arts scenes from them but all they did was stand there for about 12 seconds and say a couple of lines. Literally didn't even throw a single punch. And it's not like you can say they were "consulting" on fight scenes for the rest of the film because there weren't really any martial-artsy scenes at all

 

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From what I gathered, it couldn't travel like the Death Star, but it's plasma/torpedoes/weaponry could, making it more powerful and at more effective than the Death Star since it could destroy multiple targets at once.

 

Well, I'm expecting our resident Admiral to not be best pleased with certain events here, but I'm intrigued to see what his take is.

 

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Erm, he was a hologram? I saw that he whooshed away but I began to think if he had some crazy force power. So, he isn't actually a giant?

 

No he is. Why is there a giant throne?
I mean I thought that but to me the throne says he had bern there.

 

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I...I think the First Order actually did wipe out the Senate, if this is anything to go by:


Hosnian Prime, it seems, was the current capital and the woman visible during that planet's destruction was apparently Leia's envoy. They did not explain this well, to be honest. Nobody really seemed to care at the Resistance base that the Republic's government had just been annihilated!

 

Normally, a Visual Guide gives additional information, trivia if you like. Looks like the one for TFA actually tries to explain everything that wasn't clear in the movie...

 

So are we renaming the book?
The Force Awakens explained.
I thought that was SLOANE at first.

I feel "conflicted" over the film, it was a cut and paste job that never seemed to be a full movie, more like a two hour trailer. They just didn't seem to know what the film was meant to be nor explain anything, the events are all haphazard and nothing is compelling.

 

Yeah, there's probably a whole sublot with Sella which was cut. I assume because it was too "prequel"-like.

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But lol Naboo's senator got Alderaan'd, that's totally poetic justice.

 

Yup - if the Senate featured there'd be people complaining relentlessly that it was too much like the politics of the PT. Not everyone is ever satisfied.

 

There has been an awakening... and it was goooooooooooooooooooooooood.

Seriously. I *^%ing loved that.

Took forever to park. Nearly didn't bother. Drove around the carpark following other cars in a circle about ten times. Decided screw it. Drove home. But wait! Is that a padlocked gate with a sign "Closed for Winter" outside that building? And there's no yellow lines down this tiny strip of the road? Paydirt! So like the farmboy I am, up the 4x4 went on the grass there, and sod it, nobody's going to go in there at this time of night... oh kark, early entry is already finished, my prebooked tickets could get sold if I don't hurry, time to leg it fast...

Got there in time. Phew. Panting heavily. People probably wondering what the hell the dude still in a suit from work earlier in the day is panting like he just ran a marathon.

Wasn't overly excited. Only bought my tickets at 6pm tonight. Kept um'ing and ah'ing all day. But after getting spoiled a couple of factoids in a review in the newspaper yesterday (seriously journalists?!?!?!?) I figured I needed to see it before I got spoiled more.

And dayyyyyymn was I glad I did. I really, really, really karking loved that film. Like some others have said, it had all the darkety dark of TESB that that I adored. It had all the hideous B-rate acting of ANH that makes Star Wars so comically awesome at times. It had all the ridiculously cliched 1950s sci-fi flick tropes that I'd totally forgotten after Warlord of the Month a zillion times that I actually am still in love with-- maybe not reading any NEU books, comics or anything Star Wars related since the Disney announcement at all meant I had "outgrown" Star Wars enough to fall in love with it again (because believe me, three hours ago I was still thinking I'd outgrown this thing and needed to grow up).

Was there stuff I dislike? Sure. The first 30 mins being the biggy, as they were trying so hard to setup stuff that it's pretty forced for those first scenes, but once the cast are all established, and the plot gets going, I was glued to my seat for the remainder of the film.

Ending I'd have cut sooner though. I know, I know, I get what the final scene is there for, but I also feel it'd have been more poignant to have left that for the opening of Episode 8.

Btw, regarding Snoke (and since I'm talking specifics here, I'll spoilerify it):

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I'm sure the giant hologram is just the hologram, and he's probably tiny, but the first moment I saw him, I actually thought: "Wait, are they doing the reverse of Yoda, and a giant alien species, rather than a tiny alien species?"

That might still transpire to be the case, as it'd be an interesting opposite to Yoda's species, but on reflection, I realised he's probably just got an ego complex and likes to look bigger than he really is.

You and me both. I teared up a number of times during that.

Some happy tears, others tears of sadness.

I think the one that hit me hardest was...

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...when Starkiller Base destroyed the planets.

But that's probably because I thought it was Coruscant, and that they literally were blowing up the heart of the Republic, but I gather now reading the comments in this thread it's not Coruscant... but seriously, when I saw that, thinking it was Coruscant... my heart genuinely leapt. I dunno if it'd have hit as painfully if I'd realised it's "just" some other system, but... it still was unimaginably powerful, and I'm amazed they managed to outdo the Death Star and me not just be rolling my eyes.

Little disappointed they blew it up though. I kind of was expecting them to keep it in the background as the big bad for the entire sequel trilogy... but that probably would have made the ending way too dark, and the moment Han died, I realised they'd have to blow up Starkiller base or else it'd have just made the film far too depressing.

Even though I've not a clue how it would do it, I assume it must have to travel, since they described how it has to drain a star to charge itself, and it definitely seemed like totally sucked all the energy out of that star...
I'm sure we'll get this sorta stuff explained in sourcebooks and stuff though eventually. I mean, it's not like ANH explained that much if it was the only thing someone saw without any other Star Wars knowledge at all from anywhere.

 

Ha! I remember leaving the cinema kind of wishing it had.

 

Which one, Jello or Nick?

Anyway, digging the new Star Destroyer design:

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Resurgent-class, twice the size of the Imperial-class ships. And I wonder how long till people notice the similarities between the First Order and Thrawn's pocket empire in the Unknown Regions?

 

I am too.

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Almost a bit TF-esque in the scale. Maybe that's intentional? A regional power uses a fleet of fewer, but larger vessels?

 

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I hope Luke makes Rey carry him around on her back.

 

Boy, if all those Constable Zuvio figures were peg warmers before...

#wherewaszuvio

 

Just got back from seeing it and I thought it was incredible. I did have a friend who said he preferred the prequels. That friend is now a former friend.

 

Guuuuuuyssss.

Can I just agree with everything Zorrixor said? 'Cause I do. I loved the movie, start to finish, full stop. Everything was amazing. That was just the best thing ever, I can't even. I really can't. Anyone who says that this is an ANH rehash, I don't know what the kark you're talking about because while some of the basic beats might've been the same, that was a completely different story from the one I've watched a thousand times (and just watched on Tuesday, so it was fresh on my mind). I am serious. That was stellar, guys. Ridley and Boyega are going to be major rising stars, I think, and Isaac killed it as Poe.

Guys, I want an X-wing series centered around Poe. Yesterday. And Finn and Rey were both so awesome I couldn't stand it. Finn and Poe were both hilarious, and BB-8 was just the wonderfullest (I know that's not a word and I don't care) thing ever. Just...oh yes! And Kylo? Kylo was an amazing villain, and I loved loathing him in every scene he was in.

This is the Star Wars movie I imagined when the announcement was made in October 2012. It was more. That...was...I can't even describe. This movie hit all the right points with me, start to finish, and I can't describe the number of times the theater erupted into applause. Every time something from the OT appeared. It was great! And the theater was eating up Rey and Finn. Those two had such amazing chemistry!

Bring on Episode VIII, pleeeease.

 

Saw it, loved it, will be seeing it at least twice again before the weekend is out.

I agree with Revanfan1 about the need for a series about Poe, but I really think this movie deserves a game in the style of Rogue Squadron. It would be awesome.

 

Just got back from seeing the movie, and that was a really great and fun experience. As said above, I do wish there was more explained in the movie, so I can't wait to sit down with the new Visual Guide. The new Star Destroyer grew on me, nice that its bigger than an ISD, and Starkiller base was great. For those with the books already any more info on it, like the size and such?

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Overall not many complaints at all. Loved the new characters, the humor was great, and so was the action. The dog fighting scenes were great. Starkiller aka DeathStarSunCrusherGalaxyGun was awesome, that scene where it too out all these planets was impressive. I liked it more after reading its entry on the Databank with the actual stellar material being the actual weapon and not really powering the base.

I wish there was more about the Republic and the First Order in the movie, though the Visual Guide looks like it gives a bit more info.

I really was a big fan of Poe, Finn, And Rey. For me at least the good guys were just as cool as the bad guys, which in the OT I feel its more one sided, again for me at least.

My only complaint was that some things were pretty predictable in terms of the twists and deaths. I really hope Rey's origins turn out to be some sort of big surprise. Same goes for Snoke.