Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Spoilertastic Thread

[MSTJedi]

Yeah, I'm just joking about the Lando thing

I think they missed the opportunity to make some great jokes about Stormtroopers always missing.  They could be in shootout, Fin keeps missing, then Han tosses him the lightsaber and says, "Here.  Maybe you can hit something with this".

I'm wondering if Snoke is really a tiny person.  Like a Yoda or a Gollum.

Nuts to that. I want them to commit to a giant man. I want Snoke to stand tall inside the landing bay of a Star Destroyer, bump his head on the ceiling, and have everyone awkwardly stand around when they realize he can't actually go anywhere else now.

Or flip out and take his lightsaber and throw a tantrum just like his pupil...

I was discussing the prequels with someone today and realized that Ren's tantrums remind me a lot of Anakin's reactions in Ep. III. Wonder if they did that on purpose. Like grandfather, like grandson. And if that's the case, maybe Ren will grow out of it.

Also, with Snoke, I actually thought about him perhaps compensating for being a shrimp by constructing that huge hologram. Maybe he's the dark side equivalent of Yoda. Except he has good grammar.

[Henry88]

i am just hoping that in the upcoming sequels kylo gets it the same way han did, preferably from a bigger badder sith(play by christopher walken)

[Compound]

Well, not going to give my opinion because everyone here seems happy geeking out.  What I do want to say is:

Did anyone else do a double take when Mark Hamill turned around and go "Whoa, it's Kevin from Rifftrax" before realizing it was just Luke Skywalker?

Oh, and for those who wondered why Snoke(?) seemed familiar....Andy Serkis

I though "Santa!" myself.


And I'm back from my second viewing. Still like the pieces better than the film as a whole.

[Kete]

I thought that they were going to have Chewy put on Captain Phasma's armor.  I have to say, I was dissapointed in Captain Phasma.  She didn't really do much, and she was dispatched rather quickly.

I was hoping she would be a strong female character, but Rey made up for that in spades.

[soguru]

I think I got an answer for anybody who plays the "Awww, it's too derivative" card. That sort of begs the question... how derivative was A new hope of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress"? I dare say the same as a lot of other people- There are a lot of similarities, inescapable ones, but there are plenty of things that are different enough that it can stand on its own.

There are as far as I can remember: two major plot points that mirror episode IV:
1) The droid with the plans, or in this case... a star map(A plot device used in Knights of the old republic video game, a wildly successful story-telling device here.
2) The giant planet killing machine... that can destroy several planets all at once.

The question I think we should ask ourselves is this: Can the movie stand on its own despite mirroring key elements and plot devices? My answer is yes, to both A New Hope and The Force Awakens, mostly because the whole focus of A New Hope was basically destroying the Death Star. That's not the goal here. The bad guys and the good guys have the same goal: Find Luke Skywalker(blowing up planets is just a completely secondary goal). Here's the scary part... if the Bad guys find him first... they can either kill him or turn him to the Dark side. Neither option is viable because both mean complete defeat on the part of the resistance. At least with A new hope there was always that lingering hope that they could stop the death star. In this case, Skywalker being found is the complete key to the whole thing because if he dies... if he's found, General Leia would no doubt becomes completely demoralized and the war is already over. Not only that, but Starkiller base is just that... a BASE. You've gotta give the First Order credit, they will not be stopped or deterred by any setback no matter how colossal. If losing the Emperor and Darth Vader didn't stop them, nothing will, and that's something that lies at the very heart of the fear they inspire.

The movie takes the time to really flesh out our new characters and villains, and in doing so, it more than stands on its own.

[Relaxing Dragon]

-Really don't understand how the Galactic government is set up here. We've got the Republic, the New Order, and also the Resistance? Wouldn't it just be the first two? Presumably the Resistance is working in league with the Republic, and also that the Republic is the one in charge, so how is the Resistance a resistance at all? I feel like the movie made things a bit needlessly complicated there.

Apparently the restarted Expanded Universe actually answers this one, so I'm mollified for the moment: http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/12/18/what-the-hell-is-the-story-with-the-resistance-and-the-first-order-in-the-f

[Quantum Vagina]

I think I got an answer for anybody who plays the "Awww, it's too derivative" card. That sort of begs the question... how derivative was A new hope of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress"? I dare say the same as a lot of other people- There are a lot of similarities, inescapable ones, but there are plenty of things that are different enough that it can stand on its own.

There are as far as I can remember: two major plot points that mirror episode IV:
1) The droid with the plans, or in this case... a star map(A plot device used in Knights of the old republic video game, a wildly successful story-telling device here.
2) The giant planet killing machine... that can destroy several planets all at once.

The question I think we should ask ourselves is this: Can the movie stand on its own despite mirroring key elements and plot devices? My answer is yes, to both A New Hope and The Force Awakens, mostly because the whole focus of A New Hope was basically destroying the Death Star. That's not the goal here. The bad guys and the good guys have the same goal: Find Luke Skywalker(blowing up planets is just a completely secondary goal). Here's the scary part... if the Bad guys find him first... they can either kill him or turn him to the Dark side. Neither option is viable because both mean complete defeat on the part of the resistance. At least with A new hope there was always that lingering hope that they could stop the death star. In this case, Skywalker being found is the complete key to the whole thing because if he dies... if he's found, General Leia would no doubt becomes completely demoralized and the war is already over. Not only that, but Starkiller base is just that... a BASE. You've gotta give the First Order credit, they will not be stopped or deterred by any setback no matter how colossal. If losing the Emperor and Darth Vader didn't stop them, nothing will, and that's something that lies at the very heart of the fear they inspire.

The movie takes the time to really flesh out our new characters and villains, and in doing so, it more than stands on its own.

I haven't seen it, and I can tell you there's more than that. There's an older mentor that helps our heroes out, who is later murdered by a masked villainous force user who poses as the primary villain serving under a mega villain. The plans to blow up the Death Star find Luke are in R2-D2 B-88, who is designed to be the analog for R2 in the new saga they're constructing, and to be a toy, to boot. Going to see it tonight, I hope, so I'll be able to add more then.

Also, I don't think Spoiler tags are necessary and won't be using them. This is a Spoiler thread, you can see from the most recent post that I post in this thread, everyone knows I'm interested to see whether this movie is good or bad so I'm going to absorb all I can, so looking at my profile, you know the risks. (Mark it down, this is the day that I agree with Imrahil.

[Ben]

Did Han Solo's death feel "off" to anyone else? It just seemed out of character for him to let his guard down like that, even with his own son.

I'll say this, though: Chewie's scream was the most horrible thing I've ever heard. Ever.

[Quantum Vagina]

Did Han Solo's death feel "off" to anyone else? It just seemed out of character for him to let his guard down like that, even with his own son.

I'll say this, though: Chewie's scream was the most horrible thing I've ever heard. Ever.

worse than this?

[Ben]

Did Han Solo's death feel "off" to anyone else? It just seemed out of character for him to let his guard down like that, even with his own son.

I'll say this, though: Chewie's scream was the most horrible thing I've ever heard. Ever.

worse than this?

I'm not a Pokemon fan, so I'm afraid the emotional gravitas of that particular scene has zero impact for me. :p

[Quantum Vagina]

Did Han Solo's death feel "off" to anyone else? It just seemed out of character for him to let his guard down like that, even with his own son.

I'll say this, though: Chewie's scream was the most horrible thing I've ever heard. Ever.

worse than this?

I'm not a Pokemon fan, so I'm afraid the emotional gravitas of that particular scene has zero impact for me. :p

It's not emotional for me, it's just a horrible scream.

[Glass Pipe]

I thought that they were going to have Chewy put on Captain Phasma's armor.  I have to say, I was dissapointed in Captain Phasma.  She didn't really do much, and she was dispatched rather quickly.

I remember some talk of trash compactors and then nothing else so I presume her fate was implied.  Maybe she got away, hey?

[Glass Pipe]

My review:
3.75 stars
Great effects; the real sets made it feel a lot less CGI-ish
Great characters and great casting.  Faves Ren, Ray, PP9, Fin.
Decent music; this is the biggest negative because I think the musical score for the original Star Wars is what made it great.  I agree with Michael Moore who said film is primarily an audio medium.
Decent storyline; nothing to write home about but it's fine.
Pacing was too fast-they skipped or implied a bunch of stuff.  It felt rushed.  They should have padded it out by 40 minutes or so and added some mood/atmospheric music or added more to character development. 

Did anyone else feel like they just threw Han Solo away like an afterthought?  The getting frozen in carbonite scene from Empire had ten times the emotional impact than his very death! 

[soguru]

The getting frozen in carbonite scene from Empire had ten times the emotional impact than his very death!

I cannot possibly disagree with you more in the strongest possible terms. You know... when you're in carbonite, you're still alive. When you're facing your son who is hellbent on staying on the path to the Dark Side... it's effective enough to the point where I got choked up big time(I know I mentioned this already), because one thing is for sure... Han's not coming back this time.

[anais.butterfly]

I loved the way Han died. It showed how much he loved his son (he wanted to believe there was good in him), it showed how much he believed in Luke and Leia (believing his son could be turned back to the light side), it showed how much he still loved Leia (he hesitates before confronting Ren, but he did it because Leia asked him too (in addition to loving his son). He face a fear for Leia and Ren).

I knew it was going to happen once Han stepped on the bridge, and I relished every second of it!


I also love that Han had such a major role in this film. Leia and Luke will have larger roles in the next films (and I bet they are both going to die).