Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Spoilertastic Thread

[Imrahil]

I'm sad about the "gritty" part. It's so played out now, and anathema to what Star Wars should be.  That said, I'm super excited about the non-Force part.  The battle between the Empire and the Rebellion is what I've always been most interested in.

[Quantum Vagina]

[PsychoGoatee]

Donnie Yen rules, so that has me extra excited for Rogue One.

Seen The Force Awakens three times! That will probably be it for theatrical viewings of it, but never say never.

[jonalame]

ROTJ departed a lot from it Partially this is due to switching some key players--Johnston had a lot more to do with the designs in ROTJ than McQuarrie did, who only did a few paintings (far fewer than he did for the other two films), and Nilo Rodis-Jamero was no John Mollo. I fucking hate Rodis-Jamero's costume designs for the most part. They're so cliche.  Everyone on Tatooine in ROTJ just looks like an extra from Mad Max, and this carried over to the prequels and now the sequels (Rey's outfit, for example).

This is just the sort of thing I've been trying to dig into and find out who contributed what to make the originals what they were. I've been seeing a lot of praise for Marcia Lucas' editing skills as well as her personal affinity for reigning in George and honing the execution of his ideas on SW and ESB(as well as being largely absent from ROTJ because of the divorce.)

[Russell AKA Soguru]

I have seen it for the third time today. This time... Third time really is the charm. I loved it and honestly, there is very little I would change about the movie, if I could. That being said, I WANT to see it again and again. The last time I said that about a movie was Guardians of the Galaxy. I really liked this years Age of Ultron a lot and it stands up to repeat viewings but I want to see Star Wars over and over even moreso

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Adam, Norm, and Will from tested talking about the movie:

[Imrahil]

Well, I saw it.

It wasn't as bad as I feared, but still not as good as everyone says. I'd rank it 5th best. Han was good (still pissed they killed him, rewrote his backstory to make his later years basically shit).  Lots of stuff was not good. Kylo was not as bad as I'd feared either, though I think they made a big mistake in having him de-mask before he faced Han.

- Huge plot problems.  The destruction of the Republic system should have been way, way more highlighted as important. It was just eye candy. This shouldn't have been the final version.
- The big weapon is insanely stupid. It makes the sun go dark? WTF? What about this massive blast of radiation and these guys are all just sitting there a few miles away watching it? Resistance apparently just has to wait a few years and everyone in the First Order will die of leukemia.
- Stormtrooper armor still sucks apparently. Only filters smoke? Are these guys combat troops or firefighters?
- Rey is way overpowered and does not make sense as a hero--they jumped over way too much.
- Finn's character does not make sense (so he's trained as a janitor or a stormtrooper? Which one? He's trained for 30 years to kill, then just quits? Has no problems killing right after that intro scene though? Huh?).
- I think I'm going to call the other one Bro Dameron. He's very "dude brah" to me, with all his whooping and highfiving and stuff. The whole intro scene between the two guys in the TIE fighter was just cringe-worthy.

I guess it's better than AOTC or TPM, but I'm not going to rush out to watch it again. Or indeed, watch the file I acquired. 

It's just not that good, guys. I get that you're all glad it isn't the prequels, but I think time will show that this movie is seriously overrated right now.

[Russell AKA Soguru]

Well Imrahil I'm sorry you were disappointed.

[RVR II]

Well Imrahil I'm sorry you were disappointed.

Hey Ranking it 5th ain't too bad..
I'd rank it 4th as of now behind the first 3 originals

[Russell AKA Soguru]

Hey Ranking it 5th ain't too bad..
I'd rank it 4th as of now behind the first 3 originals

Certain people had me questioning myself, so that's in part why I saw it 2 and 3 times. It took me a lot of viewings to completely process it. I'd rank it just behind Empire Strikes back. Just like no Trek movie has ever exceeded The Wrath of Khan, no Star Wars movie will ever exceed ESB... but I'd be more than happy if Rian Johnson proves me wrong end of next year.

[Darth Geek]

Watching it again I felt that the audience realizing at the beginning of the scene that Han is going to die was intentional. JJ Abrams respected the intelligence of the audience to know the Star Wars pattern, and just in general the typical fate of the mentor character, to ratchet up the tension in that scene. Like in a good horror movie. So that the death of a beloved character would be horrifying and carry more emotional weight.
And as far as the notion of "Han should have gone down swinging"? He did. He was fighting for his son. It just didn't happen to be with his fists or blaster.

[Quantum Vagina]

Well Imrahil I'm sorry you were disappointed.

Hey Ranking it 5th ain't too bad..
I'd rank it 4th as of now behind the first 3 originals

I'm similar. It's 4th, after Empire, then Jedi, but I put Revenge higher, because it's pretty awesome. I think A New Hope is pretty meh. If anything it's tied with TFA, or JUST under it.

[Russell AKA Soguru]

There's not much else I can say... but I do believe in the force again.

[Variety of Cells]

Well, I saw it.

It wasn't as bad as I feared, but still not as good as everyone says. I'd rank it 5th best. Han was good (still pissed they killed him, rewrote his backstory to make his later years basically shit).  Lots of stuff was not good. Kylo was not as bad as I'd feared either, though I think they made a big mistake in having him de-mask before he faced Han.

- Huge plot problems.  The destruction of the Republic system should have been way, way more highlighted as important. It was just eye candy. This shouldn't have been the final version.
- The big weapon is insanely stupid. It makes the sun go dark? WTF? What about this massive blast of radiation and these guys are all just sitting there a few miles away watching it? Resistance apparently just has to wait a few years and everyone in the First Order will die of leukemia.
- Stormtrooper armor still sucks apparently. Only filters smoke? Are these guys combat troops or firefighters?
- Rey is way overpowered and does not make sense as a hero--they jumped over way too much.
- Finn's character does not make sense (so he's trained as a janitor or a stormtrooper? Which one? He's trained for 30 years to kill, then just quits? Has no problems killing right after that intro scene though? Huh?).
- I think I'm going to call the other one Bro Dameron. He's very "dude brah" to me, with all his whooping and highfiving and stuff. The whole intro scene between the two guys in the TIE fighter was just cringe-worthy.

I guess it's better than AOTC or TPM, but I'm not going to rush out to watch it again. Or indeed, watch the file I acquired. 

It's just not that good, guys. I get that you're all glad it isn't the prequels, but I think time will show that this movie is seriously overrated right now.

Got me thinking about the big weapon, and you're right in thinking it's silly because it's literal overkill. The fact that they just took away the star of a planetary system means everyliving thing on every planet would freeze and die within days.

But I liked the movie, silliness aside.

[RVR II]