The Force Awakens - Thoughts and Reactions (SPOILERS WITHIN)

Caine

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I don't mind the old crowd being missing, but it would have taken 5 minutes to mention how wedge continued with them 20 years then retired or Lando is still conning the galaxy out of its money instead of them just ceasing to exist.

The original trilogy put quite a bit into developing a lot of it's supporting cast and giving them histories and relationships for them to just be ignored now.
 
Green Ranger

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Caine said:
I don't mind the old crowd being missing, but it would have taken 5 minutes to mention how wedge continued with them 20 years then retired or Lando is still conning the galaxy out of its money instead of them just ceasing to exist.

The original trilogy put quite a bit into developing a lot of it's supporting cast and giving them histories and relationships for them to just be ignored now.
Click to expand...

Frankly, I'm glad they didn't pander to fan service like that. Hearing about how Nien Nunb has eighteen grandkids and now operates a successful laundromat chain would be incredibly jarring.
 
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Wedge's actor said he wasn't interested in returning, and really, he was just a pilot in the films. Can't go and explain everything in these films like what happened to Lando, did Boba Fett escape the Sarlacc, are the Ewoks apart of the Resistance and so on. Sorry, but really, it's just unimportant to the main plot of the film and serves nothing but, as Boli said, fan service.

If anything, I'm sure some of these things and the characters would be explained in new books or comic series, cause I can almost guarantee you there will be stuff that bridges Episode VII to Episode VIII.
 
Tristyn

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Like Phil and Greenranger said. The new trilogy isn't about the old characters and story.
 
Jake

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Personally, it didn't bother me because it wasn't the Star Wars I "knew and loved," so to speak, but because it didn't feel like there had been any effort to make it feel like a continuation of the Star Wars setting. It doesn't feel like another Star Wars film, it feels like a new science fiction movie created as an homage to Star Wars. We're literally right back where we started, with a new Rebel Alliance fighting against a new Empire. It makes the conflict of the original trilogy feel completely pointless.
 
Tristyn

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Yeah that also bugged me from the beginning, but every other aspect of the movie made me forget about it.
 
Braden

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Yea but if it spent fifteen minutes at just throwing information about characters from the previous films at us. Everyone new to the series would turn off.

I understand peoples negativities on the film. But I think a lot of them come down to how Disney had to react. And the reason I said had is at the end of the day this is a commercial enterprise as much as making a good film.

They had to get rid of EU there was no way they could make a sequel film with EU. Because they had to set the film at least 20-30 years after return of the Jedi due to the fact all the actors are older. And if they kept all of the books/comics/video games which took place in that timeline it would be a mess. I mean this is a list of all the legend cannon appearances of Luke after episode 6.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 1: In the Hands of Jabba the Hutt

There is no way it would work. So they had to get rid of EU and had to set a film 30 years later, plus they need to bring back old characters for the nostalgia draw and introduce new ones.

As I said before I loved the films, and completely understand some peoples negative thoughts and do agree with some of them. I am just taking a more pragmatic look as I know Disney had to do this, otherwise the 4 Billion dollars they paid for Star Wars would never be seen again.
 
Caine

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That's what happens when you make a movie by stripping parts out of the original trilogy and tacking them together, people liked it before so they can just reskin it and sell it again.
 
Prudence

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So, my personal opinion, is that some people bitch for the sake of bitching. No this movie didn't cure cancer or retcon Jar Jar out of the prequels, but it was a DAMN good movie.
Phil said:
Shame on you for being that "that guy" in the theater. Shame on you.
Click to expand...
^

Now, down to my review of the movie.

I, for one, particularly liked this movie. It gave us juuuust enough of a glimpse into what happened between 6-7 as to know what happened, but left it vague enough for some amazing novels to be written. I personally agree with @Raydo on this one, I loved the Prequels, and still do. Sure there was stiff dialogue and Jar Jar was painful at points, but I like them.

My theater was absolutely packed to the gills, with people oohing and ahhing at the various points in the movie, and the entire theater gave a round of applause at the end of the film.

The Story

I liked the idea of this story. Yes. the film was VERY symmetrical to Episode IV, (as LFL has recently pointed out they like to do, seeing as 1-4, 2-5, 3-6 are symmetrical as well. It's an artistic beauty), but the film was different enough from IV to make a good movie. I actually felt like a lot of the film resembled our new Dawn of the Republic timeline. The Republic has fought a war against the sith, they don't seem to want to really engage the First Order since they're kinda war tired. They support the Resistance (Border Alliance) to fight the New Order (sith empire). The First Order isn't a total controlling Empire. Instead they seem to have their slice of the galaxy. The Republic seems like the ruling body (until it got shit canned). Overall enough original story and enough Episode 4 to make for a nostalgia packed explosion.

It was VERY action packed, and ran at the same time as AotC or RotS, but lacked any of the bullshitty "I'M HAUNTED BY THAT KISS THAT I PRAY WON'T BECOME A SCAR."

New Characters

I quite liked the new characters. They gave each of them enough building that I'm intrigued and want to come back and see what happens to them, and more about who they are. I liked that Finn didn't have a name, and he was named by Poe. I felt like Poe, out of all of them, was the least built up.

But I mean:

  • Rey - Luke/Leia - Rey had scenes that reminded me of both Luke AND Leia. She is the orphan growing up on the desert world longing for more. But then at the same time we see a Leia flash back to her being interrogated on the Death Star Star Killer Base. However we break away from the damsel mentality when she breaks her damn self out.
  • Poe - Wedge (If you remember back to ANH Wedge gets little to no explanation as to who the hell he is, and doesn't get much in ANY movie).
I want to say that Finn and Rey are the new Han and Leia and Luke (with Rey being the latter two).

I've heard a lot of people (off site, some of my friends) bitch about Kylo and how he seemed whiney, I for one loved his character. He is a dynamic character. When we meet vader in Episode IV he's static. He is as evil as he gets, he's as powerful as he gets. He doesn't become more evil through the OT and he doesn't become more powerful through the OT. he stays constant. Kylo is going to be dynamic. He's going to evolve. We're going to see him struggling with this inner conflict and becoming (possibly) as sith? It was announced by Abrams a while ago that Kylo isn't a sith. He's a "Knight of Renn" or whatever. Anyways, I think he is going to be an excellent character to watch. He breaks away from the serious broody persona of Vader and Maul, and has a very sarcastic, young, pissed off personality. We see him break shit when he's mad. We see him nearly (or did he completely) kill an officer? We see him make sarcastic quips at Hux. He's a verrrryy nice character. While I'm talking about Kylo, that scene. The one that brought tears to your eyes. That was very important. While i hated seeing Han bite the dust, it was necessary. If daddy had been able to walk out and talk to Kylo and tell him that he always loved him and remind him that he made his mac'n'cheese just the way he liked it, and Kylo just drop the saber and join the resistance it would have been bullshitty to his character, and the movie as a whole. Now we the audience and the characters aren't going to be so quick to take Kylo/Ben back. He done killed our boy.

I do have to say, I hate what they did with Phasma. She walked, and she bitched at Finn and then got knocked out. I really hope we see more of her.

Original Characters
I liked the way they played allllll of them.

Harrison gave one of the best performances in this film that he ever has. Han was well built up, and you're made to love him just before he's ripped away from you.

Cheewie was well explored. Instead of being the walking strong brute, is actually funny, and some more people can understand what he's saying.

I would have loved to see more Luke, but I feel like this builds up for us to have some badass Luke reveals in the later movies.

Speculation

This movie, in my mind, paid mad homage to my favorite EU storyline, Legacy of the Force. I feel like there was just enough of it in there to hint at LotF, but enough to not be a clone. I mean we have Luke founding a Jedi order. Jacen/Ben/Kylo getting seduced to the darkside and killing Jedi. Luke feels like a failure and goes into exile. Jacen/Ben/Kylo becomes a military leader in the empireish regime.

I feel like Rey is the female Ben Skywalker. I totally think Luke founded his new Jedi order. Snoke (IS THAT PLAGUEIS) finds Ben/Kylo and seduces him to the darkside (which will be an awesome novel). Ben/Kylo kills the new version of Mara Jade and a bunch of the other Jedi. Luke calls it quits, dumps his young girl on a backwater planet (Jakku) to keep her out of the fight, and runs off. I mean, you saw that lightsaber call to her. You saw it fly to her. You see how strong with the force she is. That's gotta be Luke's girl. I went into this thinking she was going to be Jaina, but seeing as Leia and Han aren't looking for their girl, then she probably isn't theirs.
 
Caine

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* Shrugs * to each there own. If a lot of people had disliked it I'd have been shocked.
 
Tristyn

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My dad watched it with me and he liked it. Even if he thinks Star Wars is for nerds he admitted he enjoyed it.
 
Topher Ridge

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I'd say I would give the movie a solid 8/10. I had a smile on my face for the majority of the movie.

Only major complaints would be that it did feel like a rehashed a new hope, and it was a bit weird seeing people who've never even held a light saber use it pretty damn well against a trained force user. Though I chalk alot of that up to Kylo being injured by Chewie's bowcaster which we saw could blow mofos AWAY.

Other than that I'm looking forward to more and if they can keep this up I'll be more than happy.

Edit: @Boertjie yep I went with my roommate who doesn't like Star Wars that much and he freakin' loved it.
 
Jake

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Green Ranger said:
Eh, it feels closer to Star Wars than the Prequels do for me, so I just have to disagree with you on that @Jake.
Click to expand...

Thematically, it's definitely closer to Star Wars because it is a clone of A New Hope. I don't disagree with you at all there and I think it's a positive move, because the feel of old Star Wars was infinitely better than the prequels and felt like a real, genuinely good space opera setting for a sci fi franchise. I'm just talking about aesthetically, because I personally thought it was ridiculous that there was no reference to a planet that previously existed in Star Wars and practically no reference to species that existed in Star Wars, for the most part.

I personally felt like this was a bad move because it's just kind of a huge middle finger to the work of countless people on the EU. I didn't expect stories to be respected or all the same characters to show up, but I did expect them to actually look like they were basing the movie in the same universe. The way Hollywood works is no mystery, I realize that they're looking for maximum profit, but it just felt like an unnecessary move.

but like I said in my review, I'm just playing doomsayer because I really was not impressed by the movie. The rest of the trilogy might be a big improvement: the first six were all very different movies, and I expect the same from these three. And I'm not trying to convince anyone to agree with me about TFA sucking, I'm just telling people that I personally thought it did. :p
 
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Phil

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I do have to agree with you on this, @Prudence.

Phasma basically got the Boba Fett treatment, but worse. I don't think she ever fought or fired her gun. And I really, really hope she survived and we atleast see a bit more of her.
 
Tristyn

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I think a large portion of the "Legends" articles on Wookieepedia should be renamed to "Alternate Universe"
 
Prudence

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Boertjie said:
I think a large portion of the "Legends" articles on Wookieepedia should be renamed to "Alternate Universe"
Click to expand...
the official name for the Expanded Universe is Legends.
 
Tristyn

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Right sorry. But you know what I mean anyway
 
Prudence

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Jake said:
Thematically, it's definitely closer to Star Wars because it is a clone of A New Hope. I don't disagree with you at all there and I think it's a positive move, because the feel of old Star Wars was infinitely better than the prequels and felt like a real, genuinely good space opera setting for a sci fi franchise. I'm just talking about aesthetically, because I personally thought it was ridiculous that there was no reference to a planet that previously existed in Star Wars and practically no reference to species that existed in Star Wars, for the most part.

I personally felt like this was a bad move because it's just kind of a huge middle finger to the work of countless people on the EU. I didn't expect stories to be respected or all the same characters to show up, but I did expect them to actually look like they were basing the movie in the same universe. The way Hollywood works is no mystery, I realize that they're looking for maximum profit, but it just felt like an unnecessary move.

but like I said in my review, I'm just playing doomsayer because I really was not impressed by the movie. The rest of the trilogy might be a big improvement: the first six were all very different movies, and I expect the same from these three. And I'm not trying to convince anyone to agree with me about TFA sucking, I'm just telling people that I personally thought it did. :p
Click to expand...
What I'm getting here is:

"I didn't expect them to base the stories off of the Expanded Universe but I really feel like this movie was disrespectful because they didn't base it off of the expanded universe."

It was similar enough to the EU to nod at it, but different enough that this is a new story, and we're not cloning previous stories.
 
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