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Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)  

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  1. 1. Star Wars The Force Awakens



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I saw this movie on opening day, and I will admit it, it was great.  I had my reservations going in and I completely expected it to be mediocre.  I was wrong.  The comedy was great and there was a good mix of that along with action.  I loved the new characters and enjoyed seeing the old ones.  My only problem was that the plot was thin, but they needed that to focus on new characters.  If the plot would have been huge with throwing new characters in, I feel it would have been too much.  Overall, great movie.  Definitely in the top 3 star wars movies for me.

 

Final verdict is an A-.  I fully expect episodes 8 and 9 to be the best of them all.  I literally can't wait.  Such a good start to a new movie series in the star wars saga.

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3 hours ago, Dark Jedi Master 007 said:

Surprisingly, this captured a lot of my thoughts on the film. The movie was incredible for the first half or so, and then slowly started to diminish as time went on. I'd argue the problem was with the old characters being wasted. Han, Leia, and Luke didn't have much of an impact, imo, relative to their status in this saga's history. I'd much rather have had this story just be about Rey and Finn with some allusions to the past. Overall, though, despite agreeing with this post, I liked the film slightly more than you did. 

Grade: B- 

 

Same like I said in my overly long Revieuw and I gae it exactly the same grade :D

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Forgot to post this last week-I saw it at a 7PM showing. Film was really good, audience enjoyed it (though there was one really annoying guy in front of me during the trailers...)

The visuals were great and I did enjoy the story (though they credited Hamil way too high, expected, but still...)
And I enjoyed the fact that there was a cantina scene! Back in 1999 the one thing that bugged me in TPM was that there was not one. (Yes really)

A

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Well, I'm happy with that. I agree that it aint perfect, for all of the reasons already mentioned (my main issue was a slightly slow & draggy midsection). But when it hit the high notes, boy did it hit them. I loved all of the new characters (great casting) and JJ knows how to put together a killer set piece (the escape from Jakku was wonderful). Having rewatched the OT recently, I'm most impressed at how JJ and co have been able to preserve the tone and feel of the OT without it feeling camp or oddly retro.

 

Yeah there's probably too much fan service going on but the film did exactly what it needed to for me - I'm completely reinvested in the world of Star Wars and totally pumped for what comes next. As set ups go, this is pretty mouth watering. I cannot wait to see what Rian Johnson does for Ep 8.

 

The fact that I've barely been able to sleep because I've spent half the night online desperately reading theory articles is usually the sign of something that's struck a chord with me.

 

9/10

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On December 21, 2015 at 11:36:09 PM, Darth Water Bottle said:

Just because you feel unsatisfied doesn't mean the movie didn't tell a complete story. Just because you wanted to know more doesn't mean anything. I want to know more as well. That's just a sign that I liked it: there are so many questions I want answered. If the movie raised questions and I didn't care, that would have been a problem.

It's not a terrible comparison just because you can't be objective about it. If you don't like the serialization of films then Star Wars simply won't be for you. Even with A New Hope, the franchise was built on being a series of serial films. But Harry Potter was serialized even if most of the movies had their own plots. Just like how Star Wars films have their own plots...even if there is a Universe out there that the movies constantly remind you.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

I think the Harry Potter comparison doesn't work. 

 

TFA is stuck in a conundrum because it's neither the first movie nor the last. Therefore, it needs to build on what the predecessor has given it, but it does not do that.

 

If, at a stretch, you wanted to use Potter for comparison, it would be Harry Potter (or his grandson's name) 9, taking place 40 years later, and having the Wizarding War happening again, or happened, with there being yet another Dark Lord. Great that so many are so easily pleased, but I sure would not be. 

 

In my eyes, TFA fails because the story is a repeat of what we have seen before and disregards character and universe history. We are expected to believe that the Jedi/good guys/Republic/whatever become the resistance once again? That's like saying America will get conquered by Britain and needs to fight for its independence again...with horses and bayonets. No one could sense that Kylo Ren would be influenced by the Sith/dark/bad guys/whatever? My questions are not, like yours seem to be, "OMG How did this happen?!?!?!" as opposed to, "Are you fucking kidding me, they went with that?" They built a Death Star with the same weakness, we get another super villain hologram, another Master Jedi hiding out alone to solve his problems or because it's better for everyone etc. I am not saying that history does not repeat itself, it does, we see it today with Jews oppressing Palestinians one clear and egregious example, but the way in which it would happen has to be conceivable or believable. What TFA failed at doing was convincing me otherwise. 

 

Yes, they could have built another super-weapon, but let's not make the weak point a tiny section of the planet/system accessible by a super-pilot. Why make it accessible? Why set it up for the biggest fail you already should know about? Yes, Kylo Ren could have gone bad, but did he really have to go Anakin 2.0 when his parents and Luke surely warned him about it? And, talking of the prequels, a lot of people love ROTS, but it was the worst Star Wars entry. Zero realistic character development for Anakin, so to copy that storyline, surely people would be up in arms. (The entire story of Palpatine and etc etc was all some hot, terrible, unrealistic bullshit.)

 

There are instances you can forgive easily (Rey and Finn getting caught by Chewie and Han) and others (tentacle monster dragging Finn around the corridors for ages instead of eating him like all the others) that are just bad writing. The former, has a chance of happening, the latter, as history or proof is shown to us, is not, and yet still does. 

 

There is still a chance the sequels might be better and maybe even "justify" TFA, but that does not make TFA a good standalone movie. At least book series can fall back on the excuse that it's based on the source material (though splits stretch that). This is supposed to be an "original" movie. 

 

If anything, I'm getting excited for Avatar 2, even when I did not like the first much. From the amount of time Cameron has spoken of development, I can at least feel that there has been thought put into developing the universe, if not the story. TFA rehashed its universe and its story. 

 

 

 

 

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Positive:

- the new characters worked so well. Finn is extremely likeable, Rey is a very well-rounded character and Poe is a badass. BB-8 couldn't have been much cuter and funnier than he was. Kylo Ren was an awesome villain, though obviously nowhere close to Darth Vader (but that should have been expected).

- the old cast also worked great. Harrison Ford was strong as were most of the other familiar faces.

- the action scenes were terrific, especially the chase on Jakku and the lightsabre fight at the end.

- the movie was a lot funnier than I expected. Great humor that unlike the prequels didn't feel forced. The scene where BB-8 gets out the lighter to salute Finn had my whole audience roaring with laughter.

- beautiful cinematography. Jakku and the other planets looked gorgeous.

- visuals and FX were top-notch as expected.

- the confrontation between Han and Kylo was quite emotional and well-made.

- the cliffhanger at the end while kind of mean still worked quite well for me in even more eagerly anticipating Episode VIII.

- the acting was much better than in the prequels and even better than Episode IV IMO.

 

Negative:

- some of the side characters (Max von Sydow, Maz Kanata, CAPTAIN PHASMA!!!) felt underused.

- while in general I didn't have a problem with many plot points from A New Hope being redone, Starkiller/Death Star #3 really felt too similar to the OT.

- although Han and Kylo's confrontation was great, Han's actual death and especially the reactions to it could've been handled better. Especially Leia didn't seem as affected as she should've been.

- speaking of Leia, she wasn't that good in the movie. Her character didn't appear much and Fisher's acting wasn't exactly great, either.

- the score was solid, but apart from the reuse of old themes, didn't stand out.

 

Overall, though, The Force Awakens was tons of fun and injected some much-needed life and energy into the franchise. Rian Johnson got an awesome template from Abrams and will hopefully make Episode VIII even better than its predecessor.

 

Rating: B+ or 8.5/10

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Awesome from beginning to end. I absolutely adored this movie. I honestly can't think of any glaring flaws that stood out to me off the top of my head. Just a few small nit picky things. If I had to rank it among the Star Wars films it would be ranked at...

 

1. ESB- A+

2. ANH- A+

3. TFA- A

4. ROTJ- A

5. ROTS- B

6. TCW- C+ (Technically counting as it was a theatrical release)

7. TPM- C-

8. AOTC- D+

 

I also have a cool theory (potentially two of them) about Snoke I might share at some point once the hype train dies down a bit.

 

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On 12/22/2015, 10:09:25, Lordmandeep said:

Does not have a pop-out iconic scene like the old films or prequels.

 

Apart from that 4/5 below the old films. 

 

Han Solo's death could easily become iconic, as well as Rey grabbing the lightsaber, and "Chewie, we're home!"

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After giving it some time to sink in and seeing it twice (soon to be three times). I decided.. I absolutely love it, Yes it shares a lot of similarities to ANH, but it is intentional and a homage to the film imo, I mean I still can't stop thinking about it or talking about it or listening to the score. and I'm just freaking insanely happy we have another Good star wars movie with the excitement of more to come, Daisy Ridley just kills it as Rey, John Boyega is Great, but a highpoint for me was Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. he is more of the most intriguing and interesting star wars villains ever, his raw power and loose cannon personality only adds to my enjoyment of the character. brilliant writing there. Really loved Poe, just wish he had more screentime and I am hoping he will be a lead later on. my biggest negatives were probably that Leia wasn't a Jedi, which just doesn't seem to add up with ROTJ to me. and Starkiller Base, despite being capable of the destruction of entire solar systems didn't seem to be that much of a threat (and it was also very redundant, no more super weapons please. :) ) Harrison was Great, and that Ending with Luke!!! fuck such a fucking cliffhanger and it was perfect and awful at the same time.. I know Mark Only had that one scene, but man he nailed it.  so yeah loved it, I can nitpick it if I want and sure it's a flawed movie, but I freaking fucking loved it and I want more!!! 

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On 12/23/2015, 2:25:59, BK007 said:

 

I think the Harry Potter comparison doesn't work. 

 

TFA is stuck in a conundrum because it's neither the first movie nor the last. Therefore, it needs to build on what the predecessor has given it, but it does not do that.

 

If, at a stretch, you wanted to use Potter for comparison, it would be Harry Potter (or his grandson's name) 9, taking place 40 years later, and having the Wizarding War happening again, or happened, with there being yet another Dark Lord. Great that so many are so easily pleased, but I sure would not be. 

 

In my eyes, TFA fails because the story is a repeat of what we have seen before and disregards character and universe history. We are expected to believe that the Jedi/good guys/Republic/whatever become the resistance once again? That's like saying America will get conquered by Britain and needs to fight for its independence again...with horses and bayonets. No one could sense that Kylo Ren would be influenced by the Sith/dark/bad guys/whatever? My questions are not, like yours seem to be, "OMG How did this happen?!?!?!" as opposed to, "Are you fucking kidding me, they went with that?" They built a Death Star with the same weakness, we get another super villain hologram, another Master Jedi hiding out alone to solve his problems or because it's better for everyone etc. I am not saying that history does not repeat itself, it does, we see it today with Jews oppressing Palestinians one clear and egregious example, but the way in which it would happen has to be conceivable or believable. What TFA failed at doing was convincing me otherwise. 

 

Yes, they could have built another super-weapon, but let's not make the weak point a tiny section of the planet/system accessible by a super-pilot. Why make it accessible? Why set it up for the biggest fail you already should know about? Yes, Kylo Ren could have gone bad, but did he really have to go Anakin 2.0 when his parents and Luke surely warned him about it? And, talking of the prequels, a lot of people love ROTS, but it was the worst Star Wars entry. Zero realistic character development for Anakin, so to copy that storyline, surely people would be up in arms. (The entire story of Palpatine and etc etc was all some hot, terrible, unrealistic bullshit.)

 

There are instances you can forgive easily (Rey and Finn getting caught by Chewie and Han) and others (tentacle monster dragging Finn around the corridors for ages instead of eating him like all the others) that are just bad writing. The former, has a chance of happening, the latter, as history or proof is shown to us, is not, and yet still does. 

 

There is still a chance the sequels might be better and maybe even "justify" TFA, but that does not make TFA a good standalone movie. At least book series can fall back on the excuse that it's based on the source material (though splits stretch that). This is supposed to be an "original" movie. 

 

If anything, I'm getting excited for Avatar 2, even when I did not like the first much. From the amount of time Cameron has spoken of development, I can at least feel that there has been thought put into developing the universe, if not the story. TFA rehashed its universe and its story. 

 

 

 

 

 

My questions aren't "OMG! How did this happen!?" but rather "oh, this actually makes sense." It makes total sense that a new Republic would start. It makes total sense that the Imperial Army that was loyal to the Army would be lost until it found new leadership (under Snoke) and that would become the First Order. It would make sense that the First Order would gain territory and the Republic itself would be too weak to really resist it-new democracies formed from the ashes of a strong centralized Empire often have problems. It makes sense that a resistance group would prop up in First Oder space in an effort to defeat evil once again. And yes, I do believe that the same people and that the Jedi and that the good guys would become the resistance again rather than accept this new evil. Not only does what happen make sense, it's perfectly realistic. It's not rehashing the universe but pointing out a logical place for the story to go after ROTJ: it's naive to think defeating the Emperor would set the universe right and democracy would automatically triumph.

 

It makes sense they would build a new super-weapon and they didn't make it accessible to a super-pilot. They made it accessible to a crazy pilot who realized that shield technology wouldn't stop them from going through the shield if they were still in lightspeed. That's a technical limitation within the SW universe. They didn't make it accessible on purpose. This was also a different weakness than in the first Death Star (the shield was covering the weak point of the weapon after all). You also forget that while the idea is the same, I do think there is enough differences in the execution of the idea that it works.

 

I think it makes sense Kylo Ren would be seduced by the dark side. It's a bit silly to assume that they are copying the same character arc as with Vader unless you are seriously suggesting that they never ever have a good guy turn dark ever again. Jedi going to the dark side isn't something they just did with Anakin but also with Count Dooku. In other words, it's setting up silly constraints on what the series can do in the future.

 

See, here's the thing. Yes, it's going back to the roots of the franchise. There's nothing wrong with that. And TFA is a lot of fun, so that helps. But to suggest no thought has been put into developing the SW universe is just not right-you just have to actually pay attention and connect dots yourself rather than have it spoonfed to you. I think a lot of people put a lot of effort to set up the new trilogy. Also the idea that they didn't do nothing new in TFA is a bit silly. It's not all rehash and the history repeating itself...it sort of does but it's also a natural evolution from what happened in the OT.

 

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On 12/21/2015, 6:37:34, pepsa said:

They didn’t explain why everyone forgot about the jedi and siths in such a short time. I mean how can it become a legend in 30 years. It’s seems way to be believable.
 

 

Overstated.

 

In TPM Anakin the slave boy knows who the Jedi are, what they stand for, and that they are formidable. It's pretty obvious that people know who the jedi are and that people respect/fear them as adversaries. Not once in the PT did the Jedi have to explain themselves or prove themselves or show people that, yes the Force does exist. It was accepted by fact.

 

Fast forward like 20 years after ROTS. The OT treats the Jedi and the Force in a very different light. For one thing, Han Solo was born sometime during the last days of the Republic. While he might have known about the Jedi, he doesn't believe in the Force even though it was recently common knowledge that it existed and the Jedi yielded it. Obi-Wan has to teach Luke about one of the most important events in the history of the galaxy: the betrayal of the Jedi (then again, I can't imagine Tatooine history classes are that good). Meanwhile, the Empire itself treats the Force as an "ancient religion" (to imply that the religion isn't just old but also that it's been gone for a while) and mere tricks. It's true Jabba the Hutt knew about the Force (which is good seeing as how we see him in TPM) so it's complicated. Having said that, I think the Jedi were still remembered and they were being led by a Sith Lord.

 

Fast forward another 30 years. Now it's TFA. i wouldn't say that the Jedi/Sith have become legends. Finn believes in the Force (he does see Kalo use it). We never see him doubt it. Rey, who has been living as a scavenger isolated and alone and whose memory might have been tampered with, is the one who questions the Force (Han reassures her that yes it does exist). As for the Jedi? The Jedi haven't been a real presence as an order in 50 years. There was Luke Skywalker who tried to bring them back and people did hear about his exploits. I could be wrong but I think it's interesting to note Finn accepts Luke is real from the onset while it's Rey who insists she thought he was only a legend (which might make sense if her memory was tampered but also her isolation). I noticed it was she alone who was surprised he still existed and I wouldn't be surprised if that's important. The First Order are still hunting Luke down so they know the Jedi exist. So does the Resistance. It's JUST Rey who doubts his existence.

 

Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia...they have all become legends in the SW universe. Finn is pretty awestruck by meeting Han Solo (Rey is noticeably way less impressed). So clearly they remember 30 years ago. When talking about what's true, I believe Han Solo was talking about the Force. He wasn't talking about the Jedi/Sith.

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give this an A- , i enjoyed it ok the first time , liked it better on my 2nd viewing ! 

 

but i don't deny the many flaws , the movie was fast and furious , a good tentpole broad enough to please the biggest crowd possible so in that sense it does deliver  i'll go see it again sometime this weekend i suppose why not 

 

truth be told i've developed a fetish liking to the idea of rey and kylo ren falling madly in love:wub: (fanfiction is the best they're already a big thing as a couple, also nice to know you're not the only one who left the movie thinking hmm these two have crazy potential for an angsty drama filled relationship)

 

yeah yeah i know the movie presents finn and rey as the cutesy pair with cutesy potential for romance but meh who wants cute , we want passion lolllll

 

ok back to the movie man oh man kylo killing his dad that left a bad taste in my mind i was like dude that's cold , poor solo what an end , hopefully his last thought was if that what's needed for you to be save and go back to your mother then i forgive you , he didnt seem mad at him still showed his kid love!

 

seriously kylo ren is the most interesting character in this , how do you go from being the love child of han solo & princess leia to vader wannabee, i feel like crying whyyy whyyyy oh the curse of being a skywalker i dunno but i will always feel that dude in TPM should have left anakin alone he was such a happy kid and he plucked him out of obscurity and into epic tragedy . The force is too strong in them i don't know if they're able to balance it within themselves it seems to manifest in extreme too much

 

yeah i think what i found most interesting about this movie was what was not on screen , rey's past , han solo/leia romance guess happily ever after didn't last as long they might have hoped but kinda realistic they were such an unlikely pair to begin with free spirit space cowboy and the uptight princess ,  luke training kylo wtf went wrong there , luke leia and solo relationship after that even though snoke seduced him to dark side you gotta wonder wtf was luke doing that snoke got away with that , lot of guilt and blaming must have ensued , was he a good jedi master to his young padawan ?

 

i have to say leia and solo aged well , ford is still very handsome , i've read he didnt want to do the movie and only on condition he died he accepted is any of that true ?

 

gotta give jj abrams kudos for giving this a new vibe to liking of new generation of fans  , he has a good feel for starting something but i'm not convinced he knows how to handle the and now what bit that follows as evidence by his many shows he seems to abandon mid stride ....

 

i'm sure others have noted many things noteworthy of nitpicking , like rey magical instant use of the force ( fast and furious method lol) i would say also i didn't notice gwendolyn christie presence of lupita at first , 2nd viewing i at least notice that stormtrooper in grey might be her due to voice , and read on imdb who lupita was when someone asked how she had luke lightsaber in her possession 

 

as for finn ehh he's ok i like him , i like him even better with poe the pilot , he seems out of his dept the character not the actor but that's probably intentional he was after all programmed to be a drone like stormtrooper character growth possibility hmmm , Poe was the most fun character of the movie that i find reminded you of old movie spirit 

 

my pet peeve kylo sounding british at time when neither parents do , how could they let that pass , did no one notice this while filming or is this a hint he was raised by someone british after being abducted to dark side i mean at what age did he leave his parents ?

 

ps i liked general flex wait ...its Hux i think well he was flexing his power muscles every scene with kylo ren lol

 

is snoke related to that general anakin killed in attack of the clones ? who is this dude and why did he do that to baby ben sniff boo hoo hoo 

 

basically i liked the movie well enough , not enough to nitpick incessantly over it or get upset over this or that opinion of it , not enough to remember much about it apart from fact it was entertaining in the moment and at the end of the day what more can you ask for in a movie than mindless entertainment at a minimum , the only thing i'm relatively passionate about is kylo/rey but since that's unlikely to happen in the movie i'm ok !

it certainly was a pretty good movie to see in IMAX 3D for a first .....

 

ps2: i saw captain america civil war trailer man oh man that movie will be my 2nd IMAX viewing:wub: unless i'm forgetting some epic movie in between coming out !

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Only ten pages? Weaksauce, guys.

 

I've now left this film two times thinking a similar thought: that was pretty good! You can feel the laborious process that went into every step the understandably-terrified creators must've gone through. A lot of their choices end up working, particularly when BIG! things happen, but the film resultantly loses a sense of play, of looseness, of focusing on the world that exists between the characters (all promising and well performed) instead of the world that reveres the mythology surrounding them. I think my response to Adam Driver - an edge-of-my-seat gleeful curiosity at his every monologue and hand gesture - indicates that to me Kylo feels like this trilogy charting its own path - his emotion feels buoyed from the influence of the light/dark side and not from homaging the people we know.

 

Could've stood with less plot. BB8 and the map to Luke work just fine as Macguffins but Starkiller Base hardly seemed necessary, except for Abrams to pull a Trek and artificially raise the stakes through planet death. 

MVPs: Driver, Ridley, Chewy, BB8, Ford. Issac and Boyega burst off the screen with charisma but they need more from the story first. Nyong'o didn't work. Serkis feels like a Thanos rip.

Also, 2015's most awkward jump-cut goes to cutting in the MIDDLE of some Carrie Fischer line she says to Ford. She sure wasn't good in this but I do have to wonder how hard it would've been to reshoot a single damn take of that closeup.

 

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On 12/27/2015 at 0:13 AM, Gopher said:

Only ten pages? Weaksauce, guys.

 

I've now left this film two times thinking a similar thought: that was pretty good! You can feel the laborious process that went into every step the understandably-terrified creators must've gone through. A lot of their choices end up working, particularly when BIG! things happen, but the film resultantly loses a sense of play, of looseness, of focusing on the world that exists between the characters (all promising and well performed) instead of the world that reveres the mythology surrounding them. I think my response to Adam Driver - an edge-of-my-seat gleeful curiosity at his every monologue and hand gesture - indicates that to me Kylo feels like this trilogy charting its own path - his emotion feels buoyed from the influence of the light/dark side and not from homaging the people we know.

 

Could've stood with less plot. BB8 and the map to Luke work just fine as Macguffins but Starkiller Base hardly seemed necessary, except for Abrams to pull a Trek and artificially raise the stakes through planet death. 

MVPs: Driver, Ridley, Chewy, BB8, Ford. Issac and Boyega burst off the screen with charisma but they need more from the story first. Nyong'o didn't work. Serkis feels like a Thanos rip.

Also, 2015's most awkward jump-cut goes to cutting in the MIDDLE of some Carrie Fischer line she says to Ford. She sure wasn't good in this but I do have to wonder how hard it would've been to reshoot a single damn take of that closeup.

 

Blame the spoilers thread :lol: 

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Finally saw it, 8/10 A- on first impression. A giant-budget feelgood actioner pushing all the right buttons, but going soft on logic, story and tension.

 

my favourite item: Rey - the spunky, crafty heroine is much more fun than whiny Luke was in Ep 4/5.

 

least favourite item: Deathstar nr. 3. I mean, honestly? Again?

 

btw I don't want to read through dozens of posts, much work atm  - who is this Rey girl supposed to be? Luke's daughter?

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