Star Wars - The Force Awakens (SPOILERS Thread)

[thecuddlyninja]

Was it? I must have missed that one. I thought the "Knights of Ren" (Who we see in Rey's flashback/forward) were maybe those pupils. Ren turned them to evil like the ringwraiths or something.

I think they just say he ended it all, so it could probably be interpreted either way.

 

[TomH1138]

1. They quickly show how powerful Ren is when he stops the blaster bolt. He is bratty and undisciplined, but he has some training and is powerful.
2. They mention it in the film ..... kinda, it is a quick mention so I see why people are missing this. The Republic has separated themselves from any fighting, so the Resistance is doing the fighting on their own. In the movie they talk about how the Resistance has backers from the New Republic.
3. I think it is called Force Awakens because the story really is about Ren's (the stories main character) awakening making the story very personal to being about her.
4. This one was told, Ren killed all of Luke's other pupils .... it is why Luke removed himself from society.
5. I was 100% agreeing with you on Snoke, till it is a hologram. Until I see Snoke in full motion, the bad cgi thing isn't bothering me.

I am surprised, by only a 3.5 Star review, or maybe I am more surprised by giving Jedi a 5 star review when it has far more flaws than this movie.

1. Yeah, stopping the blaster bolt was cool. He didn't seem that imposing to me in the rest of the film, though.

2. Ah, I see. That went by too fast for me. Thanks for clarifying.

3. I suppose so. But Snoke mentioning it made it seem like it was something that was overall happening to the Force. You're probably right, though.

4. Again, thank you for catching something that I missed.

5. I knew that the projection was supposed to be a hologram, but I still would think that the character would look like that in real life. For instance, when Vader and the Emperor talked to each other via hologram, they still looked like themselves. You seem to be thinking that there's a Wizard of Oz thing going on here. That may be the case.

As for giving more stars to Jedi, that's because I genuinely don't think it has more flaws. One of Jedi's flaws is reusing the Death Star idea. This film also does that, and this time it's the fourth re-do of this idea (counting the droid control ship in TPM), which makes it inexcusable.

Everyone complains that George should have used Wookies instead of Ewoks, but with the disastrous Holiday Special still a relatively fresh and painful memory for George, that just wasn't going to happen. Yes, they're marketable toys, but the marketing worked because they genuinely are cute. I can't say that for any of the new creatures except BB-8.

Also, John Williams turns out some amazing pieces for that film, from the delightful "Parade of the Ewoks" to the exciting "Forest Battle" and the haunting "Final Duel." Again, none of Williams' new compositions registered with me at all. And I stayed through the whole end credits, so I had a chance to focus on just the score itself.

I'm not saying that you have to agree with me; I'm just explaining how I compare and contrast the two.

 

[revel911]

5. I knew that the projection was supposed to be a hologram, but I still would think that the character would look like that in real life. For instance, when Vader and the Emperor talked to each other via hologram, they still looked like themselves. You seem to be thinking that there's a Wizard of Oz thing going on here. That may be the case.
Also, John Williams turns out some amazing pieces for that film, from the delightful "Parade of the Ewoks" to the exciting "Forest Battle" and the haunting "Final Duel." Again, none of Williams' new compositions registered with me at all. And I stayed through the whole end credits, so I had a chance to focus on just the score itself.

I'm not saying that you have to agree with me; I'm just explaining how I compare and contrast the two.

I think Snoke will be a much more refined CGI and maybe part puppetry when we see him in person, I still have a hutch he is like 4 feet tall relating to Yoda.

Your comment about the music is quite true, this was the worst Star Wars when it comes to music. The good thing is that we are on a Fan Editing board and something fixable.

 

[TMBTM]

I'm listening to the soundtrack before watching the movie a second time, maybe next week, and the music is growing on me.
It's true that the only instantly memorable theme to me is Rey's one (that theme is pur Star Wars gold.) but Kylo Ren's one is solid.

By the way the name Kylo... it stands for sKYwalker and soLO i suppose. (nerd thought here, I know...)

 

[TomH1138]

I'm listening to the soundtrack before watching the movie a second time, maybe next week, and the music is growing on me.
It's true that the only instantly memorable theme to me is Rey's one (that theme is pur Star Wars gold.) but Kylo Ren's one is solid.

Good to know! I thought that Williams' score for Attack of the Clones was fairly dull when I heard the CD, but then I heard an expanded version and was much more impressed. I'm hoping that I learn to like this score more from repeated listening.

By the way the name Kylo... it stands for sKYwalker and soLO i suppose. (nerd thought here, I know...)

Ooh, I like that!

BTW, whenever I hear the "Knights of Ren," I picture this guy:

 

[Brumous]

It's true that the only instantly memorable theme to me is Rey's one (that theme is pur Star Wars gold.) but Kylo Ren's one is solid.

Rey's theme and the 'Torn Apart' track are the only ones that stir any interest in me. So much of the score is so average and stale, like the background of a 1950s C-grade adventure movie. Faneditors have a real challenge with rescoring TFA in a way that brings some energy to the music but also doesn't make awkward intrusions.

 

[TomH1138]

Good news for fan editors: JJ Abrams says that there's about 20 minutes of cut scenes.

http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/star...-awakens-did-chewbacca-have-a-major-scene-cut

Of course, some of the scenes that Alan Dean Foster included may have been simply his way of expanding the story to book length rather than being directly from the screenplay. For instance, Ghost Obi-Wan's assertion that "Uncle" Owen was actually his own brother in the Return of the Jedi novelization was an invention of author James Kahn, and was later contradicted in the prequels.

Still, it'll be neat to see what's there, and how it would reshape the story!

 

[TMBTM]

 

[ssj]

The system destroyed gets mentioned by Hux I believe, and it wasn't Coruscant (Which is it's own system). A fanedit could remove that dialogue and insert a scene of some boring Senate meeting happening as the fire rains down :lol:.

^ this, yeah.

 

[ssj]

haven't read the whole thread, but i'll ask anyway:

anybody else regard the tentacle monster as an homage to the spherical boulder in raiders of the lost ark?

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Yes, definitely (yet another) homage.

The more I think about this movie, the more I think it suffers from a lot of the story issues of the PT. There are too many "rhymes" (as Lucas would put it), there are too many instances where character motivations are lacking or poorly conveyed, there are many instances where the characters behave inexplicably, there are some thing that are over-explained and others that we're asked to just go with. Basically, I think the movie succeeds more than the PT for three reasons: the world feels real with less emphasis on green screen, the acting is good, and it's just more fun than the PT was. But I think a Mr. Plinkett review could rip this movie apart in much the same way. All that said, I still enjoyed it more than anything in the PT and I'm looking forward to Episode 8.


ETA: there's no doubt that the OT suffered from some of the same issues as well. I'm not pretending it doesn't.

 

[TV's Frink]

My wife continues to be the best. Our tickets were for tomorrow, but she surprised me with extra tickets for last weekend.

Anyway, I loved it. There are flaws, no doubt, but I'm fine with all of them. I haven't had this much fun (watching a movie) in a long time. I can't wait to see it again tomorrow.

And I'm excited to see what other movies the new cast do so I can use their work in my eventual edit of the movie.

 

[TM2YC]

eventual edit of the movie.

A couple of ideas for that did occur to me:

- Having Ren (From Ren & Stimpy) voice Ren obviously
- Use the audio from this scene from Austin Powers...

...to augment the audio in the final scene as Rey approaches Luke's back and waits for him to turn around (From whatever he was doing over that cliff edge ;-)).

 

[Hal9000]

Tee hee.

 

[TV's Frink]

- Having Ren (From Ren & Stimpy) voice Ren obviously

I like the idea of him speaking like Ren with the helmet on and as himself with it off.

 

[revel911]

I walked out feeling that the homages were on purpose and the circular arch giving way to a repeat of ANH was again on purpose. I feel justified having hearing JJ in that interview with Lawerence say that "to move forward, we had to start backwards." And I get that, he needed to rebuild new audiences and regain an old audience with themes we knew, to start with themes we didn't.

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

Rant commencing.

I saw it again last night. I had the luxury of not having nor wanting to like it this time. It does clip by at an incredible speed, but this movie is just missing soul. As mentioned, Kylo is super ominous at the beginning, kind of reminds me of a young Bane, but then he turns into a tantrum throwing 2 year old.

The biggest offense of this movie, other than it's tired plot, is the dialogue. Finn is one of the most painful characters to ever be in Star Wars. Honestly, I find him as annoying, if not more so, than Jar Jar Binks. Equally cringeworthy were the rathtars, or whatever they called them, and the Big Trouble in Little China gang fight. Captain Phasma is even more of a joke of a character on the second viewing, she shouldn't have been in this movie. It seems like she and Finn's whole existence in this movie was to enter a fan boy reference of the garbage compactor.

I've listened to the soundtrack and while it's a decent Harry Potter soundtrack, it's not up to snuff with any of the other Star Wars offerings, or Harry Potter soundtracks for that matter.

It's nice to hear that we will most likely get some deleted scenes, but I think a lot of them will be with Maz and therefore unfinished cgi and unusable. Sad, as she was one of the better characters in the movie.

For everyone that thought this movie was terrible I'd recommend a second vewing with a friend that has similar movie interests. I took my sister and it was fun to pick it apart during the credits. Made it a memorable experience.

Moving on, it was interesting to hear Ben Kenobi's voice say "Rey" this time around. It's almost as if this and Yoda's. Included lines during the force vision imply that the interchange of ""that boy was our last hope", "no, there is another" from Empire references Rey. Perhaps they will bring the whole prophecy thing back to tie this whole saga together.this wouldn't be entirely bad of an idea, but I'll admit that I'm personally wanting the Skywalker family to stop both messing up and saving the galaxy.

Did anyone else catch the censorship? When I watched it last night on regular def and 2D, Finn said "dang it" when the turret guns get hit and jam during the first flight of the Millenium Falcon. He used a slightly different wording when I watched it opening day in the IMAX 3D. Because of this perceived alteration I found myself more engaged the rest of the film, looking for other changes, thinking that the first viewing was a dream or that one of you fine fan editors had infiltrated disney and fixed this awful mess, but alas all the other snokes, I mean jokes, were still there.

Well, it wasn't the prequels.

My reaction to this production is echoed by Ben Kenobi, " You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany. We must be cautious."

As for ideas for a Fink Ridiulous edit, I wonder if the opening crawl could title the movie "A Newer Hope" or "A Ridiculously Newer Hope".

All that aside, I do love the feelers when Rey force pulls the lightsaber into her hand and away from Kylo Ren, now THAT is Star Wars.

Rant done.

 

[TV's Frink]

The biggest offense of this movie, other than it's tired plot, is the dialogue. Finn is one of the most painful characters to ever be in Star Wars. Honestly, I find him as annoying, if not more so, than Jar Jar Binks.

That's crazy. Finn was great. And even if you don't think so, I have to question how you can possibly equate him with Jar Jar. Perhaps you should explain in more detail.

I also thought the dialogue was great.

 

[Q2F]

That's crazy. Finn was great. And even if you don't think so, I have to question how you can possibly equate him with Jar Jar. Perhaps you should explain in more detail.

I also thought the dialogue was great.

The only time I thought Finn's dialog was bad or cliche was when he was getting into Captain Phasma's face. It reminded me of the stereotypical black man getting anxious and spouting off nonsense.

 

[TM2YC]

I treated myself to the TFA visual dictionary in the Boxing Day sales. Good that it's got the same design as the previous books going back to 1997.

It's great to see all the props and costumes in close detail and there is much background detail about the new universe. A few things I noted on a skim through...

- It is Ackbar at the briefing
- Also the pilot in the battle is Nien Nunb
- Rey's helmet belongs to rebel pilot called "Raeh". So maybe he was her father, or she's just taken his name, or it was given to her?