It’s more of a ‘review’-type thread, for everyone’s post-viewing thoughts…as opposed to a ‘spoilers-beforehand’ kind of thread, I guess. I just thought it would be good to encourage everyone to add their impressions in the one, single thread at this point. But no-one’s forcing you to use it, of course (see what I did there?) - I read your own comments with interest by the way, and look forward to seeing what others reckon to the movie as well.
Bout ta watch this thing… then I can’t be spoiled ha ha ha ha
My fan edit ideas
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Return-of-the-Sith-Revenge-of-the-Jedi-by-marduk666/id/17356
I liked TFA, a good bit actually. It’s far from a perfect film. But, as the first line of the film says "This will begin to make things right."
Five things I liked:
The first 20 minutes or so are flawless.
Han & Chewy’s reintroduction.
Maz Kanata.
Kylo Ren and Han Solo interaction. While hard to watch, it affected me deeply. So I suppose it did its job.
Rey discovering she is force sensitive and ultimately fighting Kylo Ren.
Five things I disliked:
The Rathars.
Starkiller Base Attack.
Snoke.
One too many callbacks.
Still too much CGI.
That last one is a slight nitpick. There are just a few scenes where I felt like it was relied on too heavily. Other than that though, it is really only a slight gripe. I knew going in that I couldn’t expect models and matte paintings throughout, it’s not 1985, after all.
The biggest dislike I probably had was Starkiller Base and how that was handled but I accept it. It’s Death Star 3. With Snoke, perhaps when we learn more about his character I’ll be more invested. As of right now, I felt like the baddies were visiting the Dark Side of the Force’s version of the Lincoln Memorial.
Looking forward, I’m excited to see Rey’s character develop and what will come from the final moments in TFA. This can go in a zillion different directions and I’m excited to think that it might not play it safe and give us some unexpected twists and turns. Many unanswered questions, good luck Rian Johnson.
I would give TFA a 3 out 4 or a 3.5 out of 5. Whichever. It’s a perfect continuation of the Star Wars Saga, mostly.
Ranking my favorites, I would go:
ESB
ANH
ROTJ
TFA
Close to 3a, 3b on the last two. I don’t really consider the prequels.
It’s hard to say goodbye to Solo, but I’m certain that was the only way they got Harrison Ford to agree to reprise his role.
“This will begin to make things right.” Lor San Tekka
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
“Damn you Hasbro!”
“This will begin to make things right.” Lor San Tekka
As far as spoilers go, I’m pretty shocked that the bad Luke shot slipped out. It was probably the single day he was in costume aside from Skellig Michael (sp), with only absolutely required crew present. They likely figured out the culprit, especially as Mark is staring right at them.
He looked great on screen. Wish I had not seen the frumpy picture.
Edit: And thank GOODNESS the opening shot wasn’t the lightsaber. I’m not sure how much I feel about the shot that we got (I didn’t hate it), but the lightsaber rumor came back around these last two weeks after I thought it was done with.
The thing is, they didn’t treat Kylo’s parentage like a huge reveal. Snoke just dropped it into conversation midway through the movie. I actually thought it was pretty savvy of them to get that out of the way upfront, because it would have been a pretty weak twist if they’d tried to build it into a huge moment.
I’m posting this mainly to see if there is anyone else out there who feels the way I do about TFA, I haven’t read/watched any reviews yet but the 95% on RT kind of surprised me. I’m not trying to rain on the parade at all here – I really wanted to like this movie – but to me it was disappointing. I’m actually kind of jealous of those who really loved it.
Cons:
I did not buy any of the major relationships at all, to me this was by far the biggest failing of the movie. Finn/Rey, Finn/Poe, shockingly even Leia/Han. They all felt extremely forced and came across as trying REALLY hard to recapture the chemistry of the Big 3 in the OT. When Poe and Finn rush to embrace after Finn sees him for the first time alive, I was kind of taken aback because to me they just hadn’t “gotten there” yet, so it just came off as weird. I don’t know what the problem was, the acting, the script, or some elusive, hard-to-quantify, movie magic thing.
The whole movie felt like a point-for-point rehash of Star Wars/ANH – a few nods here and there are cool and would be expected, but TFA went way beyond that. I’m honestly pretty surprised that this script was OK-ed because it is so blatant in parts. Just a few examples:
-The fact that once again a critical bit of info is given to a droid who is left to his (its?) own devices – said droid is then taken hostage by desert scavengers before being “rescued” by the protagonist.
-All of the ball turret scenes on the Falcon.
-A “scoundrel” type character that makes snarky remarks and likes to use his ship’s undercarriage gun to blast baddies while trying to escape.
-Death Star 3 (I’m REALLY surprised they went with this as I thought it was a common problem that people have with ROTJ)
-Cantina scene
Due to the above (and more I didn’t mention) I frequently had the feeling that I was watching a straight up second rate remake.
Last major problem I had with the movie was that it was just not subtle AT ALL. The worst example being the scenes setting up Finn to leave the First Order. I could practically hear JJ yelling into my ear “HE’S CONFLICTED ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW! LOOK AT HIS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! – CAN YOU TELL HE IS CONFLICTED? IN CASE YOU COULDN’T – LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU – THIS CHARACTER IS VERY CONFLICTED!!!”
There were also a few really bad exposition scenes where it felt like characters were just vomiting up important plot points because the script couldn’t think of a more clever way to explain the story.
Ok so enough of the bad, there were some parts of this movie that I did really dig:
-Every scene with Snoke was great. What an awesome character design. When he first came up on screen I was just blown away – the hologram-making-him-seem-huge trick was a stroke of genius, though part of me wishes he really was that big.
-Lightsaber duels following more after the style that Luke and Vader have at the end of ROTJ (i.e. passionate hacking that looks like they are really trying to kill each other). The only problem was I couldn’t get emotionally wrapped up in them in the same way because again, I just did not buy the character relationships.
-Some very cool landscapes: my three favorites being the backdrop as Rey “sandboards” down a dune, the Snoke “throne room”, and the bridge where Han bites it.
-The vision sequences when Rey picks up Luke’s lightsaber were pure awesome.
So to conclude, for me this movie failed, though in a different way from the prequels. Say what you want about the prequels (I am not a fan at all either – not trying to stir the pot here – just want to give some context to my views), but George did not “play it safe” and rehash the OT at all. And as much as the prequels suffer from general “woodenness”, I found TFA’s character relationships even less convincing (excluding Anakin/Padme).
Still hopeful for VIII though, but now I’m probably looking forward to Rogue One more. And I did still have a good time at the movies — getting to see the OT on the big screen for the first time was a treat (I’m one of those people that shelled out for ~14 straight hours of Star Wars 😛)
I’ve just come from seeing it. My overall impression, which echos what others have said, is that too much was forced. Pun intended. Too many “moments,” too much convenience and rapid movement to the next needed event. Too much reliance on exposition and a soup of elements from the OT. It resulted in not feeling natural, relationships not feeling as real as they should have. I can’t tell if the movie would have benefited from a better story or a simpler telling. When we pare the story down to its elements, I think it may be the former as much as the latter.
That’s not to say I thought it was bad, I’m still digesting a lot. The Millenium Falcon chase really inspired a new hope in me after a start that left me searching for something to hold onto. Many great visuals, although generally fleeting. I wish Maz Kanata had been more fleshed out, more time taken there. I liked the female protagonist angle. I agree much with Noxos on the good and bad. The vision sequence was very good - modern but impressive.
In the end, I feel that this was something of a Forced Awakening.
The blue elephant in the room.
Haha of course you guys hate the movie. No Star Wars film will ever please ot.com.
I think the majority of the people on this board liked the film - most with some reservations.
Some are not going to like it and to be honest, I can understand why. This film has issues and some of us can overlook them and concentrate the stuff we loved and others just can’t.
What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
its a blink and you’ll miss it shot in the Force vision Rey has after grabbing the lightsaber. And it looks like he was getting killed by a lightsaber ( not sure if it was or not because the shot went by so fast)
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
There was actually quite a lot that didn’t make the final cut of the movie.
I’m really starting to wonder what was in the 4 hour version that they talked about some time ago. I feel like there was a lot of cool stuff that we missed in the current edit. Although it’s very unlikely, I kind of wish they’d do what Peter Jackson did with LOTR and the Hobbit movies and release an extended version. Or at least we better get a crap-ton of deleted scenes when the Blu-ray comes out. I’m sure someone here is already planning a fan edit of some kind.
Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.
Haha of course you guys hate the movie. No Star Wars film will ever please ot.com.
I don’t know – SW and TESB seemed to do the trick for me.
Wait a minute I just realized. Where’s Constable Zuvio? I didn’t see him at all.
its a blink and you’ll miss it shot in the Force vision Rey has after grabbing the lightsaber. And it looks like he was getting killed by a lightsaber ( not sure if it was or not because the shot went by so fast)
So who killed Zuvio? He was supposed to be a policeman on Jakku, so I don’t see why he would have appeared in the Knights of Ren massacre that Rey witnessed. He was probably seen in the background in one of the Jakku scenes similarly to Bobbajo, whom I did notice in the scene where Rey contemplated selling BB-8 for food. Also there’s probably some deleted scene with him that we’ll hopefully get to see once the Blu-ray is released.
Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.
I think the majority of the people on this board liked the film - most with some reservations.
Some are not going to like it and to be honest, I can understand why. This film has issues and some of us can overlook them and concentrate the stuff we loved and others just can’t.
It’s funny, though. SW and ESB are my top two all time favorite movies. I’m sure I’m not only one with that opinion here. But they have issues too. I can recognize them. Now, I’m not saying that TFA is on par with them (of course not), but it’s crazy that we can all look past the little flaws in SW and ESB and enjoy the films for what they are but we can’t with anything new (most of us can look past the many issues in ROTJ, so why not TFA, which is probably less problematic?). TFA is a heck of a lot of fun. I think you guys are missing that…
I think the majority of the people on this board liked the film - most with some reservations.
Some are not going to like it and to be honest, I can understand why. This film has issues and some of us can overlook them and concentrate the stuff we loved and others just can’t.
It’s funny, though. SW and ESB are my top two all time favorite movies. I’m sure I’m not only on that here. But they have issues too. I can recognize them. Now, I’m not saying that TFA is on par with them (the issues are bigger), but it’s crazy that we can all look past the little flaws in SW and ESB and enjoy the films for what they are but we can’t with anything new (most of us can look past the many issues in ROTJ, so why not TFA, which is probably less problematic?). TFA is a heck of a lot of fun. I think you guys are missing that…
I actually loved the film! I probably like it more than Jedi, which, after watching it last week to get ready for TFA, found that it was a bit boring and phoned in.
I have issues with SW and ESB to be sure! (The first act in SW goes on way too long for example), but like TFA, the positives outweigh the negatives.
What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.
Daniel Craig did apparently have a cameo in TFA after all.
http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2015/12/daniel-craig-really-was-a-stormtrooper-in-star-wars-the-force-awakens.html
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/17/daniel-craig-makes-cameo-star-wars-force-awakens
Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.
Haha of course you guys hate the movie. No Star Wars film will ever please ot.com.
Yeah. There’s absolutely no way the OT could live up to the standards people have here. Nostalgia alone keep those ones afloat.
Ok, back February-April, I was copying and pasting the rumors that MSW and SW7news were coming up with at the time, check out some of these greatest hits:
You’re right. Someone who was present for all of the Freighter/Falcon stuff was a major leak.
The shot of Maz handing someone (previously presumed Leia) the lightsaber wasn’t in the film, was it? They used a different shot, and it was Rey. Makes sense as I’m sure they were no where near finished with Maz and needed something that obscured her. Still, why show it during ‘my sister has it’?
Was anyone else disappointed by the film’s score? None of the music really grabbed me like it did in the previous films.
Was anyone else disappointed by the film’s score? None of the music really grabbed me like it did in the previous films.
Disappointed, no. Underwhelmed, yes.
Then again music isn’t really my main focus the first time watching a film in the theatre, so I’ll have to wait until I’ve re-watched it to make a proper judgment of it.
Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.
You’re right. Someone who was present for all of the Freighter/Falcon stuff was a major leak.
The shot of Maz handing someone (previously presumed Leia) the lightsaber wasn’t in the film, was it? They used a different shot, and it was Rey. Makes sense as I’m sure they were no where near finished with Maz and needed something that obscured her. Still, why show it during ‘my sister has it’?
I remember some versions of the leaked outline had Maz accompanying Han, Chewie and Finn to the Resistance base. It’s possible she was supposed to give the lightsaber to Leia at some point.
Was anyone else disappointed by the film’s score? None of the music really grabbed me like it did in the previous films.
I thought it was solid enough and better than the average movie score, certainly. The use of old themes was noticeable and appropriate. But nothing struck me as a new classic as was developed for SW77 (and, hell, even TPM and Clones had some incredible new pieces). On the other hand, I’m admittedly not someone who pays much attention to soundtracks. I only bothered to learn (many of) whose theme is whose in the SW films earlier this year.