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Post #887634

Author
Tack
Parent topic
The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS **
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/887634/action/topic#887634
Date created
19-Dec-2015, 5:27 PM

My first impressions;

  • Kylo Ren (or Ben… Solo? Organa? Eh, whatever…) somehow got me more compelled AFTER he took off his mask, although his performance during the big death scene (you know what I’m talking about) kind of leaves me wondering what the hell was even going on his head, though I suppose I prefer that to a lot of other villains I’ve seen before.

  • Not a big fan of Snoke. I’m glad he’s not actually towering like they make us think at first, but he just doesn’t seem that interesting. I’m glad Ren had more screen time.

  • All 4 of the new heroes are AMAZING. Yeah, no real other way to say it. Finn and Poe both were the first indications to me that this movie was actually going to be really good. Or at least, far more fun and enjoyable to watch than recent outings.

  • Han’s Death. Thanks to some jerks in a comment section, I unwittingly spoiled this twist for myself the night before, so the phrase “Han is killed by his son, Kylo Ren” repeated in my mind through the whole movie. I experienced it vicariously through my Dad, who almost fell out of his chair and then shouted “Seriously!?”. I probably would have seen it coming anyway, but the amount of reverence actually seemed very respectful to me. It wasn’t as overblown as even some of the fake-out deaths in Lord of the Rings. I liked that.

  • Jeez, Williams must have really been mad at Lucas! I mean, he was holding back themes and motifs like THIS from us? I mean, Phantom Menace’s soundtrack was almost as good, but even it sounded sedate in comparison. I actually bought the soundtrack physically the night before and forbade myself from looking at the liner notes so that I wouldn’t spoil anything for myself. As you can see from above, it was kind of pointless.

  • It’s nice to have a Star Wars film that doesn’t look like one of those mid-90’s FMV games that couldn’t afford real sets. Not to mention that there are shots in this film where there ISN’T a visual effect, Mr. McCallum.

  • Poe and Phasma felt underutilized. I can’t really complain; at least one of them is gonna come back.

  • I would have preferred there to be no Starkiller base, but I admit, it could have been much, much worse (like the early ROTJ scripts). Still, nice that there’ll be no Coruscant anymore. I got so sick of looking at that place!

  • Hey, the droids can be funny still! R2 felt a bit cheesy, but 3PO was actually involved in something funny for once! (and he didn’t have to fall back on lame puns)

That got out of hand. Whatever. I liked it. I look forward to seeing these protagonists in action again.