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The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS ** — Page 10

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Alderaan said:

SilverWook said:

Did you miss the part where Finn needed someone to fly the Tie Fighter? (Not having flight training is a good way to prevent defections.) And I doubt the New Order bothers treating troops who go mental in the hopes they return to duty. They probably just shoot them.

If he did so well in training that he was placed immediately into an elite unit (with no prior experience), would they really be so quick to kill such a valuable commodity? 😉

Well, Darth Vader used to murder generals for making fairly small mistakes (in the grander scope anyway). That could hardly have been beneficial for the Empire.

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.

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Max_Rebo said:

For me Force Awakens was initially OK, but the more I think about it the worse it gets.

The new characters:

Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo, BB8, were all good. I have very few complaints about any of them. Most of the minor characters were OK, except Snoke was a bit pointless and looked bad.

The returning characters:

Han was good, Leia passable, Chewie acted like chewie (but didn’t quite look like chewie, much better than the ROTS costume, but still wrong).

Was initially annoyed by Luke’s complete absence but I can see why they did it.

C-3PO - There was something really off about the delivery of all the lines, seemed more like a poor impersonation than the original character, really bugged me that he addressed Han as “Han Solo” rather than Captain Solo or General Solo. Also there was something off about the costume, it seemed less shiny, but that may have been for practical reasons to avoid camera reflections etc.

See Return of The Jedi again. He’s not shiny there for much of the film.

The nonsense plot:

Luke goes to find an old jedi temple and leaves a map to his location, when does he do this? before he leaves? or he leaves, finds the temple then makes the map and gives a bit to Max von Sydow, then goes back to the temple? and the rest of the map was somehow in the Imperial archives…

What did he tell Max von Sydow to do with the map? “here’s a secret map, just give it to the first person who comes asking for it”, what if Sydow had died and no one ever found the map would Luke have just stayed on the island till he died?

One of my biggest problems is several populated worlds are destroyed, Leia feels it through the force, so you’ve got to assume Luke felt it, yet he does nothing, just stays on his island waiting for someone to solve his map puzzle. I would hope that might bring him to his senses and make him take action, but maybe he was too far away to feel it through the force?

Luke may have marooned himself, sunk his ship in the ocean to avoid detection, or it’s no longer flyable. Never leave home without your R2 unit!

The starkiller base exhausted the sun it was orbiting in two charges, what was the plan after that? can they move the whole planet to orbit a new sun? or dismantle the whole operation and rebuild it on a new planet? or was the plan to only ever fire two shots, one at the Republic capital, one at the resistance base? That’s a reasonable plan, but someone probably should have said that in the film.

The falcon leaves Jakku and is immediately picked up by Solo, so either he was in the area or he was somehow able to detect it and instantly arrive via hyperspace, he said it was easy to track, but tracking ships from a long distance isn’t really a thing that can be done in the Star Wars universe (I can’t think of other examples from the films), but maybe he had previously installed a homing beacon.

A homing beacon was mentioned. And the bad guys on the Death Star did track the Falcon to the secret rebel base on Yavin, if you remember.

What happened to the poison gas? I may have missed it but I don’t remember anyone re-fixing the poison gas leak.

Han fiddled with a control panel soon after boarding. He probably shut it off.

Hyperdrive now seems to be instantaneous to get anywhere, or maybe they just didn’t travel very far, there were no travelling scenes, just felt wrong. But it’s hard to know how far they travelled as we are never told where Jakku is in relation to anything else.

Star Trek 2009 seemed to have the same issue. Hyperdrive is probably faster now. And the Falcon’s drive could have been upgraded before it was stolen or by any of the people who later had it.

The gun on the falcon jams in position and Finn doesn’t just climb the ladder to use the other one? Not a massive problem but could have made for a fun scene, and they could have saved the trick with the jammed gun for later in the film. Also why didn’t he go to the upper gun and start shooting when the ship was still on the ground?

A line that the upper gun wasn’t working might have helped, unless something was cut?

Why did Captain Phasma have authority to drop the shields for the whole planet, and why did nobody notice that it had happened?

Might as well ask why nobody on the Death Star noticed the tractor beam was turned off. 😉

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Alderaan said:

SilverWook said:

Did you miss the part where Finn needed someone to fly the Tie Fighter? (Not having flight training is a good way to prevent defections.) And I doubt the New Order bothers treating troops who go mental in the hopes they return to duty. They probably just shoot them.

If he did so well in training that he was placed immediately into an elite unit (with no prior experience), would they really be so quick to kill such a valuable commodity? 😉

You’re the one who brought up that Finn should fake having mental problems. 😉

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ZkinandBonez said:

Well, Darth Vader used to murder generals for making fairly small mistakes (in the grander scope anyway). That could hardly have been beneficial for the Empire.

Haha, well I actually agree with you and Silver on this, I’m just trolling you a little bit.

But in the new film, they don’t punish Finn or kill him or anything. Phasma says he didn’t have any problems before so they didn’t discipline him. That’s not a sadistic life and death workplace environment like it seemed to be for officers within Vader’s reach. Seemed like another expedient cop-out to justify a narrative that was fundamentally flawed from the start.

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ZkinandBonez said:

Max_Rebo said:
Why did Captain Phasma have authority to drop the shields for the whole planet, and why did nobody notice that it had happened?

Well, it wasn’t the entire planet. Just the oscillator thingy that was a weak spot. They essentially removed the shield covering the Starkiller equivalent of the exhaust port in ANH.

I thought there was a graphic showing the shield going down around the whole planet, but maybe it was just the oscillator, that’s wouldn’t be as bad.

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Alderaan said:

ZkinandBonez said:

Well, Darth Vader used to murder generals for making fairly small mistakes (in the grander scope anyway). That could hardly have been beneficial for the Empire.

Haha, well I actually agree with you and Silver on this, I’m just trolling you a little bit.

But in the new film, they don’t punish Finn or kill him or anything. Phasma says he didn’t have any problems before so they didn’t discipline him. That’s not a sadistic life and death workplace environment like it seemed to be for officers within Vader’s reach. Seemed like another expedient cop-out to justify a narrative that was fundamentally flawed from the start.

There was only a suspicion of not following orders. Had Finn hung around, there might have been action taken to punish him, (the degree of which can be only speculated) or maybe he would be demoted or sent back for more training.

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SilverWook said:

Max_Rebo said:
The falcon leaves Jakku and is immediately picked up by Solo, so either he was in the area or he was somehow able to detect it and instantly arrive via hyperspace, he said it was easy to track, but tracking ships from a long distance isn’t really a thing that can be done in the Star Wars universe (I can’t think of other examples from the films), but maybe he had previously installed a homing beacon.

A homing beacon was mentioned. And the bad guys on the Death Star did track the Falcon to the secret rebel base on Yavin, if you remember.

I don’t remember a homing beacon being mentioned, must have missed it, but it was still damn quick from the falcon entering space to Solo arriving, even if the beacon activated when the ship first powered up.

The falcon was tracked to Yavin because of a homing beacon, without that it would not have been possible, which was my point.

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Swazzy said:

So as it turns out, it was Ewan McGregor who voiced Obi Wan’s one line in the ‘vision’ sequence:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/20/jj-abrams-reveals-obi-wan-and-yoda-are-star-wars-force-awakens

Never suspected that, it sounded like the same Guiness-soundalike from the Rouge One teaser. Or maybe that was also Ewan? In either case he’s certainly did a very good impression.

If you missed it, the line was “Rey! These are your first steps.” Which implies that Obi-Wan spoke to Rey in the past, to the contrary of her memory. So maybe Obi did train Rey a little? And that’s why she’s so strong in the force all at once? Sounds about right.

More likely Luke trained her a bit before she was left on Jakku, but she has little memory of it. The stress of her situation and having touched the lightsaber brings some of it back.

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The rebel pilot helmet that Rey put on while she was eating- I’m pretty sure it had the red rebel insignia that was on Luke’s helmet, but I don’t remember any other details. Do you think it’s supposed to be Luke’s, or just a generic rebel helmet?

Anyone remember different camera angles from ROTJ?

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Max_Rebo said:

SilverWook said:

Max_Rebo said:
The falcon leaves Jakku and is immediately picked up by Solo, so either he was in the area or he was somehow able to detect it and instantly arrive via hyperspace, he said it was easy to track, but tracking ships from a long distance isn’t really a thing that can be done in the Star Wars universe (I can’t think of other examples from the films), but maybe he had previously installed a homing beacon.

A homing beacon was mentioned. And the bad guys on the Death Star did track the Falcon to the secret rebel base on Yavin, if you remember.

I don’t remember a homing beacon being mentioned, must have missed it, but it was still damn quick from the falcon entering space to Solo arriving, even if the beacon activated when the ship first powered up.

The falcon was tracked to Yavin because of a homing beacon, without that it would not have been possible, which was my point.

There may have been cuts that compressed the amount of time they were drifting making repairs. The homing beacon could have come on the moment the ship was powered up on Jakku, (it was said it had not flown in years) and Han set course in that direction soon as he detected it.

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SpilkaBilka said:

The rebel pilot helmet that Rey put on while she was eating- I’m pretty sure it had the red rebel insignia that was on Luke’s helmet, but I don’t remember any other details. Do you think it’s supposed to be Luke’s, or just a generic rebel helmet?

I wondered that too! There was a crashed X-Wing near the Star Destroyer wreck though.

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Something that bothered me about Rey and Finn’s escape in the Falcon- they leave the planet, but don’t jump into hyperspace, right? So wouldn’t the FO Star Destroyer still be around to attack them? Do we see the FO again in that area?

My memory is very hazy… I know they made an urgent escape into hyperspace with Han… was that because the FO was chasing them, or for some other reason? (I just don’t remember).

Anyone remember different camera angles from ROTJ?

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I think they did, but had to drop out to make repairs? Then Han finds them.

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So what exactly was going through Kylo/Ben’s head when he was on the bridge with Han?

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I genuinely enjoyed the film. However, something that really grates me the wrong way was the soundtrack. It’s a little heartbreaking to say one of the flaws of this film had to be the music score. In many ways, I hyped up certain parts of the film and even if it didn’t meet those expectations, I was met with some satisfying bits. Yet overall, going into the film knowing John Williams was still composing for Star Wars, it really felt like a letdown. Whenever the classic score slipped in, it felt great! The new soundtrack… I don’t know, in many respects, it was as if his score was competing with the sound effects. Something wasn’t done well in my opinion.

Something I cherish about John William’s score across all six films was that he was able to add a grander scale to every scene. In TFA, scenes that should had felt swelling with emotional weight fell short since again, to my ears, the music was trying to compete with the action which sounded more muddled and messy.

Overall, that was really my biggest gripe. There were a few minor things, but still, I really loved this film. First time I’ve ever seen my dad walk out of a theater with a smile! Night and day experience compared to when he took me to see the prequels.

The Rise of Failures

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Thought it was fantastic. Really hit me emotionally, and carried a healthy amount of momentum. The only things I would change about it were just 2 or 3 jokes/attempts at humor could have been edited out. Other than that I almost don’t think it could have been any better.

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Was it just me, or did BB-8 look as if it was designed by Apple Inc.

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Don’t love it. But I really, really, really like it. I won’t go into detail, because everything I could say has been said before and better.

I think a lot of questions that came up with this movie will be answered in the next one. Rey’s vision for example. The first thing that happens when she touches the lightsaber is, she finds herself in the Cloud City corridor where Luke and Vader duel when Luke reenters the building after being thrown out of the window. It isn’t her past or her future, or is it? Is she Lukes offspring?

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TK-949 said:

Don’t love it. But I really, really, really like it. I won’t go into detail, because everything I could say has been said before and better.

I think a lot of questions that came up with this movie will be answered in the next one. Rey’s vision for example. The first thing that happens when she touches the lightsaber is, she finds herself in the Cloud City corridor where Luke and Vader duel when Luke reenters the building after being thrown out of the window. It isn’t her past or her future, or is it? Is she Lukes offspring?

I am still not entirely sure what the vision Rey had means. One possible theory is it could have all had to do with events that happened at places the saber was or will be present.

I tried to pay close attention on the second viewing and I think we see in order the Bespin corridor, Luke putting his mechanical hand on R2, The Knights of Ren massacre of the Jedi, Rey being left as a child and a ship flying away, and then the future duel with Kylo.

Also during the duel Kylo says that that saber belongs to him. So I am thinking it was his at one point when he was training to be a Jedi or it could be that he just recognizes it as a Vader artifact.

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Dug it. I’ll post a more thorough review after a second viewing (ticket already purchased for Tuesday).

For me the highlight of the film, the meat, are anything Rey and Solo. Outstanding job by Daisy and Mr. Ford. I’ll add Chewie to that core also. He was a bigger 1977 touchstone for me than I had anticipated. Also excellent are Isaacs and Boyega. Poe is a fantastic addition to the family. Finn is an interesting take on a Stormtrooper, one which was similarly addressed in a Zahn novel.

Driver did a great job but the character is so vile that it makes it hard to want to see more of him. Fisher was ok. I’m not a big fan of hers, so her limited role was ok by me. I don’t see 1977 when I look at her the way I see it in Han and Luke.

My only real criticisms; Kylo didn’t need the mask (Marketing and Vader tie-in) and the last 30 minutes or so felt rushed.

Highlight moment; Rey and Luke scene was perfect.

More after the next viewing and some settling. Not being a Star Wars film person anymore (and for so long), it was a lot to take in and process.

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There very well could be a psychological aspect to putting on the mask. And Kylo hero worships Vader, not Anakin.

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TK-949 said:

Don’t love it. But I really, really, really like it. I won’t go into detail, because everything I could say has been said before and better.

I think a lot of questions that came up with this movie will be answered in the next one. Rey’s vision for example. The first thing that happens when she touches the lightsaber is, she finds herself in the Cloud City corridor where Luke and Vader duel when Luke reenters the building after being thrown out of the window. It isn’t her past or her future, or is it? Is she Lukes offspring?

http://www.yodaquotes.net/through-the-force-things-you-will-see-other-places-the-future-the-past-old-friends-long-gone/

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