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The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS ** — Page 20

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Alderaan said:

That was my favorite easter egg in the entire movie-- seeing Rey in the corridor on Bespin.

That beautiful shot made me tear up a little.

I got goosebumps man when that happened. Never thought I’d see visual callbacks to the OT, but damn, I agree, loved it!

The Rise of Failures

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towne32 said:

hydrospanner said:

woofermazing said:

I think you guys are mistaken about Rey being hidden from Ren. I think it’s more likely that Ren is the one who dumped her on Jakku. Ren was Lukes star pupil and likely successor to lead the new Jedi order. Then baby Skywalker is born and is a force prodigy. Ren is pissy about being cast aside and hooks up with Snoke. He’s ordered to wipe out the Jedi order and bring the Skywalker child to Snoke. He decides to kill her instead because he doesn’t want to be second fiddle again but can’t follow through, so instead ditches her on a random planet. She doesn’t remember any of this yet.

Kylo Rens reaction to hearing about the Jakku escape and fear when she starts to realize her force powers make no sense unless they have history, and his inferiority complex makes no sense unless he’s been cast aside before in favor of Rey. It also would completely ruin Luke’s character for me if he abandoned Rey to the same life he had been stuck in, and then gave up fighting for good.

I really like this as a possible explanation.

There’s also the novelization. When the lightsaber whizzes by Kylo and into Rey’s hand, he thinks “It is you”.

This… this is a really great idea. And wow, if the novelization says that, then that’s worth noting. Unfortunately, I only ordered the paper copy, not the eBook, so I won’t be getting it until January I think

May the Force be with you.

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The scene where Kylo first hears about Rey had me asking questions. The officer mentions a girl and he quickly spins around and forces the officer over. Why the big reaction? Simple histrionics (he is in quite a mood in that scene)? Or does hearing about a hero girl light a spark in his mind (if Luke had a daughter, did he know)? The only thing that makes me doubt this is when he talks to Snoke about her (“she is strong in the force”) he doesn’t say anything about her possible parentage (maybe he knows something he doesn’t want Snoke to know?).

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DominicCobb said:

The scene where Kylo first hears about Rey had me asking questions. The officer mentions a girl and he quickly spins around and forces the officer over. Why the big reaction? Simple histrionics (he is in quite a mood in that scene)? Or does hearing about a hero girl light a spark in his mind (if Luke had a daughter, did he know)? The only thing that makes me doubt this is when he talks to Snoke about her (“she is strong in the force”) he doesn’t say anything about her possible parentage (maybe he knows something he doesn’t want Snoke to know?).

Yep. By the time he was interrogating her, I thought she would for sure recognize him once the mask comes off.

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towne32 said:

DominicCobb said:

The scene where Kylo first hears about Rey had me asking questions. The officer mentions a girl and he quickly spins around and forces the officer over. Why the big reaction? Simple histrionics (he is in quite a mood in that scene)? Or does hearing about a hero girl light a spark in his mind (if Luke had a daughter, did he know)? The only thing that makes me doubt this is when he talks to Snoke about her (“she is strong in the force”) he doesn’t say anything about her possible parentage (maybe he knows something he doesn’t want Snoke to know?).

Yep. By the time he was interrogating her, I thought she would for sure recognize him once the mask comes off.

Saw this posted on Reddit, and found it intriguing; possibly explains what you brought up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3xvdyl/havent_seen_anybody_talk_about_the_rebel_helmet/

The Rise of Failures

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That’s a really good theory. Rey seemed quite genuine when she said she thought Luke was a myth. But that puts us, perhaps, off the trail of what should be the obvious conclusion for the rest of the film (although we keep suspecting it, time and again).

She wasn’t kidding then, when she said “classified? Me too”. Classified even from herself? It also makes her reaction to Maz’s ‘take the damn saber’ bit even better.

Well. Time to watch the thing again with this in mind. 😃

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Just saw it a second time, it’s still got it! Thumbs up! (BB-8 style)

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Saw it yesterday for the second time, now in IMAX 3D and I still enjoyed it a lot, though the movie does have its problems. Some assorted thoughts after a second viewing:

  • It’s interesting that it would seem they didn’t try to put as many things to turn into toys as they could in a movie that exists solely to restart a billion dollar business (enjoyable as the movie is). The Resistance only uses x-wings and that other ship where Leia arrives, the First order only uses Ties, the transports and Ren’s shuttle.

  • Anyone else noticed how many times they say “Han Solo” in the movie? When the Falcon arrives at Starkiller base, Ren says “Han Solo”, when they meet at the bridge, again “Han Solo”, when the saber duel is about to begin “Han Solo can no longer protect you”. Even 3PO calls him “Han Solo”. It’s as if Vader had said “Obi Wan Kenobi has taught you well” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi can no longer help him” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi never told you what happened to your father”. I found it strange.

  • The cgi characters don’t work, specially Snoke, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t be practical effects

  • While it’s a shame we didn’t get another scene with Han, Luke and Leia together, watching Carrie Fisher again, I don’t think she could handle a bigger role.

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Diego said:

  • Anyone else noticed how many times they say “Han Solo” in the movie? When the Falcon arrives at Starkiller base, Ren says “Han Solo”, when they meet at the bridge, again “Han Solo”, when the saber duel is about to begin “Han Solo can no longer protect you”. Even 3PO calls him “Han Solo”. It’s as if Vader had said “Obi Wan Kenobi has taught you well” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi can no longer help him” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi never told you what happened to your father”. I found it strange.

I actually noticed this on my first and only viewing! I kept thinking, “Damn, you CAN say either Solo or Han, but full name is so unnecessary!”

I especially thought Kylo Ren should had just said “Solo,” would make things flow smoothly.

The Rise of Failures

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TavorX said:
I got goosebumps man when that happened. Never thought I’d see visual callbacks to the OT, but damn, I agree, loved it!

Yep, it was beautiful. Not just nostalgia kicking in either; I think it’s amazing they recreated that set and got Rey in it, not to mention it was a beautiful shot, visually stunning.

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I can’t believe I missed that! Those flashbacks went by too quickly…

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Just got back from my second viewing. Even better than the first time. Without the shock of being back in the Star Wars universe visually after decades away, I was able to pay more attention to the details. Too many deep/fun/neat/moving things to mention at once.

One part I found particularly fun was Finn when he gets to confront Phasma after their roles are somewhat reversed. I like that he calls her by last name only.
“That’s right, Phasma, I’m in charge now! I’m in charge! You want me to blow that bucket off your head? Lower the shield”

Oh, and since it was an evening viewing I ordered from the special Star Wars menu. Had a Tatooine Sunset. A rum drink served on the rocks in a pint glass. Fantastic! Glad I lifted the menu. I can make them at home. I raised my glass during the crawl. To my new favorite Star Wars film. Feel like I’ve been waiting on this as long as Rey had been waiting for her family.

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Really been trying to get the wife into the theater so I can see it a second time and enjoy it rather than being preoccupied with apprehension about everything.
Opening night, she had to step out because all the sweaty nerds swinging plastic sabers and wearing who knows what caused her latex allergy to flair up real bad.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Hal 9000 said:

Really been trying to get the wife into the theater so I can see it a second time and enjoy it rather than being preoccupied with apprehension about everything.
Opening night, she had to step out because all the sweaty nerds swinging plastic sabers and wearing who knows what caused her latex allergy to flair up real bad.

Ouch, that really sucks!

When I went with my brothers and dad, the theater was filled up rather quick so we had to take seating bottom left, second row. My eyes kinda hurt throughout the film but it was tolerable (it’s STAR WARS dammit!). Sometime after Han’s death, some baby started crying a little, so the mother got up from the seat and stood in the entrance corridor trying to keep the baby happy. I’m glad that mother got to stay and watch the film because I’d feel bad if her baby started crying really badly and made her feel she’d have to step out. Apart from that, it really wasn’t all that bad.

The Rise of Failures

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Anchorhead said:

Oh, and since it was an evening viewing I ordered from the special Star Wars menu. Had a Tatooine Sunset. A rum drink served on the rocks in a pint glass. Fantastic! Glad I lifted the menu. I can make them at home. I raised my glass during the crawl. To my new favorite Star Wars film. Feel like I’ve been waiting on this as long as Rey had been waiting for her family.

I would certainly be interested in seeing a scan and/or photo of that menu. I’m always excited to see Star Wars themed cocktails. When I was visiting friends in upstate New York this past summer we went to a bar that had the Wampa, the Kessel Run, and the Moff Tarkin on their drink list. Made my night.

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Just got back from my second viewing, and I have to say I’ve moved from the haters’ camp into the cheerleaders’ camp, though I understand where both sides are coming from. The first time I saw the film I wanted to unsee it. Now I can’t wait to see it again!

Things I appreciated more (or even more):

–Has anyone else noticed we meet all three main characters masked? A nifty touch.

–The score

–Kylo Ren…genuinely scary

–Rey’s “Classified? Me, too! Big secret” line about her origins

–Poe’s flirty “Suits you”

–Yoda’s voiceover in Rey’s force vision…So serene in ESB and now so creepy

–Han and Leia’s reunion

–Leia’s private moment of grief into “Tell me!” (or maybe “Show me!”?)

Dealbreakers the first time that I learned to look past:

I was really turned off on opening night by Han getting skewered and dumped down a shaft (and then apparently blown to bits?). Felt cruel and brutal, like something out of Game of Thrones. But it did seem more heroic and meaningful this time. They almost escape after rescuing Rey, and Han decides to go back in and set the charges to save the mission. Plus Ford has plenty of closeup moments that indicate he knows confronting Ren could be dangerous, but that it’s something he can no longer run away from.

I also had a hard time swallowing the backstory the first time around–Luke’s failure as a mentor and subsequent disappearance, Han and Leia’s failure as parents and as a couple. These are huge claims to be making about our favorite heroes, and we’re fed so little information about how it all went down. Now that I knew this movie wouldn’t be supplying much by way of answers, only tantalizing hints, I wasn’t as frustrated and just went with it. If this is how the story goes post-ROTJ, it’s handled quite well. Hopefully we’ll get some satisfying answers in Ep. VIII.

Still bothered by:

Every time Han or Leia says the word “Snoke,” it sounds ridiculous and takes me out of the movie.

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There is a science to the way names sound. I forget what it’s called. Vader was not only a great villain, but his name sounded perfect. Vader. Intimidating. Succinct. Hard to forget, and very appropriate.

Another great example I can think of is Anne Stanton in All The King’s Men.

Unfortunately, it seems this science is being lost on younger generations. Snoke doesn’t do it for me. I can’t really explain it, and I wonder if anyone can help out here. But even besides the terrible CGI design, the name just doesn’t elicit fear. And as we all heard, it sounded pathetic when Leia and Han said it in TFA.

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I guess Snoke is intended as a portmanteau of snake and smoke, but it rhymes with joke and unfortunately evokes Snooki and The Snorks.

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joefavs said:
I would certainly be interested in seeing a scan and/or photo of that menu. I’m always excited to see Star Wars themed cocktails. When I was visiting friends in upstate New York this past summer we went to a bar that had the Wampa, the Kessel Run, and the Moff Tarkin on their drink list. Made my night.

http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/888610

Alamo Drafthouse page;
https://drafthouse.com/news/star-wars-menu-specials-falcon

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TavorX said:

As for Leia and Chewie not consoling each other: I took as Chewie not realizing Leia already knew Han was dead. I thought maybe it was too difficult for Chewie to bring himself to tell her. Put yourself in Chewie’s shoes. If your best friend died, would it be easy for you to be the one to tell his/her spouse? As for Chewie taking off with Rey to find to Luke, I had no problem with it. Even with Han dead, Chewie would still want to do his duty.

This is honestly the BEST answer I’ve seen for this criticism. I never could quite pinpoint why Chewie didn’t, but after reading this, I fully back this.

Not bad as far as imaginary justifications go, but this still isn’t visible onscreen, and ultimately this would only be satisfactory if it was referenced or constructed in some way in extended footage or the next movie. If Leia knows there’s something to console Rey about, she knows there is definitely something to console Chewie about.

My guess is that it was a not-exactly-successful attempt to show that “Leia knows something”. So fine, maybe we will see exactly what in the next film. But the aggregate is still that whether we are discussing Leia and Chewie or some other events succeeding Han’s death, the effect of his death was really flat onscreen. Which sucked because he proved himself compelling for the entire prior part of the film. I’m not demanding a ten minute funeral scene or something, I’m just saying that we needed to see way more emotional fallout, somehow.

And I stand by the following that I wrote earlier, just because it would be cool and expand Chewbacca’a character:

Chewbacca should for the most part leave the rebellion as a consistent soldier and become a sort of bounty hunter specializing in collecting sith heads, or if that is too NC-17, then sith lightsabers, which Luke or Rey or Finn modify to produce white, blue, or green blades. Chewie can show up at some point in a room that everyone is in and drop an armload of sith lightsabers onto a table while everyone in the room stares at them and goes pale. The modified lightsabers can be given to new jedis in training, and the combo of sith hardware and jedi colors can be a small symbol of the light and dark sides beginning to find balance.

And Chewie’s look should definitely change to reflect his state, maybe more weapons, dirtier fur. Maybe some of the war leaders on Kashyyyk could be used as stylistic references as well, for cultural consistency.

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ZkinandBonez said:

Oh, and btw, did anyone notice that the Jedi student that Rey witnessed being murdered by Kylo in her Force-flashback was wearing one of these hats;

Why do these hats keep popping up? Is this just a new design that Disney really likes for some reason? Is there some meaning to these hats that I don’t know about because I haven’t watched Clone Wars or Rebels?

The next shot is also very brief, and although I noticed quite a large amount of dead bodies on the ground (Luke had a lot of students at some point, so no wonder he feels so bad), I also noticed the silhouette of a building in the background when the lightning struck. However, it goes by so fast I doubt you can really see it without pausing the video, so I guess we’ll have to wait for the Blu-ray release.

SilverWook said:

It went by so fast I thought it was one of these…

After all, Anakin did use that sword too.
Everything Rey saw in her vision seems to be from Empire onwards though.

It’s possible, but why would anyone wear it in the middle of a battle/attack. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be someone from the massacre on Luke’s students. He also seemed like an adult, or at least a teenager, and he was stabbed by Kylo’s fizzy lightsaber. It was also in the same rainy environment, and the shot cut immediately to the shot from the trailer of the Knights of Ren; https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20535561/SW VII The Knights of Ren.jpg

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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Alderaan said:

There is a science to the way names sound. I forget what it’s called. Vader was not only a great villain, but his name sounded perfect. Vader. Intimidating. Succinct. Hard to forget, and very appropriate.

Another great example I can think of is Anne Stanton in All The King’s Men.

Unfortunately, it seems this science is being lost on younger generations. Snoke doesn’t do it for me. I can’t really explain it, and I wonder if anyone can help out here. But even besides the terrible CGI design, the name just doesn’t elicit fear. And as we all heard, it sounded pathetic when Leia and Han said it in TFA.

I felt it was an attempt to borrow from Harry Potter. “Snape” for instance. In that universe it would sound more correct, but in this one, yeah, it sounds a bit cute-ish. I might name a mischievous kitten Snoke.

I’ve previously thought they might be trying to invoke a kind of Voldemort-ish dynamic, which is a somewhat appropriate comparison, naming conventions aside.

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cyclista said:

Alderaan said:

There is a science to the way names sound. I forget what it’s called. Vader was not only a great villain, but his name sounded perfect. Vader. Intimidating. Succinct. Hard to forget, and very appropriate.

Another great example I can think of is Anne Stanton in All The King’s Men.

Unfortunately, it seems this science is being lost on younger generations. Snoke doesn’t do it for me. I can’t really explain it, and I wonder if anyone can help out here. But even besides the terrible CGI design, the name just doesn’t elicit fear. And as we all heard, it sounded pathetic when Leia and Han said it in TFA.

I felt it was an attempt to borrow from Harry Potter. “Snape” for instance. In that universe it would sound more correct, but in this one, yeah, it sounds a bit cute-ish. I might name a mischievous kitten Snoke.

I’ve previously thought they might be trying to invoke a kind of Voldemort-ish dynamic, which is a somewhat appropriate comparison, naming conventions aside.

I though he looked kind of like a very old Azog; http://www.thelandofshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Azog-the-Defiler.png

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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Visually I could see that. I’m more talking about the essence of what Snoke is supposed to represent. Harry Potter himself is in some ways a kind of Luke Skywalker character, a person of immense latent power forced to choose “light side” or “dark side” with avatars of good and evil pulling him in both directions, and the evil avatar scheming to usurp his power toward its own end. I’d say Rowling definitely intends that the Good side is the right one, whereas Lucasfilm seems conflicted (balance), but the dynamic is similar and I’ve heard it said elsewhere as well. So we have a art imitates art which then imitates art, kind of situation, an homage being acknowledged as meaningful in its own right by the originator of the idea. I think it’s cool - except the name being too childish etc.

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Oh, sure, I wasn’t really making a statement of any kind. I just wanted to point that I thought he looked kind of similar. Although Snoke is my least favorite part of the film, I don’t really have a problem with him. He hasn’t really done enough for me to justify an opinion either way. I just think it’s kind of funny that the new Andy Serkis character in SW looks so much like a Weta Workshop CGI character. I wonder if that was an unintentional subconscious decision.

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.