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The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS ** — Page 88

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Smithers said:

got it, and he thought Kylo Ren socks were cool in high school?

I’m not in high school but my sister is… and yes, Kylo Ren socks are pretty cool there.

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If the movie had explained that the new Republic was unwilling to form a standing army because the last time an army was formed during the Clone Wars that army turned against the Republic, I could have accepted the basic plot much more easily.

(I made up the above explanation.)

Then I would have understood why the Resistance was formed and why the new Republic was unable to defend itself.

However, without any exposition, the political situation in The Force Awakens is incomprehensible.

Furthermore, Kylo Ren should have defeated Rey in the lightsaber duel.

Rey should have only nearly escaped after sustaining serious injuries.

What is the purpose of training with Luke in the next episode if she is already superior to the antagonist?

Seriously, if J. J. Abrams had simply explained the political situation more clearly and had made Kylo Ren a more menacing villain, The Force Awakens would have been a much better film.

However, these two major flaws - an incomprehensible political situation and a weak villain - completely ruin the film for me.

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I always interpreted the ‘First Order’ to be a reference to a religious order such as the Jedi Order. However, I recently invented a more amusing reason for the name: The Imperial officers who did not desert when the Empire was routed took to calling themselves ‘officers of the first order’. The praise stuck and became the official name of the new movement.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

  2. If Kylo had defeated Rey, the whole mystic behind her character would have been lost. She, a light side user, not Kylo, is the successor to Anikan.

  3. More menacing? He killed his father in cold blood!

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

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The Clone army didn’t turn on the Republic, they wiped out those traitorous Jedi and the Republic was reordered into the Empire. 😉

Kylo had a bleeding wound from being shot by Chewie, so that evened the odds a tad.

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

Kylo had a bleeding wound from being shot by Chewie, so that evened the odds a tad.

Among other things. At this point the film makers shouldn’t have put any extenuating circumstances if people were just going to ignore them.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

  2. If Kylo had defeated Rey, the whole mystic behind her character would have been lost. She, a light side user, not Kylo, is the successor to Anikan.

  3. More menacing? He killed his father in cold blood!

You’re debating TFA with someone who thinks AOTC is a great film.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

Everything is relative. Compared to TFA, ANH did have a lot of exposition about the political situation.
ESB and ROTJ did not need to.

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NeverarGreat said:

I always interpreted the ‘First Order’ to be a reference to a religious order such as the Jedi Order. However, I recently invented a more amusing reason for the name: The Imperial officers who did not desert when the Empire was routed took to calling themselves ‘officers of the first order’. The praise stuck and became the official name of the new movement.

That would fit with canon, so I think that is pretty much the reason why. Good theory.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

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Anyone else think the blu-ray looks a little blue? It’s nowhere near as off as the official OT discs, but it’s definitely noticeable in a good amount of scenes. I’d compare it to the way the Mad Max: Fury Road BD skewed a bit red. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the quality.

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Is Kylo Ren still a weak villain who doesn’t threaten our heroes at all, or did they fix that?

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A dumb vilain, but a dangerous one. I mean, he kills two old unarmed guys, one Starship computer and one interrogation chair. A great SW vilain, no doubt about that 😄

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

Who gives a damn about understanding what’s going on in a movie ? Everyone who likes good movies I guess. You reallly should watch ANH by the way (I don’t write “rewatch” because you obviously have never seen this movie), the political situation is clear as crystal in it (opening crawl, subsequent dialogues with Leia, Vader, the Imperial Officer aboard the Tantive; then the Death Star meeting, with a guy called Tarkin who provides information about the Senate, the Emperor, Governors, and so on).

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 (Edited)

MalàStrana said:

A dumb vilain, but a dangerous one. I mean, he kills two old unarmed guys, one Starship computer and one interrogation chair. A great SW vilain, no doubt about that 😄

And Vader in STAR WARS kills one guy in the beginning who can’t defend himself due to him being totally surrounded, an old guy who literally throws his life away and a couple of rebel pilots who literally couldn’t evade his fire due to them being amendment about completing their mission. Makes Kylo look like shit really…

At least Kylo defeated Finn in a fair duel while he was bleeding out from an injury that should have rendered him completely useless but hey…

joefavs said:

Anyone else think the blu-ray looks a little blue? It’s nowhere near as off as the official OT discs, but it’s definitely noticeable in a good amount of scenes. I’d compare it to the way the Mad Max: Fury Road BD skewed a bit red. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the quality.

Well that’s what color corrections are for 😃

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joefavs said:

Anyone else think the blu-ray looks a little blue? It’s nowhere near as off as the official OT discs, but it’s definitely noticeable in a good amount of scenes. I’d compare it to the way the Mad Max: Fury Road BD skewed a bit red. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the quality.

It was pretty blue in the theater, was it not? Both times I saw it, even the opening crawl starfield was full of blueish stars rather than white ones.

.

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suspiciouscoffee said:

joefavs said:

Anyone else think the blu-ray looks a little blue? It’s nowhere near as off as the official OT discs, but it’s definitely noticeable in a good amount of scenes. I’d compare it to the way the Mad Max: Fury Road BD skewed a bit red. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with the quality.

It was pretty blue in the theater, was it not? Both times I saw it, even the opening crawl starfield was full of blueish stars rather than white ones.

Yeah, I remember that too, but it seems to affect skin tones a lot more than I remember on the disc.

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O great. One of my complaints about the film is apparently enhanced. Lovely.

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The film was not “pretty blue” in the theaters. Many scenes had a good deal of blue lighting in them and the starfield was definitely blue, but this was not due to some universal blue shift ala STID.

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I might have made it sound worse than it actually is, it’s just a bit colder looking than I recalled. If anyone else has the disc yet, please, weigh in.

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 (Edited)

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

  2. If Kylo had defeated Rey, the whole mystic behind her character would have been lost. She, a light side user, not Kylo, is the successor to Anikan.

  3. More menacing? He killed his father in cold blood!

  1. Actually yes . . . the diplomatic mission to Alderaan, the stolen battle plans, the references to past wars, the story of the formation of the Empire, the dissolution of the Imperial Senate, the regional governors taking direct control of their star systems, ect.

  2. So light side Force users must win lightsaber duels every time or else the whole mystic behind their characters is lost? That makes absolutely no sense. Do you expect me to believe that Kylo Ren destroyed the New Jedi Order but lost to a girl with no lightsaber training?

  3. And it took him forever to do it. What a wimpy villain! I laughed during that scene. It was supposed to be poignant, but it was only pathetic.

And why would Kylo Ren seek to murder his father in the first place? What goal was his father obstructing?

My understanding is that Kylo Ren killed his father because something something dark side something something.

George Lucas should have killed off Han Solo in Return of the Jedi. He should have died in the fight to destroy the Empire. It would have completed his character transformation from a self-interested smuggler to a self-sacrificial war hero. Instead, in The Force Awakens Han Solo is still a smuggler who learned absolutely nothing from his adventures in the Original Trilogy. What a slap in the face.

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TV’s Frink said:

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

  1. Who gives a damn about the political specifics? Did the OT delve into these in any detail?

  2. If Kylo had defeated Rey, the whole mystic behind her character would have been lost. She, a light side user, not Kylo, is the successor to Anikan.

  3. More menacing? He killed his father in cold blood!

You’re debating TFA with someone who thinks AOTC is a great film.

Attack of the Clones is not a perfect film, but it is a decent film, unlike The Force Awakens.