OMG–Kylo Ren is really Jar Jar Binks!!!
^Ban him
OK….so here’s my personal take on the new Star Wars movie. (Spoiler-free)
First, a little about me. I’m a big fan of the Original Trilogy. I tolerated the Prequels, simply because they’re in the Star Wars universe. I don’t care one bit about the Expanded Universe. In fact, other than the “Shadows of the Empire” story that occurs between Episode 5 and 6, I don’t know hardly anything about the Expanded Universe.
That being said, I liked the new movie. It does a good job of continuing the Original Trilogy, while passing the torch onto a new cast. The entire movie is somewhat reminiscent of the OT as a whole, and there are a lot of “throwback” scenes that reinforce the idea while this is definitely starting a new story, it bridges in the old story really well.
The graphics are superb, the acting is good, and there is some CGI, but it’s not overdone like it was in the Prequels. Most importantly, Jar-Jar Binks doesn’t make an appearance (thank God).
Overall, I it was a good movie. It’s really hard to judge it yet, because it’s only 1/3 of the way complete, but this is a good indicator that the Sequels are going to be an epic story and very entertaining to watch.
Let me also add–I can’t wait to see Daisy Ridley in the gold bikini.
Saw it today.
Daisy stole the movie. Great job, wonderful bit of casting.
going to see it tonight. Kind of bummed that JJ Abrams is not directing the 8th film. It’s going to be directed by the guy who did Looper which did not impress me very much.
Saw it last night and am sad to say that I was pretty disappointed. Other than Rey, I didn’t find any of the new characters particularly interesting and the story was basically a remake of the original movie.
^IIRC, you’re not a big fan.
I wouldn’t expect a non-fan to be thrilled about it. Star Wars has never been known for its good acting, and you’re probably not into the Original Triliogy nostalgia (like when Han says "I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I was relieved to know that they worked it into the movie.)
Or that Finn’s number, 2187, is the same number as Princess Leia’s cell in ANH. (A reference to George Lucas’s dorm room, I think.)
Or that Finn pulled out Luke’s remote when trying to help Chewie.
I’m a big fan of the old trilogy myself and I also enjoyed the new movie a great deal. I think they really managed to capture the atmosphere of the original. While watching the movie I loved every second of every scene, however a bit later, going through the movie again in my head I started to notice some discrepancies and a number of funny similarities that just felt slightly awkward at first. I would appreciate your take on that Greenman. Am I overly sensitive? Was I expecting too much?
[SPOILER ALERT! RANT ALERT!]
I imagine Disney wanted to play it safe and to make sure they produce something close to the original trilogy they got together a panel of expert nerds to quiz them about the original trilogy and what they loved about it – and then they transformed that into a new movie. Bit by bit. Down to the details.
Think about it: lonely kid living on a desert planet is thrust into galactic conflict, discovers the force and has to face hooded evil guy in mask with father/son issues. Everything is kicked off when that kid finds a little rebel droid that is lost in the desert, containing valuable information. Hero is captured and held at death star and tortured, later escapes. A bar full of weird aliens drinking and playing funky music. A gigantic planet-sized weapon that has just become operational is about to wipe out the resistance. A small band of rebels flies an attack against the planet-sized weapon. A hero races down a canyon on the surface of this said weapon to bring it down single-handedly seconds before it comes in range of the rebel base.
Ok. So the new movie is 75% A New Hope and 20% Return of the Jedi with slightly different characters. I could live with that. If it wasn’t for a few other brain farts on the bigger scale that make me think that tool Damon Lindelof was involved as a writer.
At the end of episode VI, the empire has been brought down, the emperor has been killed and the republic has been reinstated. Good. So why not continue there? Why do we now have a republic and a resistance? Why is the republic not fighting the First Order, if they are what’s left of the empire? They seem not at all involved. Did nobody notice that there are some bad guys building a super-weapon a hundred times bigger than the second death star? And what happens to this planet once it has consumed the star (star, not sun!) next to it? Presumably it will become inhabitable instantly and spin into outer space without the gravitational pull from the star. And how would they have built it? The empire ruled the galaxy and strained all available resources to build the two death stars. As far as we know, the first order is just a bunch of fanatics who don’t have the economic power the empire used to have. And what happened to the rebel fleet? By the end of episode VI, they were a formidable military force with a large fleet of ships of all sizes. And now they attack the new super weapon with a bunch of X-Wings. No fleet, no Y- or B-Wings, nada. Again, I think this is another scene copied from A New Hope, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the big picture.
Don’t get me wrong, I did in fact like it very much, I just wish they would have done a better job in continuing the actual story after the old trilogy.
Saw it. my thoughts were:
Really enjoyed the new faces. I’m kind of torn about whether or not I like the fact that they followed such a similar premise as ANH, the important part is that it worked and there really wasn’t a scene that I did not like except for the one on the bridge near the end which I will not spoil, but those of you who saw it know what I am referring too (I will get more specific if asked but I didn’t feel surprised or moved by it). Still, Adam Driver did better than I thought he would. Ridley and Boyega were awesome. I’m actually much more interested in the new characters than the old ones. Which is a good thing and hopefully it only gets better.
My major concerns going forward are:
We are going to have one star wars film a year for what seems like perpetuity or until Disney kills it and knowing Disney they will continue to poke it with a stick and parade it around as long as it generates $$$.
overall I think that I am satisfied so far as a SW fan and I will definitely be excited for the next one.
Actually, I went back and watched it again last night. My wife wanted to watch some Lifetime Christmas movie, so I had to leave before the estrogen level got out of hand.
SPOILER ALERT - Possible spoilers follow
I wish I knew the answers to that, because I started wondering about those myself. The short answer is–I guess a lot can happen in 30 years. And it seems like it will probably be incumbent upon us to fill in the blanks. (Almost all of this is purely conjecture.)
First, why is the Republic not fighting the Resistance? Just a guess, but I imagine that the Republic is probably an upstart government, and the Resistance is its fighting force. These two are probably allies, but the Republic is the civil side and the Resistance is the equivalent military. I don’t really have a problem with the Republic’s non-presence in the film.
Second, just because the Death Star/Emperor/Vader/Flagship were destroyed, that probably represents ~25% of the Empire’s total military presence. Sure, it’s a big loss, but certainly not total annhilation. Remember that after the first Death Star was destroyed, it took them only four years to build another one that was five times bigger. Surely they can build another superweapon in 30 years.
Third, where did the First Order come from and why are they so big? Again, a lot can happen in 30 years. Just see how big and well financed ISIS is, and they’ve only been around for 2-3 years? Plus, this isn’t exactly an upstart–this is the remnants of what was the government, so it makes sense that it would be bigger than the Republic. (Think England vs. US in the American Revolution. England remained bigger, badder, and better financed for the next 150 years, just not able to actually squash the rebels.) I think a better question is, where did the Republic come from and why are they so big?
Fourth, where is the Rebel/Resistance fleet, and why didn’t they attack Starkiller base? First, remember that the Resistance is trying to keep their location a secret. Having a thousand giant cruisers hanging around outside your orbit probably helps give away your position. And remember, there are also probably other battles going on in other corners of the galaxy. But they’re not germane to the “re-awakening of the Force”, so they don’t get a lot of attention in the movie, due to time constraints. (But it would have been nice for them just to drop a line, like, “The fleet is engaged in the X system, so that’s not an option,” or something.) Also, the defenses at Starkiller Base were probably like the first Death Star. They’re built around a large-scale assault. They wouldn’t consider a small, one-man fighter to be any threat.
Fifth, did nobody at the resistance notice the new giant superweapon being built? I guess not. Remember too, that this isn’t just nine planets in a solar system, and we just have to keep tabs on the nine. There are thousands of stars in the galaxy, and each probably has its own planets, and each planet has moons. Trying to find a single planet in there is probably about as easy as finding a plane that disappeared over the Indian Ocean.
Sixth, what happens to the sun/star that fuels the weapon? Well, I don’t remember specifically whether or not they completely drain the sun or not. It’s possible that they just use a portion of it for each charge. Plus, we don’t know that they haven’t built some kind of a motor on the back the planet that can move it from place to place. (They were able to move the first Death Star.) Additionally, they probably don’t anticipate using it very many times. They used it once to destroy the Republic, and it destroyed at least six planets. If they use it again on the Resistance, it may have served its entire purpose with just two shots.
Seventh, why didn’t the Resistance use other fighters other than the X-wing? Again, maybe the others were obsolete. Maybe they infused the new X-wings with all the best technology from the Y and B-wings, which made them more or less useless. (BTW–they attacked the Death Star with B-Wings in ANH. They just didn’t get much attention.) But I also remember watching it and thinking, “You know, B-Wings would be better at bombing the flux capacitor (whatever it’s called) than X-Wings would. Where are all the B-Wings?”
I enjoyed the original trilogy quite a bit, but am not a fanatic. I did catch Han’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” and the reference to the trash compactor, etc. Little things like those and the others you’ve mentioned are great for the fanatics, but as described very well by Eskimo (and mentioned earlier by me), the movie is amost entirely a remake of the original movie. I’ll certainly watch the next two movies, but hope they’re not just remakes of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
id rather watch “The Sound of Music” for the 10th time than a remake of this geekfest.
SPOILER ALERT - BE YE WARNED - MAJOR SPOILERS
A couple of things I’ve been pondering…
- The movie seems to imply that Rey is Luke’s daughter. I don’t believe this is the case, simply because it’s too easy to guess. Plus, it would mean that Luke had a wife or girlfriend, and that he knocked her up and abandoned her. I think that somebody in the galaxy would notice if the leader of the New Jedi Order had a kid.
My guess is that Rey is either (1) Vader’s other child, or (2) Obi-Wan Kenobi’s child, or (3) Leia’s other child, who she hid from Han. Or maybe she’s actually been imbued with the “spirit” of the Emperor, who is somehow possessing her body to get rid of Snoke and the Knights of Ren in Episode 8, then plans to turn on Luke in Episode 9.
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Who is Supreme Leader Snoke, and how did he get his power? I assume that the only Jedi left were Obi-Wan, Luke, Vader, Yoda, and Palpatine, and now four of them are dead and one has failed in his mission to create more Jedi. Did Vader actually survive the Death Star attack somehow and assume a new alter ego to hide his true identity?
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Did you notice that the new Force-sensitive girl, the Milennium Falcon, and the “old ally” who has the map all happen to be in the same general location, on the same planet in the galaxy? Maybe this is just a fantastic coincidence, but I think there’s more to this story.
[MORE SPOILERS]
Well, thanks for taking the time to go through all my questions, Greenman. I agree, it is technically possible to address each concern and find explanations for each discrepancy. I does seem a bit forced, though. It is as you said, many of these open questions could have been solved quite easily with a few more lines in the right moment. “Finally we finished this super weapon in secret that is based on ancient alien technology” or “luckily the new republic underestimates us and does not have the military capacity to stand in our way as they are busy building a new administration and unifying all those weird alien races…”
I found an article that also tries to answer these same questions, especially the role of the resistance and the new republic:
Regarding your other questions, I also found Reys background a bit puzzling. First I thought she might be Kylos sister. I thought I read somewhere that Han Solo and Leia had two kids, a boy and a girl. Not sure. It was definitely interesting how she beat Kylo, all in rage, reminded me of Luke beating Vader.
I agree there was a lot going on on Jakku. Hardly a coincidence. I also hope we hear more of this ancient Jedi temple. Snoke seems old, almost ancient himself, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is something or someone even older than the emperor and the sith were.
i heard the movie blew
_ SPOILER ALERT!!! _
I thought the movie strongly implied that Rey is Luke’s daughter, and I’m fine with that. I’d be disappointed if she weren’t. At her home, she had that doll in the uniform of a rebel pilot, as well as the old pilot’s helmet. Leia’s hug of Rey isn’t a mother / daughter hug, but that she’s hugging Rey at all the first time she sees her indicates some sort of connected past. And when Rey finds Luke at the top of the island, there’s a lot of wordless emotion on both sides. It’s also notable that Rey was the person selected to contact Luke. I didn’t notice this myself, but on another site I saw a poster mention that Luke seemed to be standing near a headstone / grave. Maybe that would be the grave of the mother? I’ll see it again soon and will look for this. I really liked that final scene. No dialogue needed.
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It would be interesting but not a large surprise if Rey was conceived in a similar fashion as Anakin Skywalker.
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This will likely be explained in the next film. There is far too little time to explain everything that has occurred between 6 & 7 in just one film. Interesting theory but I really hope they dont bring back vader.
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This was not so surprising. Star Wars has always been about “destiny” and the force controls everything, so nothing is coincidence.
I totally called it.