Exposed spoilers will bring swift death. The Force Awakens

[DaveYanakov]

Early yesterday afternoon I got hit by a spoiler planted by a waste of carbon in a random and completely unrelated discussion thread. This was an 'it was his sled' level, weapons grade troll that partially seared itself into my memory before I could recognize it, causing me to scrap my plans to see it with friends next week and take a long lunch today before my mind could use its idle cycles to pick apart the entire plot based off the teaser and posters I've seen.

I tell you this not to complain, but to try and relate just how incredible it was that even knowing what was coming, I still got hit hard by it. I always suspected that JJ would do a much better job with fantasy than the harder science of Trek and he knocked this one out of the park. This is indeed the movie we have been waiting for these past three decades.

[Larmantine]

I just watched it. It was okay, I enjoyed the visual aspect of it and everything else was ok, pretty much as I expected.

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But that R2D2 sudden thing killed the whole movie for me.

Admin edit: Tagged spoiler

[DaveYanakov]

Tag. Your. Spoilers.

[Stormweaver]

I saw it yesterday. I'm not a huge fan of star wars, but the film was pretty what with the explosions and laser swords and stuff.

I'm going to guess it's just intended as a light introduction to the protagonists of the next set of films though, since there isn't a whole lot of 'important' stuff that could actually be spoiled tbh.

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Other than that one bloke killing his dad, or that other bloke being that other persons dad, and that first bloke I mentioned is going to be redeemed at some point because he sucks at both force stuff and laser sword stuff. The big bloke is probably the actual big bad, but there's always a bigger bad so whatever.

[FlowerChild]

Tag. Your. Spoilers.

Hehe...yeah, I think I'm going to have to stay out of this thread. I'm likely not going to see this movie until the new year, and really would prefer to avoid spoilers.

If anything really rough happens in here, please report it as I won't be looking things over otherwise.

[DaveYanakov]

I should add that the movie was strong enough that I had an amazing theater experience despite the projector breaking down for fifteen minutes right at the climax of a chase scene and the child in front of me rocking his seat into my knees throughout.

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Other than that one bloke killing his dad, or that other bloke being that other persons dad, and that first bloke I mentioned is going to be redeemed at some point because he sucks at both force stuff and laser sword stuff. The big bloke is probably the actual big bad, but there's always a bigger bad so whatever.

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Palpatine was the big bad on the holocom all the way through the original trilogy. As for the bloke who sucks at laser swords, he's not supposed to be good at them. He's the charismatic rogue to the new jedi protagonist

[dawnraider]

I honestly really enjoyed the movie. JJ Abrams did a much better job than George Lucas (unsurprisingly). I have to say, imho the original trilogy was really only good by virtue of being a classic. However,

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even though there were a lot of similarities between A New Hope and The Force Awakens

I think The Force Awakens is actually good by its own account. There definitely were faults though (big spoilers about the movie, no vague terminology to save you. You have been warned).

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the whole R2D2 thing at the end was a complete wtf, like where the hell did he get the rest of that map? It was in the empire's old records (hence the first order had it), but there is no reason I can see that R2D2 would have that but the rest of the resistance would not. Also, how did Finn survive the lightsaber up the back? Even though it was only the tip, his spine would still basically be gone.

Also, FINALLY,

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The stormtroopers don't miss 100% of the time! (only 98% now)

[MaxAstro]

One thing I liked about this movie was how much "show, don't tell" it used; a lot of things are cleverly explained without being explicitly shown. For example:

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R2D2 got the map from Luke. Rey's force-induced flashback shows Luke with R2, presumably shortly before he left. If you think about it, Luke did a very smart thing: Give R2 most of the map, and then hide the key component somewhere else in case R2 was compromised. Luke obviously had the complete map himself since, you know, he found the planet in the first place.

[Caboose]

My brain's been just a scrambled mess of Wars Star jumblies since I saw it, but I can say for certain that I really loved it and the more I think about it the more I love about it. I will be going to see it as many times as time and funds allow.

[dawnraider]

One thing I liked about this movie was how much "show, don't tell" it used; a lot of things are cleverly explained without being explicitly shown. For example:

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R2D2 got the map from Luke. Rey's force-induced flashback shows Luke with R2, presumably shortly before he left. If you think about it, Luke did a very smart thing: Give R2 most of the map, and then hide the key component somewhere else in case R2 was compromised. Luke obviously had the complete map himself since, you know, he found the planet in the first place.

I definitely agree with that.

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Actually, that does make sense as to how R2 got it (but then why would the empire have had it for the First order to retrieve?). Another thing is this department I think they did well was displaying the skill of Finn, Rey, and Kylo Ren in regards to lightsabers (and to their general characteristics). Kylo was close to how you'd normally see a jedi, but not all the way (as he hadn't finished training). Meanwhile Finn's was more of a brutal hacking, with Rey's more nimble, almost like fencing, neither of which would work well with lightsabers.

[devak]

(big spoilers about the movie, no vague terminology to save you. You have been warned).

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the whole R2D2 thing at the end was a complete wtf, like where the hell did he get the rest of that map? It was in the empire's old records (hence the first order had it), but there is no reason I can see that R2D2 would have that but the rest of the resistance would not. Also, how did Finn survive the lightsaber up the back? Even though it was only the tip, his spine would still basically be gone.

Well,

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It seems Luke did what Yoda did: Go into hiding and await the next jedi. For that purpose he left a map, though it's not entirely clear why he left it in two parts. (probably for safety). It seems R2D2 was programmed to respond to his Lightsaber being claimed in order to provide the path to Luke. It also seems that the map contains a string of planets he visited.

I dont think we've seen Finn after he got struck by Kylo, so it remains to be seen how exactly he recovers. But this is a universe in which Anakin survived near total burning, so surviving this isn't exactly impossible.

[Gunnerman21]

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We do actually see Finn after they arrive at the resistance base, he's still passed out and one of the medical personnel says he has a heartbeat. After being slashed up down the spine though I speculate he might be paralyzed.
That new deathstar though!!! I forget what they called it but man it was amazing! First deathstar powerful enough to destroy a planet, now this one can destroy 5?? Now thats some good engineering. Seems also like they took an easier-ish route and built it on a pre-existing planet, but still, quite amazing. I also really like the scenes in which they showed people on the planets being destroyed. Kinda morbid, but showing what kind of people there are on these planets gives more insight to how it happened on Alderaan when they got wasted.

[dawnraider]

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We do actually see Finn after they arrive at the resistance base, he's still passed out and one of the medical personnel says he has a heartbeat. After being slashed up down the spine though I speculate he might be paralyzed.
That new deathstar though!!! I forget what they called it but man it was amazing! First deathstar powerful enough to destroy a planet, now this one can destroy 5?? Now thats some good engineering. Seems also like they took an easier-ish route and built it on a pre-existing planet, but still, quite amazing. I also really like the scenes in which they showed people on the planets being destroyed. Kinda morbid, but showing what kind of people there are on these planets gives more insight to how it happened on Alderaan when they got wasted.

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It's called Starkiller Base (rather apt I think). And yeah, I have to say it was rather badass right after Hux gave his speech and you just see the army with a wall of fire behind them. I really liked the whole firing scene, though I'm not sure how Finn could have see it from Maz's castle. They said the entire Hosnian System was destroyed, yet there's no way it could've been seen from another system.
I do rather like the way they destroyed it more than how the deathstar was destroyed. Instead of just being a missile fired down an exhaust chute that blew it up, they just destabilized the containment of the fucking star inside the planet, which I think makes more sense to blow up a planet (or "small moon")

[Gunnerman21]

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We do actually see Finn after they arrive at the resistance base, he's still passed out and one of the medical personnel says he has a heartbeat. After being slashed up down the spine though I speculate he might be paralyzed.
That new deathstar though!!! I forget what they called it but man it was amazing! First deathstar powerful enough to destroy a planet, now this one can destroy 5?? Now thats some good engineering. Seems also like they took an easier-ish route and built it on a pre-existing planet, but still, quite amazing. I also really like the scenes in which they showed people on the planets being destroyed. Kinda morbid, but showing what kind of people there are on these planets gives more insight to how it happened on Alderaan when they got wasted.

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It's called Starkiller Base (rather apt I think). And yeah, I have to say it was rather badass right after Hux gave his speech and you just see the army with a wall of fire behind them. I really liked the whole firing scene, though I'm not sure how Finn could have see it from Maz's castle. They said the entire Hosnian System was destroyed, yet there's no way it could've been seen from another system.
I do rather like the way they destroyed it more than how the deathstar was destroyed. Instead of just being a missile fired down an exhaust chute that blew it up, they just destabilized the containment of the fucking star inside the planet, which I think makes more sense to blow up a planet (or "small moon")

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It wasn't just the missile that destroyed the original deathstar, inside was the hypermatter core with the energy equivalent of about 5 main sequence stars. Destroying that inside was about visually the same as the second bigger deathstar with its hypermatter core. Starkiller Base is basically the same method as episode 6, destroying the containment unit keeping the energy stable, and doing so from the inside after taking down the shields.

[dawnraider]

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We do actually see Finn after they arrive at the resistance base, he's still passed out and one of the medical personnel says he has a heartbeat. After being slashed up down the spine though I speculate he might be paralyzed.
That new deathstar though!!! I forget what they called it but man it was amazing! First deathstar powerful enough to destroy a planet, now this one can destroy 5?? Now thats some good engineering. Seems also like they took an easier-ish route and built it on a pre-existing planet, but still, quite amazing. I also really like the scenes in which they showed people on the planets being destroyed. Kinda morbid, but showing what kind of people there are on these planets gives more insight to how it happened on Alderaan when they got wasted.

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It's called Starkiller Base (rather apt I think). And yeah, I have to say it was rather badass right after Hux gave his speech and you just see the army with a wall of fire behind them. I really liked the whole firing scene, though I'm not sure how Finn could have see it from Maz's castle. They said the entire Hosnian System was destroyed, yet there's no way it could've been seen from another system.
I do rather like the way they destroyed it more than how the deathstar was destroyed. Instead of just being a missile fired down an exhaust chute that blew it up, they just destabilized the containment of the fucking star inside the planet, which I think makes more sense to blow up a planet (or "small moon")

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It wasn't just the missile that destroyed the original deathstar, inside was the hypermatter core with the energy equivalent of about 5 main sequence stars. Destroying that inside was about visually the same as the second bigger deathstar with its hypermatter core. Starkiller Base is basically the same method as episode 6, destroying the containment unit keeping the energy stable, and doing so from the inside after taking down the shields.

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Well I knew it wasn't the missile that did it, and it set off more stuff, but I guess I didn't realize it was that much energy. So I stand corrected.

[MaxAstro]

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I definitely also really enjoyed the lightsaber battles. At first I was thinking "man, these are terribly choreographed, they are really bad compared to other fights we've seen." And then it clicked - no, these are brilliantly choreographed: The people fighting are really bad compared to other fights we've seen. And they did a wonderful job of conveying that in the action, instead of having people pick up a lightsaber and magically become a master with it.

[devak]

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starkiller base is a nod to Luke Starkiller, who was renamed to Luke Skywalker in a later draft

[EpicAaron]

I suppose I'll drop out of lurker stasis to be the dissenting voice here. Got back from the movie a couple of hours ago.

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I thought the movie was a really boring. It wasn't outright bad like The Phantom Menace, but I didn't feel like I was watching anything fresh either.

I love the original Star Wars movie despite not being one of the original fans sitting in a theater back in 1977. I refuse to believe that the appeal is solely derived from its era. With this in mind, I also don't hold very much nostalgia for the original characters, so I was not instantly enamored by the sight of Han Solo's predictable entrance, or C3P0, R2D2, etc. I came into the new movie with only one desire: To experience the same kind of adventurous and universal exposition filled science fiction that the original so innocently presented. Unfortunately, it appears as though the series has moved beyond exploring itself.

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense here, but I thought that the new movie might have tried to forge a new viewpoint beyond the already dried out rebels VS empire plot line. I walked into the movie thinking that it might give us a look at the reconstruction of a new galactic republic after the fall of the empire or some insight on the rebirth of the Sith cult, but these things were barely hinted at. The republic is simply considered restored I suppose and a new Sidious clone is already reestablished with presumably the same nebulous goals as the previous one. The new superweapon (and how easily it is apprehended by a couple of X-wings flying through a ravine) just feels like a complete rip from the originals as well, with a slight power creep buff to keep the kids interested.

In short, the new movie just feels like a slap of fan service without much depth to it. The new characters are cute I suppose, but the universe they are living in seems used and lifeless.

It gets kind of ranty in there, so I apologize in advance if I sound like I have no idea what I am talking about.

[Gilberreke]

Just saw it, I liked it. Few plotholes I could've done without, but otherwise good.

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One of the plotholes I didn't like is Han Solo saying he didn't believe Jedi were real until Luke, when he was born during the republic. I find it hard to believe that the Jedi order, being such a huge thing in the galaxy, was already out of people's memories a few years after ep III. Also, Maz Kanata's story exposition doesn't make a lot of sense either. She's a 1000 years old, that basically means she was born when the republic was only a few decades old. She acts like the Empire was this big era, when she spent 95% of her life living in the Republic, while the Empire lasted for such a short time.

I do wish the next movies don't take the same route as this one.

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I kinda liked the whole New Hope remix thing going on, but I do hope they'll find an actual fresh plot for the other two movies.

And finally, bit of speculation on my part:

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I think Finn and Poe might become a couple. A gay couple in a movie like this is certainly the kind of thing Hollywood/Disney would go for and they act awfully chummy and physical from the get-go. Rey/Finn looks like the obvious couple, but so far, the only Jedi that had a love affair in any movie turned into a Sith and that's kinda a big thing in the Star Wars universe, so I don't buy that. This is the same reason I don't buy that Luke will turn out to be Rey's dad. Not sure who her parents will end up being, probably characters from the original trilogy. Ben and Rey being siblings seems obvious, but the way Leia and Han's dialogue went, that'd be odd, surely they'd mention having another kid and Han would've figured out Rey is his lost kid. So who are prime candidates for mom/dad? I'd say Lando, but her being pretty white would exclude that. Of course, she could well be one of the new character's family, to mirror original trilogy. Snoke/Hux/Phasma being family could work.

Finally, one more thing I wonder:

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Are Snoke and Kylo Sith? Neither of them fits the profile of the Sith well. I'm thinking these are dark Jedi, not Sith. Unless Snoke is Darth Plagueis of course, since they do seem to hint at that, with the leitmotif and Plagueis potentially being alive and immortal.

[MaxAstro]

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Han's comment that he didn't believe in Jedi fits exactly with his portrayal in A New Hope (he doesn't believe in the Force when Obi-Wan tells him about it, remember?). It seems like Force Awakens is more or less quietly pretending the prequel trilogy never happened, which I think is a good thing. Honestly the Jedi being so well known in the prequels is a bigger plot hole. Not to mention the level by which technology has degraded in like 40 years? In the prequels you have things like droideka with their invincible personal shields or those ridiculous buzzsaw robot smart missiles... I'm very glad that the new movie stuck with technology mostly from the original trilogy rather than the nonsense from the prequels.

[Gilberreke]

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Han's comment that he didn't believe in Jedi fits exactly with his portrayal in A New Hope (he doesn't believe in the Force when Obi-Wan tells him about it, remember?). It seems like Force Awakens is more or less quietly pretending the prequel trilogy never happened, which I think is a good thing. Honestly the Jedi being so well known in the prequels is a bigger plot hole. Not to mention the level by which technology has degraded in like 40 years? In the prequels you have things like droideka with their invincible personal shields or those ridiculous buzzsaw robot smart missiles... I'm very glad that the new movie stuck with technology mostly from the original trilogy rather than the nonsense from the prequels.

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Fair enough, but then how do you explain Rebels? Rebels is canon and continuing the trend of the prequels, and it is set 5 years before ANH. Honestly, what irks me is that they mention it at all. I agree there's this rift, so I wouldn't mention that at all, instead of making it even more confusing.

As for technology, dunno, droidekas routinely get taken down by storm troopers, it's not like those things are strong at all (they stop a light saber or blaster, anything bigger just blows them away). I always just take it as the universe realizing that droids suck and are expensive to make, hence the empire not using combat droids after the clones run out, but just recruiting plain old soldiers.

[MaxAstro]

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For me, it's not so much specific technologies disappearing as it is the completely different feel of the technology in the prequels verses the original series. The technology in the prequels felt, if anything, 40 years more advanced, instead of 40 years older. The whole time I was expecting some great disaster to happen to society as a whole to explain the loss of technology, but the movies never really delivered on that. Meanwhile, Force Awakens did a much better job of having what felt like a reasonable advance of technology. The storm trooper with an anti-lightsaber weapon, for example, was a nice piece of new tech that still fit in reasonably well with existing technology. If anything the movie could have been a little less conservative - one would think X-Wings would have been iterated on tech wise a time or two - but I totally understand why they took the safer route. And heck, IRL, super-outdated planes still get flown by militaries all the time.

[Caboose]

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My only (Exceedingly minor)complaint thus far is the lack of new ship designs and such, that is, stuff to make LEGO sets out of, you know? =P Not many new things outside of the trailers, and most of those only show up in the corners. Like, give me a new B-Wing or Vulture Droid, guys. I want to give you my money.

[Taleric]

It was great! Just the right balance of what it needed to be without going too far unlike I-III. In fact it reminds you of I-III's missed opportunity :(

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The young age of some of the actors was kind of distracting to what their 70s' counterparts would have been. All the tie-ins were done without feeling cheesey. The new actors were either edited very well or hit the mark dead on. I am going to enjoy watched a female lead as Jedi. Han's son had me worried but it was acceptable in the end. The only special effects that were off putting was Han's contact that hands over the light saber. I did not remember x-wing vs tie being on that level of thrill it was great!

I would say it felt obvious how much of the plot mirrored New Hope. Is that such a bad thing for good film? I think I can over look it because of the quality.

[Caboose]

It was great! Just the right balance of what it needed to be without going too far unlike I-III. In fact it reminds you of I-III's missed opportunity :(

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The young age of some of the actors was kind of distracting to what their 70s' counterparts would have been. All the tie-ins were done without feeling cheesey. The new actors were either edited very well or hit the mark dead on. I am going to enjoy watched a female lead as Jedi. Han's son had me worried but it was acceptable in the end. The only special effects that were off putting was Han's contact that hands over the light saber. I did not remember x-wing vs tie being on that level of thrill it was great!

I would say it felt obvious how much of the plot mirrored New Hope. Is that such a bad thing for good film? I think I can over look it because of the quality.

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I think it'd only be a bad thing if the other two movies borrow heavily from ESB and RotJ, I do think it's very solidly told and the parallels were more fun than distracting, especially to see the elements of ANH focused on differently. And while the characters all sort of fill the roles established by the original cast, they very much establish themselves as new, cool characters. Like, BB-8 feels like an addition to R2-D2 and C-3PO, and not Artoo-lite.