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OT: Movie Review -- Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

Just saw it...I really liked it, but it wasn't an A+. I'd give it a B+. My comments:

On the Plus side:
  • My biggest thrill was seeing three or four generations of people cheering the start of the movie and when original characters (and robots) make their appearances. Way cool. What movie series can say that ever happened?
  • Loved how they folded in the traditional story lines of Star Wars 4 5 & 6. 1, 2 & 3 movies are garbage and made to capitalize on the franchise's net worth. IMHO, they almost ruined it.
  • JJ Abrams and the writers really knocked it out of the park in folding in old and new into a complete story and script.
  • The new actors were great except the one guy that reminded me too much of Erik Estrada.
  • CGI was great and I am not a CGI fan.
  • Sword fighting was first rate. The gal was believable as way too many fights involving women in movies is laughable as the physics of size, weight and strength are clearly off in most cases. Was fun to watch her character emerge throughout the show.
  • Enjoyed the Nazi-ish, Leni Riefenstahl like scenes where General Hux addresses the storm troopers.
  • Love the volume of the movie
On the down side:
  • 30 years and no improvements to the X-wing fighters?
  • Storm troopers need to work on their aim. And why don't they shoot lasers?
  • is it just me or is harrison ford one of the worst over-actors in Hollywood? it was cool and campy in the original and the Indiana Jones stuff but has gotten old. Although he did just great in his key scene.
  • I thought the new Darth Vader was a little too young but he's a great actor.
 
rudedude said:
Rumor has it that this is the newest Jedi in episode VIII!

ZnsrChI.jpg
Click to expand...
May the force abide...
 
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Obliviax said:
Just saw it...I really liked it, but it wasn't an A+. I'd give it a B+. My comments:

On the Plus side:
  • My biggest thrill was seeing three or four generations of people cheering the start of the movie and when original characters (and robots) make their appearances. Way cool. What movie series can say that ever happened?
  • Loved how they folded in the traditional story lines of Star Wars 4 5 & 6. 1, 2 & 3 movies are garbage and made to capitalize on the franchise's net worth. IMHO, they almost ruined it.
  • JJ Abrams and the writers really knocked it out of the park in folding in old and new into a complete story and script.
  • The new actors were great except the one guy that reminded me too much of Erik Estrada.
  • CGI was great and I am not a CGI fan.
  • Sword fighting was first rate. The gal was believable as way too many fights involving women in movies is laughable as the physics of size, weight and strength are clearly off in most cases. Was fun to watch her character emerge throughout the show.
  • Enjoyed the Nazi-ish, Leni Riefenstahl like scenes where General Hux addresses the storm troopers.
  • Love the volume of the movie
On the down side:
  • 30 years and no improvements to the X-wing fighters?
  • Storm troopers need to work on their aim. And why don't they shoot lasers?
  • is it just me or is harrison ford one of the worst over-actors in Hollywood? it was cool and campy in the original and the Indiana Jones stuff but has gotten old. Although he did just great in his key scene.
  • I thought the new Darth Vader was a little too young but he's a great actor.
Click to expand...

Agree; my expectations increased a good bit after all the amazing word of mouth from friends, but I did have some issues with the movie overall and am aware a lot of this is setting the stage for the next couple films. I totally disagree though about Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron - he was great; just not enough of him. And I do think the X-Wing's were improved over the orignals....most notably the engine; which is four separate wing engines on the original, and two 'split' engines on the new model. Subtle changes but again it's only been 30 years.

New X-Wing

ep7_ia_162337_j_a7dd0845.jpeg


Old X-Wing

third-star-wars-solo-film-based-on-x-wing-fighters


Probably my biggest issue is how there is always someone (Sidious/Palpatine and now Snoke) who achieves supreme power over the Empire/New Order without any explanation at all. Also, no mention of exactly how Snoke was able to turn Kylo Ren to the 'dark side'. Just too many similar, and convenient, plot devices to the originals. I mean, what happened to the Rebels after they took down the Empire? How was the First Order able to muster an incredible army without relying on clones? Why would anyone join the First Order? This doesn't prevent me from enjoying the movie, but a lot of this stuff is never explained (or is poorly explained).
 
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Midnighter said:
Probably my biggest issue is how there is always someone (Sidious/Palpatine and now Snoke) who achieves supreme power over the Empire/New Order without any explanation at all. Also, no mention of exactly how Snoke was able to turn Kylo Ren to the 'dark side'. Just too many similar, and convenient, plot devices to the originals. I mean, what happened to the Rebels after they took down the Empire? How was the First Order able to muster an incredible army without relying on clones? Why would anyone join the First Order? This doesn't prevent me from enjoying the movie, but a lot of this stuff is never explained (or is poorly explained).
Click to expand...

SUPER SPOILY SPOILER DISCUSSION:


*

*

*

I have a feeling a lot of this will be explained in Episode VIII

my understanding is that everything was cruising along fine until Luke started training Han and Leia's son in the ways of the jedi, and (because he has some Annakin in his blood) was turned to the dark side by Snoke. Kind of interesting to watch Kylo Ren struggle with turning to the "light side" of the force (probably one of my favorite scenes was him "apologizing" to Vader's mask for being weak and feeling the pull of the light side)

But I also got the sense that once Kylo turned, it damaged Luke spiritually to the point that he fled (possibly to avoid his own turn to the dark side). that it split up Han and Leia, and rocked the stability of the Rebel Alliance. but Luke did leave puzzle pieces to a map to reach him, once R2D2 was reactivated (presumably once Rey was found)

also, isn't Fin some type of "bred" stormtrooper? I have a feeling we will get a better explanation of how the First Order was able to mold babies into storm troopers in episode VIII. Since these events are 30 years (??) from the end of Return of the Jedi, it seems feasible the New Order could breed and train a full army in that time.
 
simons96 said:
SUPER SPOILY SPOILER DISCUSSION:


*

*

*

I have a feeling a lot of this will be explained in Episode VIII

my understanding is that everything was cruising along fine until Luke started training Han and Leia's son in the ways of the jedi, and (because he has some Annakin in his blood) was turned to the dark side by Snoke. Kind of interesting to watch Kylo Ren struggle with turning to the "light side" of the force (probably one of my favorite scenes was him "apologizing" to Vader's mask for being weak and feeling the pull of the light side)

But I also got the sense that once Kylo turned, it damaged Luke spiritually to the point that he fled (possibly to avoid his own turn to the dark side). that it split up Han and Leia, and rocked the stability of the Rebel Alliance. but Luke did leave puzzle pieces to a map to reach him, once R2D2 was reactivated (presumably once Rey was found)

also, isn't Fin some type of "bred" stormtrooper? I have a feeling we will get a better explanation of how the First Order was able to mold babies into storm troopers in episode VIII. Since these events are 30 years (??) from the end of Return of the Jedi, it seems feasible the New Order could breed and train a full army in that time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree - certainly more to come in the way of explanation. To your point about Finn - yes, it seems they are stolen from their families at a young age and bred to be Storm Troopers, but Finn was quite easily able to reject his breeding to escape that life. But, the success rate at keeping them 'bad' seems pretty good.
 
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Midnighter said:
Yeah, I agree - certainly more to come in the way of explanation. To your point about Finn - yes, it seems they are stolen from their families at a young age and bred to be Storm Troopers, but Finn was quite easily able to reject his breeding to escape that life. But, the success rate at keeping them 'bad' seems pretty good.
Click to expand...

it was sort of hinted that Finn has a bit of the force in him.

I think he is Lando and Leia's secret love child . . . :D
 
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Very disappointed with the story just too much from previous movie. Take the original script and plug in different characters.
J.J. Abrams did same with Star Trek but much more successfully.
While I enjoyed the characters of Rey, Finn & BB8 other new characters were very disappointing and over played. The cameo appearances of J.J. & Brian Burk's buddies is ridiculous because they have no addition to story.
 
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simons96 said:
it was sort of hinted that Finn has a bit of the force in him.

I think he is Lando and Leia's secret love child . . . :D
Click to expand...

Well, to last as long as he did against Ren you would think there is more to him than meets the eye. I mean, Ren could stop a laser blast mid-air and could read minds; clearly, he didn't learn much from Luke in the way of lightsaber skills... :).
 
There are a number of gaps. That's always been one of the strengths/weaknesses of Star Wars. It's a strength in that the overall story is good enough that you don't need all the intermediate steps filled in, and/or you're not forced to believe something that makes absolutely no sense (well, most of the time). It's a weakness in that it allows all kinds of speculation, and also makes you feel as though you're being used a bit.

I did come upon this article titled 40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens.' Don't read it unless you have seen the film. You can access the article at THIS LINK.

Kudos to all of you that use SPOILER ALERT, or something like that, in advance of any discussion of the actual film. Keep in mind that the films has been out less than a week, so a number of folks have yet to see it.
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
There are a number of gaps. That's always been one of the strengths/weaknesses of Star Wars. It's a strength in that the overall story is good enough that you don't need all the intermediate steps filled in, and/or you're not forced to believe something that makes absolutely no sense (well, most of the time). It's a weakness in that it allows all kinds of speculation, and also makes you feel as though you're being used a bit.

I did come upon this article titled 40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens.' Don't read it unless you have seen the film. You can access the article at THIS LINK.

Kudos to all of you that use SPOILER ALERT, or something like that, in advance of any discussion of the actual film. Keep in mind that it's been out less than a week, so a number of folks have yet to see it.
Click to expand...

LOL - that article really hits the nail on the head with a ton of my issues (#40 is hilarious), but I wouldn't call them 'unforgivable'. We did, after all, get introduced to this beauty...

anigif_original-31452-1436588892-4.gif
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
There are a number of gaps. That's always been one of the strengths/weaknesses of Star Wars. It's a strength in that the overall story is good enough that you don't need all the intermediate steps filled in, and/or you're not forced to believe something that makes absolutely no sense (well, most of the time). It's a weakness in that it allows all kinds of speculation, and also makes you feel as though you're being used a bit.

I did come upon this article titled 40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens.' Don't read it unless you have seen the film. You can access the article at THIS LINK.

Kudos to all of you that use SPOILER ALERT, or something like that, in advance of any discussion of the actual film. Keep in mind that the films has been out less than a week, so a number of folks have yet to see it.
Click to expand...

I have read that JJ, Rian, and Kasdan basically wrote episodes 7-9 all at once. So the plot holes you see here were done on purpose so there could be continual discovery of what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. Snoke's origins, how Kylo was turned, what lineage Rey comes from, where Poe and Fin came from, etc. If all of these had been answered in the first movie, what's the point of having 2 more.

I also read an article today that JJ is actually upset with himself that he is not doing Episode VIII because he has read the screenplay and said its one of the best he has seen.

And as for the hokey-ness of the film that some have complained about, what Star Wars film wasn't like that. Its kind of what they are. They are meant to be a fun enjoyable movie with great action, a good storlyline, and some laughs. And that is what this movie delivered.
 
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Tom McAndrew said:
I said earlier today that I like to ruminate a few days before posting a review. However, I'm going to ditch that norm for this movie.

To avoid spoiling things for those of you that plan to see it in the coming days and weeks, I'll avoid plots, events, etc. of the movie in this review.

The Force Awakens is what Star Wars fans (like me) have been hoping for since Star Wars, Star Wars V - The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars VI - Return of the Jedi. It has the feel, the drama, and is on par in many ways with the first three Star Wars movies that George Lucas created. It is so, so, so, so, so much better than Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars II - Attack of the Clones, or Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith.

Many of the characters from the first three movies are in The Force Awakens. In the theatre I was in, every time one of them appeared the audience clapped. (The audience was a mix of ages, from those born after Revenge of the Sith (2005) to those that were alive when Stars Wars (1977) first burst on to screens.) The main good-guy characters from the original movies, Hans, Leia, and Luke, appear in different percentages in the movie, but I'll let you see for yourselves what percentage of the film each appears in.

The new characters, Kylo Ren, Rey, Fin, and BB-8, are excellent additions to the Star Wars saga.

Many aspects of the movie seem like slight variations of parts of some of the former movies. At the same time, there are some new angles, twists, etc. in the movie that are refreshing, and keep The Force Awakens from being nothing more than a retelling of a story we already know.

From my various posts of trailers and discussions about The Force Awakens over the past several months, you should know that I was really looking forward to the film. That said, the movie was much better than I expected. When the movie ended, the audience gave it a prolonged applause, and most of the people that were seated around me commented in varying ways about how much they liked this version, and that it exceeded their expectations.

Each of the Star Wars movies, including the first three, were somewhat hokey. The Force Awakens has some hokiness in it as well. To some extent that's a strength of the movie, but it also impacts my star rating (at the bottom of the review).

Quite simply, order tickets online, get in your car, or run to the nearest movie theatre that is showing The Force Awakens. It is flat-out enjoyable entertainment.

I saw it in 2D. I probably will go to see it again in another week or two, and will probably try 3D just to see what it's like viewing the same film in that format.

About the only folks that I wouldn't recommend going to see The Force Awakens are those that didn't like any of the previous Star Wars movies.

The writing team, and director JJ Abrams, deserve a lot of credit for breathing new life into a great movie saga. Plus, The Force Awakens really does set things up very nicely for Episode VIII, which is scheduled to be released in 2017.

I give this movie a 3.75 stars out of 4, and I'm probably being a little stingy with that rating.
Click to expand...



I saw it today....guess I'm a tough crowd, I thought it was a 1977 re-hack, same plot as the original with some new characters mixed in. Frankly thought they could have come up with a better story line.

2.5 stars.

Great to see Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer on screen together.
 
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Midnighter said:
Well, to last as long as he did against Ren you would think there is more to him than meets the eye. I mean, Ren could stop a laser blast mid-air and could read minds; clearly, he didn't learn much from Luke in the way of lightsaber skills... :).
Click to expand...
Contains SPOILERS
JJ took ideas from EP IV, EP VI the EU books, and possibly even EP III for this movie. Jacen Solo was the quick tempered, Vader worshiping son of Han and Leia who also was not as skilled with the lightsaber as some jedi from the EU books. He even took Ben from the book as Luke's son was named Ben. Why would Han and Leia name their son after Kenobi. Han thought he was a crazy old man. Leia never met Kenobi and referred to him as Obi-Wan in the message. Luke was the one that was fond of Ben.

Snoke is really close to the way Darth Plagueis was described in the Darth Plagueis book. We know Snoke was around and knew what was happening in the previous 6 movies. Is he a completely new character as JJ claims or is he a briefly mentioned character from Ep III. JJ could go either way but it sure looks like someone used the non-canon book for Snoke. Snoke could look exactly like Darth Plagueis but we don't know if he was a Muun anymore since Disney wiped out everything that was not in the movies or the Clone Wars TV show.
 
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Interesting - appears an officially licensed Disney video game reveals Rey's true identity....

***SPOILERS***

I'm sure Disney will not address this, but in the The Force Awakens: Disney Infinity Game Kylo Ren refers to Rey as his 'cousin' (the exchange is, 'Face me cousin!'). So, more evidence to suggest she's Luke's daughter, but I think most of us were pretty on board with that theory even if not explicitly stated in SW: TFA.
 
Midnighter said:
Agree; my expectations increased a good bit after all the amazing word of mouth from friends, but I did have some issues with the movie overall and am aware a lot of this is setting the stage for the next couple films. I totally disagree though about Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron - he was great; just not enough of him. And I do think the X-Wing's were improved over the orignals....most notably the engine; which is four separate wing engines on the original, and two 'split' engines on the new model. Subtle changes but again it's only been 30 years.

New X-Wing

ep7_ia_162337_j_a7dd0845.jpeg


Old X-Wing

third-star-wars-solo-film-based-on-x-wing-fighters


Probably my biggest issue is how there is always someone (Sidious/Palpatine and now Snoke) who achieves supreme power over the Empire/New Order without any explanation at all. Also, no mention of exactly how Snoke was able to turn Kylo Ren to the 'dark side'. Just too many similar, and convenient, plot devices to the originals. I mean, what happened to the Rebels after they took down the Empire? How was the First Order able to muster an incredible army without relying on clones? Why would anyone join the First Order? This doesn't prevent me from enjoying the movie, but a lot of this stuff is never explained (or is poorly explained).
Click to expand...
I agree with this. Why a bigger Death Star? How did they all join and why the same uniforms. How did they get so big without the rebels or new republic not shutting them down.
I did like that is has been 30 years. I clapped at beginning and each time old character appeared. I saw the original in 1977 at the garden theatre in state college as a kid. Now my daughters are about same age as I was and they loved it. My wife did too. It was great fun and kudos to Lucas on a great story and to Abrams staying true to the originals. I did like the last of the new ones, I think it tied how anakon became darth Vader very well and it got rid of all the cartoonish characters that screwed up the first two. Can't wait to see it again. Nice answers on the board about plagias etc.
 
Midnighter said:
Interesting - appears an officially licensed Disney video game reveals Rey's true identity....

***SPOILERS***

I'm sure Disney will not address this, but in the The Force Awakens: Disney Infinity Game Kylo Ren refers to Rey as his 'cousin' (the exchange is, 'Face me cousin!'). So, more evidence to suggest she's Luke's daughter, but I think most of us were pretty on board with that theory even if not explicitly stated in SW: TFA.
Click to expand...
I just read an article that this is not what he actually said. Here is a link from the guy who originally broke the news.

 
I've been avoiding this thread and much of the internet like the plague until I saw the movie. I saw it in 3d, although I don't think it added much to the movie for me. Overall, I really liked the movie. I wish my daughter was older than four, because I think Rey would be a great character for her to see.

Spoilers:

I used to read a lot of the old books that are no longer considered part of the Star Wars universe, and I'm glad they wiped the slate clean to give these movies a fresh start. That said, I found myself recognizing a lot of things from those books, basically a mash up of some of the best parts. I see a lot of the dark empire story line, where Luke goes bad and Leah has to bring him back. But, since they are too old, that storyline gets transferred to Rey and "Ben." In the books, Leah and Han had twins, and Luke married a hot redhead who had been Palpentine's best assassin and was strong in the force, but not to the level of a Jedi or sith. It looks like they made Han and Leah's daughter Luke's for the film. You see a lot of little things like Rey's extreme mechanical acumen. In the books, Hans son went extremely dark, and was responsible for a lot of destruction, so the movie's not a huge surprise. Here's guessing Ben not only killed the new Jedi recruits, but Luke's wife. There's a bunch of other stuff that pops up here and there. The new death star didn't show up in the books (although I stopped when reading when they killed Chewie), but aspects of it did. The one big surprise for me is why Snope valued a relatively young General Hux so much. I wonder if he's force sensitive, otherwise I don't get it.
 
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Just watched it this morning and I'm lucky I did. The next showing had a line an hour before the start. Our showing was a little over half full. Really liked it, but I could have done without Finn. Not sure what he brought to the story line. Really didn't like the fact that he gave Kylo Ren a decent battle with the light saber. That was kind of hokey. Rey was single handily the best part of the movie. She kicked ass and was believable at doing it. Take her away and you don't have a movie. Like some others have mentioned it was hard for me to see a really old Han Solo and Princess Leia. Han was so cool back in the originals, but now he just looked like an old guy.
 
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91Joe95 said:
I've been avoiding this thread and much of the internet like the plague until I saw the movie. I saw it in 3d, although I don't think it added much to the movie for me. Overall, I really liked the movie. I wish my daughter was older than four, because I think Rey would be a great character for her to see.

Spoilers:

I used to read a lot of the old books that are no longer considered part of the Star Wars universe, and I'm glad they wiped the slate clean to give these movies a fresh start. That said, I found myself recognizing a lot of things from those books, basically a mash up of some of the best parts. I see a lot of the dark empire story line, where Luke goes bad and Leah has to bring him back. But, since they are too old, that storyline gets transferred to Rey and "Ben." In the books, Leah and Han had twins, and Luke married a hot redhead who had been Palpentine's best assassin and was strong in the force, but not to the level of a Jedi or sith. It looks like they made Han and Leah's daughter Luke's for the film. You see a lot of little things like Rey's extreme mechanical acumen. In the books, Hans son went extremely dark, and was responsible for a lot of destruction, so the movie's not a huge surprise. Here's guessing Ben not only killed the new Jedi recruits, but Luke's wife. There's a bunch of other stuff that pops up here and there. The new death star didn't show up in the books (although I stopped when reading when they killed Chewie), but aspects of it did. The one big surprise for me is why Snope valued a relatively young General Hux so much. I wonder if he's force sensitive, otherwise I don't get it.[/QUOTE/]

Snoke probably values Hux because Hux runs the large storm trooper army. I did not think the actor selected for Hux was a good fit.
Click to expand...
 
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