Spoiler Dicussion of The Force Awakens

I saw it yesterday.

Overall I thought "Meh"

I liked Rey, though. I love to see more of that kind of character. Finn, too, but to a lesser degree. And both have a huge gap in their backstories. I mean, something we haven't seen (and likely won't ever see).

But what bothers me is this:

A far more oppressive, totalitarian and repressive regime than the Empire now rules over at least a vast portion of the galaxy. IN this time of need, Han Solo's gone back to smuggling, and Luke is off brooding somewhere.

More later.

Pretty much I thought it was a less structured retelling of Ep. 4, with some tweaks, like the renegade stormtrooper.

Resistance fighter obtains valuable information, gets captured by the bad guys, and hides info in a droid. Check
Bad guys storm the place where the resistance fighter has the info, kill a lot of people. Check
Creepy dude with a mask and cape comes down after the attack and takes charge. Check
Hero trapped in a dead-end existence. Check
Gold-hearted smuggler and his loyal crewman save the heroes. Check
Hero receives a revelation and wisdom from a mysterious stranger. Check
Bad guys have a super-destructive weapon and use it. Check
Bad guys will now use super weapon to end the resistance. Check
Good guys send a few fighters to destroy the super weapon. Check

Oh, there were some very nice visuals, some striking effects, too, but that's old hat by now. In 1977 the original Star Wars was revolutionary. The revolution has continued since then, refining and expanding the techniques. But no effects today have the impact the rather crude, non-digital, original SW effects had on their contemporary audience.

BTW the New Order is far more dangerous than the Empire. They've actually trained their stormtroopers to hit targets.

But they still can't capture a droid. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Quote: Nareed

Pretty much I thought it was a less structured retelling of Ep. 4, with some tweaks, like the renegade stormtrooper.

Resistance fighter obtains valuable information, gets captured by the bad guys, and hides info in a droid. Check
Bad guys storm the place where the resistance fighter has the info, kill a lot of people. Check
Creepy dude with a mask and cape comes down after the attack and takes charge. Check
Hero trapped in a dead-end existence. Check
Gold-hearted smuggler and his loyal crewman save the heroes. Check
Hero receives a revelation and wisdom from a mysterious stranger. Check
Bad guys have a super-destructive weapon and use it. Check
Bad guys will now use super weapon to end the resistance. Check
Good guys send a few fighters to destroy the super weapon. Check
.

Wait a minute, doesn't this pretty much
describe the first SW?

I also think the identity of Kylo Ren was mishandled.

Think about it:

Luke has vanished.
Han tells Rey and Finn it was because a Jedi student of his turned against him.

This at least lets you suspect Luke's own son has turned against him. No wonder then he vanished.

We could even have had Ben (see what they did there?? It wasn't done right*) meditate with Vader's mask and call him grandfather without losing the misdirection.

I mention all this because the trailers and even the posters were intentionally misleading, and brilliantly so. I was surprised to find out who the new young Jedi hero is.

*Right at the start, the guy who gave Poe the map tell Ren he knew him before he took the name Kylo Ren. Fair enough. But imagine if he had called him "Ben" instead. This adds to the misdirection I mentioned above, as that would be a natural name for Luke to pick for his son. Look back at the original trilogy, he never calls Kenobi "Obi-wan."

BTW I went to an older VIP (ie luxury) theater. There are two newer complexes nearby, but I figured they'd be more crowded.

This one does feel a bit dated, but the seats are amazing. They're leather, rather wide, and recline to a near lie-flat position. They're well-padded and very comfortable. I had no trouble staying put for the 2+ hours of ads, previews and movie. I imagine I'd have no trouble sleeping on it, either (though that would defeat the purpose of going to the movies). Once you recline fully, you see the screen straight on, at least from where I sat.

They'd make great airplane seats. What I don't know is whether they compare to business class seats or falls "short". I mean, the pitch was like 1.5 meters! That's past the end of the extended foot rest.

On the downside, the last time I saw a movie there (years ago), they had some really nice coffee. Now they offer Nespresso. I don't mind paying $3-5 for good coffee, but Nespresso is not up there, and I know what the pods are worth retail (about half what the theater charges for a cup).

I forgot:

The hero is a hot-shot pilot. Check
Someone denigrates the Millennium Falcon . Check
The Millennium Falcon can barely hold together. Check
The Empire, sorry, First Order, is after a droid and not the heroes per se. Check


I'm not counting things you'd expect to see in an SW movie, like use of the Jedi Mind Trick, X-wings, Tie Fighters, blasters, light sabers, etc.

Apparently no one else has seen it yet....

Funniest dialogue:

Rey: "And you'll drop your weapon!!"
Stormtrooper: "And I will drop my weapon."

Second funniest dialogue:

Poe: "You need a pilot."
Finn: "I need a pilot."

(Do I sense a trend?)


Funniest line:

Stormtrooper: "What did you say?"


Second funniest line:

Rey: "The garbage will do."


But the best funny dialogue still in the whole saga has to be:

Han: "There's no time to discuss it in committee."
Leia: "I am not a committee!"

Quote: Nareed

Apparently no one else has seen it yet....

I've never seen any of them. This thread has been my biggest exposure to it.

Quote: Face

I've never seen any of them.

Infidel! :)

Quote: Face

I've never seen any of them. This thread has been my biggest exposure to it.

I saw the first 3 and part of the 4th. It
was so awful I turned it off. I saw part
of the one with the big talking dog
with the floppy ears and swore I'd
never see another SW movie.