Sorry for the double post, I feel the first post should remain a warning to people who click on this thread who don't want it spoiled.

Anyhow, I thought it was a good movie. Not great like Empire, but then again, my expectations were high. I must admit, I felt like I was watching Star Wars for the first time all over again when I saw the opening crawl and the lot. I was a bit concerned that in the days of modern cinema they wouldn't do an opening crawl like that. Also, they weren't using episode 7 as the title during production, but I think a lot of what they released as teasers was to throw people off. I will admit I may have cried a little when the movie started the way it did. It just felt special, like Star Wars is back, which it is I guess.

As for the 'weapon', I feel it's a bit of a cheat. Sure it's stronger than a death star, but hasn't super powered laser that gets destroyed by X-Wings kind of been done, twice already? It's probably my biggest issue of the film. It did feel a lot like episode 4 all over again, just from a different point of view, and with different characters. This isn't a bad thing, but I guess I was hoping for a little more originality.

I also feel like they have killed their hopes for future films being as popular by killing of Han. He's a popular character. I actually think it's a good thing they killed him off. It shows me promise that they are moving forward with the new trilogy and not backwards. At the end of the day, super popular films don't bother me. Just a solid, new, film.

I think the film will do well. It might not get to the magical 3 billion dollars. I used to think it would with all the hype around it, but I don't think enough people will watch it again and again. Like I said, it's good, but I don't think it's as special as what a lot of people have expectations for. Then again, I do feel like it stands well as a stand alone, so it may be good at bringing in a whole new audience, and may get repeat viewers that way. It could fall either side of 3 billion dollars.

And I couldn't discuss spoilers without talking about the family relationship. It is certainly interesting that the darkside runs through Leia's side of the family. I find it interesting that whilst Leia can feel the force, she doesn't seem to be as strong with it as what I would have liked. It has been 30 odd years since Jedi, so why did Luke train their son but not his sister? I do wonder also if Rey is Luke's daughter. I think that would explain why she was abandoned. I'm almost certain she is, actually, because she was told by Maz that whoever she was waiting for isn't coming, but they're out there; and that look at the end. That could only be a look between relatives. I guess we will find out.

The new KB Videos coming soon.

Saw it at midnight. Very happy with this film overall. Beautifully shot, wonderful blend of practical effects and CGI, genuinely funny moments in the spirit of the Original Trilogy, and a number of great new characters introduced alongside the old ones. The lightsaber battles were intense and actually felt like something was at risk. They replaced some of the all-too-perfect choreography of the prequel lightsaber duels with actual emotion and determination.

The plot wasn't fantastically original, especially the Starkiller base thing. The way the First Order destroyed an entire system felt a bit disjointed from everything else too. There was a lot left unexplained, too. Questions like who Rey is, what Snoke is, and what Luke has been doing will obviously be answered in the next two films, but there's a lot of 'filling in the gaps' of the last thirty years that I'm still waiting for. How did the First Order grow out of the ashes of the Empire, which was seemingly destroyed for good at the jubilant end of Episode VI? How strong is the First Order anyway? What is the Republic exactly? I guess a lot of this is the philosophy of 'show, don't tell' and creating a mystery behind these films, but I think giving us a few more details wouldn't have hurt. Or maybe this will be explained in books and comics?

Han's death was genuinely chilling. I think it was the right move, though I still can't quite believe that it happened. Kylo Ren's character arc could be incredible.

I knew Luke wasn't going to be in the film much at all, but I expected a tad more than ten seconds. Maybe some actual dialogue? I also had his appearance spoiled, which was more annoying seeing as it was basically all there was to his character. I was terribly excited to see him in action, but I'm sure he'll be at the forefront of Episode VIII so I can live with it.

Final thought- Captain Phasma's role- or lack of it- genuinely confuses me. Gwendoline Christie talked about this great, strong  character, but she barely did anything, other than betray the First Order and cause the destruction of Starkiller Base. She actually looked quite weak as a result. Will she even be in the next one?

I'm torn.  The first and second act were great, the third act was too nostalgia heavy.

My play-by-play commentary:

• Kylo froze a blaster bolt and kept it frozen for like 5 minutes. WHAT?! And he doesn't do it again later on.

• Insta-bread, the new blue milk.

• So all you got to do is shout in an alien language and they'll let go of a droid that'll get you 100 insta-breads.

• Garbage? Hey!

• Pirates with Scottish accents and borderline Asian language.

• The sexual tension is killing me.  Just kiss already.

• So Rey instantly can tap into Jedi abilities like Quinlan Vos' psychometry.  Also, don't tell me you're going make a mid-quel trilogy just to explain Luke, Kylo and Snoke's backstory.

• Now about the Republic...oh, bye Republic.  Apparently we don't need to be emotionally attached.

• And apparently they're light seconds away from Takodana to see the planets blow up in the sky.  Might as well be moons orbiting Takodana because this doesn't make any sense!

• And just like that, Abrams broke two plot devices in two franchises (portable long range teleporters in Star Trek and hyperspace jumping in closed spaces or near gravity wells).  Interdictor cruisers are canon (Star Wars Rebels), meaning a planet's mass and gravity would have pulled the Falcon out of hyperspace well before they reached mid-atmosphere!  The Resistance might as well have jumped a transport ship full of explosives on top of the oscillator

• Where's Phasma? Oh there she is...aaaaand that's a wrap for Gwendoline Christie.  What a waste of chrome.

• Saw it coming, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Or as Chewie puts it, ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRR!

• At this point, Rey is just a Deus Ex Machina device.  She can fly, fix and destroy ships, master the Force, and wield a lightsaber.  She could have resurrected Han Solo if the story allowed it.

• That was more than 15 minutes of David vs Goliath X-wing vs TIE Fighter dogfighting, planting detonators, Han trying to get his son back, Finn and Rey dueling Kylo, and the how-are-there-still-a-few-of-you-X-Wings-left pilots noticing the hole in the oscillator for Starkiller base to charge and fire.

• Starkiller?  More like Starbirther.  Am I right? High five? No?

• So R2-D2 had the rest of the map this whole time?

• I would not have gone with the helicopter/drone orbiting shot at the end.  I would have ended with the wide shot of the two.

There's a lot of dialog and scenes missing from the trailers.  BB-8 rolling through the village, Rey urgently heading back to the village, Maz handing the lightsaber to Leia, Kylo stomping through the snow forest, Rey's "There were stories about what happened." Finn's "I got nothing to fight for."

While I appreciated the humor, they felt out of place for characters like Kylo. What also felt out of place was Rey calling Kylo a "creep in a mask" and Finn's cocky modern teen demeanor.  Obviously, Redley and Boyega brought 21st century culture into the dialog. When would FN-2187 had time to develop interest in girls work on pick up lines? It's as if he got drafted after living life in the suburbs rather than when he was an infant.

Uh...check your stats:
Qui-Gon Jinn - Dead, disembodied voice
Darth Maul - Resurrected in Clone Wars
Jango Fett - Dead
Count Dooku - Dead
General Grievous - Dead
The Jedi Order - Order 66 dead
Anakin Skywalker - Dead, from certain point of view
Obiwan Kenobi - Force Ghost
Yoda - Force Ghost
Palpatine - Dead

Statistically speaking, you can come back as a ghost, a Force ghost.

I realize my review was heavily critical.  I will say it's better than the prequel.  Better performance, more emotion, but like many reviewers have said, J.J. played it safe and relied on what worked in the original trilogy.  The cast, both new and legacy, made it worked, though.

These new TIE Fighters seem more durable than in the original trilogy.  I think I saw one TIE fighter's cockpit intact after being shotdown on Jakku.

Kylo's tantrums is analogous to Ultron.  It makes them less menacing.

Han Solo's death explains Harrison Ford's demeanor.  Ford got what he wanted, 3 episodes later: to be killed off.

It was certainly a task to bring us up-to-date 30 years after ROTJ.  Overall, it made me want more.  I want to know more about this new universe.  I want Episode VIII now so we can figure out who Snoke is.  Why were Leia and Han such bad parents to let Kylo turn?  Who is Rey?  We still don't know Rey's lineage.  I know as much about the First Order now as I did before watching.  How big is the First Order and the New Republic?

Honestly I felt like this was a good film. While it wasn't as original in some cases as I would have liked, overall I feel like this film was a good set up for the next two films as well as a bridge to George's saga. I also applaud them for throwing in references to the PT, like a passing comment about the clone army and the mention of Jedi temples and the Sith, not to mention that Coruscant was destroyed by the Starkiller (probably the most emotionally scarring scene in this film apart from the death of Han for me) my bad, apparently this was actually the planet Hosnian Prime. Also, did anyone notice R2-KT in this film? I believe she was supposed to have a cameo but I can't recall seeing her.

Last edited by Galactic Films (December 18, 2015 (01:46pm))

Loved it. Beautiful piece of work. Even if they did kill off my favourite character from the originals and make me tear up in a cinema for the first time in a decade.

While a lot (a lot) of the plot was heavily derivative of ANH, I felt it was treated in such a way that it didn't detract from what was still a fantastic film; referential to the point of derivative, yes, but in its execution and crafting a very different, and unique, film. It's certainly nothing to be mad about.

Lech brings up a lot of very cogent criticisms, most of which I agree with (not about Ren's tantrums, and Rey falling into deus ex territory, mind) but you know what? I still thoroughly enjoyed this film in a way I haven't in a long time. I'm so glad Star Wars is back on our screens, and in a way that almost washes away the stain left on the franchise by the prequel trilogy (which caused a lot of people, certainly who I've spoken to, to switch off from the franchise).

I'm also glad the EU material was ditched. I still love the EU and I grew up reading it - I became really invested in Jacen and Mara Jade in particular, so Legacy of the Force was heartbreaking - but Disney having set it aside meant I was able to come to The Force Awakens with a completely fresh perspective. Plus, attempting exposition on 40-something years of post-RotJ canon, even slowly disseminated over the course of a 2 hour film, would have slowed the film down and alienated 90% of its viewership.

"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Connecting to a series of Kernan's thoughts:

The "Death Star III" (planet destroyer or whatever.. all the names are still new to me) battle before it blows up the hidden base is so much like Episode 4, it's true, and I doubt anyone who follows the series wouldn't compare the two.  But there are a lot of scenes that parallel other trilogies.  The one on one ship-to-ship combat in episode 2, for instance, reminds me of Episode 5.  Thre are lots of these parallels.

The Death of Han Solo... yeah, it made me mad!  But popular characters die all the time in the series: Darth Maul & Qui Gon (ep 1), Jango Fett (episode 2) General Grevious, Darth Tyrannus, and Padme (ep 3), Obi Wan (ep 4) Han Solo (or so we think) (ep 5) and Boba Fett, Vader and the emperor, and Yoda (episode 6).  Maybe Han will appear as a spirit in episodes 8 and 9, the way Ben Kenobi did.  (I wrote this before proceeding to furthur posts; I see now it was similarly answered.)

Answeing Jayem,

"What is the republic anyway?"  Well, it happened so fast so I'm not sure it was what happened, but the republic is the representative government and its people, and the entire senate was oblieterated by the star killer!  That should throw the republic in turmoil.  Again, it is a parallel to episode 4, where the emperor dissolved the senate.

Replying to Lechnology:

1) That frozen laser was just AWESOME!  What I like about the movie was seeing new and surprising twists on things that we are otherwise accusomed to.
2) The droid was worth 60 "insta-breads", not 100.
3) That destruction of Corusciant (if that is the location of the senate) did seem a little "close" to me too.
4) And the "laws of hyperspace" are just fantasy, so who knows what laws of physics they can break and which they can't?  Actually, good sci-fi DOES establish the what the rules are beforehand, otherwise it's a free-for-all.
5) I too, would have gone for the long shot at the end, typical of closing moments of all the Star Wars movies.  I still liked the ending, and because the movie DIDn'T end the way it usually does, thought more was coming!

Your review seems to be almost all criticism, though.  Not that I have a problem with that.

Lechnology's second post:

I like Kylo's tantrums.  It shows that he still lacks discipline and can evolve in who knows what direction?

I, too, want to know more about the new universe, but as Lloyd Bridges says, "leave 'em wanting more."  Star Wars episode IV was "basic", in much the same way this episode was.  The Snoke character (is that his name?) conversations seemed very much Episode 5, where Vader is talking with Emperor.  I never considered that he could be a hologram until it ws shown!  Maybe he's super-tiny!

Galactic Films:

Okay, so that WASN'T Couriscant (#3, above).  Now I know.

------

Now for my thoughts!

I absolutely loved it.  I actually thought that the first third was the slowest.  Maybe because I wanted to see it all and understand everything at once!

Some cool things about the star killer: It was made OUT OF a planet?  It is actually pretty awesome, but if it sucks up suns, wouldn't it be not so snowy?

Yeah, the Death of Han Solo.  Kylo kills him right at the moment we start to feel sympathy for him.  And just before it happened, I suspected foul play; his conversion just seemed to quick.  But because he gained my sympathy first, I despised him all the more for his treachery.

I also like how Rey's newfound force powers are overriding Kylo Ren.  I expected her to be the one to get the lightsaber in the end with the force, not Kylo.  I also like Kylo's insecurity.  It reminds me of Rodimus Prime in the Transformers, who always felt he couldn't fill Optimus Prime's shoes (if he could wear them) but showed so much potential for leadership, if he only believed in himself.

The voice was important to me.  Whenever there's a new villain, he gets compared to Darth Vader.  I knew the quality of the voice had to be important to make the persona work.  I absolutely loved his voice.  I can listen to him speak all day.

The First Order is more like the Nazis than ever!  Even the red banner of National Socialism was behind them.  The First Order Troopers' salute; all that was missing was "Seig Heil!"  I always loved the SW franchise's allusions to Earth history and culture (or... stealing from).  I loved the uniforms of the Imperial navy.  I became in trigued by this Phasma character, but wonder what her fate will be, because she didn't get much spotlight.

Scavenging from Star Destroyers... cool to me.

I think about a new Star Wars movie for a new generation.  I watched the movie as myself- a person whose first theater experience was the original "Star Wars".  Then I'd go back and forth and look at the movie as someone young, growing up in the "Hunger Games" gneeration.  In my opinion, it works for both generations.  Poe's cockiness when confronted by Kylo Ren was definitely for that generation.  The young, fresh characters are perfect for fans of Divergent/Hunger Games/Michael Vey/The Giver/Maze Runner/dystopia with a hero approaching adulthood.  The inclusion of the big six (Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, Princess, I mean General Leia, and Luke, I think was necessary for the long-term fans who would feel something's missing fromt he new movie and would consider the franchise a "facelift" to the dystopia with a hero approaching adulthood.  Especially the moment when Kylo removes his mask and he is a teen heartthrob with flowing raven hair.  The young new heroes and villains are worthy additions to the series to me, considering their acting skills.  Not that everyone in episodes 1-6 were great actors. 

I thouroughly loved the movie.  It had its problems, but big deal.  As much as I love the dogfights and things blowing up and that exciting stuff, I really watch the movie for the characters... and the light saber battle in EPisode 7 was much more interesting than in episode I, where there was absolutely no drama- just fighting.

By the way, and now I'm going WAAAAAY off topic: besides the lightsaber battle in episode 1, I loved the four-front battle of Naboo (field/ Theed Palace/ Battleship/ Lightsaber duel).  There is an excellent board game by Avalon Hill that re-enacts this battle and it's easy to learn yet tremendously enjoyable to play.  It's called "The Queen's Gambit".  I bought this game back when it came out in 1999.  I think I paid $80 for it.  Nowadays it runs for about $300 on eBay.  If you LOVE Star Wars AND board games and have the money, I suggest you buy it, or put it on next year's Christmas/Hannukah list.

There were othere things on my mind.  I can't remember them now.  When I remember them, they will be below.

Yes, I remember.  We all go in to the movie with expectations.  We never know what they are specifically, but we do know that we want to compare it to Star Wars and have all the magic.  That's a tall order.  And I think I figured out why.  When all there was was episode 4, 1) there was nothing else to compare it to, including all the merchandizing and immersion into the collective consciousness of our culture.  2)it was all organic, the phenomenon took on a life of its own.  It's impossible to return to that no mtter how hard one tries.  Also, as someone who in the 1990s read the Timothy Zahn novels that were the unofficial 7 8 and 9, I had already a sequel universe.  And so, whatever plot direction J.J. Abrams takes, there will be some, even many, who are guaranteed to be disappointed! 

Personally, my expectations were low until they were raised by these events: 1) the trailer that indicated that the series was returning to its roots.  2) I heard that JJ Abrams didn't seek Lucas for advice.  3) I heard that Lucas offered to provide advice, and Abrams refused.  With my expetations still moderately low, and my mind open going in, I enjoyed it much.

My brother, who saw it 18 hours before me, took a different approach.  He enjoyed episode I, but now, watching it after over 15 years, can't stand it.  He went in as a person in 2030, seeing if the movie would hold up for him after 15 years, or if he would come to hate it.  I saw him briefly before he began watching the children while my wife and I went to see it, spoiling nothing, but telling me that he believed it will hold up.  It was nice returning afterward and he was free to discuss the film with me.  It's fun belonging to an elite club of people who have seen Episode 7, watching the rest of the world carry on when I went out shopping later.

And I love Maz.  More of her please!

Was that Admiral Ackbar?  Nein Numb?  A dug flying an X-Wing?  My wife contends the last one.  Someo f this is nostalgic to the Death Star II battle of Episode 6, not the one from Episode 4.

I absolutely loved this movie and as soon as it was over, wanted to see it again to take in the things I overlooked.  Also, hurry up and release episodes 8 and 9 and beyond!  Why stop at 9?

The movie ran with a "Gods of Egypt" trailer, and it looked monumentally cheesy.  I don't know if they were trying to be Ray Harryhausen or not.

Actually he's an Abdenedo, a new race created for this film. But I would have loved seeing a Dug flying an X-Wing! Something I found odd and was kinda a let down for me was the absence of any Rodians or Twi'leks. I really missed those races in this film.

Yeah, some of my friends people I know wanted to boycott the movie. Their arguments were hilariously unfounded.

Anyways, this movie ranks right up there with the best of the saga for me:

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. The Force Awakens

4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Return of the Jedi

6. The Phantom Menace
7. Attack of the Clones