Star Wars (Includes Spoilers!!!)

[spireite]

Disney going all out on the merch for this

or how about some Star Wars grapes?

 

[Etty Abrics]

Sour grapes for Carel...

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

 

[Jockney]

I know there is a pretty big and strong fandom in this country for this film, but man, have you seen them lot over the pond?

Already people queuing up for tickets, staying in line all week just to get to see the film. Thats insane. There is literally nothing in the world that I would queue up overnight for, let alone a week. I'm not sure whether to say "fair play for your dedication" or "jesus, get a life" to these people.

People wooping, clapping and cheering in a theatre. No thank you.

I think the new film will be critically well-received, I think fans and newcomers alike will be pleased. I also think it is going to tread the same path as the original trilogy in tone, themes and story beats: a tried and tested formula for a franchise that is huge business for Disney. Which begs the question... will everyone still be as pleased after the third or fourth movie...

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Got tickets for Sunday surprisingly easily. Could have got them for Wednesday morning I reckon with relative ease - seems no-one gives a shit in Walsall!

 

[allouso]

The world premiere just ended, and it seems like people can't seem their mouth shut.

It all seems very positive by the way.

 

[Jockney]

It all seems very positive by the way.

 

[spireite]

I was thinking, shit why does that video look so old. Then I realised it came out in 199fucking9. Genuinely didn't realise it was so old

 

[allouso]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_vii_the_force_awakens/

 

[Etty Abrics]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35109900

 

[JaredSUFC]

Saw it this morning. Loved it.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Pretty much resigned to the fact that it will be spoiled before I see it on Friday. So many people going to the 00:01 showing later on.

Every review I've seen has been positive.

 

[JJ1532]

Yep, same here. One you tuber I watched called it the 3rd best Star Wars movie behind Episodes IV and V. If its that good, I'll be more than happy.

 

[Dave-Vale]

I'm excited to see how the Youtuber Francis (the large, crazy American guy) reacts to it because he wasn't happy when Disney bought the franchise..

 

[Craig]

Going to see it in IMAX with my bro on Sunday. Just checked the available seats at the local independent cinema though and there's loads left for tomorrow's first showing, so fucking tempted to pop down and pretend I haven't seen it when my bro comes at the weekend.

 

[Christian Slater]

Thought it was complete guff. There were people asleep when it finished. Some people thought it was great too though. It'll divide opinion to the extreme.

 

[TheMinsterman]

I enjoyed it, have some reservations which I won't go into on here until we're out of reasonable spoiler range, but overall good film. Granted, I've enjoyed every single Star Wars film but there you go.

 

[Christian Slater]

I thought it bordered on slapstick. It was so overloaded with comedy that I couldn't enjoy the serious bits. Humour is to be expected but I thought it was relentless. It made the characters seem bland.

 

[JJ1532]

Just seen it. Yes, I'm a sad bastard for posting after I've just seen it at 2:45 in the morning, but fuck it.

First of all, loved the film. Really fun, entertaining, more than worth the wait. Plot moves along at a steady pace, tons of enjoyable action, nice mix of CGI and real set pieces. Almost all of the characters are fleshed out and well realised. Plenty of set up for the next 2 movies as well, loads of unanswered questions and cliffhangers to leave you guessing and wanting more. No major issues with this movie at all. Now, I'm going to talk about some spoilers, so do not click if you haven't seen the film.

Spoiler

Few minor plot issues however. Nothing major that wrecks the movie, just slow it up and drag it down at times.

As with all movie, there are a few too many coincidences for my liking. How the 3 younger characters come together is incredible fortunate. How Han and Chewie happen upon the Falcon was a touch convenient. How Rey just knew how to masterfully fly the Falcon was also a bit fortunate. Made me laugh that the Falcon, that hadn't flown in ages and was apparently a broken down piece of junk, was more reliable in this film than it ever was in the first 2 episodes of the original trilogy.

There were just a few too many nods to the original trilogy for my liking. A few are fine, but there were just a few too many. And my biggest annoyance was that the plot itself was basically a rehash of Episode IV. Mystical figure at one with the force stuck on a desert planet. Meanwhile, bad tempered badass in a mask is looking for a droid with information. Droid escapes and meets up with mystical figure. Empire/First Order come, mystical figure escapes on the Millennium Falcon. First order/Empire show off their new base by blowing up a planet/planets with their new base for no real reason. One of the characters then has to be rescued from the bad guy base.

Rebellion/Resistance formulate a plan that will destroy the bad guy base, which given its complex nature seems ridiculously easy to destroy. Old wise guiding figure then had a show down with the bad guy and gets killed, but not before taking down the shield that allows the rebellion/resistance to destroy the base. Rebellion/resistance blows up the base and everything is fine for now, leaving the fate of the bad guy unknown. Very similar to the plot of Ep IV.

Few too many characters that kinda felt like a waste. Max von Sydow's character at the start, Maz Katana, Captain Phasma. They could have cut these people from the film and not lost a step.

Loved the humour in the film, really lightened it up at times. Loved the fact that Rey wasn't Han and Leia's daughter and that her origins(Luke's daughter?) remain a mystery. I liked Kylo Ren's origin, really well thought out and the fact that he was Han and Leia's child worked for me. Him killing Han though, NNNNOOOOOOO!!! I had a feeling it was coming, but it still hurt to see him go out like that. But apparently Harrison Ford is in Episode VIII, so it doesn't look like we've seen the last of Han. Well, I hope so anyway.

Really liked Kylo Ren, very well acted by Adam Driver. He was one of those villains that you wanted to see more of and felt the film was elevated when he was on screen. The guy playing General Hux also did a good job as well, those 2 complimented each other well. Hopefully we'll see more of Snoke, his massive hologram was hard to take seriously. Would like to see his origins and how he tempted Ren to the dark side.

As already said kinda, how Starkiller base was destroyed was a real head in hands moment for me. Why couldn't they just destroy the weapon, why did they have to blow up the base a la IV and VI? Very disappointed with that. Bit confused as to how Finn was able to competently use a lightsaber, so much for needing Jedi training. Same with Rey, how she discovers her Jedi powers was a bit hamfisted.

But saying that, I felt Daisy Ridley stole the show as Rey. Started off a bit wobbly, but really grew into the role and gave the character a real emotional edge and a real motivation. Was so happy when she took the lightsaber and started battling Ren. We haven't had a female Jedi protagonist and she nailed it I thought. Looking forward to seeing her character develop. Not sure where they'll go with Finn, I think it was their idea to show him not really looking at ease with the Lightsaber and I wonder how he'll develop in the next film. Poe Dameron, meh, he was ok. Didn't really develop much as a character, could take him or leave him.

Anyway, ranted and made myself to look like a loser enough for now.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie and I'm terrible for harshly judging good movies as poor because of plot holes and finer details that don't quite work. Is it an all time classic? No. Is it a faithful, well realised sequel to the original trilogy and not a monstrosity like the prequels? Absolutely. I've seen some film review sites give this 8/10. I think thats very fair. Not one of the all time greats and not as good as Episodes IV and V. But for me, I would say its the 3rd best in this franchise and it sets itself up nicely to lead into Rogue One and Episode VIII. Already looking forward to them.

 

[allouso]

Mostly agreed with the above JJ...I really enjoyed it overall, I honestly think this is the best the other JJ could have done all things considered. As fans we have to realize that it will be almost impossible to recreate the greatness of the originals so I think he did a pretty darn good job at this.

Anyway, spoilers below:

Spoiler

The movie is fun, and frantically paced, which I really enjoyed. This is how the originals were after all; fast paced with great characters, humor and some plot holes that we all seem to ignore.

The characters though, were fucking great: Rey is so badass (and stunning), Fin is hilarious, and Kylo Ren is probably now one of my favorite villains. Absolutely loved that he's not full on bad and does show weaknesses & is tempted by the light side, it made his character so much more believable. That scene with Han Solo was gutwrenching, but executed perfectly imo.

Everyone has already touched on what makes this a good movie but I have a few reservations:

- The lack of Luke was annoying. We all knew he was barely gonna appear in the movie but it's frustrating that he barely shows up for one (albeit great) scene and doesn't even talk.
- The way Rey just acquired her powers kinda devalues the force. I didn't mind how she managed to block out Kylo mentally but the way she kicked his ass was disappointing, especially that he's been training for this his whole life and she just brushed him aside. Saying that, i'm glad he'll stick around for longer and wasn't killed.
- We need more details about the characters. Granted this is only the first episode so we're bound to find out more in the next couple of movies but there are so many questions to answer.
- Rey is Luke's daughter, there's no other way around it.

JJ, if you think you're sad, i'm actually watching it again tonight. Had that IMAX tickets for 2 months so i'm not letting it go.

 

[TheMinsterman]

Seen as we are spoilerising, let's do this...

Spoiler

I'd echo some of the comments above really. My only real gripe of any severity was just how similar this film was to the original trilogy and I don't just mean atmospherically. The plot is quite literally A New Hope with a smattering of Empire and Jedi, Rey is Luke an abandoned child on a desert planet, Finn is Han a wise cracking man desperately trying to run away and avoid responsibility, Han is now Obi Wan mentoring the young padawan Jedi and developing a fatherly bond with her before being killed by a villain with whom he has a deep connection, Kylo Ren is a promising young Jedi who was seduced to the dark side, the blow up ANOTHER death star which blows up some planets etc. Whilst none of this made the film unlikable it left me hoping the next two sequels do a little bit of growing up and emerge from their grandfather's shadow and get a little braver.

In spots they could have done with a little more exposition to explain a few characters motivations a little better, perhaps they were scared off from the negative response to the amount of exposition put in the prequel trilogy but the film felt a little abrupt in terms of ending as a result and I'm let with a few more questions about characters and the setting than I'd like at the end of a film, even considering it's inevitable sequels.

I was also a little disappointed by the lack of Captain Phasma etc in the film, they came across as kind of inconsequential when they could have been utilised a little better. I'm hoping that Finn and Phasma are going to begin forming a rivalry over the next two films as he comes to terms with his past as a Stormtrooper, same as Kylo and Rey etc.

Those are the only real negatives I have though, and even then none of it dampened my enjoyment of the experience. Rey is a little raw in places as a character but you can see potential there, Finn has a charm to him that works, the scene with him and the droid going back and forth in the Falcon with Rey was well done, I really liked Kylo Ren as mentioned above he brings a tortured and flawed character to the role battling between the light and dark and it's also interesting that he's clearly not fully honed as a weapon yet instead of Vader who was essentially a master. The old guard made the right kind of cameos and they didn't overburden the film, I don't actually think Han died personally because they made far too little of it beyond a few obligatory "noooooooo"s, felt too underplayed to be completely final but I could be wrong.

Overall, good film.

 

[allouso]

Seen as we are spoilerising, let's do this...

Spoiler

I'd echo some of the comments above really. My only real gripe of any severity was just how similar this film was to the original trilogy and I don't just mean atmospherically. The plot is quite literally A New Hope with a smattering of Empire and Jedi, Rey is Luke an abandoned child on a desert planet, Finn is Han a wise cracking man desperately trying to run away and avoid responsibility, Han is now Obi Wan mentoring the young padawan Jedi and developing a fatherly bond with her before being killed by a villain with whom he has a deep connection, Kylo Ren is a promising young Jedi who was seduced to the dark side, the blow up ANOTHER death star which blows up some planets etc. Whilst none of this made the film unlikable it left me hoping the next two sequels do a little bit of growing up and emerge from their grandfather's shadow and get a little braver.

In spots they could have done with a little more exposition to explain a few characters motivations a little better, perhaps they were scared off from the negative response to the amount of exposition put in the prequel trilogy but the film felt a little abrupt in terms of ending as a result and I'm let with a few more questions about characters and the setting than I'd like at the end of a film, even considering it's inevitable sequels.

I was also a little disappointed by the lack of Captain Phasma etc in the film, they came across as kind of inconsequential when they could have been utilised a little better. I'm hoping that Finn and Phasma are going to begin forming a rivalry over the next two films as he comes to terms with his past as a Stormtrooper, same as Kylo and Rey etc.

Those are the only real negatives I have though, and even then none of it dampened my enjoyment of the experience. Rey is a little raw in places as a character but you can see potential there, Finn has a charm to him that works, the scene with him and the droid going back and forth in the Falcon with Rey was well done, I really liked Kylo Ren as mentioned above he brings a tortured and flawed character to the role battling between the light and dark and it's also interesting that he's clearly not fully honed as a weapon yet instead of Vader who was essentially a master. The old guard made the right kind of cameos and they didn't overburden the film, I don't actually think Han died personally because they made far too little of it beyond a few obligatory "noooooooo"s, felt too underplayed to be completely final but I could be wrong.

Overall, good film.

Spoiler

How come re:Han? I know JJ said the same thing above but he was well penetrated by a lightsaber (and we all know no one survives that), fell from the bridge of a station that was completely blown up a few minutes later. How the hell would he survive?!

 

[Dave-Vale]

The urge to hit the spoiler buttons is strong.

 

[allouso]

The urge to hit the spoiler buttons is strong.

Don't dude, please don't. For your sake.

 

[TheMinsterman]

Spoiler

How come re:Han? I know JJ said the same thing above but he was well penetrated by a lightsaber (and we all know no one survives that), fell from the bridge of a station that was completely blown up a few minutes later. How the hell would he survive?!

Spoiler

Just... something about it had the "Stannis Effect" about it, just felt a little underplayed to be "final", Luke fell a great distance and survived, the way Ren was so emotional he may not have landed the blow in the right "area" of his torso to be fatal, he could have limped onto a Tie Fighter in the frantic evacuation etc. I'm not saying he is definitely alive, he probably will be dead but just something about it felt like they'd have gone to town with mourning him if he was 100% dead.

 

[Christian Slater]

Mostly agreed with the above JJ...I really enjoyed it overall, I honestly think this is the best the other JJ could have done all things considered. As fans we have to realize that it will be almost impossible to recreate the greatness of the originals so I think he did a pretty darn good job at this.

Anyway, spoilers below:

Spoiler

The movie is fun, and frantically paced, which I really enjoyed. This is how the originals were after all; fast paced with great characters, humor and some plot holes that we all seem to ignore.

The characters though, were fucking great: Rey is so badass (and stunning), Fin is hilarious, and Kylo Ren is probably now one of my favorite villains. Absolutely loved that he's not full on bad and does show weaknesses & is tempted by the light side, it made his character so much more believable. That scene with Han Solo was gutwrenching, but executed perfectly imo.

Everyone has already touched on what makes this a good movie but I have a few reservations:

- The lack of Luke was annoying. We all knew he was barely gonna appear in the movie but it's frustrating that he barely shows up for one (albeit great) scene and doesn't even talk.
- The way Rey just acquired her powers kinda devalues the force. I didn't mind how she managed to block out Kylo mentally but the way she kicked his ass was disappointing, especially that he's been training for this his whole life and she just brushed him aside. Saying that, i'm glad he'll stick around for longer and wasn't killed.
- We need more details about the characters. Granted this is only the first episode so we're bound to find out more in the next couple of movies but there are so many questions to answer.
- Rey is Luke's daughter, there's no other way around it.

JJ, if you think you're sad, i'm actually watching it again tonight. Had that IMAX tickets for 2 months so i'm not letting it go.

Spoiler: Spoiler

I didn't seem impossible to recreate to Abrams, it was nearly a carbon copy of IV and a bit of V. Death Star destroys planets only to get destroyed by a rebel assault. Anatogonist in conflict with direct family and a showdown on a fucking bridge. Antagonist meets his match by an upstart. All down to the cute driod. What they left out was any depth, the motiviation for Rey and Ren were absent. Fine, that might be explained in the next installment, but why should I care about them now?

The humour was over the top. The bit where Kylo Ren wrecks a control panel with his lightsaber only to turn to his subordinates and ask 'is there anything else?' was custard pie to the face material. He's supposed to be pure evil yet they make him look silly and cartoon like. We know nothing about him other than his parents, not why he's joined the dark side, why he's determined to follow Vader. We don't even know who his master is, who looks dumb as fuck, or anything about their relationship. It's all surface details apart from Finn, who has a semblance of story arc.

They've ultimately fallen for playing off tropes of the previous films. I was expecting an original story, not a rehash of the originals. How much better would Kylo Ren be if he had no master and was a self-taught, natural in the powers of the dark side? Someone genuinely motivated by his own evilness and being a God like figure that reestablishes the Empire? Instead he's another misguided minion. Wow.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Don't dude, please don't. For your sake.

I won't!

27 hours and 16 minutes to go.

 

[JJ1532]

Spoiler: Spoiler

I didn't seem impossible to recreate to Abrams, it was nearly a carbon copy of IV and a bit of V. Death Star destroys planets only to get destroyed by a rebel assault. Anatogonist in conflict with direct family and a showdown on a fucking bridge. Antagonist meets his match by an upstart. All down to the cute driod. What they left out was any depth, the motiviation for Rey and Ren were absent. Fine, that might be explained in the next installment, but why should I care about them now?

The humour was over the top. The bit where Kylo Ren wrecks a control panel with his lightsaber only to turn to his subordinates and ask 'is there anything else?' was custard pie to the face material. He's supposed to be pure evil yet they make him look silly and cartoon like. We know nothing about him other than his parents, not why he's joined the dark side, why he's determined to follow Vader. We don't even know who his master is, who looks dumb as fuck, or anything about their relationship. It's all surface details apart from Finn, who has a semblance of story arc.

They've ultimately fallen for playing off tropes of the previous films. I was expecting an original story, not a rehash of the originals. How much better would Kylo Ren be if he had no master and was a self-taught, natural in the powers of the dark side? Someone genuinely motivated by his own evilness and being a God like figure that reestablishes the Empire? Instead he's another misguided minion. Wow.

Spoiler

They are all valid criticisms, but then consider the amount of pressure Abrams was under from the fans, from Disney, from Lucas, from all the other people who had a stake in this movie. He not only had to create a story(well, he didn't really, but more on that later), but he had to juggle all these different characters(old and new), make a story that fell into the original trilogy's timeline and set up a number of threads to carry on into the next 2 films in the trilogy, plus all the spin offs like Rogue One).

He was a little damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. If we had every little point explained to us via exposition, we'd have complained that it was like the prequels. Nothing happening, just a lot of people stood around explaining things. I think they did show the motivation for Rey. She was left on Jakku by people unknown for reasons unknown. She clearly has Jedi lineage, but who? She clearly had a lot of pain over being left on Jakku and, whilst it was very similar to Luke in the original trilogy, it will still be interesting to find out her backstory in the next 2 films. I'm glad they didn't explain everything with regards to her.

As for Ren, he isn't supposed to be pure evil. You can see him battling with the light and dark side, they've built on that far quicker than they did with Vader. He almost let Han win him back over, but cracked at the last minute and stabbed him. He is motivated to find Luke, his former master.

As for using the original material, that is one of the classic flaws Abrams has. In the new Star Trek, he uses plot points like the Old Spock, references Khan etc. In Super 8, it leans heavily on Close Encounters and E.T. for inspiration. He does have this bad habit of creating films and then almost stealing other works which he liked when he was younger. But I think he stuck to what he knew fans would enjoy. I think creating a whole new story without any strands from the original trilogy might have completely fallen apart. We'd have sat there going "where's Luke, where's Han, where's Leia, where are R2 and C-3PO?" Yes, there is too much Original trilogy in this one for it to be an all time classic, but I don't think any of the flaws ruin the film.

It's a shame that you personally can't look past the flaws, but then unfortunately, there was no possible way to please everyone. Simply wasn't going to happen. If the majority like it, then that has to be a win.

 

[Christian Slater]

Spoiler

They are all valid criticisms, but then consider the amount of pressure Abrams was under from the fans, from Disney, from Lucas, from all the other people who had a stake in this movie. He not only had to create a story(well, he didn't really, but more on that later), but he had to juggle all these different characters(old and new), make a story that fell into the original trilogy's timeline and set up a number of threads to carry on into the next 2 films in the trilogy, plus all the spin offs like Rogue One).

He was a little damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. If we had every little point explained to us via exposition, we'd have complained that it was like the prequels. Nothing happening, just a lot of people stood around explaining things. I think they did show the motivation for Rey. She was left on Jakku by people unknown for reasons unknown. She clearly has Jedi lineage, but who? She clearly had a lot of pain over being left on Jakku and, whilst it was very similar to Luke in the original trilogy, it will still be interesting to find out her backstory in the next 2 films. I'm glad they didn't explain everything with regards to her.

As for Ren, he isn't supposed to be pure evil. You can see him battling with the light and dark side, they've built on that far quicker than they did with Vader. He almost let Han win him back over, but cracked at the last minute and stabbed him. He is motivated to find Luke, his former master.

As for using the original material, that is one of the classic flaws Abrams has. In the new Star Trek, he uses plot points like the Old Spock, references Khan etc. In Super 8, it leans heavily on Close Encounters and E.T. for inspiration. He does have this bad habit of creating films and then almost stealing other works which he liked when he was younger. But I think he stuck to what he knew fans would enjoy. I think creating a whole new story without any strands from the original trilogy might have completely fallen apart. We'd have sat there going "where's Luke, where's Han, where's Leia, where are R2 and C-3PO?" Yes, there is too much Original trilogy in this one for it to be an all time classic, but I don't think any of the flaws ruin the film.

It's a shame that you personally can't look past the flaws, but then unfortunately, there was no possible way to please everyone. Simply wasn't going to happen. If the majority like it, then that has to be a win.

Spoiler

Good post. I do sympathise with Abrams to an extent, but I'm not going to be more accepting because there was corporate influence. If anything that's an reason to dislike it more. You could see that's why there was an overabundance of comedy in it.

I don't need everything explained but the call to adventure was lame. It felt like most other modern action films: rushed plot, loads of action and little detail. That's why it didn't feel anything special to me.

I didn't see him as conflicted, I thought he was determined to live up to Vader and was fearful of failure to do so. I think that's his motive and why he thought killing his father would help him. I think he is totally consumed. The big problem is it's just the same old shit. Also, he idolises Vader even though he betrayed the Empire. That's illogical. Surely he should think Vader was weak?

I shouldn't have to look passed flaws to enjoy a movie, flaws and unoriginal content can't be compromised to enjoy something in my view.

 

[allouso]

Agreed with JJ, especially regarding Ren.

Spoiler

I loved Kylo Ren. I think it's great that he's flawed and obviously not completely trained or evil. I honestly would have hated it if he was full on evil like Vader was at first; it's refreshing to see a sort of troubled character in a saga that usually draws a line on right and wrong.

Whilst the plot is familiar, I think JJ did a great job at keeping the old trio at bay. Han doesn't appear until about 45 min, Leia is barely in there and Luke, well...even characters like 3PO and R2 aren't really there.

Obviously it's not a perfect movie, but then again no Star Wars is imo including the originals. It was always about great characters and fun, the plotting was never a great aspect.

Saying that, I can understand why people didn't like it, to each their own I suppose.