Star Wars VII *SPOILER THREAD*

[Dan Dassow]

I have not seen SW7:AFA. I've started this thread so others may discuss the film while avoiding spoilers.

[Jan]

Avoiding spoilers? You specified that this was a spoiler thread...???

This will be the thread where spoilers are acceptable. For spoiler free, go here:

http://jmsnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41498

Jan

[Looney]

OKAY GREAT JAN - HERE COME SOME SPOILERS ! ! !


So my favorite spoiler was that Chewbacca was, for the most part, an actual character. They could have done more, but I was very pleased with what they did.

LOVED the Daniel Craig scene. A simple scene done to comedic perfection. It is all about the delivery.

LOVED what Adam Driver did.

LOVED that the only thing I knew about any trailer was hearing Luke's voice over and then they pulled a fast one by not having him say a word.

Lots of stuff I REALLY LOVED and REALLY LIKED.

Downside is that I would have liked to have more things fleshed out. Some of the stuff with Finn seemed really forced. He was probably my least favorite character, but that is partly because I felt like what was happening with him didn't feel believable. I didn't buy that this guy was coming from being raised as a mindless drone soldier.

Another downside was that this acorn didn't fall to far from the original tree, but I think that opens up great possibilities for the future. I just can't imagine we're going to see another super base that needs to be destroyed in this franchise.

All and all this movie felt exactly like I hoped it would. Could it have been even better? Yes, but it also could have been worse. I would give it an A- to B+ on the scale of how good I wanted it to be and a solid B on the objective movie scale.

[Jan]

O
LOVED the Daniel Craig scene. A simple scene done to comedic perfection. It is all about the delivery.

What was that?

LOVED what Adam Driver did.

What was that? ETA: Oh, okay. figured out who you were talking about.

Downside is that I would have liked to have more things fleshed out. Some of the stuff with Finn seemed really forced. He was probably my least favorite character, but that is partly because I felt like what was happening with him didn't feel believable. I didn't buy that this guy was coming from being raised as a mindless drone soldier.

I agree. It seemed like his defection started at the death of his (presumed) friend but I really didn't get much of a feel from him as to real motivations, just lies and rationalizations.

In fact, that's my main problem with this movie. Not enough character moments. We know that Rae was waiting for her parents to come back but if we found out why she thought they'd be back, I missed it. Ditto with how/why Ben/Ren ended up going to the dark side.

Speaking of Rae, was there some indication of a connection between her and Leia?

I loved the interaction between Leia and Han. VERY sorry to see Han go.

And did Mark Hamil actually get paid for that? I'm hoping not.

All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It came pretty close to reclaiming the feel of the original movie and that's what I was hoping for.

Jan

[Looney]

What was that?

I heard he is the Stormtrooper Rey Jedi mindtricks into releasing her.

I agree. It seemed like his defection started at the death of his (presumed) friend but I really didn't get much of a feel from him as to real motivations, just lies and rationalizations.

I think it was suggesting that the Force was awakened in him, then Rey later.

In fact, that's my main problem with this movie. Not enough character moments. We know that Rae was waiting for her parents to come back but if we found out why she thought they'd be back, I missed it. Ditto with how/why Ben/Ren ended up going to the dark side.

Speaking of Rae, was there some indication of a connection between her and Leia?

I loved the interaction between Leia and Han. VERY sorry to see Han go.

And did Mark Hamil actually get paid for that? I'm hoping not.

All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It came pretty close to reclaiming the feel of the original movie and that's what I was hoping for.

Jan

There are many vague moments in the movie that I am hoping will eventually be given explanations. The scene with Rey and Leia was VERY weird to me as well. I have no idea what that was suggesting other than some how they know they are related to each other or something.

I also heard with Han gone Luke becomes more of a focal point in the next episode.

I am hoping to see it again soon and catch things I might have missed.

Sure would like to hear what JMS' take on it is.

[Ubik]

Another downside was that this acorn didn't fall to far from the original tree, but I think that opens up great possibilities for the future. I just can't imagine we're going to see another super base that needs to be destroyed in this franchise.

This was my only real qualm with it too. The bare bones of the film IS A New Hope. Droid gets rescued, delivers intelligence, big evil weapon emerges, Rebels destroy weapon. Other stuff happens.

For the rest, I was having too much fun to really give a damn. The cast were all great, and I genuinely liked all the new characters. BB-8 also deserves special mention. Great comic relief, without resorting Jar Jar like nonsense, and overall some very well integrated design work.

[babylonlurker]

Just back home from watching, and I enjoyed it.
Han's final moment, while not entirely unexpected, got to me.
More later. Want to see it again, see if I missed some good points.

[sarthaz]

Best description I've heard of this film is "An Alternate Universe Star Wars (A New Hope) in the same Universe". And that's really the only complaint I have about it. It made the film WAY too predictable. All of the characters are following the same plot, just switching attributes around. Even before Han and Leah embrace for the last time, you know Han's fate, and then a long bridge shows up, and you want to yell at the screen, "Don't go in there, Han!!!" I think I can be OK with how repetitive and predictable it is if they springboard from this and go somewhere completely NEW in the next two films. But if it's all just mish-mash rehash, I'll be pretty disappointed.

Overall, what I enjoyed most is that it was so competently made. The original Star Wars trilogy is fun, but it's not great cinema, and there's some terrible acting and hokey dialogue in it. And then the prequels are just garbage, turning brilliant actors into stumbling buffoons site-reading in front of a green screen with zero motivation and nonsense at every turn. So it was great to see a similar story told with really good performances, clever dialogue, and a mostly coherent plot.

It took me out of the story a bit every time Abrams pulled one of his "must haves": Greg Grunberg? Check! Evil red doomsday device? Check! Silly reference to the number 47? Check! So I guess there are two things I didn't like about it, but overall, it was pretty darn good.

[Jonas]

I disliked it. The new characters were fun enough, but not only was it otherwise composed purely of bits and pieces of the original trilogy, it also essentially destroys the meaning of that trilogy so that it can act as a quasi-reboot.

It's funny to me that people complained about the prequels ruining their childhood when the prequels barely affected the original trilogy, whereas this one literally undoes every single achievement of the characters in those movies. Imagine watching the beautiful and hopeful ending of Return of the Jedi and thinking "and then everything went to shit, all the relationships broke apart and Han got murdered by his ridiculous emo kid."

Even some of the video games did a much better job of imagining a post-RotJ universe. You don't have to undo everything to have battles worth fighting.

[Jan]

It's funny to me that people complained about the prequels ruining their childhood when the prequels barely affected the original trilogy, whereas this one literally undoes every single achievement of the characters in those movies. Imagine watching the beautiful and hopeful ending of Return of the Jedi and thinking "and then everything went to shit, all the relationships broke apart and Han got murdered by his ridiculous emo kid."

Delenn once said that the war is never completely over.

Here's an interesting article. I didn't even know there was a novelization, though it makes sense.

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/star-wars-force-awakens-novelization-highlights/

10 things we learned about 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' from the novelization

Jan

[Looney]

Side note:

I think most agree that the prequels are VERY disappointing, but I feel it should be said that the core plot of what Palpatine does is VERY good and there are other, few and far between, good things about them. (I can't believe I am defending them, but I am only defending certain parts.) Unfortunately, the story is so poorly told. The Padme/Anakin stuff is awful and too much of those movies was George Lucas saying "Look what I can do now that computers can do it."

[Jonas]

Delenn once said that the war is never completely over.

I really wouldn't have minded if there were new battles to fight. It bothers me that they're the same battles all over again ("but the new Death Star... is THIS big!!!" in a scene that felt straight out of Spaceballs).

I personally like the prequels, despite their flaws. They're full of interesting ideas, and at least they were ambitious enough to show us a totally different era.

[phazedout]

I really wouldn't have minded if there were new battles to fight. It bothers me that they're the same battles all over again ("but the new Death Star... is THIS big!!!" in a scene that felt straight out of Spaceballs).

I personally like the prequels, despite their flaws. They're full of interesting ideas, and at least they were ambitious enough to show us a totally different era.

my friend Jeff, who is a writer, liked the politics and senate aspects of the prequals because it showed how something as massive as the repiblic actually operated day to day.

Yes space battles are exciting but beruracracy is necessary and politics, if well written, can be very interesting

[sarthaz]

It's funny to me that people complained about the prequels ruining their childhood when the prequels barely affected the original trilogy

I don't know about that. The prequels ruin both the mystery of the Force and the character of Vader/Anakin, whom we've been led to believe was a great Jedi seduced by the Dark Side, when really he was just a whiny bitch. In fact, the prequels literally ruin Return of the Jedi, because it's been changed so much to try to include the prequels. The cool Ewok ending on Endor is now celebrations on random planets no one gives a shit about, and prequel Anakin nonsensically shows up in the last frames of the film as a big "fuck you" to the audience (and Luke, who's never seen that guy before). My kids watched Jedi for the first time recently, and at the end, they're like "Who's that guy?!?" I didn't even know where to begin.

That said, I don't think it's the prequels people talk about in terms of destroying their childhoods; it's changing the Original Trilogy that really pissed people off. Greedo shooting first, changing Obi-Wan's opening cry, subverting the emotion of Vader's final deed with extraneous dialogue, countless unnecessary changes specifically made for prequel continuity, and removing Yub Nub from the universe entirely -- those are what people complain about when they talk about Lucas ruining their childhood.

[Looney]

I am so glad I still have my VHS original trilogy and my friend has the laser discs.