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Force Awakens appreciation thread!(careful for some spoilers)

StogieNinja

Derek | BoM June 2014
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The movie was simultaneously a triumphant return to the Stat Wars we know and love, and a mediocre commercial event that used nostalgia instead of plot.

I don't understand a lot of what happened except for the stuff they copied from the OT, because virtually nothing was explained.

My major complaints:

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

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For real, spoilers....

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1. The similarities and homages bordered on parody. To the point of ridiculousness. Really? A other big round cannon with a fatal flaw on the surface? A lonely kid on a desert planet is the next big Jedi? A cute little droid hold the key? A mission to retrieve the last Jedi in hiding? Etc, etc, etc.

2. The feminist preaching. It was great when Finn went to rescue Rey, only to watch her hold her own. It was mildly humorous a few minutes later, the first time she rejected his chivalry, because she's tough enough to do it on her own. The fourth or fifth time, it was like "WE GET IT, SHE'S TOUGH." It was apparently the one and only thing the makers thought needed an explanation that made things clear to the viewers.

3. Which brings me to my next point: WHAT IS HAPPENING? Yeah, good guys here, bad guys there, rinse plot of ANH and repeat, I get it. But SOME exposition would be nice. Who the heck is Snoke, and why is the bad guy from Harry Potter in this movie anyway, and why is he so big? It was like we were watching a ginormous trailer for the next two movies, not a movie in and of itself. It was my big fear about having JJ Abrams at the helm, and unfortunately it was well founded.

4. Rey's use of the force. It's pretty unbelievable that without a tutor or anyone to even tell her what is happening, she is able by pure moby not only mentally fight off the grandson of Darth Vader, trained by Luke Skywalker, but defeat him at the Jedi mind-invasion game, THEN fight and beat him with a lightsaber her first time out. If I recall, there's danger in new users of the force getting all bent out of shape and going into battle against the Sith, something about that resulting in going to the dark side...


All that being said, it was the most fun I've had in the theater in a long time. It looked, sounded, and felt like a Star Wars movie, and problems above aside, was just good fun.

Also, now I get why Harrison Ford was positively giddy about participating. He HAD to have been sneering inside at all the fans during the press tours, etc.
 

IronW

Andrew
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. Which brings me to my next point: WHAT IS HAPPENING? Yeah, good guys here, bad guys there, rinse plot of ANH and repeat, I get it. But SOME exposition would be nice. Who the heck is Snoke, and why is the bad guy from Harry Potter in this movie anyway, and why is he so big? It was like we were watching a ginormous trailer for the next two movies, not a movie in and of itself. It was my big fear about having JJ Abrams at the helm, and unfortunately it was well founded.
There are rumors that Snoke is Darth Plageus

But yes, I pretty much agree on all count. I think if anything it was laying the ground work for the next episode.
 
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Hoping the fire stick will have it soon, I still plan on seeing it in the theater once the madness settles down.
Madness is a good choice of words. Our movie featured a free terror attack exercise 3/4 of the way through the movie. I shyte you not.

Well... In the middle of MY movie .. suddenly strobe lights started blinking on both walls of the theater whilst a voice over the PA was delivering instructions. But you couldn't hear the instructions clearly over the movie soundtrack, which by the way, was nuts deep into a freaking battle scene. Explosions, ... orchestra music and all. The movie never stopped, and the main lights never came on...but this was obviously an evacuation alert, so it was a little weird. The People were confused and were getting up and heading for the lobby. I grabbed my wife's hand and said "c'mon baby .. time to go.." But nobody went down the left side. And there was an exit ( fire) door to the left of the screen so I took my wife over there. There was only one other couple with the same idea. So the four of us are standing there watching the crowd pack up at the other side of the theater ( to lobby ). Me and the other guy just shrug our shoulders, way too loud to talk, but both knowing one hit of that push-bar and we are instantly in the parking lot. Anyway, the movie audio calms down and we can now make out the voice is actually saying "this is only a test". So everybody sits back down, though browsing the theater it was apparent not everyone returned. This whole thing took about three minutes but it was a long time to wondering what this was all about. After the movie a Cinema 9 employee was standing at the door , said " sorry about that.... how many in your party? " and I got two free tickets.
 
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Madness is a good choice of words. Our movie featured a free terror attack exercise 3/4 of the way through the movie. I shyte you not.

Well... In the middle of MY movie .. suddenly strobe lights started blinking on both walls of the theater whilst a voice over the PA was delivering instructions. But you couldn't hear the instructions clearly over the movie soundtrack, which by the way, was nuts deep into a freaking battle scene. Explosions, ... orchestra music and all. The movie never stopped, and the main lights never came on...but this was obviously an evacuation alert, so it was a little weird. The People were confused and were getting up and heading for the lobby. I grabbed my wife's hand and said "c'mon baby .. time to go.." But nobody went down the left side. And there was an exit ( fire) door to the left of the screen so I took my wife over there. There was only one other couple with the same idea. So the four of us are standing there watching the crowd pack up at the other side of the theater ( to lobby ). Me and the other guy just shrug our shoulders, way too loud to talk, but both knowing one hit of that push-bar and we are instantly in the parking lot. Anyway, the movie audio calms down and we can now make out the voice is actually saying "this is only a test". So everybody sits back down, though browsing the theater it was apparent not everyone returned. This whole thing took about three minutes but it was a long time to wondering what this was all about. After the movie a Cinema 9 employee was standing at the door , said " sorry about that.... how many in your party? " and I got two free tickets.
I had no idea that Boalsburg was such a hotbed for terrorist activity - NSA must have picked up on someone from your area talking about sending bombs through the mail or something...
 

Mr.Erskine

I am the Walrus
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I'm sure I'm going to repeat some things that have already been said, but here's my .02:

I enjoyed it much more than I thought it would. J.J. Abrams did a fantastic job of bringing the franchise back to its roots. I went with my wife's family and my brother and father-in-law, and they were on and on that it was a rip-off of A New Hope.

Here's the thing, they didn't hide that--even to outright mentioning that Kylo Ren was afraid of not measuring up to Vader....

My biggest gripe was that I could predict what was going to happen (that is of course except for what they did with Han Solo. I should have seen that coming, but I didn't.) In fact, I told my wife what needed to happen to end the movie, and sure enough it happened. I am excited to see what Abrams is going to do with the next piece to the recycled puzzle.
 

Mr.Erskine

I am the Walrus
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The movie was simultaneously a triumphant return to the Stat Wars we know and love, and a mediocre commercial event that used nostalgia instead of plot.

I don't understand a lot of what happened except for the stuff they copied from the OT, because virtually nothing was explained.

My major complaints:

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

.

.

.

.

.

.




For real, spoilers....

.


.
.

.

.

.

.





1. The similarities and homages bordered on parody. To the point of ridiculousness. Really? A other big round cannon with a fatal flaw on the surface? A lonely kid on a desert planet is the next big Jedi? A cute little droid hold the key? A mission to retrieve the last Jedi in hiding? Etc, etc, etc.

2. The feminist preaching. It was great when Finn went to rescue Rey, only to watch her hold her own. It was mildly humorous a few minutes later, the first time she rejected his chivalry, because she's tough enough to do it on her own. The fourth or fifth time, it was like "WE GET IT, SHE'S TOUGH." It was apparently the one and only thing the makers thought needed an explanation that made things clear to the viewers.

3. Which brings me to my next point: WHAT IS HAPPENING? Yeah, good guys here, bad guys there, rinse plot of ANH and repeat, I get it. But SOME exposition would be nice. Who the heck is Snoke, and why is the bad guy from Harry Potter in this movie anyway, and why is he so big? It was like we were watching a ginormous trailer for the next two movies, not a movie in and of itself. It was my big fear about having JJ Abrams at the helm, and unfortunately it was well founded.

4. Rey's use of the force. It's pretty unbelievable that without a tutor or anyone to even tell her what is happening, she is able by pure moby not only mentally fight off the grandson of Darth Vader, trained by Luke Skywalker, but defeat him at the Jedi mind-invasion game, THEN fight and beat him with a lightsaber her first time out. If I recall, there's danger in new users of the force getting all bent out of shape and going into battle against the Sith, something about that resulting in going to the dark side...


All that being said, it was the most fun I've had in the theater in a long time. It looked, sounded, and felt like a Star Wars movie, and problems above aside, was just good fun.

Also, now I get why Harrison Ford was positively giddy about participating. He HAD to have been sneering inside at all the fans during the press tours, etc.
#4--YES! I said to my wife, that was an issue I had with it. That she was somehow able to just use it
 

StogieNinja

Derek | BoM June 2014
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#4--YES! I said to my wife, that was an issue I had with it. That she was somehow able to just use it
According to the interwebs, there's good reason for Rey's force abilities. Having read what I've read, I think those reasons, if they're true, make perfect sense. The aggravation for me comes from ZERO exposition on almost everything that happens. Hopefully in Episode VIII we'll get some real storytelling to make it all clear. Having to read summaries online gleaned from video games and graphic novel tie-ins to understand what the heck is going on is frustrating.
 
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