The Force Awakens.

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Gap Filler
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The Force Awakens.

Postby Gap Filler » 17 Dec 2015, 02:56

I have seen The Force Awakens and you have not.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Gap Filler » 17 Dec 2015, 03:39

Guess this is the designated thread in the absence of a better one, unless the rather confrontational tone of that first post frames the discussion the wrong way.

Not normally a thpoilerth guy but an exception here methinks, at least until the end of the week when theoretically everyone who actively cares will have seen the damn movie. Respect.

Having said that three thoughts to entice (and a one liner):

J. J. Abrams apparently read Vector Prime and (not unreasonably) thought, “Feh, I can top that.”

Looking forward to the backlash on this one, not least given the fuss Fury Road kicked up.

Isn`t a Scottish merc a bit of a stereotype?

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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Bebop Man » 17 Dec 2015, 05:22

I saw it yesterday and you didn't :P

It's basically beat by beat remake of A New Hope. Imperial attack, droid escapes, wanders desert, is found by a forlorn youth, the team with a third guy, escape on Millennium Falcon, meet Han and Chewie a, there's a cantina, a rescue, a sacrifice and a final battle.

It's a fun movie, though pretty conservative overall in terms of formula. They were really going for the older feel of the series and somewhat achieved that. Obviously it was never going to be as good as the originals themselves, but if nothing else it's a step up from the prequels. It's more focused and more mindful of its characters; the story is told at their level.

It does suffer for having to kickstart a new series of movies and therefore not being allowed to be more interesting than the sequels that is forced to spawn. You can tell they're going to take the Marvel approach of storytelling: baby steps towards nowhere in particular.

And I hate what they did with Han Solo.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby JayBlanc » 17 Dec 2015, 06:24

Potted review: It's good. Really good. Not as good as Empire. Not the best movie this year, but still really good. It hits its beats, keeps you captured, and makes enough references to nostalgia while still being it's own thing.

I partially agree that it's retreading the same narrative as the original Star Wars. But I disagree that it's a remake. The characters have substantially different motivations, and are actually already way more fleshed out people than the trio of the first movie. It feels like a remake, because it's meant to, but it's actually tricking you into thinking that by making narrative callbacks while hitting the same beats but in different orders, for different reasons, and in different ways. It's near explicit in its subtext, about the mistakes of the past being repeated in different ways and a mixture of fresh and old ideas needed to solve them. And I don't know how harder the movie could have shown Ben Solo is supposed to represent the past obsessed but also history-revisionist reactionary, being used as a tool by those in power.

I also have to admit that this is art-as-product that leans heavily in the crafted-to-sell direction, but it's good enough that I just don't care. And if this helps roll back sales-minded prejudices about casting decisions, that's all the better.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Robo4900 » 17 Dec 2015, 11:46

I enjoyed it. It was a fun film, and I like how, in many ways, it functioned as a swansong to Han Solo.

The similarities with A New Hope are there, but I don't mind them, despite how many there are narratively speaking.


I'm going to confess something; I didn't like Guardians Of The Galaxy. I thought it was childish, dull, and predictable, and I was concerned that Star Wars would go down the same road. I'm glad it didn't. :)
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Elomin Sha » 17 Dec 2015, 16:25

I enjoyed the film, it was lacking something to hook you but it was enjoyable to watch the entire time. Most of the film I was hopin that an interaction between two characters wasn't going to turn cliché, it didn't but hopefully it doesn't go that way in the sequels.
I did have it spoilt for me by some arse. Turns out one of the people behind the couner at the cinema did too when she asked the customer if they enjoyed the film.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby tbug » 18 Dec 2015, 10:19

Bebop Man wrote:And I hate what they did with Han Solo.


Do you hate what they did with his character, or do you hate that we saw his ultimate fate? I liked both of these things, but I'm curious about what specifically you hated.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby JayBlanc » 18 Dec 2015, 11:26

It's known that Kasdan wanted to kill off Han Solo at the end of Empire or the start of Jedi. But Lucas vetoed the idea for what ever reasons Lucas had. So to me this signals that Kasdan has creative control over the franchise going forward.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Elomin Sha » 18 Dec 2015, 13:14

It was to do with money and not wanting to lose a major character so soon.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Ptangmatik » 18 Dec 2015, 15:24

I came away presently surprised, but then I'd set my tolerance to the prequels. I was always more -gate than -wars.

Also, turns out that cooking popcorn in coconut fat is delicious!
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby RoboNixon » 18 Dec 2015, 18:54

So I just finished watching it 30 minutes ago and I'm not sure what to think. It ticked all the boxes of a Star Wars movie. I also laughed, nearly cried, cheered and booed too. Think I'm just too emotionally drained, but definitely want to see it again. If I can separate my EU loving fanboy side from my objective movie watching side on a 2nd watch I might figure out how I feel. I can for sure say I'm not sure I loved it, but it was fun.

The one thing that drove me crazy: *Paraphrasing* Question: "Where did you get that lightsaber? Didn't it fall out of Cloud City, and into the gas giant Bespin?" Answer: "Don't worry about it." ARGH! :P
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Robo4900 » 19 Dec 2015, 03:27

My thought about that is after the events of Episode VI, someone working for Lando found the lightsaber and returned it to Luke.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Lord Chrusher » 19 Dec 2015, 03:31

This in a movie which involves a star being swallowed up by a planet sized superweapon which then uses the energy to destroy multiple planets at the same time. A movie where the light from the destruction of those planets is able to travel to other star systems in mere minutes.

There is a lot of quite dodgy physics involved in Star Wars.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby RoboNixon » 19 Dec 2015, 03:32

Robo4900 wrote:My thought about that is after the events of Episode VI, someone working for Lando found the lightsaber and returned it to Luke.


Right. That's an easy answer. So why not say it?
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby tbug » 19 Dec 2015, 09:34

RoboNixon wrote:
Robo4900 wrote:My thought about that is after the events of Episode VI, someone working for Lando found the lightsaber and returned it to Luke.


Right. That's an easy answer. So why not say it?


Deferring the answer, even if it's a simple one, develops Maz's character. I don't know if that's why they made that choice, but it's a valid storytelling technique.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby RoboNixon » 19 Dec 2015, 13:07

But in a movie where they talk about Han's new jacket, a compressor on the Falcon, and the red arm C3PO losses by the end of the movie, ignoring a basic question seems like lazy writing is my thought.

I really liked Maz, but there's no indication we'll see her again and get an answer. I really hope she is in the subsequent movies even if she never explains.

Spoiler/Speculation: This movie is in many ways a retelling of A New Hope, but with several key differences. Rey may very well be Luke's daughter. I feel like it was originally Luke's green saber in the box, but this would be identical to Luke receiving his father's saber in New Hope. Likely, they changed it to the blue one to keep the idea of lineage while being different from NH.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby tbug » 19 Dec 2015, 13:31

Kylo Ren: "That's mine!"

This only works with the blue one.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Garwulf » 19 Dec 2015, 14:22

Just saw it this afternoon, and holy crap it was good.

And, FINALLY, somebody remembered how to make these movies right. Took bloody long enough.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby RoboNixon » 19 Dec 2015, 14:57

tbug wrote:Kylo Ren: "That's mine!"

This only works with the blue one.


Ok. That's fine. Like I said, the blue saber adds in an element of lineage. They also built in dialogue for Kylo that supports his Vader obsession. I'm 100% fine with their choice. My only question is where did the saber come from? Why have a character ask a direct question in your movie if you have no intention of answering it? I like where the movie leaves us, and hope to get an answer in Episode 8.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby Ptangmatik » 19 Dec 2015, 15:48

Lord Chrusher wrote:There is a lot of quite dodgy physics involved in Star Wars.
Just need to travel faster than the speed of light then stop the Falcon after passing through the planet's shield but before the planet's surface, ok we'll stop... Now! °survives°
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby MinniChi » 19 Dec 2015, 19:25

I saw the movie today. My wonderful Ex took me to see it (along with his dad, his brother, and our son).

Honestly, I loved the movie. I'm not a super nerd/picky fan, so I can happily watch the movies and not complain.

Except I had to watch the movie in 3D. 3D made it terrible. But it is such a wonderfully entertaining movie. My son loved it. Now I have to show him the first 6.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby JayBlanc » 20 Dec 2015, 06:00

Let's talk lightsabers for a bit... I just realised that Finn is using a lightsaber the way someone who has watched movies would use it. Ray is using it in desperation to just not die. Ren has obviously been trained in how to use it, but is doing so slopply, over dramatically and with too much haste. And I love how much much much better this looks on screen as a battle than those stupid cirque du soleil light sabre battles.
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby MinniChi » 20 Dec 2015, 06:06

I also noticed how the bad guys lightsaber was arcing like crazy during the dramatic battle. I wonder why.





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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby tbug » 20 Dec 2015, 07:11

MinniChi wrote:Except I had to watch the movie in 3D. 3D made it terrible.


My partner uses 2D glasses. (I can't physically see 3D, so it's irrelevant for me.)
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Re: The Force Awakens.

Postby MinniChi » 21 Dec 2015, 15:33

wonderful idea! However I am near-sighted, and double-glasses just doesn't work. This is actually my biggest problem with 3D
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