Star Wars, Force Awakens (Thought it Sucked, Spoilers Quarantined)

[MJ DeMarco]

*** SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED IN SPOILER BUTTONS, NOT IN THE READABLE TEXT. (Assuming Your JavaScript is enabled.)

Finally saw the movie last night.

First let me say, I was entertained by it. I mean shit, it's freaking Star Wars. I saw the first movie when I was ten years old, saw all prior six ones multiple times, even the crap prequels.

One thing about Star Wars that I've always loved, no matter how bad the movies, is the mythology behind it, and of course, the transcendent music score.

So with that said, I thought this movie sucked pretty bad.

I thought it was an insult to my intelligence, poorly written, poorly plotted, and an ultimate money grab because well, you can put out anything "Star Wars" and make a billion bucks.

The rest of my thoughts are here:

Spoiler: SPOILERS

First, so what we have is 1979's The New Hope put into a blender and rewritten. The same old plot devices were used giving me a feeling of "deja-vu" as if I was watching an old movie reworked for a new generation.

Like seriously, we couldn't think up new plot narratives? And after nearly 40 years?

Nope, lets store some data in a droid and we'll have our antagonists seek that out for most of the movie. Let's create a Star Destroying planet, 10X more powerful than the original Death Stars, and apparently easier to construct after most of the empire was destroyed some 30 years ago. (Of course, it has a shield that needs to be dismantled by a group of rogue saboteurs who have to sneak onto the planet.)

Second, how did the New Order come to power? Most of the empire was destroyed. And this new supreme leader? Was he borrowed from Lord of The Rings because no one better was available?

Third, everything seemed so mechanically contrived, tied together with Hollywood's cheapest of cheap narrative tricks. And because of such, any rational plausibility goes right out the window in favor of moving a bad plot along.

Unlike Star Trek which does a great job of acknowledging theoretical science and astronomical truths, apparently no one on Star Wars gives a shit.

Neil Tyson DeGrass must be shitting his pants.

F*ck, in the Star Wars world we could destroy our sun, and life on planet Earth would be business as usual.

In real life, deep space is like one grain of sand on a beach. You're chances of finding that one grain among trillions is immeasurable. But in the Star Wars world, you're guaranteed to "run into" whomever necessary just so your shit storyline can be moved along.

I thought the evil Darth Vadar character (Kylo?) started incredibly strong. You feared him. You felt his power. And then as soon as you saw him mask-less, he turned from a threatening figure that must be dealt with, into a doubtful, fearful child who had temper tantrums. The movie lost its powerful antagonist mid-way through the film. And it never recovered. (And he was defeated by Ms. Scavenger Gal who never held a lightsaber? Didn't he train for years???)

And don't even get me started on the possible "twin" thing with Leia and Han -- really??? AGAIN!?! Didn't we do this already? This entire plot which frames this movie is contrived and dropped in from left field. Not ONE HOLLYWOOD writer could think of something better? Something new? Apparently not.

I can go on and on, but I was sorely disappointed. By the end rolled around I was like, "No, this is the end? An anti-climatic fight scene (worse LS duels of the 6 movies), an exploding planet, and a long hike up a hill for a 3 second cameo?

I expected so much more.

Ugh.

What we have is about ten speciously linked vignettes, tied tediously together by a horrific story-- a story which is only glued together only by nostalgia-- nostalgia of our childhood and the fictional characters in which framed them. I think people are so blinded by their love of the franchise that they cannot see through how bad this was.

I give it an A for cinematics, presentation, and because I didn't have to suffer through a Jar-Jar character.
I give if an F for story, plot, and character.

Overall... C-

Remove the Star Wars franchise (it was nice to see Han, Leia, and the old gang) from this and you barely get a D.



IF YOU ARE COMMENTING ON THE MOVIE AND USING SPOILERS, USE THE SPOILER TAG SO YOU DO NOT RUIN IT FOR OTHERS.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

My apologies, I had one spoiler outside the spoiler tag. Hope no one read that.

 

[AllenCrawley]

I'm one of the Star Wars fan boys and must be one of the uneducated that loved the movie.

However, you do make very valid points and, if I'm being honest, most of the things you mention bugged me as well.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I'm one of the Star Wars fan boys and must be one of the uneducated that loved the movie.

However, you do make very valid points and, if I'm being honest, most of the things you mention bugged me as well.

I didn't mean to imply that anyone who enjoyed it is uneducated. I am my worst enemy as I tend to evaluate movies from a storyteller, screenwriting perspective -- I walk in as a critic because I'm there to learn. I guess it would be similar to a football coach/referee watching a football game-- he can't just sit down, relax, and enjoy the presentation as a whole-- he has to dissect it play by play.

 

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[RHL]

As sort of a writer myself, echo some of this. The plot was hardly the biggest issue though, IMO. That could be excused as a kind of doofy throwback. The biggest issue for me was that the character development was criminally thin. Kylo Ren was the only well developed character. It was basically a reboot of ANH, the same way JJ rebooted Star Trek.

Not nearly as much character development though. In ANE, you felt Luke's isolation and his provincial farm life. You saw Obi-Wan develop from the mysterious figure to a great warrior. Vader was nothing but terrifying, Leia was brash and sarcastic, Han was a risk taker with legitimate reasons to be caught in the mix.

Contrast that with this move and you get none of that. None of the heroes felt well developed. Somehow, they even managed, I think, to make the old characters feel thinner than they had been before. You don't get any of that sense of depth from the new movie's counterparts the the characters in ANH. Their motivations are shoved in your face rather than allowing you to infer them. The film tells rather than shows.

I thought it was in another universe of goodness from the last three, but it's unworthy to stand in the presence of the originals as The Matrix Reloaded was to stand in the presence of the original.

 

[Daniel A]

I also saw it last night in 3D (which is still not too impressive, at least what was used there) and share many of the same thoughts.

Spoiler

I can't remember the 'feel' of the other movies much, but in this one, the Star Wars universe felt so small because of how few 'lifeforms' there were and having the same familiar locations being visited.

The only part where I got a 'feel' of how many humans (or other things) were out there was when the new death star destroyed those planets, and you see the giant cities for a bit. That part also seemed to happen too fast, and everyone was so Stoic about it. I don't remember seeing a single tear after planets full of people were obliterated .

Adding on the small 'feel', if a very small group of people entered the new death star and their presence was known they'd realistically be discovered and shot to shit with ease. I understand it's a movie and stealth in small groups, but I expected a larger fight with again, more people. Getting into the new death star and destroying it was too easy!.

The movie felt sterile. Very little emotion even though they did add a bit of humor. A random comment on a YouTube video spoiled the death of Han Solo for me, so that was expected and had no shock value. That was probably supposed the be the most emotional part, but it was ruined for me. Chewie's reaction afterwards when he begins shooting was the most memorable part with emotion.

I could write more, but here are some quick thoughts...

Who's the Voldemort looking guy from the giant hologram?

Kylo Ren, you need to train with your lightsaber more bro. And you look like Professor Snape.

Rey, fix yo damn hair girl! What's up with the main female Star Wars characters and their hairstyles?

RIP Han Solo.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

None of the heroes felt well developed.

+1.

Spoiler

And because you have "well developed heroes" available to be dropped in at a whim (3PO, Chewy, Han, Leia), you can get away with it by virtue of old works.

 

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[Guest3722A]

Haven't seen it but my thought is the real story is the $4B exit by Lucas Films to Disney.

Nuff said thereafter

 

[Mr.Donnerhuhn]

It was like a fan tribute to episode IV. Finn was the only character that actually seemed new in any sense.

Beyond that it was a lot of B-grade acting, and plot points that, while clear, felt really rushed and almost forced in some points.

A fun movie, but not a great movie. And tbh, to me the hype-train over-saturated marketing campaign may have made me a bit pessimistic going into the theater.

 

[Iwokeup]

Completely agree. Saw this Friday night and immediately phoned my brothers, neither of which had seen it. Had to say, "Well, let's talk after you do."

I was BORED. After a certain point, you knew what was coming next.

I also agree about the character development being nearly non-existent, except for Rai.

 

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[Andy Black]

*** SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED IN SPOILER BUTTONS, NOT IN THE READABLE TEXT. (Assuming Your JavaScript is enabled.)

Finally saw the movie last night.

First let me say, I was entertained by it. I mean shit, it's freaking Star Wars. I saw the first movie when I was ten years old, saw all prior six ones multiple times, even the crap prequels.

One thing about Star Wars that I've always loved, no matter how bad the movies, is the mythology behind it, and of course, the transcendent music score.

So with that said, I thought this movie sucked pretty bad.

I thought it was an insult to my intelligence, poorly written, poorly plotted, and an ultimate money grab because well, you can put out anything "Star Wars" and make a billion bucks.

The rest of my thoughts are here:

Spoiler: SPOILERS

First, so what we have is 1979's The New Hope put into a blender and rewritten. The same old plot devices were used giving me a feeling of "deja-vu" as if I was watching an old movie reworked for a new generation.

Like seriously, we couldn't think up new plot narratives? And after nearly 40 years?

Nope, lets store some data in a droid and we'll have our antagonists seek that out for most of the movie. Let's create a Star Destroying planet, 10X more powerful than the original Death Stars, and apparently easier to construct after most of the empire was destroyed some 30 years ago. (Of course, it has a shield that needs to be dismantled by a group of rogue saboteurs who have to sneak onto the planet.)

Second, how did the New Order come to power? Most of the empire was destroyed. And this new supreme leader? Was he borrowed from Lord of The Rings because no one better was available?

Third, everything seemed so mechanically contrived, tied together with Hollywood's cheapest of cheap narrative tricks. And because of such, any rational plausibility goes right out the window in favor of moving a bad plot along.

Unlike Star Trek which does a great job of acknowledging theoretical science and astronomical truths, apparently no one on Star Wars gives a shit.

Neil Tyson DeGrass must be shitting his pants.

F*ck, in the Star Wars world we could destroy our sun, and life on planet Earth would be business as usual.

In real life, deep space is like one grain of sand on a beach. You're chances of finding that one grain among trillions is immeasurable. But in the Star Wars world, you're guaranteed to "run into" whomever necessary just so your shit storyline can be moved along.

I thought the evil Darth Vadar character (Kylo?) started incredibly strong. You feared him. You felt his power. And then as soon as you saw him mask-less, he turned from a threatening figure that must be dealt with, into a doubtful, fearful child who had temper tantrums. The movie lost its powerful antagonist mid-way through the film. And it never recovered. (And he was defeated by Ms. Scavenger Gal who never held a lightsaber? Didn't he train for years???)

And don't even get me started on the possible "twin" thing with Leia and Han -- really??? AGAIN!?! Didn't we do this already? This entire plot which frames this movie is contrived and dropped in from left field. Not ONE HOLLYWOOD writer could think of something better? Apparently not.

I can go on and on, but I was sorely disappointed. By the end rolled around I was like, "No, this is the end? An anti-climatic fight scene (worse LS duels of the 6 movies), an exploding planet, and a long hike up a hill for a 3 second cameo?

I expected so much more.

Ugh.

What we have is about ten speciously linked vignettes, tied tediously together by a horrific story-- a story which is only glued together only by nostalgia-- nostalgia of our childhood and the fictional characters in which framed them. I think people are so blinded by their love of the franchise that they cannot see through how bad this was.

I give it an A for cinematics, presentation, and because I didn't have to suffer through a Jar-Jar character.
I give if an F for story, plot, and character.

Overall... C-

Remove the Star Wars franchise (it was nice to see Han, Leia, and the old gang) from this and you barely get a D.



IF YOU ARE COMMENTING ON THE MOVIE AND USING SPOILERS, USE THE SPOILER TAG SO YOU DO NOT RUIN IT FOR OTHERS.

Thanks for the heads up MJ and RHL (EDIT: and everyone else).

I'm going to watch it tomorrow evening with my stepson. I was afraid they'd focus on special effects rather than the story.

Now I know not to expect much, I might not be so disappointed.

Glad there's no Jar-Jar. He put me off the prequels.

I had my kids watch A New Hope a few months ago and recorded their faces while they watched the first 10 minutes. Their mouths hung open and I don't think they blinked once.

That film is aging sooo well because of the great character development as @RHL mentioned, and because it's the classic fairy tale story of evil knight kidnaps princess and holds her in his fortress, while goofy young lad and wise old wizard go off the rescue her.


Why can't they spend a bit of the special effects budget nowadays on decent writers?

 

[travisl]

I honestly thought that film was not intended to be cheap or play with the intelligence of the audience.

I felt that the recycling of story was meant to be obvious. VERY obvious. It kind of shows how things always go in cycles. Wars will always be fought, the weapons only get bigger.

History repeats itself, more literally than we'd like to think.

I gathered that that was the point they were trying to drive home.

-------

So yes it is REALLY easy to sit there a pick the movie apart. You can tear it to shreds easily.

But having gone back last week and watched episodes I-VI, it's very easy to pick each of those apart too and say that they weren't very good. There's plenty of opportunities in every single one to be like "OH C'MON REALLY??"

Like how they just nonchalantly forgive Lando Calrission and make him a General of the Rebellion after he JUST sold everyone out to the empire. Would you really want that guy leading a portion of your military? Could easily sell you out again.

Watch this video for a sample of what I mean about the older ones: Honest Trailers - Star Wars

My favorite line of the whole video is "Relive the parts your nostalgia goggles keep you from admitting were kinda dumb." Haha

Gotta love star wars.

 

[Bit]

I agree, the movie was terrible on plot/storyline.

All the CGI was awsome, but the plot was lazy and rehashed from other pre-quels. I told my friend the same thing, who is a major fanboy, and he disagree's, but did mention Disney' 'disneyfied it'.

I have read the SW universe (through wiki) before the movie was ever mentioned in the media, so I already had a vague idea of the plot... But even if you have not read it, You can guess whats going to happen next without even seriously thinking about it. (rehashed plot line)

Movie was 'OK' to watch, fun to see old mentions, such as clone's and see Boba Fett's Mandalorian flag, as well as 'trash compactor', but overall, I wouldnt see it a second time.

...The popcorn was good though.

 

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[M Power]

I'm one of the Star Wars fan boys and must be one of the uneducated that loved the movie.

However, you do make very valid points and, if I'm being honest, most of the things you mention bugged me as well.

I honestly thought that film was not intended to be cheap or play with the intelligence of the audience.

I felt that the recycling of story was meant to be obvious. VERY obvious. It kind of shows how things always go in cycles. Wars will always be fought, the weapons only get bigger.

History repeats itself, more literally than we'd like to think.

I gathered that that was the point they were trying to drive home.

-------

So yes it is REALLY easy to sit there a pick the movie apart. You can tear it to shreds easily.

But having gone back last week and watched episodes I-VI, it's very easy to pick each of those apart too and say that they weren't very good. There's plenty of opportunities in every single one to be like "OH C'MON REALLY??"

Like how they just nonchalantly forgive Lando Calrission and make him a General of the Rebellion after he JUST sold everyone out to the empire. Would you really want that guy leading a portion of your military? Could easily sell you out again.

Watch this video for a sample of what I mean about the older ones: Honest Trailers - Star Wars

My favorite line of the whole video is "Relive the parts your nostalgia goggles keep you from admitting were kinda dumb." Haha

Gotta love star wars.

This! Exactly what I thought. I felt like they were scared to get too original because it might piss off the fan base. Went into it very skeptical but was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it very much. But it could've use more character development. And kylo needs to be MEAN!

 

[Daniel A]

@Yoda Did you watch the movie yet? If so, what did you think of it?

 

[Trevor Chaumont]

This is unarguably the best review of the movie yet.

 

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[RHL]

Why can't they spend a bit of the special effects budget nowadays on decent writers?

That's what kills me. With the opening weekends films are posting now, the budget for screenplays should be so high that The Godfather and Schindler's list look like two of the worst movies ever made. Instead we get this, Iron Man 3, etc.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Instead we get this, Iron Man 3, etc.

Spoiler

Once they laid down the plot (finding Luke) I was expecting his unveiling to be dramatic-- like our heroic GAL and FIN are getting their collective asses kicked by Kylo (who was never unmasked) and Luke suddenly appears out of the shadows and takes them down in an epic light saber battle. Nope. There was nothing epic. Nothing memorable. Nothing new.

What we have is a story about another confused brat defying his parents, of course, easily manipulated by some holographic GOLLUM.

 

[Vigilante]

*** SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED IN SPOILER BUTTONS, NOT IN THE READABLE TEXT. (Assuming Your JavaScript is enabled.)

Finally saw the movie last night.

First let me say, I was entertained by it. I mean shit, it's freaking Star Wars. I saw the first movie when I was ten years old, saw all prior six ones multiple times, even the crap prequels.

One thing about Star Wars that I've always loved, no matter how bad the movies, is the mythology behind it, and of course, the transcendent music score.

So with that said, I thought this movie sucked pretty bad.

I thought it was an insult to my intelligence, poorly written, poorly plotted, and an ultimate money grab because well, you can put out anything "Star Wars" and make a billion bucks.

The rest of my thoughts are here:

Spoiler: SPOILERS

First, so what we have is 1979's The New Hope put into a blender and rewritten. The same old plot devices were used giving me a feeling of "deja-vu" as if I was watching an old movie reworked for a new generation.

Like seriously, we couldn't think up new plot narratives? And after nearly 40 years?

Nope, lets store some data in a droid and we'll have our antagonists seek that out for most of the movie. Let's create a Star Destroying planet, 10X more powerful than the original Death Stars, and apparently easier to construct after most of the empire was destroyed some 30 years ago. (Of course, it has a shield that needs to be dismantled by a group of rogue saboteurs who have to sneak onto the planet.)

Second, how did the New Order come to power? Most of the empire was destroyed. And this new supreme leader? Was he borrowed from Lord of The Rings because no one better was available?

Third, everything seemed so mechanically contrived, tied together with Hollywood's cheapest of cheap narrative tricks. And because of such, any rational plausibility goes right out the window in favor of moving a bad plot along.

Unlike Star Trek which does a great job of acknowledging theoretical science and astronomical truths, apparently no one on Star Wars gives a shit.

Neil Tyson DeGrass must be shitting his pants.

F*ck, in the Star Wars world we could destroy our sun, and life on planet Earth would be business as usual.

In real life, deep space is like one grain of sand on a beach. You're chances of finding that one grain among trillions is immeasurable. But in the Star Wars world, you're guaranteed to "run into" whomever necessary just so your shit storyline can be moved along.

I thought the evil Darth Vadar character (Kylo?) started incredibly strong. You feared him. You felt his power. And then as soon as you saw him mask-less, he turned from a threatening figure that must be dealt with, into a doubtful, fearful child who had temper tantrums. The movie lost its powerful antagonist mid-way through the film. And it never recovered. (And he was defeated by Ms. Scavenger Gal who never held a lightsaber? Didn't he train for years???)

And don't even get me started on the possible "twin" thing with Leia and Han -- really??? AGAIN!?! Didn't we do this already? This entire plot which frames this movie is contrived and dropped in from left field. Not ONE HOLLYWOOD writer could think of something better? Apparently not.

I can go on and on, but I was sorely disappointed. By the end rolled around I was like, "No, this is the end? An anti-climatic fight scene (worse LS duels of the 6 movies), an exploding planet, and a long hike up a hill for a 3 second cameo?

I expected so much more.

Ugh.

What we have is about ten speciously linked vignettes, tied tediously together by a horrific story-- a story which is only glued together only by nostalgia-- nostalgia of our childhood and the fictional characters in which framed them. I think people are so blinded by their love of the franchise that they cannot see through how bad this was.

I give it an A for cinematics, presentation, and because I didn't have to suffer through a Jar-Jar character.
I give if an F for story, plot, and character.

Overall... C-

Remove the Star Wars franchise (it was nice to see Han, Leia, and the old gang) from this and you barely get a D.



IF YOU ARE COMMENTING ON THE MOVIE AND USING SPOILERS, USE THE SPOILER TAG SO YOU DO NOT RUIN IT FOR OTHERS.

I can't read this thread because I am seeing the movie on Christmas eve.

However, I can tell you that your negative vibe won't wreck my enjoyment of this long awaited cinematic masterpiece.

And, any movie series that can withstand three decades of time spanning multiple generations is historic. Epic.

I will come back to this thread after I see the flick, hopefully to disagree with your assessment.

 

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[Mineralogic]

Haven't seen it but my thought is the real story is the $4B exit by Lucas Films to Disney.

Nuff said thereafter

I can't read this thread because I am seeing the movie on Christmas eve.

However, I can tell you that your negative vibe won't wreck my enjoyment of this long awaited cinematic masterpiece.

And, any movie series that can withstand three decades of time spanning multiple generations is historic. Epic.

I will come back to this thread after I see the flick, hopefully to disagree with your assessment.

I've seen so much pumpage of the toys, etc for months in stores I wanted nothing to do with it until DVR!

Lucas is probably smiling right now....the cast was on tv and the only dude who looked interesting was the nigerian kid

 

[MJ DeMarco]

your negative vibe won't wreck my enjoyment

It shouldn't. Any loyal SW fan will enjoy it. Despite it's flaws, I did.

Spoiler

From a story standpoint however, it was horrific.

Putting my personal biases and childhood memories aside, I like to evaluate things in a vacuum and based upon it's artistic merits of storytelling-- characters, plotting, cinematography, etc. Question is, without the backstory of Star Wars, would this film be a big hit? Or would it be out 4 weeks and disappear? The movie is 95% Star Wars and 5% epic. Without the backstory of Star Wars and it's grasp on millions of fans (including me), it's just an ok-to-bad movie.

I was hoping for 50% Star Wars and 50% epic.

I'd have a tough time sitting through it again -- if only to pick up what I didn't hear correctly the first time.

 

[Iwokeup]

Coming out of the theater, my next thought was:

Well, Empire certainly blew everyone away in terms of plot, visuals, etc. Perhaps now that JJ & Co have given the world What It Wants (moAr classic TOS Star Wars in a clear series re-boot) then perhaps the sequel to THIS movie will blow us all away.

Here's hoping.
.
.
.
So overall, I'd give it a 7/10. Solid, but could have watched at home using my Blu-Ray player and TV and probably had just as much fun.

That said, it beats most of what I've seen this year, with the exception of The Martian.

 

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[biophase]

MJ I agree with you. But I saw the movie with someone that had not seen any of the previous movies. She thought the movie was great. I am guessing that she had the same feeling as someone who saw the first Star Wars in 1977. She went into it only knowing who Darth Vader and Yoda were.

Spoiler

As I watched it I was thinking really? Try to guess which movie this plot is from?

Empire attacks because they are looking for plans/map
Before you are captured, you stick them into a droid and sent it into a desert?
The empire, or whoever wants to find the droid. Send in stormtroopers to search the town.
Escape on the Millennium Falcon
Convince Han Solo to go look for the Princess?
Death Star destroys a planet
They go into a creature cantina
The rebel base will be in range in 2 minutes.... again?
Fly a small squadron at the death star to blow it up with a precise targeted attack

If only they could build a death star that could recharge faster. If I was a death star designer that would be my main goal.
When I saw the scene on the freighter, I was thinking, oh no, they're going with the stupid monster CGI special effects again.

Why the F*ck didn't R2D2 show the map to them at first? I'd be kicking the crap out of that droid. We almost got blown the F*ck up and you decide to turn yourself on now? Made no sense. Was it because what's her name was still captured???

With all that said. I did enjoy the movie. And it's better that he went this direction vs. the last 3.

 

[Veloce Grey]

That's what kills me. With the opening weekends films are posting now, the budget for screenplays should be so high that The Godfather and Schindler's list look like two of the worst movies ever made. Instead we get this, Iron Man 3, etc.

In the wake of Mad Max, Ghostbusters and now this I'm half expecting Hollywood to bring out a new Godmother film next year where the hero is a strong feminist character and Andy Garcia spends his days on his MacBook at Starbucks writing a Huffington Post article about how Vito and Michael failed to bring enough diversity to the family in the bad old days.

 

[Bellini]

Funny because I was waiting for someone on the forum to bring up Star Wars. ha

Interesting to see what everyone thought of it. I'm a fan of the early ones.

I haven't seen The Force Awakens yet but I can tell you I have been bombarded by the marketing for it, which is not easy considering I am one of the hardest people to market anything to because I'm hard to get to. I'm not a 'normal' potential customer:

I don't own a TV
I'm not on any social media
I rarely go to movies theaters anymore so I don't see their advertisements
I rarely go to malls so I don't see anything there either (ads or merchandise)
I mainly use my smart phone as just a phone

(all of these things are going to have to change if I go into business however. I fear my introverted days are over )

BUT….they got me with ads on the internet (youtube)

They got me on my car radio during a commercial

and

they actually got me at the grocery store! ha

When I walked into my high-end grocery store here I was immediately greeted by huge blow-up characters from Star Wars staring at me with guns, lasers, balloons, space ships, and all kinds of food goodies and treats to go with it that were decorated Star Wars style. Made me want to buy all of it and go see the movie.

I had to laugh because there was no way you were not going to see that when you walked in.

Disney marketing strategies are always stratospheric - but they have zillions of dollars at their disposal to do it. They know how to get the job done and they do it well.

 

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[Fox]

Edited.

I have only seen one of the other movies but found it okay as a standalone movie. The plot is indeed terrible but there is plenty of good comical moments and the effects are great.

Spoiler

I used to work only a few kilometers from the location in the last scene. They are the Skellig Islands in Co. Kerry, Ireland. Quite a tourists have been killed making the hike up to the top. They refuse to add in any safety rails to keep it authentic and the rocks are very slippy when its wet (90% of the time in Ireland).

The little buildings on the top are from a sixth-century Christian monastery Its a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Well worth a visit but its hard to get the right weather for a safe tour.

 

[Madhu]

I thought it was... okay (although I only have a passing interest in Star Wars). I suppose a big franchise should probably deliver more.

Spoiler

I liked it was a retelling of Episode 4 and felt that, on the whole, it did a good job of taking old elements and mixing them with new characters.

My main issue was the death of Han Solo. A treasured hero like that should go out guns-a-blazing. The way he died seemed disappointing. He should have confronted his son in a dramatic battle, got the upperhand after a difficult duel and then shown him mercy, at which point his son betrays him.

 

[Supa]

I just watched it yesterday, finally could read your full post (with spoilers). I think the movie itself was awesome, the great images and the sound, aswell as all the Star Wars-ish stuff in it, but the plot was kinda lame.

Spoiler

I totally loved Kylo in the beginning, his mask and the voice, the way he behaves, you really felt danger coming from him. That kind of villain that you can't help but like somehow. But then he took off his mask and he ruined one of the biggest pros of the movie. I mean, it was pretty clear that he will be kinda young, after we learned that he's Han Solo's son, but why couldn't they wait until the end with revealing his face? But he was nothing more than a normal guy with some emotional problems since he took off the mask.

And then we had Han Solo's death. That's how they kill off one of the biggest characters in the franchise? A 2 minute talk with his son until he kills him "surprisingly"? come on, they could have done it so much better.

The movie was great overall, it started out really awesome with a villain that you really fear, if they would have kept that great villain the movie could be so much better.

 

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[biophase]

So I saw the movie for the 2nd time with my parents.

Spoiler

The first part of the movie up to when they met Han Solo was still very enjoyable the second time. Being that it was my second time, I was able to concentrate on little things alot more. The first part really felt Star Wars like.

Why did they always make it seem like Kylo's mask weighed 100 lbs? They should have kept it on for the whole movie.

Regarding the light saber fight at the end. I think they tried to emphasize that Kylo was injured by Chewbacca's blast. They eluded to it twice before the fight. This is probably their reason for why he was easier to beat.

 

[RHL]

And, any movie series that can withstand three decades of time spanning multiple generations is historic. Epic.

The first three (well, more the first two) still are. I'm as die-hard a fan as they come but it just really and truly was an ANE reboot. Watch it and see if you can figure out who each of the character's counterparts are in the first movie.

The only two new Characters are Fin and Phasma.