Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Ukerric · Dec 23, 2015

chaos_sl said:
We at least got the new characters (who I really liked almost entirely)

Just as long as you realize that the new characters are exactly the old characters.

I mean:

- Snoke is Palpatine v2 (easy)
- Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is Darth Vader/Annakin Skywalker v2 (easy; and that's even with name change and the "Ren" being a title like Darth, that's where the Knights of Ren points to)
- Luke is Yoda v2 (easy) with a minor bit of Obi Wan's role tucked in (since he's the one whose failure to train Ben leads to disaster and slaughter of the young jedis)
- Rey is Luke Skylwalker v2 (lost family, stuck in dead-end stuff on desert planet, dreams that are just dreams, stumble upon resistance droid, yadda, yadda)
- Finn is Han Solo v2 (bad past, ready to lie and cheat his way off, deliver the droid and rey and walks out much to the despair of rey, runs back immediately when trouble strikes, and he is even knocked out of the running - no carbonite, just plain coma)
- BB8 is early R2D2 v2, R2 still being the later half (carries the stolen data, BB8 gets scruffle with scavenger, zaps with his electric arc "bad guys", etc. Then you need both droids to complete the mission and BB8 is relegated to back, we get R2D2 coming with Rey to see Yoda v2)
- Poe Dameron is... Leia v2 (rebellion agent, gets captured during intro, hides data in droid, interrogation, has to be freed by "Solo v2" from the imperial base). And he and Solo v2 instantly hit friendship (non romantic, of course) despite being from opposite backgrounds and will become permanent partners.
Note that Leia is still partially herself for the missing bits of Poe's role (generalissimo of the Rebellion, coordinate stuff, monitors the assault on Death Star v2, etc)
- Han Solo is... Obi Wan Kenobi v2 (stumbles upon the escapees, the one to tell them that all the legends are true, goes to the cantina to organize the final transfer leg of stolen data to the Rebellion, gets skewered by "vador v2" in the middle of the Death Star while still trying to save him, will be back as a flashback character instead of force ghost).
There's a bit of Kenobi transfered to Luke as I said earlier, and the Lightsaber handing devolves to Maz Kanata, but her role was cut short because she's not really necessary for the story while Han is around.
- Hux is, of course, Grand Moff Tarkin v2 (the big military cheese that doesn't take crap from Vader v2, but he gets ordered off the Death Star before it explodes so we get more Tarkin next!)
- Phasma is supposed to be Bobba Fett v2, except that, like Fett, there's nothing to do until the next movie, while they had a lot of marketing invested in toy lines, so they plunk her down in various roles that should be various junior nameless lieutenants so we see her around.
- I assume Chewbacca is Chewbacca v2, but there's not enough of a role for him to be visible.
- C3PO is still himself and as clueless as ever concerning people; he just doesn't get to stick around for the movies because its 2015 and you don't need that much of a comic relief in modern action movies.

So, as you see, there are no new characters, just new skins over old characters.

Episode VIII really needs to diverge.

I presume they are going to let the characters diverge from the originals now that they've essentially rebooted the franchise by doing a remake of the original movie.

radditsu · Dec 23, 2015

Foggy_sl said:
You forget it is 3D a few minutes into the movie. Pretty clear JJ only did 3D because he was forced to, not because he wanted to utilize it in any way.

The star destroyer scenes worked. Rey lighting the lightsaber made good use of it too. It forced the perspective to make her seem huge. It was a good use of the gimmick to push the moment.

Shonuff · Dec 23, 2015

Famm_sl said:
That was a complaint/critique of mine coming out of the theater. She was a "yoda" figure. That was the entire point of her character. Little cute humanoid wise one. More of the callback/mimicry stuff.

Her character was handled so oddly. They just dropped her in the story, told us she knew all about the force, she gave them knowledge and the saber, and then presumably died when her palace was blown up? They threw her in fast with no back story, and then yanked her out just as fast. Could they not have done that in a smoother way? They were in so much of a rush.

radditsu · Dec 23, 2015

Lyrical_sl said:
Her character was handled so oddly. They just dropped her in the story, told us she knew all about the force, she gave them knowledge and the saber, and then presumably died when her palace was blown up? They put in her in with no back story, and then yanked her out just as fast. Could they not have done that in a smoother way? They were in so much of a rush.

Didn't she escape out of the side hatch with Han?

Shonuff · Dec 23, 2015

radditsu_sl said:
Didn't she escape out of the side hatch with Han?

I hope not, it's best to let the character die off. She was written that poorly.

I'm going to go again on Saturday, I'll make sure to check.

Royal · Dec 23, 2015

Didn't someone who has read the novelization say that a lot of Maz's material was cut?

radditsu · Dec 23, 2015

Lyrical_sl said:
I hope not, it's best to let the character die off. She was written that poorly.

I'm going to go again on Saturday, I'll make sure to check.

I don't really think she was that bad. Looking around it just seems like they had nothing for her to do at rebel base and cut it.

Miguex · Dec 23, 2015

She did make it out with Han, Chewie, and Finn. Her last line in the movie with "you've got a weapon!" to Finn (holding the lightsaber) as they were about to engage the Stormtroopers.

Mures · Dec 23, 2015

I really liked Maz. Her exchange between her and Rey was one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

Neph_sl · Dec 23, 2015

Foggy_sl said:
You forget it is 3D a few minutes into the movie. Pretty clear JJ only did 3D because he was forced to, not because he wanted to utilize it in any way.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that he was forced into it. The 3D was really subtle, but it brought out a lot of depth for things like the dog fighting scenes and the forest scenes.

Shonuff · Dec 23, 2015

radditsu_sl said:
I don't really think she was that bad. Looking around it just seems like they had nothing for her to do at rebel base and cut it.

I bet you have a poster of Jar Jar in your bedroom, right?

Foggy · Dec 23, 2015

Lyrical being all edgy in this bitch. Hurry back to the Superman v. Batman thread, somebody probably still thinks Batman couldn't beat Superman and Goku at the same time.

LiquidDeath · Dec 23, 2015

Famm_sl said:
Probably doing my second viewing tomorrow, anyone seen this in IMAX 3D?

I saw it in a legit IMAX 3D theater. It was good. I've recommended seeing it in both 2D and 3D to my friends and I'll be seeing it in 2D next week. The space fights really benefit from the perspective.

Ravishing · Dec 23, 2015

Neph_sl said:
I wouldn't go so far as to say that he was forced into it. The 3D was really subtle, but it brought out a lot of depth for things like the dog fighting scenes and the forest scenes.

The 3D was added in post, so seems like it was forced tbh. If he was going for 3D he would have shot it like Jackson did with the Hobbit. 3D is still very much a contentious topic with directors. Half of directors seem to embrace it and another half seem to really not care for it. Christopher Nolan is another whom does not prefer the 3D format whereas Jackson embraced it. Nolan & JJ seem to prefer the Imax format though.

I saw it in Imax 3D and it didn't distract me, but it also didn't seem necessary at all. It's pure money grab

LachiusTZ · Dec 23, 2015

Watching it now, 10 minutes in and I'm tempted to walk out.

Tuco · Dec 23, 2015

I enjoyed the film, 8/10. I generally agree with everyone here.

Without having read the novelization and obviously not having seen the next two movies here is what I would change.

1. I liked Kylo's character being hyped as Vader but is shown to the audience as a whelp later. But they handled it poorly. He's a super-badass in the opening sequence and can stop a blaster bolt in midair. Nobody has done that before, so it shows some real flex. Then he's put on par with General Hitler and seems to be the right hand man of Snooki and the Jedi guardian of their ultimate weapon. When he shows that he's weak it's not a 'Oh wow that does make sense' like Bruce Willis being a ghost. Instead you're dealing with the dissonance between different scenes. So here's what I would do differently:
A. Don't have him take any actions in the opening sequence.
B. Don't have him break Poe without use of his conventional torture bot.
C. Show that he's not respected or trusted by Snooki, and Snooki is just using him because he's desperate. (Possibly by having another Jedi that is senior to Kylo and betrayed by him early on in the film).

You do these things, all of Keg's valid complaints become much more solvable if you make reasonable assumptions about Rey.

2. Their super weapon was dumb in so many ways. If they wanted to blow up the senate for future movies they should have used a terrorist weapon since the first order was barely regarded as a threat in the start. Blow up the senate with a nuclear weapon and create the same kind of threat for the Resistance base. You can still have the same cool action sequences on the first order base, just without a ridiculous planet sized weapon.

3. They should have kept Poe throughout the movie and made him take on the jokester role that Finn did. Finn's character made no sense. He should have been serious, afraid and burdened.

4. Get rid of the tentacle-rape monsters in that scene.

Changing those things would make it a 9/10 for me.

LachiusTZ · Dec 23, 2015

Dude touched black guy with bloody hand, and he instantly evaluates his life choices!

Captain cunto is meh.

Douche obviously talks first cause he asked...

How does everyone instance droid? But they still feel the need to echo what the droids say?

If a Jedi master is hiding, why would finding him make him safer?

I don't get why the republic needs a resistance.

Neph_sl · Dec 23, 2015

Fawe_sl said:
The 3D was added in post, so seems like it was forced tbh. If he was going for 3D he would have shot it like Jackson did with the Hobbit. 3D is still very much a contentious topic with directors. Half of directors seem to embrace it and another half seem to really not care for it. Christopher Nolan is another whom does not prefer the 3D format whereas Jackson embraced it. Nolan & JJ seem to prefer the Imax format though.

I saw it in Imax 3D and it didn't distract me, but it also didn't seem necessary at all. It's pure money grab

Ah. Well if the 3D is added in post, then that's different.

etchazz · Dec 23, 2015

Ukerric_sl said:
Just as long as you realize that the new characters are exactly the old characters.

I mean:

- Snoke is Palpatine v2 (easy)
- Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is Darth Vader/Annakin Skywalker v2 (easy; and that's even with name change and the "Ren" being a title like Darth, that's where the Knights of Ren points to)
- Luke is Yoda v2 (easy) with a minor bit of Obi Wan's role tucked in (since he's the one whose failure to train Ben leads to disaster and slaughter of the young jedis)
- Rey is Luke Skylwalker v2 (lost family, stuck in dead-end stuff on desert planet, dreams that are just dreams, stumble upon resistance droid, yadda, yadda)
- Finn is Han Solo v2 (bad past, ready to lie and cheat his way off, deliver the droid and rey and walks out much to the despair of rey, runs back immediately when trouble strikes, and he is even knocked out of the running - no carbonite, just plain coma)
- BB8 is early R2D2 v2, R2 still being the later half (carries the stolen data, BB8 gets scruffle with scavenger, zaps with his electric arc "bad guys", etc. Then you need both droids to complete the mission and BB8 is relegated to back, we get R2D2 coming with Rey to see Yoda v2)
- Poe Dameron is... Leia v2 (rebellion agent, gets captured during intro, hides data in droid, interrogation, has to be freed by "Solo v2" from the imperial base). And he and Solo v2 instantly hit friendship (non romantic, of course) despite being from opposite backgrounds and will become permanent partners.
Note that Leia is still partially herself for the missing bits of Poe's role (generalissimo of the Rebellion, coordinate stuff, monitors the assault on Death Star v2, etc)
- Han Solo is... Obi Wan Kenobi v2 (stumbles upon the escapees, the one to tell them that all the legends are true, goes to the cantina to organize the final transfer leg of stolen data to the Rebellion, gets skewered by "vador v2" in the middle of the Death Star while still trying to save him, will be back as a flashback character instead of force ghost).
There's a bit of Kenobi transfered to Luke as I said earlier, and the Lightsaber handing devolves to Maz Kanata, but her role was cut short because she's not really necessary for the story while Han is around.
- Hux is, of course, Grand Moff Tarkin v2 (the big military cheese that doesn't take crap from Vader v2, but he gets ordered off the Death Star before it explodes so we get more Tarkin next!)
- Phasma is supposed to be Bobba Fett v2, except that, like Fett, there's nothing to do until the next movie, while they had a lot of marketing invested in toy lines, so they plunk her down in various roles that should be various junior nameless lieutenants so we see her around.
- I assume Chewbacca is Chewbacca v2, but there's not enough of a role for him to be visible.
- C3PO is still himself and as clueless as ever concerning people; he just doesn't get to stick around for the movies because its 2015 and you don't need that much of a comic relief in modern action movies.

So, as you see, there are no new characters, just new skins over old characters.

I presume they are going to let the characters diverge from the originals now that they've essentially rebooted the franchise by doing a remake of the original movie.

Yet, even with all of these obvious ripoffs of the original movie, people are saying that it's every bit as good as the originals. People who are lauding over this movie are the same people who gushed all over "The Phantom Menace" when it came out, refusing to accept that it wasn't very good. I called it "Phantom Menace Syndrome" (or PMS). Basically, if you think this movie is anywhere near as good as any of the originals, you're on your period.

Izo · Dec 23, 2015

I think they should've made it a Murder she wrote and Matlock spacebattle hybrid. Then every demographic could rage.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Bearded Ape

Silver Knight of the Realm

Mr. Poopybutthole

Silver Knight of the Realm

Mr. Poopybutthole

Connoisseur of Exotic Pictures

Silver Knight of the Realm

The lad himself

Blackwing Lair Raider

shitlord

Mr. Poopybutthole

Ahn'Qiraj Raider

Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger

Uninspiring Title

Rogue Deathwalker Box

I got Tuco'd!

Rogue Deathwalker Box

shitlord

Trakanon Raider

Tranny Chaser