Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII)

[crisper57]

Lol... I'm still just trying to figure out the political machinations of the plot!

My Assumption on the Politics:

Spoiler

The New Republic and First Order control different parts of space. The First Order, according to the novelization found Kaiburr Crystals in the "unknown region" to power their Star Destroyer, so it can be assumed they control that area of space.

The two factions are fighting a Cold War. The New Republic finances the "Resistance" to fight a proxy war on its behalf in disputed/First Order space. They are the armed insurgents, in a way.

The First Order turns the Cold War hot by blowing up the New Republic Capital Planet (not Coruscant, but some other city planet). So now the Resistance has had its resources cut off moving forward. The First Order spent its weapon of mass destruction in the first movie. The Resistance found theirs at the end (Luke Skywalker).

Game on.

 

[D-Dogg]

My Assumption on the Politics:

Spoiler

The New Republic and First Order control different parts of space. The First Order, according to the novelization found Kaiburr Crystals in the "unknown region" to power their Star Destroyer, so it can be assumed they control that area of space.

The two factions are fighting a Cold War. The New Republic finances the "Resistance" to fight a proxy war on its behalf in disputed/First Order space. They are the armed insurgents, in a way.

The First Order turns the Cold War hot by blowing up the New Republic Capital Planet (not Coruscant, but some other city planet). So now the Resistance has had its resources cut off moving forward. The First Order spent its weapon of mass destruction in the first movie. The Resistance found theirs at the end (Luke Skywalker).

Game on.

Very good.

 

[Covert Rain]

My Assumption on the Politics:

Spoiler

The New Republic and First Order control different parts of space. The First Order, according to the novelization found Kaiburr Crystals in the "unknown region" to power their Star Destroyer, so it can be assumed they control that area of space.

The two factions are fighting a Cold War. The New Republic finances the "Resistance" to fight a proxy war on its behalf in disputed/First Order space. They are the armed insurgents, in a way.

The First Order turns the Cold War hot by blowing up the New Republic Capital Planet (not Coruscant, but some other city planet). So now the Resistance has had its resources cut off moving forward. The First Order spent its weapon of mass destruction in the first movie. The Resistance found theirs at the end (Luke Skywalker).

Game on.

Spoiler

Still sounds as though politics is at play. Maybe the New Republic is having issues keeping it's power structure in place or at the very least is not as stable as one would believe. After ROTJ, there would be a power vacuum and paranoia that the new power structure could be corrupted. Can you imagine what a nightmare it would be from a governing body perspective to put that together?

Regardless, plowing the New Republic into another war I would have to imagine wouldn't be too popular. The leadership sees all the signs of what is happening but the New Republic at large doesn't want to get involved. Hence helping the resistance out under the radar. Sounds familiar doesn't it? Pretty realistic you ask me.

What is refreshing about this entire movie is they are acknowledging the vast size of the galaxy. Not only is the First Order probably in uncharted space but we also find out that the star system Luke is in....is unknown. The way the previous films sounded......there were some uncharted areas in the outer rim but they always made it sound like the galaxy was more enclosed in the Star Wars universe.

 

[Cheesebeef]

My Assumption on the Politics:

Spoiler

The New Republic and First Order control different parts of space. The First Order, according to the novelization found Kaiburr Crystals in the "unknown region" to power their Star Destroyer, so it can be assumed they control that area of space.

The two factions are fighting a Cold War. The New Republic finances the "Resistance" to fight a proxy war on its behalf in disputed/First Order space. They are the armed insurgents, in a way.

The First Order turns the Cold War hot by blowing up the New Republic Capital Planet (not Coruscant, but some other city planet). So now the Resistance has had its resources cut off moving forward. The First Order spent its weapon of mass destruction in the first movie. The Resistance found theirs at the end (Luke Skywalker).

Game on.

Spoiler

yeah... even though I'm curious to see where they go with Luke in the next one, the whole finding Luke at the end didn't work for me mostly because there didn't seem to be a whole lot of urgency in getting him to join the fight. It wasn't like they were in dire straights and just got their asses kicked. On the one hand, you already have Rey, a completely untrained user of the Force who kicked the snot out of a much more trained Ren both in the look into your brain scene and in the battle of brawn with lightsabers. And the resistance was able to destroy something that was five times more powerful then the Death Star, literally figuring how to blow it up within three minutes of even finding out about it. The end of the movie seemingly came so easy to the heroes that it begged the question: if you're bad guys are that inept that they get their asses kicked by Rey and a couple X-Wings, do they really need Luke... especially considering he was the guy who was training a group of new Jedi that was slaughtered by a guy who got his ass whooped by a complete novice?

 

[Bert]

Spoiler

yeah... even though I'm curious to see where they go with Luke in the next one, the whole finding Luke at the end didn't work for me mostly because there didn't seem to be a whole lot of urgency in getting him to join the fight. It wasn't like they were in dire straights and just got their asses kicked. On the one hand, you already have Rey, a completely untrained user of the Force who kicked the snot out of a much more trained Ren both in the look into your brain scene and in the battle of brawn with lightsabers. And the resistance was able to destroy something that was five times more powerful then the Death Star, literally figuring how to blow it up within three minutes of even finding out about it. The end of the movie seemingly came so easy to the heroes that it begged the question: if you're bad guys are that inept that they get their asses kicked by Rey and a couple X-Wings, do they really need Luke... especially considering he was the guy who was training a group of new Jedi that was slaughtered by a guy who got his ass whooped by a complete novice?

Spoiler

But dude, he had a hard day tho. (read this in Cartmans Crying voice)

Fist that dog thing shot me and ruined my moment after I finally killed my stupid Dad. He was being so annoying like all blah blah blah I love you, blah blah stop being evil... But before that the the big guy yelled at me and stuff cuz Hux was being a jerk and told on me for not getting the Droid. And that girl that I like was resisting my force moves and she like totally embarrassed me in front of FN-2463 and then she left without even saying goodbye. Then I went to try to get her number and Fin attacked me for like no reason at all just cuz I told him to give me Uncle Luke's lightsaber and then he like stabbed me a little bit in the arm and then to end it all I finally asked out the girl I was crushing on and she hit me for no reason too and she knocked my lightsaber out of my hands and the world was breaking and it was super scary...

You are being way to hard on Kylo he did his best,,, he did his best....

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[Cheesebeef]

Spoiler

But dude, he had a hard day tho. (read this in Cartmans Crying voice)

Fist that dog thing shot me and ruined my moment after I finally killed my stupid Dad. He was being so annoying like all blah blah blah I love you, blah blah stop being evil... But before that the the big guy yelled at me and stuff cuz Hux was being a jerk and told on me for not getting the Droid. And that girl that I like was resisting my force moves and she like totally embarrassed me in front of FN-2463 and then she left without even saying goodbye. Then I went to try to get her number and Fin attacked me for like no reason at all just cuz I told him to give me Uncle Luke's lightsaber and then he like stabbed me a little bit in the arm and then to end it all I finally asked out the girl I was crushing on and she hit me for no reason too and she knocked my lightsaber out of my hands and the world was breaking and it was super scary...

You are being way to hard on Kylo he did his best,,, he did his best....

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haha... point well taken. I always forget about getting shot. That said, dude had no excuse when he got punked like a bitch earlier when he was in full force... no pun intended.

 

[UncleChris]

This was simply a 5 star movie. What made it that way was that it had the same feel and impact as episode 4. Good cast, fantastic effects, fun story, great humor and pathos. It was exciting.

Plot holes and stuff? Sure. But have you watched A New Hope lately? There was some pretty weak stuff in that, yet we all loved it. Same feeling for me on The Force Awakens.

Seeing it in 3D and sitting in recliners (Picture Show in Prescott) certainly didn't hurt either...

 

[Covert Rain]

Spoiler

yeah... even though I'm curious to see where they go with Luke in the next one, the whole finding Luke at the end didn't work for me mostly because there didn't seem to be a whole lot of urgency in getting him to join the fight. It wasn't like they were in dire straights and just got their asses kicked. On the one hand, you already have Rey, a completely untrained user of the Force who kicked the snot out of a much more trained Ren both in the look into your brain scene and in the battle of brawn with lightsabers. And the resistance was able to destroy something that was five times more powerful then the Death Star, literally figuring how to blow it up within three minutes of even finding out about it. The end of the movie seemingly came so easy to the heroes that it begged the question: if you're bad guys are that inept that they get their asses kicked by Rey and a couple X-Wings, do they really need Luke... especially considering he was the guy who was training a group of new Jedi that was slaughtered by a guy who got his ass whooped by a complete novice?

Spoiler

Vader warned that compared to the Force the power of a technological weapon was insignificant. I think that rang true in ANH and it rings true again in TFA.

The immediate danger was Star Killer base. They didn't need Luke to do that. That was the most immediate threat. However, in the long run they need Luke to return to combat the dark side. Which is what probably Leia is sensing......the Dark Side awakening. Sooner or later someone has to deal with it.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Spoiler

Vader warned that compared to the Force the power of a technological weapon was insignificant. I think that rang true in ANH and it rings true again in TFA.

The immediate danger was Star Killer base. They didn't need Luke to do that. That was the most immediate threat. However, in the long run they need Luke to return to combat the dark side. Which is what probably Leia is sensing......the Dark Side awakening. Sooner or later someone has to deal with it.

Spoiler

the novice jedi Rey already dealt with it. Just saying, when the darkside and it's main character (Ren) is defeated as easily as he was in the first movie, just doesn't seem like the guy who Ren rise is that imperative to kill it again.

 

[Bert]

Spoiler

the novice jedi Rey already dealt with it. Just saying, when the darkside and it's main character (Ren) is defeated as easily as he was in the first movie, just doesn't seem like the guy who Ren rise is that imperative to kill it again.

Snoke Vs. Luke
Ren Vs. Rey (I got this)

 

[chickenhead]

Spoiler

This brings me to a question of how Maz ended up with Luke's lost light saber from Bespin.

Spoiler

What really bothered me was how when Maz was asked how she got it, she replied. "that is a good question for another day." Ugh. I mean, maybe they will explain it in the next one, but...ugh.

 

[chickenhead]

I still want to figure out... why is there a resistance? Shouldn't the Republic have some kind of army that would have been battling the First Order? There's that scene with the Hux where he's shouting about the Republic "secretly" working with the Resistance... but why? Was this more of a Cold War if Russia just decided "ah, the hell with it... just nuke America already!" The whole politics of the movie was a little confusing to me.

But I am interested to see where the hell we go from here, especially a training someone in the darkside of the force. That said, for a movie that was supposed to pass the torch to the younger generation, did anyone else find it kind weird and incredibly ironic that the last scene of the movie was someone LITERALLY passing a torch back to the older generation?

Yeah, I mean it wasn't Phantom Menace-level political confusion, but more like needless minor confusion. Not the Empire, but the First Order--which emulates the Empire, uses a similar logo, and has identical star destroyers, identical storm troopers, and a new Death Star (and a dude in a mask who wants to be Vader). Not the Rebel Alliance, but the Resistance--which is led by Leia and Ackbar, uses X-wings, privileges the Jedi, and smuggles important info via cute droids. If it's the same, why bother labeling it as different, when that's just going to be a little confusing because...it's the same?

Maybe they could have avoided some of this by explaining it in the scroll at the beginning instead of focusing on the disappeared Luke.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Yeah, I mean it wasn't Phantom Menace-level political confusion, but more like needless minor confusion. Not the Empire, but the First Order--which emulates the Empire, uses a similar logo, and has identical star destroyers, identical storm troopers, and a new Death Star (and a dude in a mask who wants to be Vader). Not the Rebel Alliance, but the Resistance--which is led by Leia and Ackbar, uses X-wings, privileges the Jedi, and smuggles important info via cute droids. If it's the same, why bother labeling it as different, when that's just going to be a little confusing because...it's the same?

Maybe they could have avoided some of this by explaining it in the scroll at the beginning instead of focusing on the disappeared Luke.

which ultimately was a good idea because nothing sucks you into the movie like the first line that LUKE IS MISSING! I mean, I was hooked at that moment. Just would have liked a little clarification there. It wasn't a big deal. was just wondering during the movie and after.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Spoiler

What really bothered me was how when Maz was asked how she got it, she replied. "that is a good question for another day." Ugh. I mean, maybe they will explain it in the next one, but...ugh.

Spoiler

to who? The guy she told she would explain it to is DEAD! That moment bothered me a little during the movie. I get asking questions as set-ups for bigger answers down the line (who's Rey's parents, who's Snoke, what's Fin's actual background, what happened with the Knights of Ren), but being so on the nose with that moment... that i'll be surprised if answered, just seemed like set-up overload.

I mean, THAT'S what's so great about the original Star Wars and Empire. Say what you will about the corniness of the script and acting, but the story Lucas was weaving was pretty great. He was setting up the mother of all twists/arcs... and no one even knew we were being set-up. I think that's if I can pinpoint the thing that bothers me the most about this movie it's that because we know the formula of the series at this point, in some cases, it's obvious what twists are coming, or that at least there's going to be an actual twist coming soon, whereas with the original series, you weren't looking for twists... they were just hitting you for the first time. It's actually my biggest problem with everything Disney is doing now with their linked universe franchises... most of which I like. The Marvel movies for the most part and this movie were pretty much all enjoyable/entertaining, but it's like every one of them has ulterior motives to set up perpetually for more, which makes the movies I watch feel like they lose focus.

Anywho... rant over.

For anyone that's seen Star Wars a bajillion times... I suggest switching it up and seeing Hateful 8 anywhere it's playing on 70mm. That movie was freaking insanely good. Best movie of the year for me.

 

[Iceman]

Finally watched this last night. 7:30 showing and was it 75% full. Loved it. They were so good about all the casting, effects, etc. I will probably go see it again!

 

[Covert Rain]

Spoiler

the novice jedi Rey already dealt with it. Just saying, when the darkside and it's main character (Ren) is defeated as easily as he was in the first movie, just doesn't seem like the guy who Ren rise is that imperative to kill it again.

Spoiler

Except you dealt with a half trained, wounded Sith in training. Snoke is another issue entirely. Not to mention even with out Kylo, if you don't deal with Snoke he just trains another. Nothing was really dealt with. It was just a right cross.

By they way, the novelization does answer some questions. Mainly that what I suspected was close. The New Republic has gone through many changes. Many of Leia's supporters now retired and new Senators with their own agendas. Sounds like the support of the rebels was part of an endless debate in the Senate as they didn't want to get involved in another war and doubted the reach of the First Order. So, some took it into their own hands to deal with the First Order by supporting the rebels on the side without Senate support.

 

[oaken1]

I am going to have to watch this one again.

I expected Solo to die for many reasons...being killed by his son sucked. There at the end..(color me a romantic maybe) it almost appeared as if Han was sacrificing himself to help his son come to grips with his identity...the look in his eyes, the way he stepped closer right before the saber was activated, the firm grip he had on Kylo's hands....maybe as a father Han felt removing the pain of doubt from his son was the only thing he could do for him.............. but it really sucked, Han was my favorite character.

Finn...weak, hollow, undeveloped and poorly presented...the concept of the character had great potential but none of it was realized.

the pilot guy,..not much was done with him .....but the statement,"that guy is the best pilot I have ever seen"...was made once about Vader... by Solo IIRC right before Han clipped Vader's tie fighter and sent him swirling into space so Luke could blow the death star unmolested...... so it occurs to me that character may also have a connection with the force,...as such connection is what made annie/vader such a good pilot.

Rey...good character...the actress appears lean and quick, precise in movement .. which should make her more believable as a Jedi...something Luke never really had.

I was disappointed with the new death star...all of the re-hashing jumped right out at me as I was watching the movie... but I also understand the attempt is to give us something familiar to draw us in, so the torch can be passed and the new can begin.

Kylo Ren is not scary...he is angry, disturbed even...but he is not scary....not like Vader was scary....it has been thirty years since Vader was killed off...and I saw a Vader head piggy bank in wal mart today....anyone think there will be Kylo Ren piggy banks stocking the shelves thirty years from now? They really need to do something with that character...killing Han made me want to kick him in the nuts...but it didn't make him scary....in fact, he resembles a dark side version of Luke from star wars...a whiny petulant kid who can use the force and has daddy issues.

Snokes will probably kill Luke in the next one....all of the originals have to die off so the youngsters can take over anyway right?

I went into this one feeling I was going to love it,...but open to the possibility I would hate it....and I left the theater firmly in the middle...I am not sure exactly what my opinion on it is...either way I am still open to see the next installment to see where it is all going.

 

[UncleChris]

Why does Kylo wear a mask? Vader's mask and armor were actually a computerized, robotized living environment for the horribly wounded Anakin. So what's the deal with Kylo? Is he trying to look and sound just like grand-daddy? Or is there something else going on?

 

[Phrazbit]

Why does Kylo wear a mask? Vader's mask and armor were actually a computerized, robotized living environment for the horribly wounded Anakin. So what's the deal with Kylo? Is he trying to look and sound just like grand-daddy? Or is there something else going on?

Yes, I think he is the ultimate Vader fan boy. I think the intimidation factor plays a part but its mostly he wants to be Vader. I also think he enjoys seeing people's reaction when he takes it off, as they expect some deformed monster. I thought Adam Driver was great.

But I do suspect he took his voice from Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.

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Someone should super impose Ren's mask over him in that video.

 

[Covert Rain]

Why does Kylo wear a mask? Vader's mask and armor were actually a computerized, robotized living environment for the horribly wounded Anakin. So what's the deal with Kylo? Is he trying to look and sound just like grand-daddy? Or is there something else going on?

Vader fan boy and it appears bet it mimics some of the "functionality" of a Storm Trooper mask (filters smoke). I just hope he doesn't depend on it to deflect blaster fire.

 

[redheat]

Wow. This was just stupid filler and didn't elicit any boy hood awe that I was expecting. Was totally bored in the theater.

 

[Covert Rain]

Wow. This was just stupid filler and didn't elicit any boy hood awe that I was expecting. Was totally bored in the theater.

You are in the minority or you had a weird childhood. It did exactly that for me. Very good movie.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You are in the minority or you had a weird childhood. It did exactly that for me. Very good movie.

even I didn't think it was that bad!

 

[Covert Rain]

even I didn't think it was that bad!

Now that the excitement has warn off for me. I am thinking about seeing it one more time with more of a "calm" eye so to speak.

 

[redheat]

I still want to see it again. I just watched 4-6 last week. The charm, character buildup and banter was just missing from this one or needs to be experienced as a whole. I read up on the prior 30 years and that helped a little.
I wanted to like all the characters but it was thrown together a little too much for me too quickly. I have no probs with them re doing a new hope but the new characters didn't pull it off. Rey being Luke/leia as one needed more back story or a scene of her looking out onto a desolate dual sun for me to feel any of her wants.. Finn as the new Han just didn't pull it off and needed better banter with Rey.
They just missed on so many things that made the first one so special. Didn't even get close to it.