Star Wars: The Force Awakens reviews *SPOILERS*

[Kelvrick]

Hidden backup prince, like Lone Star in Spaceballs.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HiddenBackupPrince

BTW, the site is pretty good to go through as far as writing tropes.

I could have sworn it was a "first and last name" branded trope. And it wasn't just the male version of Mary Sue, it was more a "chosen one" who constantly ups his power easily. Like Rand in wheel of time. Maybe one day I'll remember and come back and bump this thread.

 

[zinfamous]

Isn't there a character like this in Game of Thrones. A bastard son of Robert Baratheon who was working as a black smith I think and then . . . got taken by slavers maybe?

naw, that Gandry or whatever his name is still out on the sea circling in a boat somewhere. ...for the last 3 seasons, I think.

 

[zinfamous]

Gendry, some say he's still rowing to this day.

yeah this

 

[Phoenix86]

Yep they needed each other's help... It seems like Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) characters don't need much help from others the way people use it to criticize fictional characters they don't want to like.


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It's more of an overly dramatic background. I'm the daughter of the queen who was raped by a vampire and abandoned in the river only to be raised by a farmer and his family who were killed by the evil lord.

 

[zinfamous]

See, the problem with comments like this is that you're justifying what you watched. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with speculation, but it gets to a point where you're making up stuff that should've been somewhat obvious. People keep making comments like, "This is Star Wars, not Citizen Kain!", and I'd like to use that exact same argument against them. If this isn't Citizen Kain, then the movie should actually explain things to ensure the movie makes more sense than trying to be overly mysterious and obtuse. It's about the movie equivalence of that guy that reads a thesaurus just so he can make people think he's smart by using big words. The movie is trying to look deep by keeping things mysterious, but it's just hiding its poor storytelling... or trying to keep stuff saved to sell us in a book.



Having also seen it twice, I highly disagree with that. Now, on the other hand, I think the companion visual novel answers a lot of questions.



At least you made it that far. I couldn't even make it past the opening scene before I started questioning the movie.



What ample evidence? We're given a 30 second flashback scene and that's about it. Albeit, there's no real evidence that those are Rey's memories as I get the feeling that Rey was never in some abandoned Cloud City.



Yes, Rey is 19 and Ben Solo is about 30.



It was stated in the visual novel that she has a Y-wing computer on which she ran flight simulations.

I also don't like films that don't tell a complete story with their running time, and certainly that require some exterior source to understand them--you mention some grpahic novel. Something that should never be required and I know I will never read that.

However, everyone knows his is a trilogy, so you pretty much have to expect some gaps. It isn't going to be tied up nice and pretty like Star Wars which, while written as a potential trilogy, was scripted, produced, and cut to be a one-off because no one knew at the time that it would ever be profitable.

For that reason, I say that New Hope is still the best version of a New Hope, because it is a complete story. It needs nothing else.

Having said that, I still don't have a problem with the holes in this one because we know there will be more explanation later. I still think there is enough evidence or hints given us to explain away these so-called issues that people are having--either they work for you or they don't, or they aren't quite the correct interpretations, but the information is there to put these explanations together.

For a one-off--yeah it would suck leaving details out the way they have. But this is a trilogy.

Hell, I HATED LOTR in the theater because I just sat on my ass for 3 fucking hours and those bastards only managed to start walking over some hill after all that time. Talk about a shitty, unfinished film.

 

[Phoenix86]

I also don't like films that don't tell a complete story with their running time, and certainly that require some exterior source to understand them--you mention some grpahic novel. Something that should never be required and I know I will never read that.

That's a total cop-out. You have 2+ hours, you can't dedicate a 20-30 second scene to explain that bit? External sources that compliment are fine, but that's a bit much.

 

[Aikouka]

The little girl on the planet Jakku does look a lot like Rey.

Oh, I agree that it's most likely Rey. I just really hate that we have to gleam so much from so little. It almost seems like we're doing the writer's work for them.

I wished they had shown this in the movie; I doubt it would've added more than a minute to the runtime. Simulation training and powerful in the force would explain her performance in what was apparently her first aerial battle as a pilot.

I think it could've been added without adding any length to the movie at all. Rather than showing her eat that weird EZBake muffin thing (oddly enough, a review that I read actually praised seeing people eat in a Star Wars movie ), show her messing around with the flight sim when she hears BB-8 cry out for help. She's messing around with the sim, hears the cries, takes off the helmet (or whatever it is to make it work), and leaves.

I also don't like films that don't tell a complete story with their running time, and certainly that require some exterior source to understand them--you mention some grpahic novel. Something that should never be required and I know I will never read that.

It's almost like Episode VII has two distinct plot threads. There's Rey's story and the Starkiller Base. The first is incomplete and will seemingly exist over the course of the entire trilogy. The second is a complete story told in Episode VII. The problem is... the Starkiller Base story is just too bland and lifeless to be a good self-contained story.

However, everyone knows his is a trilogy, so you pretty much have to expect some gaps. It isn't going to be tied up nice and pretty like Star Wars which, while written as a potential trilogy, was scripted, produced, and cut to be a one-off because no one knew at the time that it would ever be profitable.

I'm not displeased just because there are gaps/questions. It bugs me that these gaps/questions seem to hurt the story a bit too much. Right at the beginning, I was questioning why Finn decided to rebel against The First Order. Normally, when a character change occurs, it's a good idea to establish the character's state first so you can experience that change with him. It shouldn't be an hour into the movie where I find out that was his first battle. That's actually really helpful information.

I also have no issue with the idea of Rey being gifted in The Force, but what makes me annoyed is that it seems just sort of tossed in there. Will we find out later why she could use it so well? Sure, but given the effect that it had on the plot, I'd kind of like to know more now.

 

[Sonikku]

I think my biggest disappointment was the Starkiller. They blew their load so early and even then it felt more like a distraction than anything else. It was everything in episode 4, but even in 6 when the real climax was in the throne room the 2nd death star still felt more epic. I think the most they should have been able to do is disable it. If they bring another sort of super weapon back a fourth time it's just going to be pure parody.

Better yet, I think they should have failed to stop the Starkiller altogether. Let the good guys get wiped out, instead of evil getting curb stomped at every turn in the first entry of the trilogy. Leia would pass on with Han almost simultaneously, the resistance is basically wiped out defying everyone's expectations, and the New Republic wakes up to the fact that the peace treaty with the First Order is forfeit and it's time to mobilize the fleets.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm not displeased just because there are gaps/questions. It bugs me that these gaps/questions seem to hurt the story a bit too much. Right at the beginning, I was questioning why Finn decided to rebel against The First Order. Normally, when a character change occurs, it's a good idea to establish the character's state first so you can experience that change with him. It shouldn't be an hour into the movie where I find out that was his first battle. That's actually really helpful information.

I also have no issue with the idea of Rey being gifted in The Force, but what makes me annoyed is that it seems just sort of tossed in there. Will we find out later why she could use it so well? Sure, but given the effect that it had on the plot, I'd kind of like to know more now.

I like Finn the least, and this is why. We have no idea why he is doing what he is doing. "I didn't like what I saw!" ....OK?

 

[Torn Mind]

I think my biggest disappointment was the Starkiller. They blew their load so early and even then it felt more like a distraction than anything else. It was everything in episode 4, but even in 6 when the real climax was in the throne room the 2nd death star still felt more epic. I think the most they should have been able to do is disable it. If they bring another sort of super weapon back a fourth time it's just going to be pure parody.

Better yet, I think they should have failed to stop the Starkiller altogether. Let the good guys get wiped out, instead of evil getting curb stomped at every turn in the first entry of the trilogy. Leia would pass on with Han almost simultaneously, the resistance is basically wiped out defying everyone's expectations, and the New Republic wakes up to the fact that the peace treaty with the First Order is forfeit and it's time to mobilize the fleets.

Actually, Hux is the most "successful" evil guy in the film. They successfully destroyed a central part of the Republic itself,but perhaps they were a bit too quiet about how lethal the first attack was to the Republic. I didn't catch that the Hosnian system was where the Senate was located. The New Republic certainly "woke up", but they all died immediately afterwards. With that massive loss of life, the government's stability would be severely affected. While the folks dying on the planets was emotionally convincing and sad, there is very little suggestion that the government itself was wrecked severely as well.

 

[Torn Mind]

At least you made it that far. I couldn't even make it past the opening scene before I started questioning the movie.

It was basically the same as having a brief intermission in the film itself, at least to me.

 

[zinfamous]

Actually, Hux is the most "successful" evil guy in the film. They successfully destroyed a central part of the Republic itself,but perhaps they were a bit too quiet about how lethal the first attack was to the Republic. I didn't catch that the Hosnian system was where the Senate was located. The New Republic certainly "woke up", but they all died immediately afterwards. With that massive loss of life, the government's stability would be severely affected. While the folks dying on the planets was emotionally convincing and sad, there is very little suggestion that the government itself was wrecked severely as well.

It was Coruscant they wiped out, right?

that's pretty ....crazy.

 

[lk2500]

I wished they had shown this in the movie; I doubt it would've added more than a minute to the runtime. Simulation training and powerful in the force would explain her performance in what was apparently her first aerial battle as a pilot.


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I think it could've been added without adding any length to the movie at all. Rather than showing her eat that weird EZBake muffin thing (oddly enough, a review that I read actually praised seeing people eat in a Star Wars movie ), show her messing around with the flight sim when she hears BB-8 cry out for help. She's messing around with the sim, hears the cries, takes off the helmet (or whatever it is to make it work), and leaves.

Peeps just read right over my posts, lol. She tells Finn she flew sims right after they get by the Tie fighters and into hyperspace. She is talking very quickly/excitedly and you have to listen closely but she does say it.

If they had shown her flying sims it would help explain things but it would also kind of ruin the "moment" of seeing her fly the Falcon in my humble opinion. Although, all they really needed to do was power up that helmet she was wearing while sitting on the sand dune with a HUD going over some schematics or reading or just about anything.

 

[Torn Mind]

It was Coruscant they wiped out, right?

that's pretty ....crazy.

Nope, that was not Coruscant. Their new capital, Hosnian Prime, was one of the planets to bite the dust. The Republic fleet was also lost or at least damaged, so the First Order and the Republic no longer have a huge power disparity. But yeah, that info is not right there in front of you in the film. I had to go to Wookiepedia for that.

 

[Sonikku]

They should make Starkiller's illegal, so things like this wouldn't happen.

 

[bononos]

It was awful, don't know how it scored 93%-90% on RT and 81% on metacritic.

 

[RearAdmiral]

They should make Starkiller's illegal, so things like this wouldn't happen.

lol. I noticed on second viewing that starkiller base turns back into that star when it explodes.

 

[dainthomas]

lol. I noticed on second viewing that starkiller base turns back into that star when it explodes.

I noticed that too.

I also wondered how that planet still had snow, especially after they first fired it?

 

[RearAdmiral]

I noticed that too.

I also wondered how that planet still had snow, especially after they first fired it?

That was a non-trivial amount of energy they released so who knows. I was more amused by them standing around looking at the energy blast. It was also interesting that this laser blast seemed more like a gunshot, would have been funny to see a scene dealing with the consequences of the recoil of such a weapon.

That would have been a pretty epic starkiller destruction scene though. Disrupt the "recoil dampers" and starkiller base fires and spins itself apart spectacularly. Which of course knocks the weapon's beam off course.

 

[Charmonium]

They should make Starkiller's illegal, so things like this wouldn't happen.

If you make them illegal, then only the bad guys will have them.


Oh, right. :sneaky:

 

[zinfamous]

I noticed that too.

I also wondered how that planet still had snow, especially after they first fired it?

I was mostly wondering how the other planets in that system, most of all the Starkiller planet, were able to maintain orbit after draining the system's star...and twice!

 

[preslove]

For all of the nitpicking, none of the plot issues come close to the stupid first act of Return of the Jedi, or the ridiculous decision of placing the command of the strikeforce to take out the shield generator in Han's hands right after he was unfrozen in carbonite. Really, think through the decision making for infiltrating Jaba's palace to bust han out. Oh, and fucking carebears in space.

Force Awakens is solidly in 3rd place for star wars movies. Empire > New Hope > Force Awakens > Jedi > dog shit > the prequels.

I think my biggest disappointment was the Starkiller. They blew their load so early and even then it felt more like a distraction than anything else. It was everything in episode 4, but even in 6 when the real climax was in the throne room the 2nd death star still felt more epic. I think the most they should have been able to do is disable it. If they bring another sort of super weapon back a fourth time it's just going to be pure parody.

Better yet, I think they should have failed to stop the Starkiller altogether. Let the good guys get wiped out, instead of evil getting curb stomped at every turn in the first entry of the trilogy. Leia would pass on with Han almost simultaneously, the resistance is basically wiped out defying everyone's expectations, and the New Republic wakes up to the fact that the peace treaty with the First Order is forfeit and it's time to mobilize the fleets.

A very good sized portion of the New Republic's fleet was wiped out in the star killer attack on the Hoznian (sp?) system. That was the current capitol of the republic (it moves to different systems after so many years) and so the entire senate and a big portion of the fleet were destroyed.

 

[destrekor]

I was mostly wondering how the other planets in that system, most of all the Starkiller planet, were able to maintain orbit after draining the system's star...and twice!

Another thing left unexplained in the movie but further detailed in other media: it was a mobile planet, able to be piloted and aimed.

 

[Sonikku]

If you make them illegal, then only the bad guys will have them.


Oh, right. :sneaky:

Perhaps the solution then is for everyone to have Starkiller's, so good guys with Starkiller's can blow up the bad guy planets with Starkiller's.

:hmm:

 

[dainthomas]

I was mostly wondering how the other planets in that system, most of all the Starkiller planet, were able to maintain orbit after draining the system's star...and twice!

I'd think they'd start orbiting starkiller.

Another thing left unexplained in the movie but further detailed in other media: it was a mobile planet, able to be piloted and aimed.

In that case they could have just flown to any system and drained the star leaving planets floating in the dark. Or alternatively, sucked up the atmospheres of the planets Spaceballs style.