Star Wars Thread (a Galaxy Far Far Away) Obi-Wan Movie In The Works! (36)

Disregard my last comment in this thread almost entirely folks. I went to see the movie again at 10 this morning, and it was a different experience. Further explanation to follow later, I only wish I'd been able to make this comment before I made you defend the movie.

 

No spoilers in this rant. Alright, so a little background. I was pumped to see Ep 7, got my tickets last Wednesday for last Sunday. Then Wednesday night I get what I at first think is food poisoning, everything in me coming out any way it can, but it doesn't go away, it turns into very high fevers nightly for 3 days to the point I'm taking all the meds I can and using ice packs and shaking and such. So I couldn't eat without getting sick, but needed to eat to take meds, and I couldn't drink without bad consequences, but I needed desperately to keep hydrated. So I was on a white rice, chicken broth, dry toast, jello, Gatorade thing for almost a week. It kicked my a**, and getting back out in public was hard, just walking around stores after that was sensory overload.

Long seemingly pointless story, I know, but I'm getting there. So Wednesday comes, I'm not fully recovered, but I can't wait anymore, I've already had one major thing spoiled for me in the comments section of a non-SW YouTube funny video (people are a-holes). I pump myself full of meds, go to the theater, and the show I was ready to see on a Wed afternoon is single seats only. I ask about the next showing, it's in the small theater, no 7.1 sound, no 4K digital projector, only 2 seats together are in row 3, on the side, so looking up at the freaking screen right under it from the side, the place I absolutely cannot stand sitting. At this point I must see this movie, I'm sick, I'm pissed, and I'm not waiting another day, so I say fine, F it.

So we watch the movie, and while it is fun, I end up not being able to see some key things, and hear some key things. I'm also in a bad freaking mood, and I'm so drugged up I'm not laughing at the jokes, and I'm not getting those movie chills or nostalgia smiles/chills. I'm just not feeling it, and honestly after building it up for years and then all that sick week, then all that day, my expectations were unfairly high. It felt like it was over in half an hour, it felt rushed, I wanted more, and so many things bugged me and they gave no answers for. I also left the theater not really thinking about the movie like I do with films I love, not pondering questions or thinking of theories, and that wasn't a good sign for me.

But then, today I saw it in the biggest theater they have, 7.1 booming surround, giant screen dead ahead at eye level, middle seating, not feeling sick so no meds necessary, and it was beautiful. The chills and smiles came back to me, the waves of nostalgia, the fun. The things I couldn't see or hear in the front I know could. The fast moving plot and clues to this and that sunk in. Almost all of my gripes and complaints were addressed or could be explained away. It hit me that this may not be the SW I grew up with or was expecting, but this is a brand new SW for a new generation, and that's a good thing I needed to get over my nitpicking. I found myself thinking of the movie all day, theorizing who is who in all this, what comes next, thinking I can't wait for Ep 8. I guess I will get into my few remaining minor gripes in spoiler tags later, as well as some theories, but that's all for now.

Sorry that was so long, but SW aren't any old movies to me, I've been waiting for and imagining what this one was going to be like since I was a little kid. I'll say this, it's an almost perfect set-up movie for what's to come while still standing on its own, just like ANH. I know now I expected too many answers as a fan who always knew the outcomes and entire story of 4-6, and how 1-3 HAD to end. This is all new, it has to come in pieces, and this is a great part 1. My new current rankings would be 5, 4, 6/7/3.......1..............................(grand canyon sized drop) 2.

 

Interesting. I've never heard anyone who likes 6 more than 5 let alone 4. Always cool to hear another perspective.

 

WOOHOO! @Weezy is back on board!

For my gripes:

Spoiler: GRIPES!

1. The Star Killer is complete overkill and it's silly. I posted a long thing on reddit as to why I don't like it here's the main points:
-A weapon that size shouldn't be able to move through space. If it can't move through space it gets off 1-2 shots max and is useless.
-If it CAN move through space, then how? That's a ridiculous amount of energy needed. Not to mention a planet sized object appearing in any solar system would really eff with that system.
-A weapon that can suck up stars doesn't NEED to be a cannon. Sucking up stars is enough of a crazy weapon because without the star, the system would collapse, life on those planets would die, and the planets themselves would drift off into space.
-There's no way a weapon that siphons the heat of the sun AND fires out lasers strong enough to blow up planets would have life on the surface let alone snow.
-There's no way the First Order could stand on the surface and look at the laser beam and DEFINITELY not without glasses.

2. The dialogue between Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. Yuck. What an awful scene with the two of them. It felt wooden, it felt forced, and it made Carrie Fisher look bad when really she was alright through the rest of the movie.

3. Why does Rey know so many languages? I can understand languages on Jakku, but she knew Shryiiwook! How??

4. 20 X-Wings vs. a planet sized weapon of mass destruction... Hm...

5. Pacing. The pace of the movie was soooooo fast it skipped major moments that would have been helpful. There's basically no explanation of the political climate that leads to these events. More important than that though is the absence of a funeral or at least a grievance for Han. Nothing! They go from blowing up the Star Killer to R2 waking up to Rey flying off. There's less than 5 seconds of footage of a sad Leia and a sad Chewie. Han deserved a better send off than that.

6. Why the eff didn't Leia hug Chewie? I know there's a bunch of rumors about Rey's origin, but I seriously don't care. Chewie and Leia are basically family and they don't even LOOK at each other in that final scene. HUGE oversight by Abrams that makes Chewie and Leia seem to have a weird relationship when it was established earlier in the movie they were on good terms (Chewie hugs Leia when they see her on Maz's planet).

All in all, these problems don't kill the movie for me. I still give it an easy 8.5 or 9/10 and it was SUCH a blast to see in theaters. I can't wait to see how this story unfolds.

 

Real, you covered almost every one of my gripes, saved me from listing all of those out at least, though I still have a ton to say. To expand on your gripes and add a couple minor ones of my own

Spoiler: Gripes and Thoughts

1. Biggest one for me was the pacing. Like you said, it was too fast. It's good when a movie feels like it's been on 20 mins and you look at your watch and it's been an hour, but this movie desperately needed some quiet moments to allow for some more character development. If they would have added 15 more mins it would have been perfection IMO. It's a fun as hell non stop ride, but will that hold up 30 years from now like the originals without the quiet moments?

A New Hope spends time at the beginning introducing us to this universe, letting us get to know the droids, then Luke and his family and how mundane his life is on Tatooine. We get his quiet scenes with Obi-Wan telling him about the past, and helping him along, we get some training along the way with him and some nice conversations with Han. Then we get to the action from there on out. In Empire, Han's group is running from the Empire, that is the non stop action and roller coaster ride. But, it's balanced by Luke and Yoda's training scenes. Then yhe epic duel with Luke and Vader, it's stretched out across 3 or so scenes, from brutal action, to quiet suspenseful moments, it's a thing of beauty.

The new movie desperately needed some quiet scenes of character development. It has some, but they are so short. Han and Leia talking about their son for a minute doesn't count. Han telling the kids all they've heard is true doesn't count. Maz sharing some wisdom with the kids doesn't count, it's all a handful of lines at a time. And that scene with Han and Leia, it feels so forced and wasted. They haven't seen eachother in who knows how long, their son is trying to destroy the galaxy, and they say a few words, it wasn't enough for me.

Han's death scene DID feel right, it had much weight even though you could feel it coming, and it was IMO fantastically acted by Ford and Driver. After that though, agreed again, we need Chewie hugging Leia, we need a funeral for Han, a speech given about how great he was. He falls off that bridge to his death and he's forgotten, it's not good enough.

2. To your point #3, yes, how does Rey speak everything? Maybe I missed something, but how does she speak astromech droid and understand BB8? Seems like a convenient device to move things along, which leads to my next point.

3. How does Rey know how to use the force? First time I saw it this really bugged me. Second time, being able to actually see in her flashback that she seemed to be left alone on Jakku at an older age than I assumed, I realized her parent might have taught her some. I also realized, however much it goes against what we used to know in SW, that Obi-Wan, Yoda, Luke, Anakin, hell even Qui-Gon might be instructing her through the force, as again, only the 2nd time was I able to hear them talking to her.

This thought took this gripe way down for me, but it still felt odd that we saw Luke have to train for 2 movies to be able to use the force to move things and use the Jedi mind trick, and Rey can use it immediately. Like all she has to do is go "oh yeah, the force!", close her eyes and summon instant powers. I mean her reading Kylo's feelings and lightsaber fight with him kicked a**, but still. Best I can guess is this is not our father's SW and the rules have changed. Rey could be Luke's son, or even Han and Leia's and very force strong, same as Kylo is and can read minds, which I don't think we have seen before. So, minor gripe, but it did bug me a little and felt like a convenient ploy device for her to mind trick that trooper, even though it was funny. I really hope it's explained in the next movies why she was able to do these things so easily and we get more backstory, I really, really want to know.

4. Finally, these are only minor personal gripes. The scene planning the assault on the Starkiller. No drama. Does it have a weakness? Yes, it does, right here. Sweet, let's go. It was as shoved in as Death Star 2 in ROTJ as background action while Finn goes to rescue Rey and Han goes to confront Kylo. Also, Captain Phasma, wrongly advertised for this movie. A bada*** new female trooper in all chrome. Uh, she had like 5 lines and 2 scenes, was taken hostage with one blaster, and gave in and turned off the shields. I realize she'll be back, and I hope she's much better then. Hux wasn't even advertised and he was a better villain. Lastly, this is only me, but far too little 3P0 dammit, I wanted more! He was finally funny again and he only had a cameo. Anthony Daniels isn't getting any younger, use him while we have him. Ok, ok, I realize there wasn't opportunity to use him much elsewhere, but I love old goldenrod.

Those are my only real gripes. Aside from that it was so good. There wasn't a bad actor in the bunch. Finn was such a good character, brought the fun, humor, heart, and "I can't believe I'm here" character. Rey was the star, she was fantastic, and how can you not fall in love with her? I really hope they aren't teasing things and she and Finn end up together, the chemistry was there from the start. Loved that Finn kept grabbing her hand right after they met and she stopped resisting after not too long, and when he asked if she had a boyfriend.

Han was great, Ford stepped back into that role like he never left. I actually thought Fisher was good too, and I don't know if they used a ton of makeup, some CGI, or some old school soft filter on her, but she looked better than I've seen her in years. And I'm not kidding about the soft filter, look closely at the scene outdoors with Han, she is soft filtered, there is a weird fuzzy haze around her and her chin area looks way too smooth.

Kylo Ren, fantastic villain, so complex. Love that he flips out and rages on the ships equipment at will. Love that he can read minds. Love that he can freeze people in place, freeze a blaster fire in place, finish his other tasks, then let it go later (speaking of which, minor gripe again, but why didn't he do that to Finn rather than fight him saber to saber? As powerful as he is he should have taken him out in a second. Rey I at least can explain her instant saber skills away because it was shown at the start how skilled she is with a staff, so she can clearly fight). That scene with Han, where you can feel the conflict, and he's saying he doesn't think he can do what he needs to, and you know he means kill Han, while he's saying it in a way to make Han think he means come back to the light, so damn good. As soon as Han takes the saber you know it's over, and Driver plays it so well. I also really enjoyed his battle with Rey, he's shot and bleeding yet he just pounds at the wound and pushes on, it's a nice little touch I loved. Also loved the continued cycle of "join me" as he already tries to turn Rey. He's relatable too, not some scarred up evil monster, he's Han's son, Vader's grandson, he's complex, he feels the conflict of the light. I can't wait to see where he goes from here, ultimate evil or redemption in the end.

Going forward I'd like to see some more of Rey's past, and really some more of Kylo's. I know we can't be shown everything, but I'd really like a little explanation as to what happened with Han and him, why he went bad, why he told Rey that Han would have only disappointed her as a father.

My biggest question, as I'm sure is the case with many others, is who is Snoke? The theory I like the most is Darth Plagueis. The idea that he is THE bad guy, the one who has been controlling this thing from before the prequels is extremely interesting. The guy behind the emperor, possibly even a reason he wanted Vader, to help take that guy out. Maybe the reason the dark side just will not go away and rose yet again between ROTJ and now. Someone always looking for the next best force user, already asking for Rey to be brought to him as soon as he finds out about her. Maybe even the reason Kylo asks Rey to join him, to take Snoke out as he clearly seems to fear him. Whoever Snoke is, he's very important, he's got to be.

I can't wait to see where they go from here. I can't wait for this story to unfold, I hope Luke is a huge part of the next one, as this was Han's movie. It's great that the speculation is back, it's a huge part of the fun of these movies for me. We had that going into the prequels, but then they ended up sucking.. so yeah. Sorry for the novel I just wrote, but SW brings it out in me. They can go absolutely anywhere from here, and it's going to be a long wait for Ep 8. But, I'm gonna see 7 as many times as I can, going for viewing #3 Sunday.

 

Some of the gripes you guys are mentioning are story related and will likely be answered in the following movies. A lot of things were purposely unexplained. You have to look at things in the context of a saga, not a standalone movie. Things like who's this, how did this character learn so fast, how was this character able to do this, how did this happen in this way, etc., can be explained in further films that will make more sense. If you looked at it as a single movie, you'd have similar gripes with the ep 4.

The starkiller thing though I completely agree with. Probably the dumbest, most illogical, non-scientific weapon ever. It just made zero sense on so many levels. I mean seriously do the producers have any scientific knowledge or just plain ol common sense at all when they thought of that?

 

Yall know this exists right?:



Yeah, this is real, and not fan made.

If you didn't know this existed, I'm sorry for introducing it to you

 

No I understand that. My complaints are pretty typical complaints for JJ Abrams movies. He's all about pace and getting the movie going as quickly as possible. He skates over emotional character development in order to move things forward. He skips over things like "wait is this Star Killer overboard" in order to tell a fun, fast paced story. In fact

Spoiler: spoiler

Maz having the lightsaber is even sort of meta in the way Abrams handles it. Maz says "that's a story for another time" as in "meh just go with it, she's got the lightsaber somehow."

.

I agree about all Rey complaints though. That'll come in time I'm pretty sure. Other things like pace and plot holes are all pretty fair for this standalone movie.

 

I figure it'll be a side story in one of the many books, comics, and tv shows that will branch from this property over the next few years.

 

I just saw TFA for the second time, but this time with my sons. They loved it. They thought 6 & 7 were the best movies and I didn't even tell them my opinion before they said it.

I liked it just as much this second time around but noticed a few things. Upon a second viewing, I didn't realize how fast paced that movie is. It was really break neck speed and I didn't even realize it upon first viewing. I also enjoyed the performance from Kylo Ren even more the second time. I really liked how he played the character, and his cool demeanor, then flying into fits of rage most of the movie. I also liked Kerry Fisher and Harrison Ford's performances a little less upon a second watch. I didn't think the chemistry was there between them. They both seemed much slower and older than I realized the first time around, affecting the believably of their characters, and it was a bit off putting to me.

 

Honestly if you take out the scenes where Fisher and Ford are together, their acting is just fine. In fact Harrison Ford is really great without Fisher.

When they're together, their performances range from "not good" to "downright abysmal".

 

Ford is still an awesome actor, Fisher not so much. As to why Maz has that item, it will explained in the next movies, I'm sure of it.

 

There were a few scenes where Ford was just a bit too slow in his reaction time, like when he shot that storm trooper without looking at it was just a beat too slow, and when he and Chewie were running down he corridor from those three creatures that escaped in the ship. It wasn't that he didn't act well, it was that his movements were so slow, it wasn't believable that he was running fast enough to get away from that thing. I can't fault him, he's old and moving as fast as he could, but scenes like that made me think "he wouldn't have gotten away" during the movie.

 

Just read a cool little fact for TFA:

Spoiler: The Storm Trooper that Rey compels is voiced by...

Daniel Craig

 

Gotcha. Yeah I mean there's not much you could have done about that If you want the cool Han Solo moments, you're going to have to kind of suspend belief a bit in other areas. I thought Abrams and the special effects teams did a decent job of giving him enough cushion.

Same goes for Peter Meyhew by the way who is the actor for Chewie. I'm sure they had a stunt double in for certain parts, but Chewie was old and clunkie too at some parts. Nothing to do for it... Hopefully Mark Hamill is a little more agile.