Lifelong Star Wars Fan. Here's my reviewWell made on a technical and general film-making level, but frankly rushed and uninspired
So much of what made the originals great was in the sense of mystery, discovery, and a greater universe beyond the movie it invoked. Jar Jar Abrams' Star-Wars Trek never took the time to become its own movie, and in this rush left a myriad of plot holes and disappointment in its wake.
Characters:
It's true, Rey is an invincible Mary Sue whose only flaw is an inability to handle inexplicable flashbacks. She pilots the falcon, defeats Kylo Ren, and uses nearly every notable force power flawlessly on the first try. She literally beats him by closing her eyes for 10 seconds and thinking about the force, like it hadn't occurred to her before. She's somewhat interesting, cute, and quirky scene by scene, but ultimately throws any hope for a real character arc out the window.
Finn: Not too interesting, but not too bad either. However, he again begins as a morally perfect character "it's the right thing to do" and for the rest of the movie acts as canvas for uninteresting adolescents to cast their personalities on, not standing out much except for a few lines
Han: Literally the only good character. It was a mistake to kill him.
Poe: Interesting and fun, but sadly not fleshed out enough in favor of the affirmative action clan. Hopefully will get more time in the future movies.
Kylo Ren: Plays a pathetic villain well, but remains unmeaning enough for every fight against him to lose all tension. Obviously wants to fuck his cousin. We'll probably see him die or finish a redemption ark by Episode 9.
Other characters: Hux actually made his scenes interesting, Phasma wasted space, and everyone else didn't matter.
Would you say it's a glib facsimile?
nice blog post, senpai. where's the botton to share it on my twitter?
>expecting anything more out of a star wars flick
time to be red pilled op
We literally know nothing about Rey's backstory, so it's pointless to get mad at her right now.
Gen Hux needs more screen time, I liked him more as a villian than I did Kylo Ren.
I think you're looking too pessimistically onto this movie. It led you to assumptions you decided to confirm entirely subjectively as a reassurance to your own opinions, like that this movie had no heart or vision of its own, when I think it absolutely did, but perhaps for the same lack of reasons as you.
Rey could have been fleshed out more if there were more time for it, I bet, but I think you give her abilities too much credit, especially alongside Kylo's who you absolutely are giving too much credit to.
Kylo never at all proved he was a good swordsmen, and you can probably expect he was never trained with a lightsaber by the fact that he made his own. All movie prior to the duel, he would just flail it about angrily, and then he took it to task against a skilled fighter, while injured and furious, and you're somehow mad that he lost.
>>63811850
>She's somewhat interesting, cute, and quirky scene by scene,
i ignore her mary sues just for this.
>>63812166
I almost stood up in the theater and sig heiled during his speech
the acting, especially the chemistry between rey and finn, was phenomenal
the visuals, aside from the mocap character, were all outstanding
the direction was clean, easy to follow, wide shots, still shots, and the best work abrams has ever done
the design was really great.. i loved the buzzy and uncontrolled and crackling look of kylo's force use and lightsaber
every character seemed to worked amazingly well, all with their own identities and fun aspects
really, what was there to dislike about any of it?
[spoilers]Writing:
Well thought out dialogue, but a poorly thought out script. Lines served their purpose, but were rarely memorable or notable. Plot holes, conveniences, and a lack of structure ruined any chance people will care about this film in 10 years.
Pacing obviously rushed. Rarely scenes actually played out instead of just happening without any development. Events had no buildup, and thus left little impression. Too much is shown and explained, and what is deliberately left out doesn't arouse any interest (for example: does anyone really care about Snoke, or who he is? Did those ~6 planets that were destroyed make anyone care? Do all major battle planning sessions take 45 seconds?)
Cinematography:
JJ doesn't realize that moving the camera around every cut doesn't make him a good director. While the shots were all done visually well, the cinematography rarely played to the movie's strengths, but instead highlighted its dramatic vacuity. If JJ used static and dolly shots more often, and saved dramatic zooms for actually dramatic moments like in the OT, he might have given the audience enough time to care about what's going on.
Score:
Williams only stands out when reusing his old themes, as his new ones fade into the background (I only remember Rey's theme and a few other motifs). Still a great job for an 83 year old, but only tries to grasp at the films' former glory than make its own (same goes for the movie itself).
Overall, I begrudgingly didn't like it, because I thought so many small parts of the film were done very well. Like Kylo Ren, the film is dwarfed by his predecessor's shadow, and can't take the time to reinvent the original trilogy's success, instead of leeching off of it like the Starkiller Base sucks up the sun.[/spoiler]
6.5/10
>>63812231
This anon gets it
I'm disappointed in tv. This was one of the best star wars movies, bested only by ESB. I was expecting people to understand it, but it seems like you all went into it just to look for flaws
why does everyone think rey is some mary sue?
she sucked at flying
her use of the force was the titular point of the movie
she could fix some shit because that's what she spent her whole life doing
and she could fight because that's what she spent her whole life doing
>>63811850
My real question is, without Lucas, is it really a Star Wars film?
Like him or hate him, he created SW, and so what is it without him?
I think it's a hollow shell.
>>63811850
>it's the right thing to do
Didn't Poe instantly call him on his bullshit and say he's doing it because he needs a pilot? Finn then concedes and admits that he needs a pilot.
>>63812324
fucked up the spoiler.
Sorry for the blog post btw
>>63812367
the best star wars movie was the one he had the absolutely least amount of involvement in, and the one he had none whatsoever in is the second best.
>>63812385
Im noticing the anons here really didnt get the movie. Feels like they didnt even watch it.
>>63812359
>but it seems like you all went into it just to look for flaws
Sounds like /tv/ alright.
>>63811850
The script had problems from the start, that's why the release date was moved back.
This is known.
>>63812465
what did you honestly think was wrong with the script? i thought it was great. sometimes merely serviceable, but serving immense expectations is not to scoff at.
>>63812231
This is only my initial opinion, so it might change. I never had any initial presumptions about the movie. In fact, seeing the trailers and considering J.J.'s excellent reboot of Star Trek, I thought it would easily be the best.
I thought there was a great movie inside this only moderately good one. The way the characters play out in the future could easily redeem their lackluster quality now, and maybe develop properly.
>>63812385
This is what happened. Finn is just a soldier who had a crisis of conscience the second he saw how shitty war was. He uses Poe because the rest of the crew is brainwashed and would sooner die than betray the First Order. Finn's picking up the lightsaber and facing Kylo, the commander of the first order, shows his development of courage. He has way more development than Rey.
Finn and Poe were good...they should have been formed into a single character.
The problem that I'm having is that in the OT characters grew throughout each individual movie even.
Let's take ANH for example.
Luke goes from farm boy to the guy that destroys the Death Star.
Han goes from a unscrupulous smuggles to a dependable friend.
Leia goes from uptight princes to tomboy.
There's always a sense that these characters are stepping out of their designated role and growing into something better.
In TFA characters feel static. Because of the way the 30 year old jump is treated it feels like everyone had their development done before the movie's story even started.
Apparently Rey is already a capable jedi, she just doesn't know it yet. Poe is an ace pilot, Finn is just trying to get through shit alive and Ren is already an edgelord.
I'd say Finn gets the most development but he doesn't really develop into anything interesting.
I also don't like constant references to events that happened in everyone's past but are left vague and will be explored later. That kind of stuff reeks of tv show writing.
>>63812599
This movie was definitely really dense. I suppose it didn't absolutely HAVE to trade on the classic star wars imagery and plot points nearly to the level that it did, but not only did that serve as an effective way to ease a very skeptical fanbase (coming off three absolutely horrendous star wars films), they also stuffed those thing in with a whole movie's worth of its own fresh imagery and plot points.
i have no reason to think the second one won't breathe a bit more with its characters, and base pretty much its entire story on its own ideas and concepts, unlike how attack of the clones copied empire strikes back at every hilariously inappropriate opportunity it could.
Plus, I absolutely didn't mind the hyper pace at which the movie threw itself along, because I hyperly attended it, and plus every single star wars moves rapidly. none of them have slow moments.
>>63812680
Yeah ok sorry I misunderstood the exchange.
>>63811850
I think the first half was great, somehow it turned into generic blockbuster prequel-tier sci-fi by the end.
>>63812361
>she sucked at flying
she jumped in a ship with completely personalized controls for the first time and outflew seasoned tie fighter pilots.
>her use of the force was the titular point of the movie
dubiously. snoke mentions the force "awakening", probably alluding to the re-establishment of both the sith and jedi after their destruction at the hands of vader.
>she could fix some shit
she fixes something that Han, the owner of the falcon who regularly did complete overhauls on it, could not.
>she could fight
nothing wrong with her winning fights with random scavengers or even troopers. beating a dark jedi who had trained in the force for years is stupid.
rey never really loses a fair fight, never gets hurt, and can do just about anything. she's the fucking john cena of star wars.
Pros:
>Good funny moments
>Han Solo steals the show
>Poe and Fin's bro shit
-Fin isn't a jedi
>Luke isn't in the movie but still important
>Kylo Ren is a good hateable villain because hes so fucking worthless and stupid
Con:
>Rey is a fucking mary sue, dull main character
>Fin's arc seems over fast
>Stupid Giant sithlord
> Kylo Ren is so fucking worthless and stupid
>C3PO and R2D2 are there only for tradition like the prequel
It was ok but I didn't like. True it has some good things but they don't last long. I really don't like how Rey was. She felt like the "Strong female character that can do no wrong" shit. Anikin and Luke had flaws and overcome them. Even Fin still had some in the beginning of the movie.
Also what the fuck is with Kylo Ren? I get he's suppose to be the villain but hes pretty fucking retarded.
>>63812756
>I also don't like constant references to events that happened in everyone's past but are left vague and will be explored later. That kind of stuff reeks of tv show writing
when did this happen? i don't think any of the past events were treated like they'd be revisited at all later. the major events that led to now were described, and that all there really is about them.
maybe rey's parents, but i felt that was just entirely dismissed when rey is told those relatives are clearly never coming back.
>>63812288
She's going to hook up with a dindu though
>>63812367
>Like him or hate him, he created SW, and so what is it without him?
Ah, the misunderstanding of the overwhelming majority of posters on this terrible meme-ridden board--that one or even two individuals can make a movie good.
The original Star Wars was literally salvaged in editting, tearing away over 30 minutes of absolute garbage and redubbing crucial plotpoints to make a coherent plot.
George had no opposition to his ideas in the prequel trilogy.
Which Star Wars movie is stored in the national archive?
>>63812920
>completely personalized controls
i think the movie clearly and appropriately justified why she was adept at the mechanics of the ship
>outflew seasoned tie fighter pilots
she fucking ran into just about everything she could without the shit falling apart completely. the fighters were hitting the falcon over and fucking over again. how was she outflying them? the only "skillful" thing she did was fly through the star destroyer that she knew the layout of like the back of her hand, and you could just call it lucky.
>she fixes something that Han, the owner of the falcon who regularly did complete overhauls on it, could not.
Is that really so surprising? Han is not a mechanic. You own your computer, and probably spend a fuckton of time on it, but do you know fucking everything about it, and would you be surprised if someone who spent their whole life working with computers knew something about yours that you don't?
>>63812940
it wasn't really him, if you notice he is a hologram, you STUPID FUCK, go watch the prequels and see that empire palpatines head was huge as well, but turned out he was a normal dude
>>63812557
The planet they landed on just happened to have Luke's old lightsaber there.
Rey runs off into the forest for no reason.
There was hardly any tension or build up put on the devastating new super-weapon that we've seen twice already.
They came up with a plan to destroy it in under 5 minutes with a gaggle of people just standing around. Of course with token Asian scientist to explain everything.
Somehow Captain Phasma has the authority to disable the shields for a sun-sized planet and can do it from a single computer terminal.
Captain Phasma is hardly used as a character.
There is no real relationship between Han Solo and his Son. He expects to convince him by saying "come with me".
Blowing up a single building on the surface of the nu-Death Star causes the weapon to malfunction, somehow. This also happened twice already but they never learned.
R2-D2 wakes up for no reason and just happens to have the remaining part of the map. Nobody knew he had it either.
Also the fact that the entire movie rehashes the story of A New Hope.
>>63812324
This was my same review, pretty much summed up the things that bugged me. Was sprites at how little the awkward pacing has been brought up here.
>>63813204
Fuck, surprised, not sprites
>>63812920
>beating a dark jedi who had trained in the force for years is stupid.
Kylo was hardly a dark jedi. You give him waaaaay too much credit. Exactly when did he ever prove to be as capable or as strong as you make him out to be. He cobbled together most of what he knows in a galaxy devoid of anyone to teach him about it except for the one jedi who probably sucks at teaching things, and also stopped doing that a long fucking time ago.
since then he's just been getting mad at people, and asserting a power over others completely uncontested. the first time he has to face another force user, surprise fucking surprise, this dude that would just rage at everything and sloppily handled every situation he was in, fumbled it and fucked it all up. oh dear, he might have some character development to go.
>rey never really loses a fair fight, never gets hurt, and can do just about anything
she can do enough. she can't do >anything
>>63812920
han didn't add the compressor though, he hadn't owned it in 29 years
>stormtrooper officer willing to expose her entire command to harm rather than eat a blaster bolt
Only bit that didn't work for me. Phasma should've been a normal Imperial officer instead tbqh.
>>63811850
>snoke not mattering
b-but he is based sith lord plagueis
>>63813198
phasma is such a shit character, could have just made her a normal white colored stormtrooper captain instead of "look at me im a girl in armor commanding men" and nothing would be different, it's not like they did anything of note with her
>>63813376
>instead of "look at me im a girl in armor commanding men"
what. how is this of particular note to you, because the movie definitely didn't treat it as such. why aren't you mad that leia is a girl that commands men? at least the movie points that shit out as a thing to notice.
>>63813142
firstly, i equate flying a ship to flying an airplane in levels of complexity. maybe you think it's more like hopping into a friend's car, in that there are very few differences between models. rey piloting the falcon as well as she did was insane, that move she pulled lining up a perfect shot for finn when his cannon was broken took incredible finesse. her adaptation to the controls was essentially glossed over, she just basically pointed towards a couple buttons she knew even though she's never been in the ship.
also han's a fucking great mechanic, he custom-installed all the shit in the millenium falcon. he basically created what was one of the fastest ships in the galaxy.
>>63813296
kylo is a trained jedi nigga, he trained under luke and snoke. although not a complete master, he should be capable of beating some random kid who didn't even know what the force was 5 minutes ago.
>>63813376
Phasma isn't a shit character but she basically did the equivalent of jobbing for the end of the movie.
Here's what you do with Phasma:
>make Driver the main force-sensitive protagonist "rey" character
>get rid of Ridley altogether because she is a shit who ruined the role along with the awful writing
>keep Boyega as Finn, he was fine for the most part
>make Phasma the dark Jedi character who is struggling to overcome the Light side to make a full transition to the Dark side
>since Phasma is a woman, the good goy diversity quota is still reached
And there you go.
>>63813558
>why aren't you mad that leia is a girl that commands men?
Because she actually does things
>>63813323
I knew the silver trooper was only in the movie for Disney to sell action figures.
I fucking knew it.
Whenthey captured her and forced her to lower the shields, I though "hmm, maybe she'll cross them even if they kill her. She might be that loyal. Nope, she does their bidding then is out of the movie forever.
>>63813304
neither did rey, and she didn't know the plans for the ship while han did.
>>63813558
because leia isn't running around in special out of character uniform, if that's what several other captains or whatever she was wore then it would be different, but she was the only one. when you have tons of uniformed characters wearing all the same shit but one then it's trying to mean something, leia looked like any other resistance fighter.
>>63813558
Except >>63813376 is right. You could take phasma out of the movie and it's the same. She did NOTHING. I thought it was interesting and was disappointed she didn't add to the plot or do anything dynamic. She was a set piece, a prop, not a character.
>>63813704
if everyone wore exactly the same armor, wouldn't you want to be able to visually distinguish your officer in battle?
>>63813768
they have those armpads to distinguish,
>>63813768
m8 thats a terrible idea. an officer wearing something to set them apart from an average grunt is like painting a bullseye on their back for enemy snipers or spies
>>63813747
exactly, she had like 2 lines, which boba had few and that's what they were going with, but she is a regular joe not a bounty hunter, so not interesting or mysterious in any way
>>63813874
>>63813849
okay, sure, you could also say they know that shit by a heads up display or something, but the point is it doesn't need to justify itself, just because the character has a name and a shiny suit, and it very much doesn't mean the character has any political agendas to prove, especially when the movie treats her as an object.
>>63812951
How did Ben Solo get seduced by the dark side? They really left that shit to the imagination.
My headcanon is that he was a loser problem child who Han was disappointed in. He gets sent away to train with Uncle Luke, where he finds out that he isn't even that strong with the force. He gets homesick and begins to resent his parents. He starts tapping in to the dark side as a shortcut to compete with his fellow students. Snoke starts speaking to him somehow. He builds his own lightsaber in secret because Luke doesn't think any of his students are ready for that lesson. One student finds out and Ben kills them. He thinks there's no turning back so he runs away to become Snoke's apprentice.
Luke leaves to track Ben down, but Ben returns to the scool with the Knights of Ren to kill off the rest of Luke's students. Luke returns to the school at the last second to find his students being butchered, and in a fit of rage, kills every knight of Ren with the exception of Ben, who he lets escape. The heartbroken Luke then unmasks the Knights of Ren he'd already killed and is horrified when he sees that they're all teenagers. That's when he fucks off to find the first Jedi temple.
>>63812069
She was abandoned and is a scavenger.
What else is there to know?
>>63813959
this is great except the fit of rage part from luke. maybe change it to him defending himself so its a bit more heartbreaking that he blamed himself for the destruction of the jedi temple and the death of so many young people, since there was nothing he could do. this explanation of kylo ren's motivation was sorely needed in TFA, and the film being part of a trilogy kind of poisoned any character development in this movie. i didn't know why anyone wanted to do anything.
>>63813183
It still looked retarded. It's almost like the movie guessed that the big boss would look fucking stupid so there was a rock that fell or something revealing that he was a hologram.
>>63814179
it was revealed right from the get go when it turned off the first time
Would you go about dissecting any other cildrens movie besides this one? What do you expect from the characters besides ultimate good vs ultimate evil?
>>63812166
fucking dubs doesn't lie. General Hux was GOAT bad guy. That speech was fantastic and I'm glad they didn't just treat him like a disposable throw away character. Looking forward to more from him in the sequels
OP is 100% correct and 0% wrong.
>>63811850
>However, he again begins as a morally perfect character "it's the right thing to do"
But that was bullshit, though. And they called it out right in the next line of dialogue. He just desperately wanted to escape the ship, and he was presented with another person who wanted to escape who ALSO knew how to pilot a TIE fighter.
I agree with you about the other characters. Finn was interesting though because he was willing to bullshit and manipulate to get what he wanted. Like when he lied about being a member of the Resistance, lied about knowing how to bring the shields down so he could go save Rey, etc etc.
>>63814278
I just didn't like why it really explained why they hated the republic, in the scroll it just said they wanted to kill the last Jedi, but they hate the republic too for some reason? And why would the republic not want to stop the first order or stand behind the resistance? First order wanted to kill them so why ignore them, they nazi'ed the first order to much, it was over the top. Hux was great but they made him very much like >>63814261 ultimate evil
Honestly Poe was my favorite character
He was friendly with just the right amount of cocky. Seemed like a cool guy to hang out with.
My only complaint is that one scene where he swoops in with his fighter and literally takes out like 10 TIE fighters in one continuous shot - holy shit JJ we get it he's a good pilot, that just felt cringey to watch
>>63814381
I admit i misinterpreted the exchange, as mentioned earlier
>>63812767
So...
Did the new empireblow up Coruscant?with their new toy?
>>63814396
they wanted to destroy the Republic because the Republic isn't openly trying to undermine the First Order, but the Resistance is and members of the Republic are backing and hiding Resistance members. Without the Republic's backing the Resistance would fall
>>63812231
Maybe i remember it wrong but didn't Kylo Force Pushed Rey to a three like 10 seconds before he started fighting with Finn.Why didn't he do the same to Finn and than kill them while they were unconcsious?
>>63813142
Have you even seen the original trilogy? Han and Chewie are fucking constantly tweaking the Falcon. He is absolutely a mechanic, the fact his ship is a fixer upper piece of junk is alluded to over and over.
>>63814619
fair and true
>>63814503
Mother fucker is apocalypse. Im scared. I loved him in this and he looks good in x-men
>>63812166
Kylo is better imo just because he clearly has more going on inside him. The obvious insecurity he feels of not being good enough to compare himself to Vader is a pretty interesting trait with a lot of potential I think. Kind of like the reverse Anakin, since Anakin was so full of himself and overestimated his abilitiesand the value of high ground.Hux was great but he kind of felt like a young Tarkin to me, which is interesting but we've already had a Tarkin.
>>63814747
Yeah Kylo will hopefully improve in the later movies, but for the time being I'd like to see more of the sinister side of Gen Hux.
>>63811850
Pretty much agree fully.
All it had to do was not be the prequel trilogy to gain the love and adoration of the masses. And it wasn't. However, in order to distance itself it tried to emulate the original trilogy so very, very hard. The movie was terribly paced. Nothing was given ample time, as if we were rushing to pick up and jam together all of the pieces that people associate with Star Wars. Consequently. the movie had no time to be itself or develop any cinematic style more distinct than your typical J. J. Abrams action flick.
>>63814598
Too easy. Finn's a traitor, undermining his authority.
If we're going down this rabbit hole we start to wonder why they ever bother fighting with laser swords at all, since the force works at range, gives complete control, and if you're better at it than the other guy you win instantly and risk-free. Then again, I don't know why they don't carry pistols in their offhands so they can lock blades and shoot the other guy while their sabres are stuck.
>>63813593
>maybe you think it's more like hopping into a friend's car,
It is the the SW universe where starships are just as ubiquitous.
>>63812763
> none of them have slow moments.
actually watch a Star Wars movie at some point. It takes 40 minutes to get off tatooine in a new hope
>>63813593
Rey piloting the Falcon was very very obviously her using the Force subconsciously.
>>63814598
Why don't Jedi and Sith use force push to deal with all of their enemies? Maybe it's exhausting. Maybe he really wanted to cut Finn up for betraying the First Order. Maybe he'd never fought a lightsaber duel before and wanted to test his might.
>>63814533They blew up like 5-6 New Republic planets at once with what was effectively a Death Star Shotgun. The new "toy" is the size of a planet. I don't know how they get this fucking funding if they're losing a war and have already pissed away two Death Stars.
>>63815397
Starkiller had some obvious influence from the Star Forge. With Rakata Prime being Canon I'm wondering if they found something related to that and took it a different direction.
>>63815397
They blow up the entire seat of the New Republic. The new Senate, a majority of the Republic Fleet, and probably billions of people central to the NR administration in one go.
I'm hoping Ep 8 picks up right after TFA and deals with the fallout from that scene.
>>63811850
I was worried and then confirmed of my fears with this movie. The prequels might not've been great and even in parts terrible but at least differentiated themselves both visually in thematically to at least make them an interesting watch.
Honestly once they got off Jakku I kinda stopped caring, the entire movie moved through plotpoints and retreaded material without understanding why it was impactful the first time. For example while the x-wing fighting was good on a technical level it really didn't have any weight because none of the characters flying were anyone I cared about or anyone who had characterization.
I got hyped by the trailer, which says enough about how good the makers of said trailer were. By the time it was over I felt like I had watched a really high production fan fiction film. They had the same assets but didn't do anything with them. I did like Finn and Kylo though aside from that.
It was just 'eh'.
>>63812069
>it's ok to have poorly written characters
>they'll fix and explain everything in the sequels :^)
Truly disgusting
>You need a teacher! I can show you the way of the Force!
This line cracked me up. The way he said it came off like it was like the dark Jedi version of 'Are you an archeologist?' I half expected him to say 'pls respond'
I feel a lot of the movie's problems came from the writers intentionally setting up spin offs. We're going to get movies or shows about Poe learning to fly, Maz acquiring the Skywalker lightsaber, where Rey's family went, etc etc.
A lot of stuff happened so fast at the end, they really shouldve left the Starkiller stuff out of the movie. Just a mission to rescue to Rey for recovering Luke's map.
