Star Wars

[Glor]

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Are able to be force persuaded by an untrained novice despite being "conditioned from birth" you would think that would be part of the conditioning.

All fair criticisms, except for that one-

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Considering there is only one Jedi left in the entire galaxy, I can't imagine training your troops to resist force persuasions being much of a concern or priority. I'm not sure why being mentally and physically conditioned from birth to be soldiers also has to include resisting force powers just incase of the infinitesimal chance you run into a Jedi. My original point was that it isn't unbelievable Finn was able to throw around a lightsaber.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

After going back and forth on this whole thing, I've decided that I feel the same way about Force Awakens as I do Return of the Jedi. All good movies, but they also bank on some pretty unexciting and silly plot devices sometimes.

[Chuckman]

Yeah, that's a fair point. It was kind of weird, but was sold enough in other contexts that I could buy it after a bit of thought.



Honestly, I thought the whole last sequence would have worked better at the beginning of the next movie. I get what Abrams/Kasdan were trying to do there, but after the whole climax was wrapped up it just fell into LOTR syndrome.

As to Ren, I get that he's exactly what he's supposed to be. I just don't care for that sort of character as an antagonist.

They hinted at some kind of transformation for him, so there's that.

I like the way this film handled lightsabers.

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Let's just toss out all that "nine styles" lightsaber-fu wushu bullshit right now. Luke in the first films had zero training in how to use the signature weapon of the Jedi and held his own and eventually defeated Darth Vader with it. It makes plenty of sense that a Force user would pick up the lightsaber technique incredibly quickly. Lightsaber combat should be more of a mental discipline than a physical one. As for Finn wielding it... Ren kicked his ass.

The saber fight felt more like the OT than anything in the prequels. They weren't magic vorpal swords that cleave off a limb without effort in the OT and they were treated like they have weight instead of deadly flashlights that you can whip around as fast as you can move the handle. I liked it.

[Bagheera]

They hinted at some kind of transformation for him, so there's that.

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That was before he killed Han, surely.

I like the way this film handled lightsabers.

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To be fair, they were "magic vorpal swords that [clove] off limbs without effort in the OT." There were several examples, starting in Mos Eisley!

[Chuckman]

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Mos Eisley is really the only example. Luke and Vader hit each other with their sabers more than once. When one chops off the other's hand it appears to take some effort, it's not as effortless as swinging a flashlight around. There really aren't that many lightsaber fights in the OT.

There might be some magical limb chopping in the beginning of ROTJ that I'm forgetting since Luke pulls out a saber then, too.

[Ray]

Just saw The Force Awakens. I'll be posting my full thoughts about it after I've had some time to think about it.

2nd best movie of the year behind Fury Road, and 3rd best Star Wars movie behind Empire and ROTJ.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ I liked A New Hope better (before to was called A New Hope), though I kind of rank my SW movies like:

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Return of the Jedi (Mostly trite garbage with enough awesome Luke vs Vader scenes for me to forgive the whole movie.)

For me, Force Awakens of right up there Return of the Jedi at #3, as it is mostly repeating New Hope (much like Jedi also did), but with enough new and awesome stuff in the beginning for me to forgive it.

[Shinoyami65]

Wait, what?

In the new novel Tarkin, it has been established under the new canon that the first name of the terrifying overlord of the Empire....is Sheev

[Sailor Star Dust]

Overall, I liked it, but Abrams loves his callbacks as much as he did for the 2 Star Trek films, eh? I needed more world-building though, in terms of little issues!

Onto theories:

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Time will tell for sure, but Rey and Ben are either siblings (Han/Lelia's kids) or cousins (Luke's daughter), hm? The ending of the film and symbolism of the old helmet and the lightsaber makes me lean towards Rey = Skywalker's girl, though.

And I bet this is just another Tuesday morning for Han, though I will be annoyed if Movie 9 ends with both Han and Luke force ghosts. The callback to Obi Wan vs Darth was obvious; I'm shocked James and Mike didn't pick up on it in their spoiler review.

They just have to end at Movie 9 and leave it alone. Please, Di$ney.

[Rosenakahara]

So upon watching the movie I thought it was a fun time, rey is one of my least favourite elements of this movie though, she is just so incredibly bland overall and has no real meat to her and seems to only live off her success's (some of which I might add come right out of left field).
So yeah I would say the people calling her a mary sue are accurate with the term this time.

Overall though I at least liked it enough to where I will see the sequel.

[Glor]

^Hm... then by that logic Luke Skywalker is a Gary Stu? What were some of the left field successes you had issue with? Just curious.

[Rosenakahara]

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Rey literally just learned that she is force sensitive and yet she somehow already knows what a force pull/push is and what Jedi mind tricks are, my question is: How?
No really how? I'm not even questioning her ability to do these things just to know that they exist at all. Nobody has taught her these things, and last I checked they were not common knowledge.
And lets not even get into the fact that she can somehow defeat a (admittedly only ever so slight more trained) sith with what to me felt like not even all of her strength.

There are other problems I have but that just highlights a few of the more obvious ones.
Just saying there are much better ways to write strong female characters than this.

[Ray]

I think this is the first time since the first Star Wars where I've actually seen someone bleed in a Star Wars movie.

[Gob Hobblin]

Well, there was blood in Empire Strikes Back (Luke getting banged up by the wampa). And intestines (the tauntaun).

Also, there wasn't blood that I can remember in RotJ, but the Gamorrean getting crunched by the rancor wasn't exactly family-friendly.

[Tankred]

Might be going to see it soon for the best character:

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[Dream]

TRAITOR

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*spins*

Btw on Rey pulling jedi tricks out of nowhere, she just knew i guess. I haven't seen the original trilogy but from what i've heard the force was more of this pervasive spiritual power somewhat analogous to Buddhist enlightement than midiclorian power-level, so i suppose it's not too much of a stress to assume she had slight divine providence/natural hunch on how to do some of the stuff.

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Her kicking Kylo Ren's ass was just absurd though, even when i though it was p cool.

[Tarnsman]

I think this is the first time since the first Star Wars where I've actually seen someone bleed in a Star Wars movie.

There is blood in A New Hope when Obi Wan cuts the guy's arm off in the bar. There is blood in quite a few places in Empire. I can't recall any blood in RoTJ.

[Bagheera]

There are other problems I have but that just highlights a few of the more obvious ones.
Just saying there are much better ways to write strong female characters than this.

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The main problem here is that the movie is too stingy with important details; explanations are there, but they're typically in throwaway lines or other things that are easy to miss. In Rey's case, she recognizes Luke's name and seems very familiar with the legends surrounding him and the Jedi in general. So, she knew they could do these things, but didn't yet realize she could do them as well. Once she knew it was just a matter of listening to the Force and getting it to do what she wanted.

On another note:

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Note when Rey first starts to fight Kylo Ren she employs a lot of jabbing motions? That's because she's used to fighting with a staff. She's on the defensive until she starts to listen to the Force and use the lightsaber as, well, a sword. Once she does that the tide swings in her favor, as she's much stronger in the Force than Ren is. She isn't trained as a Jedi like he is, but she clearly knows how to fight -- her ability with her staff is comparable to that of a seasoned martial artist. How she got this ability growing up on Jakku is anyone's guess, same as how she got her knowledge of the intricacies of hyperdrives. But her physicality and combat abilities are those of a fighter, not a scavenger. Perhaps there's more to the story than we've been led to believe? I've seen it suggested elsewhere that she might be a survivor of the massacre on Luke's academy, and that she doesn't recall the events due to traumatic amnesia. I consider this unlikely due both to the fact that we saw a flashback of her as a child on Jakku and because Han didn't recognize her, but OTOH when Ren was informed a girl was with BB-8 his interest in the matter skyrocketed. Lots of people seem to think she's really dang important, even when they haven't been given reason to in the events as we saw them. So, that might be a hint that her abilities go deeper than raw talent.

[Chainsaw Owl]

I just saw it and I'm absolutely speechless. Except for literally the last fifteen seconds, I don't think a more disappointing movie could have been made. I didn't think Clone Wars would ever be knocked off its rotten throne.

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Credit where credit is due, I liked Poe Dameron, but then again I've always liked my cocky do-or-die flyboys. It's just too bad he had to share the screen with Blandgirl and Somehow-The-Only-Stormtrooper-Completely-Immune-To-A-Lifetime-Of-Coldhearted-Warrior-Conditioning.

[Glor]

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Rey literally just learned that she is force sensitive and yet she somehow already knows what a force pull/push is and what Jedi mind tricks are, my question is: How?
No really how? I'm not even questioning her ability to do these things just to know that they exist at all. Nobody has taught her these things, and last I checked they were not common knowledge.
And lets not even get into the fact that she can somehow defeat a (admittedly only ever so slight more trained) sith with what to me felt like not even all of her strength.

There are other problems I have but that just highlights a few of the more obvious ones.
Just saying there are much better ways to write strong female characters than this.

@rosenakahara

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The funny thing about her force powers is that Kylo Ren pretty much teachers her how to do it, the Force being a very intuitive tool. Once you tap it, it's just a matter of figuring out how to exert your will to command an effect. When Kylo is force-probing her mind, he's encounting some resistance, likely an unwitting manifestation of force potential in Rey as she tries to resist. In this way, she realizes, with extreme effort, she can block him out. In this way, by probing her mind, he's shown her you can use the force to push into someone's thoughts, which is then what she successfully attempts on Daniel Trooper. TFA shows more than it tells, which hinders it in some ways, but I rather like it.

Don't have much else to say about Rey atm.