nightscape94

There is enough menace with Ren and Snoke, and honestly, there was never anything menacing about Hux. It also gives an immediate reinforcement to Poe's attitude toward authority figures.

It's Snoke's biggest display of rage and power, and the theme is timed perfectly with it. Totally works.

It played fine for me when I saw the film. Enjoyed its usage. Seemed appropriate and well-spotted.

It's also information which gave Ren a way to try to manipulate Rey, dragging her down psychologically by trying to convince her that she's worthless thrown-away garbage.

Even more of a bummer then that he either forgot it, or didn't particular feel a use for it. Maybe it has more to do with the action-esque nature of it. It's not as malleable.

I'm definitely happy with the consistency of leitmotif writing in this movie. Reminded me of ESB in that regard, and I'm especially happy he remembered Poe's theme. The version at 1:51 in "Peace and Purpose" is really cool. I also like that he still used the rising cellos part of Ren's call to the darkside theme to great effect within the score. Too bad about Finn's theme not really being present basically at all, except for one itsy bitsy moment in the first track which is barely detectable.

Was it ever properly explained why a bunch of star destroyers felt compelled to keep their distance from one escaping rebel ship, and just fire on it continuously, draining its power? I mean, they waited 13 or so hours until they ran out of juice, couldn't they just take it out? Did I miss a plot element?

Speaking honestly, that scene where Ren is smashing his helmet against the elevator wall, I had a sudden reaction thinking it was tracked. It sounded straight out of TFA. I had a fear of things to come, but that was quickly removed as the score progressed through the movie.

I actually didn't care for Maz's cameo. Felt like, well, a cameo, and not a natural extension of the material. Too attention-grabbing and awkward. As for locations, I did like the salt planet.

Neato. Nice version of Poe's theme in Peace and Purpose.

Almost done the OST and thankfully the Luke and Leia statement is on there. Overall the OST is fantastic and a lot of fun. The Vader variation in "The Spark" is cool. After I came home from seeing the film I went back and watched some trailers. Was that used in one of them? There's a lot of terrific action material, tender moments, and subtle choral stuff. Great balance. Overall I actually like this OST better than TFA.

Bizarrely perhaps, the word that caught me off guard was "godspeed".

Going through the OST right now. The Sacred Jedi Texts is pretty great. Just noticed a Yoda theme I didn't hear in the theater.

There is so much going on in the movie emotionally with Rey and Luke, and Rey and Ben, and the resistance, that adding more information about Rey's parents would have been too much. Now with only one more film in the trilogy, it's one less thing to have to worry about. Personally, with so much emphasis on lineage, like with Vader and Luke, and Luke and Leia, and Ben and Han, why continue to mess with people in the same way over and over again.

I also agree that BB8 was overboard in this film. He even randomly controls an AT-ST walker at one point. I think it just further cements Kylo Ren becoming the central villain, which wasn't as obvious in TFA. It's not the same dynamic as it was between Vader, Emperor and Luke. Thankfully this sets it up differently without feeling like a copy.

I went to a 7pm showing, would have loved to have seen it!

Indeed.

Well, I got back from seeing the film. I did the same thing I did last year, which was to avoid everything. No trailers, no TV spots, no internet ads, articles, reviews, photos, etc. I saw the poster and that was about it. I didn't go into any of the forum threads to join or give a passing glance at discussion. I felt it gave me an extra thrill in my viewing experience when I did that with FTA, and the same thing this time around. I enjoyed the movie a lot. There were problems, some spotty character and set-piece issues, but when the credits rolled, it felt good. Some of the less interesting things: The movie was long. It wasn't structured in a 3 art format, it felt more like 6. Every time I thought it was going to end on a cliffhanger, it just kept going. I appreciated the format more when it was over, but there was a time I couldn't believe it kept adding another scene. The del Toro's character is either useless, or at the very least, inserted poorly. I feel you could literally remove his character entirely, tweak a couple of things, and you have essentially the same thing, except tighter. The subplot involving Fin and Rose didn't really work in general. Some of the humor was a bit too cute. In the OT, at least Star Wars and Empire, the humor was an extension of the human elements, the character's personalities drove most of it. There was a tad overflow of cute little furry animal jokes in somewhat serious situations that I could have done without. The good thankfully outweighs the negative. The movie looks amazing, it's acted nicely, and it's scored beautifully. There are some visual moments that are breathtaking. I love that Snoke was killed. It gives Kylo Ren a nice trajectory with his ascension to power. There was some really wonderfully poetic moments with Luke, some neat new landscapes, and interesting action pieces.

I haven't read through the thread yet, but my first impressions of the score in the film: The music is mixed up front in the movie, and that's a good thing. Aside from a moment or two where it's inaudible, the score is loud here. Spotted well, and very effective when used. Not surprising. So happy he continued to use the Resistance theme, I had this paranoia that he would abandon it. I seem to think it was used more in this than in TFA. Nice smaller moments with the theme as well. I was beside myself when he used Luke and Leia's theme. Wonderful moment, I was holding my breath in anticipation when that scene started to unfold, and it sounded beautiful when it appeared. Poe's theme returns! But I only caught it once in the beginning. Jedi Temple theme returns! Could have been used even more, but maybe I didn't catch all the usages. The emperor's theme returns, and done very effectively I might add in its one callback. The movie is structured in such away that it didn't seem to allow for a ton of new material. Is there only one new theme? The one representing Rose didn't catch my attention until they were escaping on those animals, and at first I thought it was just a cue-specific thing that sounded adventurous, but then I picked up on it a couple more times after that. Nice little theme. I couldn't hear the end credits all that much over the constant chatter of post-movie discussion among the audience, but it sounded like a nice piece of music that was less like a suite with one theme after the other , and more like a long piece of music with interwoven thematic material. I want to listen to it again right away to confirm my suspicion.

Yeah, hearing those extra details in the score is always wonderful when you're dealing with clear sound quality. Orchestration is wonderful.

I never listen to music like this, but I've been kinda hooked on this song. Cool video too.

I was actually looking forward to a long partnership between Edwards and Desplat. Bummer.

While I concede that it may be unfair to form a solidified and assured opinion about a movie based on a trailer, that is the trailer's job. To convince me that the movie is good. To sell me the idea of buying a ticket to see the whole thing in theaters. As others have already stated accurately on my behalf, I'm not claiming I know that the movie will be bad, just that it appears to be that way. Is that a 100% guarantee? No, of course not. When you stroll down the toy isle you make a judgement about what looks fun to play with based on design, accessories, color, packaging, and all sorts of other things. The combination of these traits allows you to make an informed decision for yourself, as unfair as it may be to the creator, whose ultimate intention is for you to finally take it out of the box and discover it completely. Sometimes a toy will surprise you and go against your initial bad impression, but a lot of the time it's exactly what you expected.

Just checked out the trailer. Movie looks bad. Also the trailer itself is terrible, just as a trailer.

Well, he's also about 8 years older. He looked really good in I Want To Believe.