The Force Awakens The Force Awakens SPOILERS ALLOWED Discussion Thread

[mrbellamy 6,270]

Yeah, Snoke is the only major disappointment of the film for me.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

The only disappointment for me was the lack of a lack of romance. Could do without that.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I thought Rey and Finn were going to become lovers.

[Jay 37,249]

I'm sure they will!

[Andy 4,070]

Then we'll finally get a love theme in Star Wars.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I thought Finn was going to end up with Poe.

[nightscape94 965]

The bromance is strong with them.

[King Mark 3,624]

Am I the only one who never saw Han Solo's death coming?

(or avoided the spoiler)

[Andy 4,070]

No. I avoided it too, and it devastated me. I was reduced to tears, especially when the Falcon comes to rescue Rey and Finn post duel, and only Chewie is in the cockpit. I nearly lost it.

JJ raped my childhood.

I say that half jokingly, but in order to accept and enjoy this, you have to divorce the Happily Ever After that's been in your mind since the Ewok Celebration of 1983.

[King Mark 3,624]

well, maybe the lightsaber pierced through his body, but hit non vital organs and cauterized the wound, then he landed on pillows ...and survived

[Andy 4,070]

The bromance is strong with them.

I really enjoyed their chemistry. I think VII needs to establish Finn, Poe, and Rey as their big Three. It seemed a shame Po and Finn were separated for the rest of the film.

well, maybe the lightsaber pierced through his body, but hit non vital organs and cauterized the wound, then he landed on pillows ...and survived

LOL! Not if anything to say about it, Ford has!

[King Mark 3,624]

Carrie Fisher in this was better than Karren Allen in kotCS

[Andy 4,070]

Definitely! But that's a low bar to jump.

She surprised me with how well she owned the role of Leia.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

True. Notice how they introduced her at basically the exact same time in the movie as Marion in KOTCS. It was very similar, just not horribly done.

[Andy 4,070]

That point in KOTCS was the turning point for that film. It was like Doc Brown drawing a time tangent on a chalkboard. Apologies to Karen Allen.

I also think Ford gave a better performance as Solo here than he did as Indy in KOTCS.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

He did. In KOTCS, he was constantly silly and out of character, delivering lines horribly. Here, he was 100% cool. Maybe he was embarrassed by his performance in KOTCS or J.J. Abrams directed him to not be terrible.

[Andy 4,070]

It's funny because 7 years ago, he was praising the character of Indy and continuing to damn Solo.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Kylo Ren killed him for KOTCS. It needed to be done.

[Andy 4,070]

I am seriously not over it. I don't think I got emotional over a movie death like this since 1982 (Spock, E.T.)

This really shattered me.

[Romão 2,274]

I loved Kylo Ren in this

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Han's assassination seemed premature and was kinda goofy, to be honest. It looked like the scene in Star Trek: Nemesis where Riker kicks the Reman Viceroy down a bottomless pit in slow motion. I think Abrams is a fan of Nemesis.

[Faleel 5,326]

I loved Kylo Ren in this

So, do you think it did like you wanted and had one character lead to the next?

[Damien F 1,742]

Han's death wasn't spoiled for me but I knew there would be major spoilers and therefore I predicted one of the original trio would die and Han seemed like the most likely candidate so his death didn't really come as a surprise to me. Still a sad scene to watch though especially as he was a highlight in the movie and very likable. His hand on Poe's face was a little hammy though and nearly ruined the moment.

[Romão 2,274]

I loved Kylo Ren in this

So, do you think it did like you wanted and had one character lead to the next?

That's one of my regrets with the film. We meet Rey before she meets BB8. But that first act was so good, I can overlook it

[Andy 4,070]

You knew as soon as he went out onto the bridge that it was over for him.

I blame Chewie. It was his idea to set the charges on separate levels.

[mrbellamy 6,270]

Well, Leia was the one who begged him to bring Kylo home. I kind of felt like he was doing it for her. He wanted Leia back, he wanted his family back. It was a compelling moment, I really believed him when he shouted "BEN!!!" across the bridge.

I'm not totally sold on Han's death yet, but the scene does build quite a good tense atmosphere, the dialogue wasn't bad and I am intrigued by the circumstances. Murdered by his son, that's pretty heavy. A lot of it will depend on if they can pull off the rest of Kylo's story in 8 and 9. If they can, it will elevate that scene, but they'll have to be careful. Driver seems like he could be interesting carrying that baggage.

I do think it was definitely harder to take with how note-perfectly Ford was in that role for the last time. If he seemed like some strange old guy, you could kind of ignore it, but he was Han Solo. One of my biggest worries was that you wouldn't be able to see the young man in there at all, but you really could in just about every scene. He was effortless, and Kasdan/Abrams (I assume mostly Kasdan) did a fantastic job writing Old Han, and Abrams kept the right energy. All of that was missing from KOTCS.

He did. In KOTCS, he was constantly silly and out of character, delivering lines horribly. Here, he was 100% cool. Maybe he was embarrassed by his performance in KOTCS or J.J. Abrams directed him to not be terrible.

There was a funny Abrams quote in one of the Vanity Fair articles. Something about how he had seen Ford be "growly" in other movies and he didn't want Solo to be doing that.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Han is obviously dead guys. I bet Ford wanted it like this.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

He will return through the magic lightsaber.

[Andy 4,070]

Han is obviously dead guys. I bet Ford wanted it like this.

No doubt. He got his Mouse Money and he's done.

Odd that the entire first Act of the previous enumerated film concerned itself with everyone putting everything at stake to preserve this character's life. It's not quite an ALIEN3 (death of all the characters you rooted for in ALIENS), but damn, the gang worked so hard to free Han from Jabba the Hutt.

He will return through the magic lightsaber.

Or McCoy will, for no reason, randomly inject dead Tribbles with Khan's magic blood and bring Solo back to life.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think I'm screwed because the only one of the new characters I like is Poe. He was in this movie for like 5 minutes total. Hopefully, Mark Hamill's in the next one a lot.

[Andy 4,070]

They owe it to him. It is the story of the Skywalker family. I do hope we get to see him in action, not just in a Ben Kenobi role.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Star Wars is NOT just the story of the Skywalker family!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Max Von Sydow was horribly underused. What a bummer. Those first couple minutes of the movie were awesome.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Kylo Ren killed him for KOTCS. It needed to be done.

Kylo (whispering in Han's ear): This is for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!

Ignites Lightsaber

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I got the shits that a friend spoiled Sydow's death for me and then got defensive and insisted that it wasn't a spoiler and it was just like saying "stormtroopers get killed". Ugh, it's not like that at all! It was such an unnecessary part of his self-described "spoiler-free" review. Yeah he was a minor character, but I didn't know that.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

He should have been a major character.

[Andy 4,070]

Star Wars is NOT just the story of the Skywalker family!

You are correct. It is the Story of LUKE Skywalker.

[mrbellamy 6,270]

It's funny to me to think of Von Sydow and Hamill sitting there completely silent the whole time at the first script reading that they released a picture of. And wasn't Hamill supposedly on the set for like a month? Wtf was he doing, just watching?

I definitely hope they bump Poe's role up. They were lucky getting Oscar Isaac, he's definitely one of the best new actors around judging by the dramatic stuff I've seen with him. True charisma, I have to think they'll make better use of him as they go along. Anxious to see what they do with Luke.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hamill was at the table read, being strong and silent!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

My favorite Luke line in TFA was

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

That was memorable.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It certainly was!

[Score 770]

The weird helicopter shot as the ending didn't sit right with me. 5 of the 6 films end with a static shot of the main characters together. It was pretty disorienting having that much extreme movement from a telephoto lens dissolving into the credits, coupled with the really awkward musical transition (and repeating the already-done 'Binary Sunset' finale from ROTS... why wasn't this Luke's theme instead of the Force theme?)

The musical transition was ok this time! Not as powerful as those in ANH, ESB and AOTC, but it's definitely a much better resolution to the end credits than the one in ROTS. And Luke's theme starts the end credits, so maybe it would have sounded a bit weird in the final scene.

Maybe the Force does not pick at random, and the particular person of Rey is special. If she is Han and Leia's daughter (and then Kylo Ren's sister), as I suspect, it would make sense... after all, she would be the grand-daughter of Anakin Skywalker, not just any random person in the galaxy.

Why does every Force-sensitive person has to be a Skywalker? What the fuck, people? Was Obi-Wan a Skywalker? What about Yoda? Qui-Gon? Palpatine? Why does Rey being Force-sensitive means she HAS to be a Skywalker?

Well, I am not saying that she is Force-sensitive, therefore she is a Skywalker, but the contrary: she is a Skywalker (actually, a Solo/Skywalker), therefore she had a high chance of being Force-sensitive, and she is.

Anyway, it was just my impression... If it's not like this, then I wonder about two strange things:

1) Why was Han Solo flying around EXACTLY close to the planet when Rey lives, among all the planets in the galaxy? Do you think it was just for some reason connected to the Falcon? And by the way, the fact that the Falcon was on Jakku seems to suggest that the planet played some role in Han Solo's story. Come on, Rey is on Jakku, the Falcon is on Jakku inside Rey's village, and Han Solo is orbiting around Jakku... if they are intended to be all coincidences, then the plot would be really weak.

2) When Han, Rey and Finn go to that cantina where they meet Maz Kanata, at some point, when the girl is away, Maz Kanata asks Han "Who is the girl?". And we don't get the answer because the scene changes! If it had been "I don't know" or "Just a random girl that we have picked up on the Falcon", there would have been no point in hiding Han Solo's answer from the audience. This tells me that Han knows something about Rey.

So, I don't believe Rey is just a random person in the galaxy who happens to be Force-sensitive.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

JJ got a lot of criticism with Star Trek Into Darkness for having Alice Eve in her undies for no read whatsoever.

Thankfully there is no attempt made in TFA to "sex up" things in any way.

It's female main character wears practical desert garbs through most of it.

[Faleel 5,326]

JJ got a lot of criticism with Star Trek Into Darkness for having Alice Eve in her undies for no read whatsoever.

Thankfully there is no attempt made in TFA to "sex up" things in any way.

It's female main character wears practical desert garbs through most of it.

I am assuming you meant this to be in the older films thread?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Why?

A friend of mine mentioned that Hamill must have a great agent. Since he got second billing for standing there and saying nothing.

[MistaMusic 2]

I really liked Kylo Ren in this. I feel like his character is how I imagined Anakin Skywalker should have been in the prequels, but you know, with acting and emotion.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yep. I said this on Facebook yesterday. Anakin should never have been the main character anyway. If anyone it should have been Ob-Wan. Trying and failing to train him.

[Quintus 5,399]

Probably. And Hayden Christensen should never have been cast, nor Jake Loyd. And remove George Lucas.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The concept of the Prequels as they are, with the lead character becoming a monster would only have worked if they were written and produced by Vince Gilligan..