Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Penfield, post: 1513247, member: 231"] What I loved: Rey & Finn - Just pure chemistry between the two. Great casting and I can see bright futures for both actors. Over the 2+ hours I genuinely came to care about the characters - more than I expected going into it. They are going to carry this franchise going forward and I can't wait to see what happens to them next. In some ways I am more exited to see them again than seeing Luke in the next movie. The moments of pure joy and awe - Stuff like the first Tie Fighter chase was just plain fun to watch. Seeing Rey scavenge in a downed Star Destroyer and living out of an old AT-AT walker. The dog fights. Kylo Ren stopping the lazer blast w/ the force. Comedy - most of it was spot on. Maybe there were a couple moments where they could have dialed it back a bit, but it made the movie feel like Star Wars and not Space Balls. C-3P0's introduction was just about the best thing I could have imagined. Cut the tension perfectly. The comedy was all about timing and banter instead of fart jokes like the prequels. BB-8 giving Finn "thumbs up". Chewie flirting with his nurse. Han telling Finn "thats not how the force works". All good stuff. Kylo Ren - I think he is going to make a very interesting villain. I like that he is raw and flies off the handle. Basically what Anakin should have been in the prequels. The sets and costumes - You could tell the people that made this movie poured every ounce of their being into making the world feel real. They truly cared and I have no doubt the franchise is in great hands. Overall it was just a fun ride. It had everything the prequels were missing. My Gripes and my morning after thoughts: The story was a little too similar to A New Hope. It didn't ruin anything, but I would have enjoyed a little something different. My brother did make a good point after the movie though -Didn't you expect that one day they would re-make Star Wars? Yup. Well, wasn't it better this way than actually re-making the first movie? OK, I can live w/ that. How are they going to follow up what was essentially the Death Star 3 that was able to take out a couple planets at one time? And did the First Order really destroy Coruscant? It was kinda like "Well that just happened". Why does Poe tell Finn right off the bat that he has a map to find Luke Skywalker? Maybe he should have gotten to know the former storm trooper a little better before giving up his secret mission?? I think that if Rey and Finn had no idea why they needed to get BB-8 back to the Resistance but just knew they had to do it - wouldn't have taken anything away from the story and would have added a little surprise for the characters. This also could have fixed the whole R2-D2 "waking up" at the end thing. Why does Finn know anything about Han Solo & Luke Skywalker. Shouldn't his character essentially be a brainwashed soldier that was told how evil the Rebels & Resistance were his entire life? Wouldn't Kylo Ren not want his troops to know who Han Solo is? I feel like Finn was supposed to be the audiences window into the world and they could have used the character a little better to explain things - especially to non-fans. Overall not a big deal though. My biggest gripe - They should have revealed Kylo Ren's origins later on in the movie. I think the Han and Leia scene still could have worked with out being so upfront about it. Leia (side note - Carrie Fisher partied hard didn't she?) could have basically just said "If you find him please bring him back". The back story could have come during the confrontation between Han and Kylo. I think it would have just added a lot more tension to the scene. Maybe it's because I had heard rumors, but I thought it was very obvious what was about to happen to Han. I wanted it to feel like I got punched in the stomach, but it didn't. I think JJ really missed something here w/ the set up. It was right for the story, but there could have been a little more feels to it. I also probably would have left the story of Kylo betraying Luke for the second movie. Would have made for much more of an "Ahhhh that makes sense" sort of thing. I will chalk up the last 3 points to the fact that regardless of who people want to think the target audience is, that Star Wars needs to be appealing to children. If it isn't, then I don't think it's Star Wars. Maybe JJ and Kasdan made some of the decisions they did because of this. Final Gripe - Rey learned how to use the force pretty quickly & powerfully. Luke couldn't use the whole mind control trick until ROTJ. How can Finn use a lightsaber, let alone to battle a trained force user? Maybe the next two movies will shed some light on this stuff, but I probably would have held off a little bit that's all. Reading this it might seem like there was more that I disliked than liked, but I wouldn't say that. I would give the move a solid B, and I can honestly say I cant wait to see what happens next. When the movie ended I was ready to watch #2 immediately and in my book that means it was a win. The cast was awesome, and JJ really nailed the feel of Star Wars. I think this is a movie that will grow on me as opposed to me distancing myself from - like the prequels. I was a pretty big Star Wars nerd as a kid - like read a bunch of those terrible books kinda fan, but after watching Revenge of the Sith, I was ready to move on from Star Wars and "kids stuff". The prequels killed my fandom, but this movie has sucked me right back in. What do I expect next: I think that we are supposed to see Kylo and Rey as somewhat equal in their powers, even though Kylo has some prior training. Movie 2 - Kylo will go off to finish his training with Supreme Leader Snoke. Rey trains as a Jedi with Luke, and we will find out her backstory. Movie 3 - Sith vs Jedi again. Cant Wait. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach