Ok, people from the other thread:
@August_West @ @Mr. Conehead @UCFBfan @junglehusky @tzznandrew @CL82 @Jarhead_1775 @Penfield @8893
Finally saw the damn thing. I'm going to post without reading any thing else here first. Overall, good, not great. I have to say that I was mildly disappointed; I didn't leave the theater all jazzed and walking on air. Failed on some really important things imo.
First the good:
Loved the intro. Instant . The original scroll effect, combined with scan down to planet, still holds up.
Harrison Ford killed it once again in the reprise of Han. There's a reason this guy is one of the best actors of his generation. Only bummer is we won't get to see him in future episodes. Although, I did think killing the character off was overall a good move, added a much needed pathos to the film.
Kilo Ren. Loved that actor. Love the getup. Loved the Saber. The voice with helmet on and off. Almost everything about him. Except for his childishness sometimes, but I can let that slide given that he is supposed to be 'underdeveloped' force-wise. He along with Han were my favorite characters. The Han Solo death scene was awesome. Chewie going ballistic after was awesome.
Vader helmet scene was awesome. Ren struggling with himself. I like that. A well done look at his stage of development.
While, prior to watching, I scoffed at the politically correct casting overall, John Boyega as the turncoat stormtrooper was really very good. Great casting/acting there. They wrote his character a little poorly, as he was a bit too bumbling for my taste--especially in the beginning, but he was my third favorite character in the movie (behind Han and Kylo).
Really loved the cinematography throughout. They didn't overdue the CGI, as they did in the first 3 episodes, where it felt like Industrial Light & Magic was testing the limits of a new toy (they were). The ships and the space was a nice mix between the feel of the original trilogy and newer modernized CGI effects. Well done.
There weren't any completely hokey characters. That's a good thing. Some people didn't like the little droid. I was a fan. Nice mix between (too hokey) C3P0--which worked in the 70's--and R2D2. He was funny, but not often obnoxious. Thumbs up little droid dude.
I like most of the Luke scene at the end. It was
almost powerful. Cool helicopter camera technique at the end to the closing credit. The only problem was that the holding out of the saber (for what seemed like 20 minutes) was stilted. It should have ended with Rey holding out the saber for about 5-10 seconds. Luke, eyes watering, raises his hand and uses the force to pull the saber through the air and into his hand. Scene ends with him examining the saber in his outstretched hand, struggling with opposing internal dueling emotions, as the the helicopter camera shot takes us out to darkness. Where do I apply for a scripwriter's position?
And now for the criticism (yes, I realize I have a high standard):
If I had wanted to see the plot of Episode IV, I would have popped Episode IV in the DVD player and not spent the $20 and dragged my arse to the theater. Couldn't they have branched out a little further than that? Is there a modicum of creativity running around in Hollywood these days? It was a homage to Episode IV, and to a lesser extent V and VI. This is what Hollywood churns out left and right these days. Remakes or comic book knock offs. No actual creative writing.
Chewy was more expressive than in IV-VI, but I thought that took away from the character. I don't want to see Chewy smile. That's not his shtick. I also wanted to see him in permanent mourning for Han. Not grinning ear to ear.
The lightsaber scenes were underwhelming, choreography wise. Though the snowy setting for the fight was great though. I think they hit a high point in Episode VII with Darth Maul. Darth Maul was a criminally underused character and should have been present through the first 3 episodes (yes, I know they wanted one villain in each -> stupid).
How the could Finn and Rey hang with Kylo Ren in a lightsaber dual? It makes no sense. Yes, I realize Finn is trained in hand to hand combat (despite working in sanitation and going on exactly ONE (failed) mission prior to that) and that Rey had done some fighting at home to survive. But this is the first time either of them truly fought with the weapon, pitted against a highly trained Jedi (both skillwise and in the force). Two swipes and they'd be split in half.
Carrie Fischer forgot how to act. She seemed borderline dumb at points.
The plan came together real quick. Like lightspeed quick. OK, let's figure out how to blow up this planet on the back of a napkin. Kid, you go destroy the Oscillators. Done. Send out 20 twenty dudes (which inexplicably is the entire fleet of the resistance?) and take it down the main cannon sight unseen. The rest of us will just sit here and twiddle our thumbs, hoping for the best, while the worlds biggest gun is point at our head. It felt more 'real' in Episode IV. Although, the flying and shooting in that scene was great.
The Millennium Falcon does not fly like a tie fighter. It's a 70's muscle car, as opposed to a modern day Porsche 911 Tie fighter. That's part of it's charm. I love the Falcon, and don't like seeing it disrespected like that.
How the did Rey learn to access the force so quickly, and with such control? It took Vader years. Look the greatest Jedi in the known universe (Luke) took a bunch of time, and he was getting tutored by the greatest Jedi ever (Yoda) and one of his protégés (Kenobi).
Wooden Rey has the same face the whole movie. Can't she have any expression other than a look of dumb consternation on her face? I have no idea if she can act or not. The directing and the script didn't let her? Dunno what to think there.
Snoke was interesting, but did they have to make him 100 feet tall? I realize it's a hologram/projection, and they wanted him to appear imposing but 10-15 feet on a raised dais would provide the same affect without feeling so silly.
As mentioned above the politically correct casting having 'strong powerful' young women and ethnically diverse black guy was strained to say the least. Don't try so hard Abrams.
While I get they have to show Rey's expertise in mechanics, she wouldn't come close to knowing the Falcon, and what it could do, compared to Han.
They didn't do a good job explaining the politics in the movie. Felt thrown in.
Tried too hard to intersperse humor throughout the movie. The level of the humor was more in tune with the original trilogy, a plus, but it's pervasiveness took over the film and lessened the impact of the actual funny scenes.
Can we have no more Death Stars or Death Planet super weapons please? It's tired. Think of something else. I'd rather have Lord Dark Helmet and his big schwartz at this point.
And how many times do you see ships just casually flying away from blowing up planets? Yes, I get you want that shot with the ships flying towards you, planet going supernova in the background. But for the love of god, have them jump into hyperspace to add an element of reality. And don't make the explosions trails touch/pass flying ships. If that happened the ships would be instantly incinerated/vaporized. This happens in all movies and it drives me absolutely batsh_t. I though the new Star Wars would be intelligent enough to avoid that.
That's all I have atm. The next movie will tell the tale of the tape in this series. Apologies for length. I'll read the rest of the thread now.
