Star Wars: The Nerds Awaken [SPOILERS WITHIN]
 

Yes, spoilers!! Turn back now if you don't want SPOILERS!

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OK, first off, I enjoyed the movie... but where was the original content?

A lovable droid, in the desert, carrying top secret plans(map).
An ultimate weapon, destroyed at the end.
A mission to disable the shield generator.
Young protagonist with unknown force ability.

I can deal with the Han Solo closure, but I thought the Ben Solo relationship could have been avoided. I mean, for a franchise that is famous for the 'I am your Father' reveal, why did they decide to play that card again?

...and where was the music? I found the soundtrack was very drowned out in the background.

Right, now that we've got that out of the way :lol:

First off, I thought that on its own merits as a standalone movie it was phenomenal. It had all the hallmarks of a Star Wars movie. Great visuals, actions, pacing, the mythology. They were all there. It was quite entertaining in its own right.

Now, if I may put on my uberfan critics hat..

I felt that it was more like a reboot of Episide IV than a sequal to Episode VI. I've heard this sentiment from a lot of other fans. I guess they decided to play it safe and just recycled all the plot, theme and base story of Episode IV. This is unfortunate (for an uberfan like me), as I was hoping for a somewhat original story. Like most, I didn't like Episode I either, but at least it had somewhat of an original story/theme/plot (within the context of the Star Wars Universe of course). Actually, I felt All Episodes I through VI where pretty original despite their faults (bad acting, dialogue, etc). Episode VII unfortunately didn't feel at all original. You can take the entire script of Episode IV and translate it to Episode VII by just changing genders, and inverting a few themes. Even the ending where they lead into Episode VIII felt like we were just about to watch Episode V all over again, and revisiting all of those themes and plots.

:lol: uh, yup. +1 :lol:

Oh, and on your note about the music, yes! That hadn't occurred to me until you just mentioned it. That was the other lacking element that I couldn't quite put my finger on until you mentioned it now. I was totally missing the blaring music that pushed the scenes of the original movies. The music/soundtrack was much much more subdued in comparison. I hardly felt that the new Stormtroopers were marching at all, unlike the original movies where you knew they were marching with that intense imperial march theme.

Exactly! I heard a few of the original themes throughout the film, but for the life of me I couldn't hear one new theme at all. Lucas always said that the music was half the film (which, despite their faults, was successful in Ep I - III).

Surprisingly, after watching EP VII last night and thinking about it... I have to say I have a much greater appreciation for I -III.

Yes! I actually like episode 2&3. But as you said, I definitely appreciate them more now :lol:

I dunno, aside from the obvious recycling, maybe we just miss the Lucas feel of Star Wars. This definitely didn't feel Lucasy, which might be why so many people loved it :-)

I think that might be right. It felt like a Star Wars film, just lacking story wise.

So, what did we like about the film? I thought the humor was good and not overwhelming. BB8 was pure awesomeness, I was in love with him after only a few minutes. Finn seemed to be an interesting character, looking forward to seeing his development... and Rey was interesting. Seems she has a lot of self discovering to do.

Oh... and I though Supreme Leader Snoke was tres cool.

I definitely liked the character department of the film. BB-8, Rey, Fin, I found them all quite interesting and do want to learn more about them. Even Kylo, despite his underlying theme also recycled. He's like some raging unstable teenaged sociopath emo. :lol:

I think that's where this movie could have been perfection. If you married the care and attention placed on the characters and their acting with an original story/plot within the Star Wars mythology.

I guess they kinda chickened out and decided to play it safe.

Oh and you can't say a thing against the visuals. They were epic and stunning, even if they were also recycled :lol: seriously, another plant destroying super orb weapon?! Really?! LOL

There were so many references to the original movies that I was thoroughly entertained by it all Especially when they were deciding what to do with Captain Phasma

The special effects where awesome and I don't know if any of you noticed but there were some interesting cameos that I found surprising look at the village, market at Jakku

I found that the new leads were great choices both Rey and Finn were solid Kylo I'm somewhat on the fence with him

Closing the Hans Solo story line not overly struck on the father son thing but at least there is closure to that

Waiting on the Star Wars stand alone that will be coming out in 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars story and there is works in place for origins story on Hans and Chewie. Also 3 more stand alone so have been announced for the next 4 years my geek meter is rising

I think the Rogue One film could be very good, as long as they stay away from known characters, which I'm pretty sure is the plan.

I'm somewhat concerned about the Han Solo film. I just cant seem to see how they can recast Ford. He is that character. Period.

Totally agreed. I came away dissapointed after watching it. I liked Star Wars 1 better.

Ya, the uber Star Wars fanatic in me was a bit disappointed but the movie/sci fi fan (I LOVE watching movies) in me was quite satisfied with the entertainment.

Agreed with pretty much everything stated so far.

Movie was great as a stand alone but there was too much reused. We were joking about the nature of the next films death weapon... FIRE THE DEATH BLACKHOLE!! Better yet FIRE THE DEATH GALAXY!

Also the whole "oh no the death planet is charging, we have like 15 minutes to mount an offensive travel across the galaxy find the 15 meter hole in the field generator and blow up the planet thing" was a tad... plot holey.

Plot hole?! I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how Rey could wield the Force with no training whatsoever. Not even so much as a mentor like Luke had in Ep. IV. And with no training she was able to stand her ground and beat Kylo even though he was officially trained by both Luke and Snokes ?! Anyway, whatevs, it's Stsr Wars! Pew-Pew!

Rey using the Force without training was no big deal... Rey using the Force without training... WAS NOOoo big deal *waves hands in the air a few times*.

Pretty stoked they brought back Porkins though haha.

Meh, Rey using the force without any training was really no big deal.

Agree about the lack of an original story. The kid in me totally ignored the nit-picky adult part of me and enjoyed the hell out of this movie. I seriously came out thinking it was the greatest thing ever. I never saw the originals in theatre so this (for me) was finally seeing a great star wars movie on the big screen.

I couldn't believe how quickly i latched onto the new characters. they've got a lot of developing to do but that's ok. I loved Kylo Ren and I think it's neat we get to see his evil potential but know that he's still a total noob and will grow. Who knows maybe Rey had training as a kid and was made to forget. Or maybe her potential is so great she has an advantage. Either way, she's obviously a skilled combatant and the lightsaber is just a tool like her staff she kicked ass with already.

Seeing it again with work on the 30th and my wife has also said she wants to go back for a date night.

Finally allowed myself to read this thread as I joined the 98% last night finally.

I give this film a "perfect 5/7". :lol: (Hopefully someone will get that)

Overall, liked it .. there were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way (I liked Domhnall Gleeson in Ex Machina ... watching General Hux however felt like watching a 12 year old pretend to act like Hitler or something. There was one scene where he was walking in the background on a catwalk and it was just ... ridiculously overacted.)

Also I think you guys nailed it with the soundtrack observation.

Really enjoyed the chemistry with Rey, Finn and Poe. And Finn's story, I really liked how he sort of awoke with some conscience and was like "Eff this, I'm outta here".

Saw it in 3D last night. Cool effects, but I thought the 3D may have been distracting. Anyone seen both 2D and 3D?

It may have been a re-hash of the plot somewhat, but I still say it's the best Star Wars yet!

As someone who saw the original films in the theater as they came out, seeing Han, Leia and Luke now makes me feel.... old! A little disturbing :sad:

3D is awful. The polarization filter in front of the projector blocks half of the projected light, then half of the light reflected by the silver screen (if the cinema is even using the required RealD silver screen) is filtered away by the polarized glasses. This results in less than 25% of the projected light reaching the eyes of the viewer. Add to this the fact that I'm wearing 3D glasses over my glasses and it's also a pain in the ass.

The wife and I watch a lot of movies, and the only one I can remember enjoying in 3D was Avatar. Everything thing else just seems like a gimmick... even Star Wars in 3D isn't required.

I'm going again on Wednesday to watch it for a second time... in good old glorious 2D. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy it more.

Gimmick, that's the word! Though it was cool to have the star destroyer almost hit me in the face. It's been decades since I watched a 3D movie, I thought it might have gotten better.

BTW, it's good to see some comedy back in the film. Before we went to The Force Awakens we watched the other films in the Machete order. 2 and 3 were just way too dark and serious.

I did have a few chuckles in the film. There were a few scenes though where it seemed I was the only one in the theatre laughing. I dunno, maybe everyone else just don't have a sense a humour. Weirdos.

I've actually never been big on the 3d thing either. In movies where I've seen both 2d and 3d versions, I've never felt I was missing out on the 2d version. And yeah, the glasses over glasses thing is something I too have to deal with and it's just not really ideal.

The 3d version of Avatar gave me a wicked headache. I'm not sure if it was something to do with the refresh rate or colour oversaturation or whatever, it was just harsh to watch like that.

My kids seem to enjoy 3d, so unfortunately the marketing hype works on them. Heck, I had to take my kids to see the 3d version of Peanuts. I'm sorry but Charlie Brown is just not something that needs to be in 3d. Good grief!!!!!!!1111!!

The more I think about the new movie the more I feel like they should have jumped ahead and called The Force Awakens, Episode 10 instead. I feel like I need to watch Episodes 7, 8 & 9 as prequels to the Force Awakens to find out how Kylo got to where he is. :lol:

Once 8 and 9 are done, then they will make the prequels for them.

That's not possible! The prequels to Episode 7,8&9 are Episodes 4,5 & 6 !

Nope. 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3.

:surprise:

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Han FKN Solo...

REALLY?????

Still haven't seen it yet, sounds like 2D would be best! And remember guys this is in a galaxy far far away and supposed to be weird. The music and the effects are what should be enjoyed the most, not the story line. IMO!

We finally went to see it last night. A little disappointing actually, but not surprising. Typical Hollywood action movie filled with unending hand to hand combat and shooting with scifi versions of hand guns and machine guns. Very slow moving, simple plot, with very shallow character development. Getting tired of the Mad Max type of movies... But I guess that is what American culture is about these days...

Just curious, were you expecting there not to be any hand to hand combat, no shooting with laser guns and an elaborate plot ? :lol:

Perhaps Walter was expecting more Senate debates, trade blockades and talk about medicholians?

Even in the senate there were laser guns and laser swords with hand(ish) to hand combat. :razz:

Midichlorians, btw.

No, but they are just overdoing it too much these days. And no I didn't like the later political Star Trek ones either. But I did like the old sci fi stuff incl the original Star Trek series and movies. It's just that the current "action" movies are so shallow.

I used to like Battlestar Gallactica, remember that? Yeah, there was always some shooting and fist fights, but they were more than that, had interesting characters (incl villains) and appealed to my imagination, too. The older Star Wars movies had that, too.

Maybe I am just getting old...

Auto-correct. Yup, I'm going with that.

You're only old if you use to watch 'Space 1999' on TV. :wink:

The Force Awakens just became the largest grossing domestic film of all time. I wonder if that speaks to the production value or the sheepishness of today's society?

I totally agree with you and can relate to everything you mentioned here. Including the part about getting old.