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Star Wars VII - Open spoilers

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Just seen it. Don't have any special connection to star wars, used to watch VHS of the original trilogy when I was little because they had shooting in them but they were Us so I was allowed to watch them. I liked them.

Wasnt prepared for the sight of X wings flying across water to make me so happy I nearly stood up and started bellowing "STAR WARS! STAAAR WAAARS!"

I rather enjoyed it. Too many stupid "Hey, remember 40 years ago? Hahah! That was good" jokes though. They kind of grated. And C3PO can fuck off too, with or without his big boss arm.

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I can't believe they just repeated the X-Wing Death Star bit, flying through the canyon of technology. What a dumb moment.

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I can't believe they just repeated the X-Wing Death Star bit, flying through the canyon of technology. What a dumb moment.

So silly. Guys it's this again but it's alright because it's bloody MASSIVE this time

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The tracking shot where Poe does a semicircle around Finn's point of reference just X-Winging the hell out of all the Empire ships and ground troops was absolutely incredible. That was maybe my favorite shot of the movie.

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Went to see this again yesterday. Still want them to flesh out the politics a bit and limit the use of OT characters to a bare minimum.

 

I don't like Rian Johnson's movies, so I'm a bit anxious to see what happens here. Hopefully Larry Kasdan, Kathleen Kennedy and JJ are the brain trust and Johnson's just getting to do a first pass at the basic arc of the movie.

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If Disney is going to churn out Star Wars movies ad infinitum, then it would be great if they allowed some weird genre films to be made. You know, like a Star Wars neo-noir or a political thriller or whatever. You know, something that isn't a summer blockbuster where the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

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Anyone think the stormtrooper with the lightsaber proof hammer thing was dumb? I thought it was dumb, mostly because it was like they had an idea and didn't know what to do with it so they threw it in and didn't do anything with it.

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I thought it was cool but I was hoping for more. Like maybe even just more elite specialised storm troopers.

I'm still pretty bummed that Phasma didn't get to do anything. I'm ready to say her character was dumb for the same reasons. I wanted way more screen time of her being badass.

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The tracking shot where Poe does a semicircle around Finn's point of reference just X-Winging the hell out of all the Empire ships and ground troops was absolutely incredible. That was maybe my favorite shot of the movie.

 

Yaasss! :tup: I became 5 years old during that shot! So magnificent!

 

Nobody's mentioned it yet, but I loved that super weird shot of Chewie getting first aid from one of the resistance.. nurses, I guess? It was so weird and out of place and felt like something out of an 80's comedy or something. I laughed a lot, mostly because it was so hammy. In general, I was always really happy when they included incidental, weird stuff like that and the super stiff bird with the giant beak in the first half. Those things made the movie feel more.. naive; Instead of a cynical retread. I don't know.

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Seeing it again last night, it was easy to identify and label all of the influences. Not just the spoken references but also the architectural/design choices. For example, Starkiller base obviously takes the glossy blacks of the Death Star interior and echoes the escape in A New Hope. But the architecture where Han confronts Kylo strongly recalls the Cloud City core from Empire Strikes Back. As Twig mentioned, you've got the (superfluous) trench run copy, the binary sunset-alike, etc, etc.

 

It felt yesterday very much like a greatest hits mashup, but with enough competence, wit and brand-new elements to be successful on its own. I really appreciate the juggling act Abrams has pulled off, much in the same way his first Star Trek successfully (and satisfyingly) covered A LOT of ground to get back to square one, though there are some fundamental problems with his depiction of Trek - a universe that uses its characters to explore ideas rather than relationships. He's much better suited to Wars. Here he's managed to dispel the stodge of the prequels and reinstate the spirit of the originals. He's given Han a great last hurrah and a worthy send-off that will resonate in the sequels. And he's introduced a set of new and INTERESTING characters with their own questions and issues. And it's ENTERTAINING!

 

My favourite line has got to be Han's response when Finn plans to improvise and 'use the force' - "That's not how the force works!"

Boom: empire magazines spoiler podcast with Kasdan

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/empire-podcast-star-wars-7-spoiler-special-lawrence-kasdan/

These are always fantastic, I'll listen to this in the morning methinks

Edit: ah the interview was really short, still good though.

Thanks for that. The Kasdan interview is great and I liked the discussion of how Han takes on the Obi-Wan role here and how his death echoes both Kenobi's and Vader's (sacrificing himself for his son).

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Nobody's mentioned it yet, but I loved that super weird shot of Chewie getting first aid from one of the resistance.. nurses, I guess? It was so weird and out of place and felt like something out of an 80's comedy or something.

 

I generally cheer at everything 80s I see in movies, but I liked that scene especially. I went into the theatre hoping for a lot of "do something funny with the old characters, let them be themselves". I guess we've seen Chewie fleshed out more than ever before. Not just through the Han/Chewie dynamics (which I found brilliantly emulated by Ford and Mayhew) but also on his own. And sure, those can be funny scenes. Chewie has always been a good bit comic relief.

 

It's definitely not my 'favorite' scene but for some reason the moment I laughed hardest at was BB-8 giving thumbs up.

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I pretty much loved it. I was surprised by how quickly the film just won me over. I have very few criticisms apart from it being too long which was very hard on my bladder. Apart from that, there's stuff that is odd, such as how it mirrors Ep IV and how dumb it is that there is yet another Deathstar considering the previous episode also had one. But it was great, on par with the original trilogy IMO and better than Ep VI. Some stuff I thought was really good, such as how the Stormtroopers were handled and how the baddies talked to each other on the command decks etc. I don't really care that Phasma was as underutilized as Boba Fett. It wouldn't have shown as much if they hadn't mentioned her (dumb) name. Not as dumb as Snookie, though.

 

Anyway, loved it. Didn't think Abrams had it in him.

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My spoilery thoughts from one viewing almost a week ago (midnight on opening day). It seems so rich and rewatchable so I'm really looking forward to catching it again soon:
 
The crawl was terrific. I was reeling from the nostalgic rush of seeing those titles on the big screen once more, and then...

"Luke Skywalker has vanished."

- wow!  In one short sentence the film grabbed me and I felt that I was in safe hands. Compare that to the pedantic Episode I crawl about disputed trade routes to outlying star systems. I don't mean to get into prequel-bashing here, but I do suspect the very first dialogue of the film being

"This will begin to make things right"

was a sly dig at the myriad embarassments of I-III.

 
I honestly thought Han and Chewie would barely be in the film, maybe having a couple of scenes to please the fans, but in the end they turned up early and really earned their place. Ford was not phoning it in (like he arguably was even in ROTJ), but really brought Han back, and there are so many great Chewie moments to relish.
 
I loved Finn and Rey, they needed to be great together to carry the next couple of films and they are. Both actors are great discoveries. Poe's character probably suffered for Han's prominence in this story, but I thought Oscar Isaac did a brilliant job in the little screen time he had, so hopefully Poe will have more to do in VIII and IX.

The long shot, which Badfinger and BigJKO already mentioned, of Poe in his X-Wing taking out all those TIE fighters above Maz's palace

was absolutely outstanding. I also liked him

trolling Kylo Ren during the interrogation ("Who talks first, you or me?", taking the piss out of his mask, etc.).

 
...which brings me to the humour! This really has a good claim to being the funniest Star Wars film (if not it's still Empire), which is such a relief, as that's a big part of Star Wars for me. The interplay between all the new characters (including BB-8!), and even bits like those

stormtroopers who carefully back away from Kylo's console-smashing tantrum

really delivered on this.


Looking forward to a rewatch as there are several important plot things I need to process more, particularly that

amazing lightsaber vision (I love that they got Frank Oz and Ewan McGregor plus an old clip of Alec Guinness for that).

I possibly shut my eyes (didn't quite doze off) for several seconds during

General Hux's big Nazi moment

, of all places! Looking forward to taking it all in again when I'm a little more awake.

I do have some criticisms, some of them do with the echoes of Episode IV, although I really didn't feel that as strongly as others. The big story problem for me is this:

Why did R2-D2 wait until the very end to wake up and show them the rest of the map (besides his amazing sense for narrative structure)? What changed for him? Did I miss something? I loved the ending, but I really think they should have explained that better, even if it was just BB-8 tinkering with his circuits to jolt him back to life.

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Pedant Question about Starkiller wotsit - could it move? It used half the power of the sun and fired at the Hosnian system. Fine. Then soaked up the rest to fire at the resistance but they blew it up and it formed a new star. Fine. But if they had fired after 'killing' the star, would they not be screwed and have to relocate? Seems like a massive expense for a 2-shot weapon.

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I suppose it would have to move if it eats stars for ammo. I got the sense that it was a single shot.

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Eh maybe they were just going for the whole Total Victory strategy.

All of the other options re: moving it just feel too silly. (Then again it is Star Wars)

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Anyone think the stormtrooper with the lightsaber proof hammer thing was dumb? I thought it was dumb, mostly because it was like they had an idea and didn't know what to do with it so they threw it in and didn't do anything with it.

Should've given that contraption to the Captain storm trooper leader lady. Then at least shed have something to do.

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@Simon: I think R2 woke up when Rey walked in.

 

I wonder if they hint at that, I'll watch out for how it's edited next time. The image of Luke's metal hand on R2 seen in the vision would support your theory, but...how does R2 recognise Rey? Not sure I'm ready for the idea that R2 is Force-sensitive - the old EU does have a precedent for a Force-sensitive droid and it is totally bonkers.

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So what do you guys think Phasma's job was? From the start I thought she was the political officer, making sure the Stormtroopers are proper believers.

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I feel like it's implied that R2-D2 woke up when Rey got there. You'd think if the map piece was the key it would have tripped their first time there.

 

So what do you guys think Phasma's job was? From the start I thought she was the political officer, making sure the Stormtroopers are proper believers.

 

She seemed pretty straightforward as the stormtrooper commander for me. It seems eminently reasonable that her actions are limited in the movie. The commander isn't leading every detachment of troops on skirmishes. By having her be believable though, that limits her role in the movie.

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I feel like it's implied that R2-D2 woke up when Rey got there. You'd think if the map piece was the key it would have tripped their first time there.

I think I read an interview with JJ where he said that he imagined it as BB-8 telling R2 he had the map fragment and R2 being slow to boot, then admitting that it happened that way because it worked best in the movie and there wasn't a good explanation for it.

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So I watched it again yesterday and liked it so much more the second time. Still some classic JJ Abrams problems, but the movie overall is very well done. Stupidly happy for all the little girls who are watching this now and looking up to Rey.

 

I walked out of the movie last weekend and saw so many little girls dressed as Leia (70s Cinnabon Leia) who were clearly super impressed by Rey and wanted to be HER next time. Almost brought me to tears (of joy!)

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I walked out of the movie last weekend and saw so many little girls dressed as Leia (70s Cinnabon Leia) who were clearly super impressed by Rey and wanted to be HER next time. Almost brought me to tears (of joy!)

Continue crying.

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Saw it yesterday and was mostly pleased.  I'm too lazy to read the last few pages I've been avoiding so I'm likely repeating a bunch of stuff but here's my thoughts.  (I assume at this point we're not spoiler tagging)

 

-I really can't take these villains seriously.  Unmasked Kylo and Supreme Leader Snoke just made me want to laugh (Supreme Leader?  Seriously?).  The general guy was completely uninteresting to me.  And their weapon was so ridiculous.  I imagine it took a significant amount of the Empire's resources to build the Death Star (so much that they were planning it before the Empire even existed) and yet the First Order far outdid them.  Also I kept thinking that removing/moving a star would seriously mess up that system's gravity.

 

-Finn and Rey were pretty great.  Finn having some present day Earth-like mannerisms was a bit jarring at times but overall I enjoyed when he was onscreen.  I enjoyed that he's kind of incompetent when compared to Rey.  One thing that bugged me about him was that after he's nearly killed by Kylo, you find out he's alive because of some throwaway dialog along the lines of "we got a pulse" from some medics at the Resistance base.

 

-I dug Rey being extremely capable but I think they went a bit too far with it.  I really didn't buy her sudden ability to use the Jedi mind trick and kicking of Kylo's ass.  The guy pulled info from people's heads, stopped a blaster shot in mid air with the Force, and destroyed Luke's new Jedi Order.  Some of those things Vader didn't do and he was supposedly conceived by the Force itself.  To go from that to getting your butt whipped by a completely untrained Force user who basically discovered her powers that day really undermined him.  Also the planet splitting them apart right when she could have finished him off was just dumb.  Apart from that stuff I liked her character though.

 

-The movie relies a little too much on nostalgia.  I can understand callbacks and references to the other movies, but I feel like it's basically Episode IV with a different director

 

-In all the time that Han and Chewie were together, did he not use Chewie's bowcaster?  I can't believe that he's never fired it before.

 

-I still don't like C-3PO.  BB-8 was cute though.  I especially liked the part where Rey is going down some stairs toward's Luke's lightsaber and BB-8 stops and looks down at every step before carefully rolling forward as it follows her.

 

Despite my complaints I still thought it was pretty fun.  Probably not as enjoyable as the Original Trilogy but certainly better than the prequels.

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