Review Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Hux

Hux

Member: Rank 6
Is there a way to explain the fact that she just instantly becomes an awesome Jedi without any training or... hell, even knowing that she's a Jedi?

If we assume it isn't just lazy/bad writing and they wanted Rey to GET ON WITH IT rather than waste time showing her training then what theories might explain it?

1) She was trained from birth but after her parents left (Luke, Han... other) she was so traumatised that she completely forgot her training at that very young age (and it suddenly came back to her).

2) She's some kind of uber Jedi (unlike anything we've seen before).

3) She had her memory wiped (similar to theory 1 but more believable perhaps?)

4) Other?
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
It would be nice to think that some variation on one of the above theories will be mentioned in the next two films, but I think the simple fact is that it probably was just lazy and bad writing. If they take note of the complaints and add some explanation like the above, I just hope that they make it sound convincing.
 
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
My theory is that she was hidden on Jakku because she was a youngling who survived the attack by Ren. She simply blocked it out of her memory. It also explains, to me, at least, why Luke almost looks at her with fear when they meet.
 
The Seeker

The Seeker

Member: Rank 6
I thought it was an inferior verson of A New Hope and a waste of the older actors, especially Carrie Fisher. It would have been nice for her to have a memorable part in this movie to go out on. And what happened to her status as general and all the progress they made in the original three films? Why are the villians still around?
 
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I saw a reviewer make a comment about how, while the film really is a retread of A NEW HOPE, it was done in a way that would bring old STAR WARS fans who may have been disenfranchised with the prequels back into the fold. Their going back to old territory was a way of not so much erasing what had happened in those films, but to bring new life into the franchise. Less green screen and fake looking surroundings, no Gungans, no political and financial debates, just a fun film, which is my view on it. I still enjoy it. I have a feeling that, as this new trilogy goes on, we will see more original content and less returning to the well.

As for the First Order, I wish they had used the premise from the Legends novels, which was that the remnants of the Empire still had a hold on a few systems, and that they continued a fight with the New Republic.
 
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
The Seeker said:
It's kind of funny that they're probably better than the official films.
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Eh, some of them. There's a LOT of the Legends stuff that just should not have happened.

Some of the novels are just lackluster, and boring. Then you have authors that seemed to truly believe that everything had to be tied in to everything else, and there were plots everywhere by everybody. In the end, it turned out that the Rebels received the plans to both Death Stars only because the Emperor let it happen. Why? Who knows. It never made sense, but by that point, the continuity was starting to implode. Then you had Luke becoming an apprentice to the cloned Emperor, and...yeah, things got weird. Too many cooks, you know?

And, of course, Uncle George retconned so much of the content of the novels and comics after he and Lucasfilm basically said it was all canon when he made the prequels. Because reasons.
 
Gavin

Gavin

Member: Rank 6
VIP
It's a pretty good movie overall. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But it may turn out being better understood as part of a trilogy rather than a stand alone movie. By which I mean that many of the issues people have with this movie may be resolved by information delivered in later movies.
 
Hux

Hux

Member: Rank 6
They didn't even hide how blatantly they were following the first film.

I guess they looked at how the prequels were (very badly) received and thought... lets just give the fans what they want and what they clearly want is that feeling they got when they saw the originals. So screw it, let's just essentially remake it.

Hugely derivative but yeah, it kinda worked. Entertaining stuff for the most part (though I still didn't like that Rey was an instant Jedi).
 
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
Hux said:
I guess they looked at how the prequels were (very badly) received and thought... lets just give the fans what they want and what they clearly want is that feeling they got when they saw the originals. So screw it, let's just essentially remake it.
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That's pretty much exactly what happened. By all accounts, they realized that in order to continue, they were going to have to regain fans who were put off by the prequels. So, they did, indeed, give them at least what they thought they wanted. Either way, I still love the film.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
ENDURANCE WARNING: This is, incredibly, an hour long, but this guy deconstructs the movie devastatingly, making many very good points.

I put it on, not realising the length, but time soon flew by.

I don't agree with the title, but he makes a very good case for it being the worst STAR WARS movie of all time.

At such a running time, it's not for everybody, but, personally, I think it hasn't helped my appreciation of TFA in that I enjoyed this video more than the movie! :emoji_alien:



 
McQualude

McQualude

Member: Rank 3
The irony of that youtube review is the original Star Wars wasn't an original storyline either. The flaws he points to in 7, are also in 4. Every ship or base built by the Empire is a Rube Goldberg contraption of death, narrow walkways without handrails, bottomless pits, monsters in the garbage compactors, vulnerable shield generators, simple levers with no lockouts, and all of them have a single point of failure where one blast will blow the whole thing to smithereens. And Darth Vader had been a Jedi/Sith for what 30+ years and Luke defeats him a little too easily with only a few weeks of training. The reviewer also makes the mistake of believing that if something isn't explained up front, there is no reasoning behind it. This movie is part of a trilogy, not a standalone experience. That said, the movie does have problems, but that guy is going out of his way to blame ep7 for using common SW tropes.

We watched Ep7 tonight in preparation to go see Ep8 tomorrow. I don't take SW very seriously and I'm just a casual fan so for me it was a fun experience.
 
The Seeker

The Seeker

Member: Rank 6
Doctor Omega said:
That scene......


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They did that because Harrison Ford, because he’s stupid, doesn’t like playing Han Solo because he doesn’t think he’s a likable character, so he’s been asking them to kill him off for a long time. But because The Force Awakens is a cheap remake of A New Hope that doesn’t use the older characters in any meaningful way, they have to have him die like Obi Wan Kenobi, and it doesn’t feel authentic. Why would Kylo Ren want to kill his father? That wasn’t properly explained in The Last Jedi either.
 
Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I really haven't taken to this Disney trilogy at all. Just cynically executed and badly planned storytelling, imo.

I think time will be kind to the original trilogy and even the prequel trilogy, which at least created a new canvas of places and planets with each movie.

But I think time will be less kind to the triple-headed and clumsy marketing exercise that are parts VII, VIII and IX, with their copycat planets, copycat storytelling and copycat situations - all cribbed from the original trilogy.
 
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