Ep7 Reviews (Spoilers)

[Thanas]

Let's hope they be rather like Bryan Singer's X-men movies instead of the other marvel crap.

[Galvatron]

I know. Who wants another Iron Man or Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy?

[K. A. Pital]

I personally enjoyed a lot of TPM tracks - Duel of the Fates, The Droid Invasion, The Flag Parade, Anakin's theme, Shmi's theme, Qui-Gon's Funeral. AotC had the love theme, mentioned already, as well as nice development of some TPM themes, and RotS was simply quite on par with OT films themselves, I can name a lot of tracks without even looking - Battle of the Heroes, Grievous' theme, Palpatine's Teachings, Padme's Ruminations etc.

I saw this film and I went out completely blank. I did not whistle any theme to myself. Except the scroll theme. It felt wrong, but I doubt that was my fault. The rebel theme was the only thing that kind of stuck in my head, but the rest was so forgettable not even funny.

As an aside, tried to love the film, I really did. The first part was cool, I enjoyed the new heroes and even their meet-up with the old ones, but the fake Emperor plus fake Vader plus the attack on the Death Star mark III, plus the obviously lame scriptwriting ("there must be a flaw in this station", "lower the shields - sure, why not!" and finally R2 waking up right after the battle finishes - what, he couldn't come out of hibernation earlier? ) just ruined it for me. I think there is still hope for the other films, somehow I feel JJ Abrams is to blame for this copy filming.

[Channel72]

I personally enjoyed a lot of TPM tracks - Duel of the Fates, The Droid Invasion, The Flag Parade, Anakin's theme, Shmi's theme, Qui-Gon's Funeral. AotC had the love theme, mentioned already, as well as nice development of some TPM themes, and RotS was simply quite on par with OT films themselves, I can name a lot of tracks without even looking - Battle of the Heroes, Grievous' theme, Palpatine's Teachings, Padme's Ruminations etc.

I saw this film and I went out completely blank. I did not whistle any theme to myself. Except the scroll theme. It felt wrong, but I doubt that was my fault. The rebel theme was the only thing that kind of stuck in my head, but the rest was so forgettable not even funny.

As an aside, tried to love the film, I really did. The first part was cool, I enjoyed the new heroes and even their meet-up with the old ones, but the fake Emperor plus fake Vader plus the attack on the Death Star mark III, plus the obviously lame scriptwriting ("there must be a flaw in this station", "lower the shields - sure, why not!" and finally R2 waking up right after the battle finishes - what, he couldn't come out of hibernation earlier? ) just ruined it for me. I think there is still hope for the other films, somehow I feel JJ Abrams is to blame for this copy filming.

Even for people who didn't like the film, I think the main cast is at least very enjoyable, which means there's plenty of potential for further adventures with this cast. My main concern going into this film was that the main cast would suck, which would mean that I'd probably lose interest in seeing 8 and 9. (It's basically the reason I lost interest in Star Trek.) Fortunately, the main cast actually totally exceeded my expectations - they were all great.

As for the themes, yeah, TFA unfortunately didn't have any standout new music. (The low-key whimsical music they play while Rey is scavenging is kind of nice, however.) The best themes in the PT were (obviously) Duel of the Fates, and Padme's theme. It's just obnoxious how both of these amazing scores are diminished via association with the actual scenes they appear in. I recently tried rewatching TPM, and I was excited about the "Darth Maul/Duel of the Fates" lightsaber battle at the end - except when I actually watched it, I was constantly fucking distracted by how they keep cutting away to that worthless cartoon Gungan/droid battle which is mostly just slapstick. Padme's theme in AOTC is great too, and reminds me of classic stuff like Lawrence of Arabia - but again, it is played over some of the worst dialogue in movie history, unfortunately. At least the theme they play at the end of ROTS, when everything goes to shit and the Republic falls, is very moving and powerful.

I think there is still hope for the other films, somehow I feel JJ Abrams is to blame for this copy filming.

JJ is a mediocre director, and his Star Trek films suck. The only thing he's done that I enjoyed was "Super 8", and I only liked the first 30 minutes of it. I feel as though this film succeeded despite JJ, rather than because of him. I think a lot of it had to do with Kasdan and the Lucasfilm people - but some of the derivative aspects, like blowing up Death Star 3, was probably something the suits at Disney demanded.

[Galvatron]

I credit JJ with at least getting lively performances from his actors.

[Grumman]

I just want to take a moment to return to how incredibly stupid the Starkiller is as a concept. Draining a little bit of energy from a star to power the main weapon would be fine, and a bit of a shout out to the Star Forge from KOTOR. But sucking it dry? It should not be physically possible to fail this hard at building a superweapon. It's like grinding entire tree trunks down to make individual toothpicks. If you've got the capacity to manipulate the entire lifetime energy output of a star then you should not be capable of needing that much energy to destroy a planet or five - you'd be more likely to destroy the planet by accident before you'd gathered a fraction of the energy necessary to kill the star.

[K. A. Pital]

I rewatched all Star Wars films prior to seeing the latest one. Starting from TPM and going in the chronological direction as Lucas thought people would do after 2005. Some films clearly stood out as stronger and better: RotS and ESB were obviously quite superior to the other parts of their respective trilogies.

TFA seemed a much better film at the beginning than it turned out to be at the end. I thought to myself, could this be connected to the fact that JJ and Kasdan removed the original scriptwriter halfway through the process and either rewrote the whole thing or finished his script themselves? I have very few ideas on how else could this go so wrong.

TFA reminded me of Dark Empire - that EU turd of a comic where Palpatine ressurects himself and makes Luke go to the dark side. Except that during TFA when they showed "Snoke", I thought to myself: "Really, they could improve the film by actually ressurecting old bad Palpy..."

[Channel72]

I'm hoping Snoke doesn't actually appear like that crappy CGI hologram when we see him in person. Even the hologram probably should have been something more mysterious, like a hooded figure or whatever.

[Galvatron]

It wouldn't surprise me if "Snoke" turns out to be as fake as the Wizard of Oz.

[Borgholio]

It's Jar Jar behind the curtain.

[The Romulan Republic]

One nice thing I'll say about this film is that I do appreciate the apparent attempt to do something different with Kylo Ren. He's not a terribly imposing villain, with his petty tantrums and getting his ass handed to him by a pair of newbies, but I feel like that's kind of the point. He's a poser, trying to live up to a real Sith Lord, tormented by insecurity, and he knows it. Its potentially a very interesting take. The only problem is that its not terribly well-developed (aside from that one scene with Han), and so we're largely left with an unimposing villain.

They develop it somewhat in the scene where he's alone talking to himself (or to Darth Vader's mask). But yeah, I agree he's an interesting villain. I'm glad they went with "insecure psychopath" rather than another "fully competent, evil Sith Lord" like Vader, because Vader is really just too awesome to try to compete with, so there's no sense in even trying. At least, I think Ren is a better villain than any of the PT villains, (unless you count Sidious), mainly because of his inner conflict and the fact that he actually struggles to be evil. That's a pretty unique take on a Star Wars villain.

Kylo Ren is an interesting premise weakly executed, in my opinion. He needed more and better development. I will say that I did not find Adam Driver terribly impressive, for some reason. Except for that scene with Han, which was the strongest Ren scene in the film.

Powerwise, he's a bit odd. He pulls some pretty impressive tricks including some stuff we've never seen before (or at least not in the films- I can't speak for the entirety of the EU). But he doesn't seem particularly skilled in other areas.

Plus I just think he looks and sounds cool when he wears the mask. It's actually kind of cool that when he takes the mask off, there's suddenly this "Wizard of Oz" moment where he ceases to appear threatening. (Some critics have suggested he should have never taken his mask off until the scene with Han, which I think might have been a better idea.)

Well, I can see the logic of him taking it off for the face to face meeting with Rey. But waiting until the scene with Han might have been better.

Also, did anyone else get a creepy sexual predator vibe from some of his words and actions when he was holding Rey captive? That's going to be even more yucky if they turn out to be related (as I expect they will). Or did I misread that scene? Its kind of hard to put my finger on what it was that gave me that impression.

[GuppyShark]

He says something like "I can do anything I want to you" and lingers on it.

[The Romulan Republic]

It's Jar Jar behind the curtain.

I sincerely hope that its an original character, and that they bother to explain how such a powerful Dark Sider who is apparently not a Sith, technically, came to power.

[Vympel]

I know. Who wants another Iron Man or Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy?

Or that really rubbish movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (obvious sarcasm is obvious).

Before TFA, Guardians of the Galaxy was the best Star Wars movie in years.

In any event, this shitting on Disney is clearly unfair. They gave Episode 8 writing and directing duties to Rian Johnson, for fuck's sake. He's not exactly Michael Bay.

[Galvatron]

They gave Episode 8 writing and directing duties to Rian Johnson, for fuck's sake. He's not exactly Michael Bay.

What Will 'Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Be Like With Rian Johnson At The Helm? Anything Is Possible

In an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lawrence Kasdan — who was a screenwriter for Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens — expressed enthusiasm for Johnson leading the screenwriting charge for the next two movies. Specifically, of Johnson taking the reigns of the script for the next two installments, Lawrence said: "These movies will all be so different... Johnson is a friend of mine — he's going to make some weird thing." In other words, this movie is going to be a lot different than the previous seven.

Sounds like this trilogy will be so very dull and unimaginative. Damn you, Disney!!!

[The Romulan Republic]

Another criticism of the film, though its less an objective criticism than a matter of personal dislike-

By having Han die before Luke was found, they threw away the chance to reunite the three main classic heroes on screen again.

[Batman]

I don't think Ford left them much choice. He wanted to be out of the franchise since the OT.
But yeah, would've been nice to see the big three together again.

[Thanas]

I know. Who wants another Iron Man or Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy?

Iron Man had one good movie (the first). Avengers was more of a giant "hey it is that hero. Watch him be cool" roundabout than a movie. Guardians of the Galaxy I stayed away from due to this, so I can't say anything about that. Compare to Singer's movies, which actually had an overarching storyline and clear, powerful themes.

[The Romulan Republic]

Guardians of the Galaxy is, in my opinion, thoroughly in the brainless fun category, for the most part. Its distinct from the other Marvel films in its space opera setting, however, and in how outrageous and ridiculous they were prepared to be with stuff like a talking racoon as one of the leads, more swearing than is typical for Marvel films as I recall, and the freaking Howard the Duck cameo. My main complaint against it was that they made the generic white human male the lead, rather than the more qualified and sympathetic (to me anyway) Gamorra.

I'll admit, though, that it is still the only Marvel film I bought on DVD.

Edit: Comparing it to Force Awakens, I'm honestly not sure which is the better film. I'd have to watch Force Awakens again. But I had much higher expectations, I think, for Force Awakens, so that might skew my perceptions.

[lance]

Did Calo Ren display any skill with a lightsaber? He hacked up some desks and went close to even with basically nobodies.

I was thinking that the reason he froze the blaster bolt from poe was because he just wasn't skilled enough to do deflect it

[The Romulan Republic]

He seemed somewhat poor with a sabre (yes, he was wounded, but it takes him a while to take down Finn despite Finn apparently only handling a sabre once before). However, he seems to have a fair amount of power in in the Force (taking knowledge from someone's mind with the Force, immobilizing people, and freezing a blaster bolt).

[lance]

I'm thinking that luke basically didn't do jack with light saber training.

[GuppyShark]

Honestly, when the Jedi are extinct, there doesn't seem to be much point in learning the finer points of lightsabre duelling.

[Channel72]

Well, he deflects blaster bolts with his lightsaber, multiple times in a row, while he's pursuing Rey and she keeps firing at him.

But yeah, he's nothing like the Prequel Jedi in terms of lightsaber skill, nor should he be, given that in this era there's really little point in him spending too much time learning lightsaber combat.

[ray245]

They gave Episode 8 writing and directing duties to Rian Johnson, for fuck's sake. He's not exactly Michael Bay.

What Will 'Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Be Like With Rian Johnson At The Helm? Anything Is Possible

In an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lawrence Kasdan — who was a screenwriter for Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens — expressed enthusiasm for Johnson leading the screenwriting charge for the next two movies. Specifically, of Johnson taking the reigns of the script for the next two installments, Lawrence said: "These movies will all be so different... Johnson is a friend of mine — he's going to make some weird thing." In other words, this movie is going to be a lot different than the previous seven.

Sounds like this trilogy will be so very dull and unimaginative. Damn you, Disney!!!

His hands is still tied by the fact that Ep 7 revolves around a new rebellion fighting a new Empire. He can't create a brand new conflict from scratch.