…and how exactly do you get from there to them being closer and more capable of finding it than the First Order who are orbiting Jakku and actively hunting it?
I’m sorry, but that’s Star Trek '09 Ice Planet plotting all over again. It’s vaguely more palateble in Star Wars because the force handwaves everything, but it’s still nonsense.
Maybe Han knows something about the ship that helps him track it that the First Order doesn’t, I’ve no idea.
If that was the case, he would’ve used that to track it and take it back after it was first stolen from him.
I enjoyed the movie, I really did, and I understand why it turns a bit into “Star Wars, same as when you liked it”, but man, thinking about it, it turns into a depressing universe. Improvements? Things getting better? That’s for other universes, on ours there’s a mystical bullshit force that keeps things balanced, shitty but balanced, any time one side ruffles things too much, the other comes and wrecks it all. Rinse, repeat.
And I liked the Stormtroopers more when they weren’t victims. :(
Maybe its just a movie :D
Cool stuff…
spoiler stuff
BB8s thumbs up
‘thats not how the force works’
‘dont mention the death star’
‘can i have a go with that thing?’
‘anything else?’
stormtroopers reversing their patrol when they hear kyle.
I loved it. Finn especially.
Yes! They were all great moments, particularly the first and last one. The first one was so spontaneous and brilliant.
Spoiler
Sören, all we need to know is that it was stolen and, for some reason (that I and I’m guessing most people don’t think is that important), Han was able to track it down and secure it easily once the Order had reported it coming from Jakku. I mean, I take your point but it’s not exactly a big plot hole or major oversight.
It’s got some big picture problems. It’s kinda impossible to understand what the relationships between the First Order, The Republic and the Rebellion really is. Best I can guess from the speech before firing the super-duper death star is that The first order and the Republic were in some sort of quasi cold war while The Rebellion acts as a proxy for the Republic. And I still have no idea why everyone cares about finding Luke.
It’s classic Abrams - moment to moment all the goals are clear, but when you try to put it all together and look at the big picture, it starts to fall apart.
I assumed that they could only track the ship once it was flying ie by the drive signature or something. I assumed that it was essentially in a mothball state on Jakku so no one had discovered it yet.
I realize I’ve just been kvetching here, so how good was the Kylo Ren stuff? He might be the most interesting villain in the entire franchise, and he certainly sold the angsty insecure dipshit fallen to the dark side better than anything the prequels tried to do with Anakin. I loved the way he kept beating the wound Chewie gave him during the end duel(s).
I really liked him, especially after the movie when I had time to think about it. In a number of ways he’s the very opposite of Darth Maul, who’s mysterious, menacing, and never hesitates. Both make a good type of villain, but in the end Kylo is the more interesting. As you said, you can tell George Lucas tried to do the same with Anakin, but thanks to better writing and acting skill Kylo actually pulled it off without looking like a petulant child.
You mean to say Hayden Christenson and Jake Loyd are bad actors? That the dialogue quality in the love scenes was not noticeably better or worse than the original trilogy, but that the leads had all the chemistry of a vacuum?
Yeah I agree, I thought he was really fascinating and the scenes where he
spoilz
lost his shit were a breath of fresh air for a Star Wars villain. He wasn’t utterly cold, or calculated for that matter, but his anger was raw and palpable. Interested to see where they take him and what ‘completing’ his training will entail.
I was trying to say that they are bad actors and the writing was worse simultaneously. Shocking claim isn’t it!
Anyway, the novelisation launched on the kindle store today (at least in the Australian store, the US store still has a pre-order button), and I couldn’t help but give it a go. Hopefully it will solve all of the confusing plot details, although I am not counting on it.
I remember reading the novelization for the Phantom Menace years ago. I remember how it was fairly different in major details, but also just plain better written. That was a weird juxtaposition. Reading it before seeing it had me so excited too!
Of course I was also a teen at the time, and read many of the EU books, so I’m not sure claims to quality would hold up to any scrutiny at all today.
I bought into the Captain Phasma media hype and thought she’d have more to do :(
And, dumb question: is Finn Force-sensitive too, or are the hints at the beginning a misdirect, and the lightsaber fight is just, well, anyone can swing a sword?
I think I liked it …
Overall, I liked it. I just think there were too many coincidences:
There are more that bugged me but I’ve had three hours sleep and can’t think of them. Maybe I am just being grumpy?
The map could’ve used more explanation as well. Why did R2 wake up when he did with most of it? And before that, even without the context of the larger portion, wouldn’t there have been enough to identify the location of what BB-8 had? Who was the old guy who was the source of that final piece of the map anyway? And why did the First Order also (allegedly) have all but the small piece of that map too? Actually, maybe explanation is the wrong word, since I’m not sure there are good answers to those questions. Wouldn’t the whole thing have been simpler and better if what Poe acquired and hid with BB-8 was the whole map, and that no one else had any of it?
Oh yeah!! Where were the A-Wings, B-Wings, Y-Wings, and Tie Interceptors? We are back to just Ties and X-Wings? They should be expanding on ROTJ not going backwards. I love the new Xwing design though.
Whew, I was relieved that I liked this so much. I thought the actors and characters were great. Some of the episodes within the movie were less essential than others. But I’m a little fuzzy on some plot points. Can anyone illuminate me on these?
questions
[spoiler]Was Artoo Detoo programmed to remain in rest mode until he registered that, at long last, Han Solo was dead, at which point he would reboot? Why would this be a good idea?
Did our heroes blow off Captain Phasma’s head? Or did they merely shove her into a trash compactor? And which would be a more horrible way to die? I hope she did make it out on the same shuttle as Ren and General Young Hitler and will return.
Poe is a magnificent pilot, and he’s friendly and loyal. But he didn’t seem to be a great spy/diplomat, and he didn’t seem to be a great squadron commander. When his waves of X-Wings were strafing the giant whatsit, and they were counter-attacked, his response was “hey, that’s a lot of bandits inbound”. Not to have some of his forces break off and engage and others to keep firing on the whatsit, but to have everyone do what they felt like. Which wound up having his forces wiped out and in high not-a-moon orbit about as far from the target as they could get. This one isn’t really a question except to ask if La Resistance is really short on qualified manpower.
Did the starkiller completely exhaust a star before it could use its super-long-range super-planet-killer beam? Destroying a star actually sounds more harmful than destroying a planet.
[/spoiler]
Some other spoiler thoughts:
if we’re doing the “hide spoilers for a week”:
[spoiler]
Not only unused, but unused and unstripped on a planet where scavengers were taking any useful ship parts. The Falcon still exists in that quantum uncertainty bubble where either it’s a collection of junk and/or it’s the best ship in the galaxy.
- Luke’s lightsaber being in the basement of that bar
Rey really was in CRPG mode here. “I’m gonna wander through this map and loot every crate I come across.”
- The resistance and the First order happen to be located really close to each other.
Well, they are in the business of fighting each other. I don’t think La Resistance should have been able to see the kill-o-death beams streaking across the sky, but hey, if JJ Abrams can put a collapsing planet Vulcan in a major character’s field of view…I guess that’s just his thing. Neil DeGrasse Tyson isn’t gonna like that part.
Maybe that’s why they sent one pilot to do some spywork, La Resistance just don’t have the budget to hire any stellar cartographers? I agree, that seemed pretty weak though.
Who was the old guy who was the source of that final piece of the map anyway?
I wish Max Von Sydow had more to do. But I got the impression that he was an Alderaanian survivor (wasn’t his line “I still think of her more than a princess than a general”?), that Leia was close to him, and maybe traveled with Luke for a bit?
And why did the First Order also (allegedly) have all but the small piece of that map too? Actually, maybe explanation is the wrong word, since I’m not sure there are good answers to those questions. Wouldn’t the whole thing have been simpler and better if what Poe acquired and hid with BB-8 was the whole map, and that no one else had any of it?
Yes, likely. Also, why did Luke leave the map at all? Either he wanted to be found or he didn’t. If he did want to be found, why would he dick around on a deserted island until someone pieced together his whereabouts. If he didn’t want to be found, why send only a stranger (but someone who could be strong in the Force, for good or for evil) and a grieving widower to fetch him back? Why do they assume he’ll be willing and able to help them?
Yeah, I liked him too, even his worries that he’s “tempted by good”, since that isn’t how characters usually moralize in Star Wars movies. I liked how he affected Han and Leia’s relationship too. They were a celebrity couple with an awful offspring: Chet Haze writ large.[/spoiler]
My wife wants to see it again tonight, and in IMAX 3D too. I’m not opposed to that. I’m certainly looking forward to Episode 8.