The coincidence of the Falcon being on Jakku might be a stretch, but we did see that it belonged to the guy Rey was selling junk to. Makes sense in that context that no one else had stripped it yet and that it would be worth more to him as a working ship than as broken down scrap, so it’s not crazy that it was still in working order.
Also the answer could always be “the force”
You could make the same claim in episode 1 where the land in Tatooine or in episode 4 where they land in Tatooine. In Star Wars there is no coincidence or luck, but force.
Anyway, I loved all the main cast, I think they did a great job there. Except Snoke, he was dumb, but whatever. The three new leads, Rey, Finn, and Poe, were all great, and I hope we see more of them. Kylo was mostly great too, and my worries about Driver for the role went away when I realized who he actually was. He’s got such a distinct voice it distracted me a couple times when he didn’t have the mask on, but that’s not really a movie problem, just a thing that happens with actors.
I still wish, for all the great practical effects they did include (or digital effects good enough to fool me), that there weren’t still so many digital effects. Snoke looked incredibly fake. Maz didn’t feel quite natural, especially against some of the other creatures in her bar. The Falcon looked good most of the time, but there were a few jarringly video-gamey shots (like coming to rest on the icy cliff). Sigh.
Loved every second of it, it was fantastic!!!
Fun fast movie, much better than I thought it would be. Main issue is that it kind of ruins the festive happy ending of ROTJ… kind of a downer really. Feel really bad for Han and Leia, and even Luke… its like the first 3 movies were just prelude to a bratty son/nephew being sith lord (the guy was actually good playing the new Darth). I still dont get why he went dark side…guess it will be explored in other movies?
Also, Finn didn’t die did he? He’s just in a coma? Also wtf is the First Order. I don’t get what happened after RoTJ. Its not really explained enough i think. But its a small nitpick. I enjoyed it as much as the prequels (I though the prequels were good, decent) but obviously still not up to the originals (its hard to beat imo). Definintely glad the movie passes the grade! Interested to see where they take it in the next movies.
The next episodes will have a fine line to walk between giving us the necessary back story between episodes 6 and 7, and over-explaining every last detail. Especially regarding Kylo and Rey’s backgrounds.
Yeah i can see that tension in the current movie. They don’t want to explain too much, but some of it really should have been explained, I really dont get how this NEW order empire can still build an ev3en BIGGER death star after the loss on Endor (seemed like they really were defeated). Whereas the prequels were so filled with lore details that ultimately made sense, which I loved, but some hated.
Im not one to get nitpicky with star wars, since theres alot of shit that can be nitpicked, but neccesary stuff should be explained. like how did Ren go dark? do i have to read a novel for this?
also who the hell is this new giant emperor dude? thats a wtf for me too. but kinda cool to imagine a light sabre battle with a 30 foot giganto…cheesy as it sounds would love to see that!
I hope he isn’t actually that size. I think that was just his hologram projection being as “yuge” as a certain someone’s ego.
questions
Can someone explain Rey’ hand out offer of the light saber to Luke and Luke just looking back with a emotional expression? My kids disagree with my assessment that it was essentially Rey pleading non verbally train me and Luke going no, No I can’t not after what happened last time! My kids also complained that the look went on for to long for no real value, I’m not sure I can argue against that using my hypothesis. I’m hoping someone can provide some insight here. Otherwise it does seem like a weak ending compared to the rest of the strong movie.
I totally expect Snoke to be three feet tall in real life (as it were).
Adored it… moments of quiet, humor, humanity, what a rebound for the series. I have some complaints but who the f*ck cares.
Some more thoughts
[spoiler] Snoke -yes he’s normal sized. Still hate the name.
The Rey Hug - just seemed out of place because they’ve never spoken and Leia has no idea what Rey has been through unless you want to argue the force connection.
Music- Actually something i was disappointed with. Love the last minute of music which I called out in international trailer as the only piece of williams music.
I like that Luke traded one desert for another. And is the the look he gives one of fear? I can’t train you. Look what I did to my nephew. Also where are the other Jedi he trained?
Now then Who are Rey’s parents? Here’s my way out there theory for this series.
Adam Driver will go good in second movie and Rey will go evil and then Adam will have to help save her in the third movie.
Why would Rey turn evil?
My theory is that Rey like Anakin is connected to the big bad. She could be Luke’s kid, but that seems too on the nose. I know what I’m suggesting is crazy talk but hear me out. 1. Adam Driver knew she was force sensitive and was trying to wake her powers. He seemed to know about her when the commander mentioned a girl on Jakku? How? From Snoke?
- If you are a big bad you make this force child. Then you dump them on a desolate plan where they must fight to survive. You tell them you’ll come back. making them resent you when you don’t. Maybe I’m way off, but That’s what Darth Plagues did with Anakin, and I guess Obiwan did to a lesser extent with Luke. [/spoiler]
An obvious theory, so probably not this simple: Rey is Luke’s daughter. Maybe left behind when Luke saw things go bad with Kylo and the other students, maybe some other reason. Rey had that doll that looked like an X-Wing pilot (and the X-Wing helmet, although I thought maybe that was something she just found scavenging the way that scene played).
thoughts on luke
[spoiler]I thought he was still emotional from the loss of his very good friend and the guilt that he had a hand in it.
Then here is this girl who is trying to drag him back into the middle of it and saying “deal with it, you’re needed” ??[/spoiler]
Kylo pounding his injury intermittently was such good business.
Saw it and here are some thoughts, we are in the spoiler thread, hopefully I don’t have to tag them as spoilers… Just noticed we should tag them, being mentioned on the front page…
Episode VII
[spoiler]
I really liked BB-8, maybe my favorite droid in the entire series. BB8 hold on! Lulz!
The Falcon took one hell of a beating from pretty much the moment it was found and was glorious to see in flight again.
Loved the talk Han had with Rey and Finn , yep its all real , yep jedi and the dark side. I loved the look of “holy crap” on their faces.
I am guessing it was Luke that dropped off Rey on Jakku? Was she a jedi youngling? She did mention parents at one point, so I am not sure.
Starkiller base was ok, it sorta came out of no where, and probably could have used a bit more buildup. Along with the “lets just do this to take it out” plan.
The final moments of Han Solo, freaking got me in the feels. Seeing him with that light saber sticking out his back, yet still wanting to believe his son Ben is still inside Kylo Ren somewhere. Then the fall into the energy pit, my eyes leaked alot. Damn.
Chewie losing it after seeing Han die, and taking down like 10 storm troopers, wounding Ren and then setting on the bombs was amazing to see.
Finn /Rey vs Kylo Ren, both saber fights were as I would have hoped. None of that prequel swinging around and jumping nonsense. I cannot wait to see Kylo vs Rey when he is not wounded and she is properly trained.
Rey walking the steps up to the Jedi temple, shows probably how Luke got into such good shape. ;)
Was Luke tearing up in one eye, when Rey was handing him his light saber?
All in all, my favorite movie this year, and wayyyyyy better than any of the prequels. I am gonna need 2 or 3 more viewings to determine if I like it better than any of the originals (IV-V-VI).[/spoiler]
My answers to some of the above questions:
spoilers
[spoiler]–Finn (and other Storm Troopers) must have had some sort of melee combat training. There was the one Storm Trooper with that beam energy weapon, and even if that weapon is rare, it must be that in the past 30 years their training has improved to include the possibility that they might have to take on a Jedi. Obviously, Finn wasn’t very good at it, which is why he lost both of his battles so quickly, especially against Kylo Ren.
–Rey taking to a Light Saber makes a ton of sense. The movie showed her early on as a very skilled combatant with her weapon she always walks around with, so a Light Saber must not be that much different. That combined with her growing force powers made her development seem very reasonable in context.
–R2-D2 woke up the first time Rey showed up there. He shut down the last time he was with a Jedi (Luke), and woke back up the next time a Jedi-esque person was there (Rey)[/spoiler]
The Revenge of the Sith novel makes me ache for what the movie could have been with a better director with better actors.
The subtitle for Revenge of the Sith (novelizataion) could have been: Yea, the Jedi had it coming.
You might be right about Finn, and the training makes sense. Still, the way Kylo notices Finn in the opening scene felt significant, and it could just be because he noticed Finn developing a conscience, but I thought maybe he sensed the Force in him too. And that maybe the Force was responsible for Finn’s breaking from Stormtrooper conditioning in the first place.
Surely Leia was at least as “Jedi-esque” as Rey, I can’t imagine R2 was truly just waiting to pick up anyone at all on his Jedi-sensors. R2 either woke up because the plot demanded it (dumb, likely), or something more specific-but-yet-unexplained than just a Jedi-proximity alert. Again, the possibility that Rey’s past was already tangled up with our heroes.
In no particular order:
Spoilers
- Carrie Fisher’s voice was distracting. If ever there was a case to digitally fix someone’s voice this movie had it.
- I thought Rey was Luke’s daughter. Kylo mentions the islands and such that Luke is on when he’s interrogating her.
- Snoke looks like Plagueis a bit. Would be insane though for that to be the case but still. Interesting.
- I am pretty certain Rey is going to end up a villain. The dark side flows through her very well.
- Best Star Wars film I’ve seen.
Rey is likely Luke’s daughter, and that’s the impression I got when I watched it. The new trilogy is meant to be the saga of the Skywalkers after all. It would explain the Leia hug, the vision she has of being taken away from him at a young age, the vision of Luke ‘programming’ R2, R2 awakening when she appears, her being drawn to the lightsaber’s location, and then grabbing it from Ren. Everyone’s looking for Luke throughout, and she goes to meet him alone.
But then maybe that’s too obvious.
I don’t think Finn is force sensitive. I think there was a lot of clever misdirection by Abrams in the trailers (Finn = Jedi, Rey = Han & Leia’s daughter).