Saw it Saturday in 3D. Cinebistro ftw. Didn't catch up on this thread yet but my initial thoughts were it was great my only gripes were is I wish they kept Kylo's mask on until the end, that little alien lady with the huge glasses character was corny as jar jar, and Carrie fisher Botox was so intense she couldn't even move her face. then after it sunk in Ingot kinda pissed at how lame the plot was. Gee whiz, we're just a bunch of kids off the blow up the Death Star again for the third time. I get that they didn't want to "fuck it up" but seriously... there are so many storylines in the Star Wars universe, how many times are they going to rehash the same one. Everything else was done well.
^George Lucas has the same feelings...He wanted something new...He is upset that Disney did the nostalgic route.
People have said this over and over but it's not true. Anakin has never been the main character of any of the films and the plots have never been about him. The original trilogy is about Luke's journey but Anakin is a supporting character in the prequels and the movies aren't about him. His journey is a sub plot of the prequels not the focus. The series is not about the Skywalkers, so far only the originals are. But the prequels aren't and TFA isn't even though they are looking for Luke.
Didn't read this thread but thought the movie was just reusing the same plot as the original, young kid scrapping metal on distant desert planet, finds droid, is discovered, finds out has powers, death star blown up, the end. I am not a big movie goer, only went to check this out since someone got us a gift card for Christmas and was disappointed. I did think it was entertaining but I expected more.
What is it about then? Space? No. It is about family. The Skywalker family being the most important. I don't know what you are trying to say. Maybe out thinking your own self. It is pretty simple.
That is what Lucas has said, and we all expected with the prequels, but those aren't the movies he made. You are exaggerating those elements in the movies which are actually very minor. It's certainly a theme of the films but not what they are about. The plots of none of the prequels are about Anakin, he is a supporting character to other characters driving the actions and events -- mostly Obi Wan and Palpatine. How does that make those stories about him and his family? It doesn't. this is story telling 101. The prequels are about the fall of the republic and rise of the empire -- Anakin is not only a small part of that but doesn't actually cause any of that to happen -- Palpatine does. All the events and action are directed towards that plot. Even the majority of the Jedi are killed by clones. that's why the prequels suck -- Lucas told us they would be about one thing and made them another. but as it stands, out of 7 movies, only the first 3 movies -- their plot -- are about a Skywalker, as in Luke. That hardly constitutes the series being about the Skywalkers just because they are in them.
Ok, so here are my thoughts: 1) How the hell did the Republic.Resistance become so weak after destroying the Death Star, conquering the empire, and pillaging Coruscant at the end of Return of the Jedi?!?! How did things revert back so quickly? 2) Kylo Ren is a pussy. That's all we need is another "villian" whining and crying about conflict throughout the whole movie. Do you know what made Empire Strikes Back so great? it was the fact that Vader was SO evil, he would manipulate his own son in order to gain power. 3) Unlike the prequel trilogy which had a great plot, and characters I could not care less about, This movie had good characters but a rather weak/confusing plot. 4) One thing they definitely did well:
I never thought the rebellion would realistically be stronger than the empire simply because the emperor and Vader were defeated so that didn't bother me. One thing that has bothered me about the movie in retrospect is Finn and how bad of a character he is. He's not self absorbed in the cool, rogueish Han Solo way. He's the dumb fuck kid in high school that simply lies and has no self awareness. First he lies that he is with the rebellion, then he lies that he knows how to get into the star killer shield area and shut it down. He's likely mentally retarded by every reaction he has in the movie. The prequels are well done stories that are just poorly told. The opposite is true for TFA -- terrible story and characters that are camouflaged by skilled filmmaking.
But it more than that: The Death Star (and the Executor) were destroyed, and the entire government was overthrown.
But we're they overthrown? This may be just my projection of what the empire was, but it certainly seemed to be a mighty army that would still have the military might to continue as it scrambled for new leadership. They certainly seemed to still be larger than the strength of the rebellion to overtake simply as a result of that battle.
The book Aftermath talks a bit about what happened right after Return of the Jedi. (It's not a great book, so I'm not recommending it, but it gives some insight.) The Empire worked to suppress news of the Death Star being destroyed and the death of the Emperor. Those celebrations at the end of RoTJ were squashed. There was still a sizable fleet and Imperial officers were squabbling over power. but the remains of the Empire (or origins of the First Order) agreed to remain in the Outer Rim in a truce of some kind, and the Republic got rid of most of its warships because Mon Mothma felt it was the only way to have "true" peace. Some in the Republic didn't think this was a good idea and so had tacit approval to form the resistance to continue to fight the First Order and keep them from gaining too much power. So that's what Leia's been up to.
He also has so many corny lines it's umbelievable. While Han's cool, calm and collected and gets the girl, Fin is basically a geek that falls into the girl. I enjoyed it because of the nostalgic feeling of it, but if they make anymore they really need to tighten it up because the nostalgia has already worn off.
Saw it last nite. I liked it. Not as much as the originals but it was Citizen Kane compared to the last 3 shitfests. I appreciated that it was basically action from end to end and very little bullshit slow parts. I can't disagree that it was Episode 4 but I don't care. Repackage a great movie with today's technology and I'm ok with it. My GF had a great idea with the nostalgia stuff - much of which I liked and were respectful of the originals. She said what they should have done when the weapon was blowing up the planets, just before it hit one of them they should have shown Jar Jar Binks looking up at the sky just before he was blown to hell. _
So I finally saw the Harmy's Despecialized original trilogy. The best versions of the original films. The Blu Rays are shit because Lucas butchered them with CGI...These are the true versions...Technically a fan edit because some guy dedicates his whole life to clean, improve and cut out the CGI nonsense from the Special Editions. It's so beautiful man... I think Disney may do some work on the original cuts at some point but they are very hard to edit cause Lucas messed with the reels. Not to mention FOX still owns the distribution for A New Hope until 2020
