Star Wars: The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams, December 17, 2015) Movie • Page 15

Yeah this

 

If they could have somehow worked in that Starkiller base was Ilum, it might have been better. But Ilum would mean nothing to most people.

 

I feel like blowing past the fallout without ever addressing it is one of the major drawbacks to the breathless kinetic pace of the movie. Yes it is fun and exciting the entire time but I do think they could have spared some minutes here and there to allow the film to address things like this.

 

As much as I love this movie, every time I watch it I can't help but be reminded of Malcolm McDowell's rocket in Star Trek Generations when Starkiller Base destroys the Hosnian system lol. Takes me back to the Plinkett review of Generations, asking what kind of Wile E. Coyote logic it is for it to take so short of a time for the energy blast to leave Starkiller Base in one system and travel across space that quickly to destroy an entire other solar system light years away lol.

 

The first, like, half hour or so of this is nearly flawless imo, but with each rewatch, certain elements connect w/ me less & less. Don't like any of the Starkiller stuff, not for "oh no ANH rehash" reasons but because it just falls flat for me. The same for the rathtar &, surprisingly, Maz (though I do still really dig her cantina overall). And, the whole hunt for Luke Skywalker angle is just really tedious to me now.

Besides that opening stretch, what carries me through at this point are Finn & Han. Older versions of beloved characters may have become a bit of a trope now, but for me, when it works, it still really works, & Han here is a great example of that. And, while Finn is below Rose, Rey, Kylo, & Poe for me in TLJ, when I come back to this film, he's my favorite of the new cast. Just a really fun, compelling character.

 

Yeah the first half hour of this is up there with the best half hours anywhere in Star Wars I think.

 

The Rathtar stuff sucks and Lupita Nyong'o deserved way more to do than Maz gave her, preferably in live action since she's one of the most radiant human beings alive and one of the elite physical actors working. I love Rey, Kylo, and Finn, but too much of Rey's screen time is dedicated to mystery boxing her origin. Her connection with Finn is a stronger draw to her character to me than her flashback at Maz's, and I like her introduction to Kylo Ren. TLJ takes those setups and runs with them, while also rewriting the mystery box stuff to actually be more interesting.

TLJ makes this movie inconsequential to me. I'm not sure I ever want to re-watch it, though that opening sequence with Finn getting blood on his helmet and Kylo interrogating Poe had a lot of intrigue and potential.

 

There are more things I would change about this movie compared to The Last Jedi, but the big things would be removing the Rathtar sequence, changing the TR8R fight to be Finn vs. Phasma instead, and re-writing Finn's character so he plays more like someone who has just managed to escape from a lifetime of First Order military conditioning and therefore doesn't really have the kind of joke-y personality he has right away. Other than that stuff I don't think I'd change much else without fully re-writing the plot.

 

The whole introduction to Rey is excellent, too. Love what it communicates about who she is w/out any dialogue. Love her personality in it. I think that sequence is what made me like the character so much before TLJ, even though the rest in retrospect is annoyingly mystery-box-y.

 

There is a lot I would change in both of the new movies. But it’s because I would have told a different story entirely. None of this changes how much I love both of them.

 

I agree, her life as a scavenger was great. I think more explicit motivation outside of waiting for her parents to come back would have really helped.

 

Yea, that sequence is incredible. Love it so much.

 

rey putting on the rebel helmet and smirking is like, maybe my favorite single SW scene.

 

I tear up almost every time when she slides down the hill and her theme bubbles up. its soooooo good

 

How would we view this movie if ANH wasn't a thing?

 

It's my favorite Pop!

 

This isn’t nearly as good as A New Hope even on basic levels. The way the Death Star is dramatically weaved through the story in that movie is more impactful than the way Starkiller Base is just sort of there in this one. In ANH, the Death Star destroys Leia’s home planet in front of her, we watch her stand for her ideals in the face of that and it weighs a ton. No one knows anyone on any of the planets destroyed in this movie and it sort of moves on pretty quickly.

 

A New Hope is way way way way way wayyyyyyyyyyyy better. Better in every way except BB8 is cuter than R2D2.

Like Nathan said, the Alderaan scene is a perfect example; all we know about that planet is Leia is on a diplomatic mission to there and that Alderaan is peaceful and has no weapons. It's mentioned in 4 scenes before it's blown up, mostly in a prepositional sense, yet its destruction is emotionally impactful for the audience and also communicates character details about Tarkin/The Empire and Leia.

 

Speaking of Alderaan, one of the prequel changes that I thought was a really good idea from those "What if The Prequels Were Good?" videos was changing Naboo to Alderaan and making Bail Organa Padme's brother.

 

but Naboo is so pretty!

anybody ever checked out The Artist of Naboo?

The Artist of Naboo


It'd be cool if it was Alderaan too tho. the background on my computer was a painting of Aldera for a very long time. lovely patch of grass.

 

rewatched Return of the Jedi last night, will be watching Force Awakens and The Last Jedi before Skywalker Saturday. been a longgggg time since I've watched Force Awakens, seen Last Jedi several times. curious how I feel.