Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

khorum_sl said:

Is that novelization out?

EDIT: nm Amazon says the 5th.

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Novelization is out on Kindle. It's a very quick read and has some additional back-story.

Amazon.com: The Force Awakens (Star Wars) eBook: Alan Dean Foster: Kindle Store

It also clears up some of the "issues" that people have mentioned recently in this thread.

Finally heading out to catch it this morning. Hopefully the crowds will be low with church services going on.

Deadline|Hollywood -Sunday 12AM: Tonight is coming in better than anticipated with industry analysts putting Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Saturday between $65.5M-$68.7M. That's a -43% to -46% decline from Friday's opening day record of $120.5M, which includes $57M in Thursday previews. While Force Awakens' Saturday doesn't beat Jurassic World's record, it jumps the opening weekend estimates for Episode VII back up to $238M-$244M.

Why is the kindle version more expensive than the hardback. Fuck that shit, Imma pirate it.

I have no problem with it mirroring ANH. I actually like that tact.

People are going on about plotholes, the originals had plenty of stuff.

Star Wars is, easily, the most nit-picked franchise in existence.

I've seen ANH well over 100 times. When I was a kid I, literally, watched it every day for like 3 months straight. I have no problem with them mirroring ANH quite a bit. They went in with one directive: Don't fuck this franchise up. And I think they succeeded admirably. There were some issues and some plot holes but I'm not overthinking it. It's a movie after all. I have no issues with the Ren / Rey fight. If you want justification Abrams himself said that his lightsaber duels weren't going to be like the prequels. In the prequels you had Jedi and Sith training their whole lives in lightsaber combat and generations of experience to draw upon. Abrams wanted more "raw" fights that were about overpowering your opponent instead of some stylized dance sequences. We already know that Rey has a strong connection to the Force and it's guiding her. Ren was hurt and thrown off of his game by everything leading up to his fight with Rey. Those same events strengthened Rey and we already saw that she has just as much raw potential in the Force as Ren. So I don't have a problem with her beating Ren at the end.

Sylas, I'd quit while I was ahead. You don't burst into a Star Trek Convention wearing a Darth Vader costume and scream out "The Phantom Menace rules!" and expect to walk out without getting the shit beaten out of you. You don't like the movie. That's cool. It's just a movie but your need to shove your moral superiority down our throats is what's getting you in trouble here. Internet tough guyism.

One thing that tends to irritate the shit out of me regarding the whole Star Wars universe is how the original trilogy, in many people's minds, have come to taken on some sort of mythical level of quality that I don't think they actually deserve. I did a binge watching of the original trilogy this week to get ready and, while the original trilogy, taken as a whole it amazing, each film individually has issues.

ANH - This is actually a very simplistic movie. Although it was ground breaking at the time it came out, If someone rolled out this same exact movie today with (100% identical story) and just updated the computer graphics, I don't think people would be nearly as impressed with it. (certainly not as impressed with it as TFA). Its basically just a three act play that barrows heavily from previous sci-fi/action serials like Flash Gordon and using some other concepts stolen from Dune.

ESB - I think this movie still holds up even if it were released today although it is not perfect. How the fuck do they magically end up in an asteroid field only moments after they leave Hoth? If Luke has a light saber that can slice off the arm of the snow monster without any problems at all, why the fuck doesn't he just stay there and finish the damn thing off? Then he can stay sheltered inside the cave until he is rescued. Why does he run out into the fucking snow which is basically certain death? Luke blindly lands his x-wing in just the right spot managing to avoid any and all trees? right in front of Yoda?

ROTJ - Again, taken as a part of the overall trilogy, this movie is fine. On an individual level, it is not perfect either. How the fuck did Ewoks manage to build all of these massive traps made of logs/trees in the matter of mere hours leading up to the assault on the shield generator? Were they planning their own assault on the shield generator and just hadn't gotten around to it yet? Why reuse the exact same plot device (Death Star) as you used in the first movie?

I don't consider myself a Star Wars fanboy by any stretch. When the prequels came out, I came into them with an open mind and wanted to like them. But even after the first viewing of TPM, I knew something was way the fuck off. I didn't get the feeling from TFA that things were just way the fuck off. It felt like Star Wars to me. This movie has its minor problems too,just like the original trilogy did.

I waited on watching this film to avoid the fan boys and their reactions. There were still lines around the block and there was sadly still 1 or 2 people dressed up but it was mostly normal every day people at my theater. As soon as the credits started rolling everyone got up and just left the theater. They didn't have that dumb founded "what the fuck did I just watch?" expression that people had after Phantom Menace but not a single person clapped or cheered or anything. Allegedly there is a post credit scene for this movie? Nobody stayed to find out. No one was talking about how "great" it was. Just a bunch of people shrugging and saying "meh".

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My theater was probably 70% regular adults, with the rest being kids/teenagers. There were not any costumes in the bunch at all, other than one little kid walking around with a Kylo Ren mask and cape, and I'm not sure he was even in my showing. There was plenty of cheering and applause throughout, including at the end. Most stayed through some or all of the credits. The overall energy of the theater by the end was very positive. I have no idea where you heard about the post-credits scene rumor. That was certainly not anything widely suggested at all.

Anyway, as great as I thought the film was, I'm certainly not fan-boying it up. I wouldn't put it on par with any of the OT quite yet (including RoTJ), but I have over 30 years of history with those movies, beginning with ANH as the first film I ever saw (at least the first I have any memory of watching). I'll need to watch this one at least another time or two before really being able to arrive at an honest opinion regarding its place in the franchise. It's certainly vastly better than any of the prequels, and I'm no rabid hater of those films.

The only thing that really bugged me was the Death Star 3.0 component. It wasn't so much that it was the most derivative part of the movie (even Han rolls his eyes and says "Okay, another Death Star, just tell us how to blow it up"), but more the execution of the scenes surrounding it. It boasted nowhere near the suspense and intimacy of the original Death Star attack, nor the frenetic chaos of the battle in RoTJ where you had the Death Star knocking out capital ships and suicide runs into Star Destroyers, etc. It was pretty generic X-Wing vs TIE Fighter action in the background of the real climax unfolding with the light saber duels. I thought the previous battle on the other planet was more interesting and exciting.

Beyond that, I felt that basically everything else was good to great, and I'm supremely relieved that we have actually secured a genuinely great beginning to a true Star Wars trilogy, and I can't wait for the next one.

One funny thing I want to share. There were a handful of faggy neck beards in the theater that clapped at every reveal. Like the falcon, Han, Lei-, c3po etc. and during any action scene this one in front of me was losing his shit and almost convulsing, and just almost cooing with joy.

When Han died, he yelled fuck and punched the chair in front of him. He then started crying, was holding his hand and had to be led out of the theater by what I assume to be his 60 year old mother. My wife is pretty sure he broke his hand.

Made my weekend.

Luke blindly lands his x-wing in just the right spot managing to avoid any and all trees? right in front of Yoda?

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This one has a ridiculously obvious answer: Yoda killed the controls and guided the X-Wing to that location.

We're definitely planning to go see it again but we're giving it a week or two for things to die down a bit. She wants to see the Concussion movie so we might make that day a double feature.

Blakkheim_sl said:

Although it was ground breaking at the time it came out...

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THIS right here.. It was absolutely amazing for the time. The special effects, the theme, everything. It was just so different to put you in awe. All the flaws were over looked because of these reasons. And like this movie, they were all minor anyway.

Angelwatch_sl said:

She wants to see the Concussion movie so we might make that day a double feature.

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I don't think Will Smiths own mother wants to see that movie. I've never seen a more boring movie trailer in my life. The things we have to do for our wives. ..

Caught it last night and have to echo the 7/10 sentiment, strangely enjoyed Poe Dameron the most and still looking forward to Rogue One next year. Part of me is hoping they keep the main films as the broad appeal movies while using the spin-off movies as a way of maybe tackling more adult themed plots and stories but probably not.

Star Wars Bounty Hunter verion of Smokin Aces or Smuggler Crime Syndicate version of Snatched when please.

Sylas_sl said:

the butthurt is strong with you guys. let your hate flow through you.

Once the "omg new star wars" wears off and you stop rationalizing the glaring flaws you will recognize this film for what it is. Which is "Meh."

I waited on watching this film to avoid the fan boys and their reactions. There were still lines around the block and there was sadly still 1 or 2 people dressed up but it was mostly normal every day people at my theater. As soon as the credits started rolling everyone got up and just left the theater. They didn't have that dumb founded "what the fuck did I just watch?" expression that people had after Phantom Menace but not a single person clapped or cheered or anything. Allegedly there is a post credit scene for this movie? Nobody stayed to find out. No one was talking about how "great" it was. Just a bunch of people shrugging and saying "meh".

spoilered for size:

Spoiler

edit: i'm surprised that they didn't put Finn into some kind of "healing" carbonite freeze when he was in a coma at the end, to complete the "poetry" between him and Han from Empire, since's it's obvious he's the eventual love interest of Rey.

Episode 8 obvious prediction: follows Empire's nearly verbatim just as this film followed ANH. Hologram sith lord Snookie dude ends up being Luke Skywalker, complete with "Rey I am your father.." "Noooooo" lolz.

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You really seem to care about how other people feel about the film. It's a bit pathetic