TF Views

Somebody on this thread is going to see it over the weekend. And, we can all talk, ask and complain about it here.

Probably. I'm not going until next Saturday. But, spoilers don't bother me.

I'm not fighting opening weekend crowds. My wife and I will go see it either during the week next week or next weekend. Here's hoping it's actually good... I was a bit concerned about a Star Wars episode 7 when it was first announced, but reaction has been positive so far.

I've been to see every one of these in the theater. I was six when the first one came out... watched it at a drive in movie theater in the rain for my middle brother's birthday. Can't break the tradition now.

Yeah, I'm not going to fight the crowds to see it opening weekend either. I did when Episode III came out and really don't care to do that again. I will see it in the theater at some point though.

Saw it over the weekend.

Generally, Abrams and Disney did not ruin "Star Wars" (as some might argue). But, they have not improved it. It is comparable to Episodes 3 or 4, but the good and bad are distributed differently.

As noted in many reviews, Abrams cribbed heavily from Episode 4.

I also noticed

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that Abrams seems to be cribbing aggressively from MacQuarrie skitchbooks and early Lucas script drafts. I am thinking of the early drafts where Luke and Leia were the same character while Han and Kenobi were similarly fused.

This arguably supports one of the popular theory that

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Rey is the off-spring of Han and Leia

, which would be similar to an early drafte of

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Episode 6

when

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Luke went bad stopping the Emperor (blowing up the latter's home planet with the Death Star) and had to be put down by Leia.

The biggest problem is that Abrams seems to have significant issues

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addressing issues of time and distance.

Honey Bear was telling me that this is consistent with other stuff Abrams has worked on. It is a common problem with "Star Wars" and soft sci-fi in general, but Abrams is particularly clumsy in this regard. Abrams uses

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hyperspace almost like a teleporter. Other "Star Wars" movies have scene changes after a character goes to hyperspace, allowing for implied passage of time. It is impossible to guess exactly how much time or distance is being passed on screen. But, time is passing. With Abrams, the characters press the button, and arrive almost immediately with no scene change.

Similarly,

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too much is happening in too small of an area of space. Characters and objects just happen to be in close/convenient proximity to each other.

This is also a common problem in soft sci-fi, but Abrams handles it badly even by the relatively low standards of the genre.


Other things were better than Lucas' "Star Wars". But, the movie over-all is comparable to what has come before.

Pass for now. I'm not going out of my way for what is an ANH soft reboot that also dismantles the efforts and achievements in ROTJ. I'll go see it at some point probably, but I felt no draw before when I knew less, and knowing more only made that worse.

I am not saying it is worth jumping up and going to see.

But, how does it "dismantle" Episode 6? It does not dismantle Episode 6 any more than Episode 5 dismantled 4.

Dominic wrote:I am not saying it is worth jumping up and going to see.

But, how does it "dismantle" Episode 6? It does not dismantle Episode 6 any more than Episode 5 dismantled 4.

Well, prior to this movie, it was easy to assume a victorious Rebel Alliance and a happy future for the main characters. Now we know that none of that is entirely true, given all the hints that the trailers have dropped, and the fact that the Empire still exists in the form of the First Order. The fight goes on.

Alright, here's the thing: It's Star Wars. It doesn't have a lot of plot. It doesn't need it. It's about feelings and emotions and big cool spaceship fights and lightsabers, and witty dialogue. That's what this movie has. It fucking delivers.

Yes, the plot is mildly reminiscent off ANH. There's a droid with some stuff that he bad guys are after. An old guy dies. A planet sized weapon gets blown up. But c'mon. Star Wars is full of ripping things off from other movies, that's the whole point, its Flash Gordon mixed with Kurosawa. So if it cribs a plot element or two from itself I'm not going to complain.

The prequels were a clusterfuck of bad story combined with bad filmmaking. This is decent story combined with excellent execution. I don't care about the rules of'hyperspace or whatever so that doesn't bother me--what else you got, Dom?

PS. Finn gets his jacket from Poe Dameron so he totally has a unique outfit.

andersonh1 wrote:Well, prior to this movie, it was easy to assume a victorious Rebel Alliance and a happy future for the main characters. Now we know that none of that is entirely true, given all the hints that the trailers have dropped, and the fact that the Empire still exists in the form of the First Order. The fight goes on.

https://youtu.be/mAOX_CHU0JY?list=PLACBB157C8DE5B884