# Star Wars Review - no spoilers



## RWS (Dec 18, 2015)

Watched the eagerly anticipated movie earlier this morning, and it was.... great! I saw the 3D version, and I was hesitant about that, but the 3D did not interfere much with the enjoyment of the story. It was well done.

The new characters were interesting, had lots of charisma, and makes me look forward to future episodes. Unlike the prequel characters. Though I did not like Gwendolyn Christies role, I was hoping for more from her, being a GoT fan. 

I will definitely see it again, especially since my younger daughter (who did not want to see it), called me during the final climactic battle at 2am, and I had to walk out and missed 5 minutes of it! But I'm a Dad, and my older daughter filled me in afterwards, but still wish I coulda seen it! So have to see it again on the big screen. Next time I'll do 2D, so I can focus more on the story and characters instead of the images. Even tho the 3D was not overdone, I still found myself trying to focus at times and checking out the 3d effect in scenes, rather than focusing on the story and dialogue. That's my ADD problem... So next time.... 2D for sure!  : -) My reasoning for 3D was that I'll be seeing it in 2D for years to come, so may as well watch it on the big screen in 3D while I can. 

Either way, it's a great movie! I give it a sure 3.5 out of 4, and maybe a 4, but I gotta let it sink in a bit (and also need to see the 5 minutes I missed towards the end). 

Funny thing that happened, is that while I'm driving home with my daughter and her 2 friends, I kept mentioning how dark everything is tonight... Then I realized I still had my 3D glasses on over my glasses!! That was funny...


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## mudwhistle (Dec 18, 2015)

3.5 isn't all that good.


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## strollingbones (Dec 18, 2015)

mudd its outta 4


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

Critics are saying it may be the best Star wars yet. Last I looked it had a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes


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## longknife (Dec 18, 2015)

I've seen lots and lots of 5s


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

longknife said:


> I've seen lots and lots of 5s


Out of?


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Outstanding movie.  It did justice to the Star Wars name and then some.


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## Sgt_Gath (Dec 18, 2015)

It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely *blew me away* - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."

The plot became rather clunky and convoluted after they arrived on the forest planet, for example, with way too many things going on at the same time and way too many contrived coincidences driving the story forward. The climax reeled me back in, but the middle portion still needed to be streamlined.

It suffers from Lord of the Rings style "multiple ending-itis" as well. The scene at the end needlessly dragged on and could have easily been saved for the sequel. There were simply better ways they could have handled that.

It also makes some absolutely _baffling_ decisions in terms of longterm story telling and narrative structure.



Spoiler



Seriously, what in the Hell is the point of building up Kylo Ren as being such a bad ass, if they're just going to have Rey mop the floor with his beaten and bloody ass in the third act? She hasn't had a lick of training, and she's already kicking the living **** out of absolutely everyone. What the Hell kind of "hero's journey" does that even leave room for?

I mean... I know the whole "gurl power" thing is all the rage these days, but tone it down a notch, for God's sakes. This chick's power level is just ridiculous for the first movie in a planned trilogy. She's easily pushing "Legolas in the Hobbit" ratings of absurd plot-contrived invincibility here. 

There's a reason why Luke lost his first duel with Vader in ESB. Even if Vader was defeated by the end of the first movie, he wasn't outright _embarrassed_ like Kylo was in this film. It takes away from the villain as a credible threat for the heroes to struggle against.

Fin, meanwhile, is all but worthless. He's basically just this movie's Jar-Jar Binks (only, you know... actually funny and endearing, rather than insufferable lol).

I also didn't like how they handled the giant doom station. Blowing it up was too predictable. The heroes should have simply crippled it (still causing earthquakes and all the rest), and forced it to hyperjump away, to be saved for a sequel.

For that matter... Did they blow up Couruscant, or what? They never actually used that name (they actually referred to it as the 'Hosni system'), so I'm thinking no. I know Abrams has a bit of a track record for underplaying atrocity (i.e. that whole fiasco with the giant space ship wiping out an entire city in 'Into Darkness' and no one seeming to give a damn, for example), but if they really blew up the capital of the Republic, and everyone just shrugged that off, that'd be absolutely ridiculous.



*Overall: 7 out of 10*

A good start, but it still needs work. Abram's usual crap also needs to be reigned in a bit.


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Sgt_Gath said:


> It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely *blew me away* - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."
> 
> The plot became rather clunky and convoluted after they arrived on the forest planet, for example, with way too many things going on at the same time and way too many contrived coincidences driving the story forward. The climax reeled me back in, but the middle portion still needed to be streamlined.
> 
> ...


How do you do the "spoiler" thing?  I want to respond but I don't want to spoil anything.

As for all the coincidences, I would say there's a pretty know understanding that we're so supposed to accept that the Force guides everything and that Star Wars is supposed to be pretty silly.


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## Moonglow (Dec 18, 2015)

RWS said:


> Watched the eagerly anticipated movie earlier this morning, and it was.... great! I saw the 3D version, and I was hesitant about that, but the 3D did not interfere much with the enjoyment of the story. It was well done.
> 
> The new characters were interesting, had lots of charisma, and makes me look forward to future episodes. Unlike the prequel characters. Though I did not like Gwendolyn Christies role, I was hoping for more from her, being a GoT fan.
> 
> ...


Did you forget what movie you saw? and needed the ticket stub to remind you?


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## Sgt_Gath (Dec 18, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Sgt_Gath said:
> 
> 
> > It was good, IMO, but not great. The first 45 minutes to an hour absolutely *blew me away* - but Abrams is going to need some fine tuning before he's really "there."
> ...



Like the quote tags, basically. Just put "spoiler" in brackets before and after what you want to hide.

The "force did it" thing only gets you so far though. You can't let it be an excuse for flat out lazy writing. lol


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Thanks



Spoiler: SPOILER



Ren was pretty injured during that fight.  He took a shot from Chewbacca's Bowcaster which you could see from earlier was pretty powerful.  And then I think Finn landed a couple blows on him too.  I think he would have taken her out pretty easily if not for that.  And Ren is also not fully trained.

I loved Finn 

I completely agree about the Starkiller.  It was cool how it sucked power from the sun, but the final battle was just waaaaay too similar to A New Hope.  I wish it would have been different, but I'll take a competently executed Star Wars movie any day after the disasters that were the prequels.

I don't think that was Coruscant.  I've never heard or read any reference to the Hosni system in Star Wars.  I'm sure they would have mentioned it.  The new senate didn't necessarily have to be on Coruscant, especially if the Rebels didn't defeat all of the empire and never got to their capital.


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## Sgt_Gath (Dec 18, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Thanks
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> ...





Spoiler



Fair enough. Personally, however, I would have preferred a draw at the very least (with them getting separated at the last minute by that giant chasm, or something).

It just seemed to me like Rey was having everything come to her, way, waaaay too easy. It's kind of going to take tension away from her inevitable rematch with Ren if she's already kicked the guy's ass once, and it wasn't even all that hard.

I mean... Imagine if Luke had beaten Vader in the Empire Strikes back. That just wouldn't have worked.

I also liked Fin a lot. It's just that they seem to be shaping him up to be nothing more than Rey's kind of irrelevant sidekick. I think he can do better than that as a character.


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Sgt_Gath said:


> TheOldSchool said:
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> 
> > Thanks
> ...





Spoiler



Well she was getting a little dark side-ish there towards the end.  The dark side is an easy power source.  If she'd killed him Snoke might have had a new student.  

That whole last battle scene could have been better but I was still plenty entertained.  I can't believe it'll be another 2 years before the next one.


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## Moonglow (Dec 18, 2015)

Severe lack of frontal nudity in the movie...


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.



I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Grampa Murked U said:


> Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.
> 
> 
> 
> I had no intentions of seeing it this weekend but my fear of spoilers has me in a seat 30 minutes early now.


Congrats.  Get ready for some spectacular stuff.


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Grampa Murked U said:
> 
> 
> > Create a spoiler thread guys. Keep this one clean.
> ...


I hope so. I can't remember the last movie I went to that I didn't immediately regret paying to see. Course I don't goto movies often.

I had planed to watch all the other movies in order before I saw this one but between tv, the Internet & radio I was scared to have it spoiled.


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Grampa Murked U said:


> TheOldSchool said:
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> > Grampa Murked U said:
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When the crawl starts, you'll feel like a 10 year old again.


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

TheOldSchool said:


> Grampa Murked U said:
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> > TheOldSchool said:
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I've heard people say the got tears from it. I'm like wtf lol


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## TheOldSchool (Dec 18, 2015)

Grampa Murked U said:


> TheOldSchool said:
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I had a big ol' shit eating grin during it.  And for most of the movie afterwards.


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

Good movie. Bad guy seemed a bit weak but a fun experience


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## B. Kidd (Dec 18, 2015)

Star Wars is sooooo yesterday.............except to *NERDS!!!*..........


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 18, 2015)

B. Kidd said:


> Star Wars is sooooo yesterday.............except to *NERDS!!!*..........


Calling someone a nerd whilst typing on an Internet message board.....

Interesting


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## RWS (Dec 19, 2015)

Bartass, if you're trying to be funny, you're really bad at it! I already made the joke. 

I'm kind of close with the critic upstairs, who gave it 7 out of 10. 

I'm old-school and use 4 stars, And I'm 3.5 out of 4. The only reason it is not a 4, is because I'm very careful about what I give a 4. And it has to have replayability. I've only seen this movie once, and missed the dang last 5 minutes, so I cannot give it a 4 yet. 

But it is definitely 3.5! No doubt about.


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## RWS (Dec 19, 2015)

There's always the assholes in any thread. I commend that you stopped whatever spoiler they were revealing. 

I will have words with them in the future...


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## strollingbones (Dec 19, 2015)

saw it last night.....i wont spoil it ....i was not happy...not happy at all


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## RWS (Dec 19, 2015)

How old are you, and what are you comparing it with?


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## RWS (Dec 19, 2015)

Trust me, you won't be dissatisfied if you're a fan. 

Let's wait to hear why the guy above didn't like it... (probably because they knocked out the wifi on his phone in the theater)


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## strollingbones (Dec 19, 2015)

62....so i have seen them all....i didnt say it was not a good movie...it was excellent it was simply the formula that works for this series....face it....new faces telling the first star wars....republic is near doom...the heroes must find a way into the death star...etc and so forth....sequel will be young person meeting jedi and being trained....sound familiar ...

perhaps the age will tell you why i am just not happy lol.....i will say this....people have been great not to tell spoilers...it was a total fucking shock....total....i started crying ...


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## strollingbones (Dec 19, 2015)

btw i was the driving force in going to see it at 7 pm last night....i was the one that braved the cold and paid for the damn tickets...30 bucks for 2 seniors to the 3d...it was fun....all kinds of characters....chewy on stilts was odd but hey....the movie was excellent in a star wars way....
the bar scene was good....

so dont judge......

best deal on popcorn and coke....14.50  wtf


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## strollingbones (Dec 19, 2015)

chewy on stilts was in lobby...not movie


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## longknife (Dec 19, 2015)

Still gonna wait til it hits On Demand in a year or so and watch it on my 55" HD.


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## Sunni Man (Dec 19, 2015)

I have only watched the original Star Wars movie years ago.

Should I watch the others before I go see this new one?   ......


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## Dhara (Dec 19, 2015)

Sunni Man said:


> I have only watched the original Star Wars movie years ago.
> 
> Should I watch the others before I go see this new one?   ......


Each of the movies can be enjoyed without seeing all the others.  Some of them weren't that great, as I remember.


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## longknife (Dec 19, 2015)

Sunni Man said:


> I have only watched the original Star Wars movie years ago.
> 
> Should I watch the others before I go see this new one?   ......


For some reason, Lucas released them out of sequence. If you're serious, it would be best to view them from #1 to #6. There IS a plot line that most forget about.


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## Dogtanian (Dec 19, 2015)

I just watched it an hour ago. It's okay I guess, but it's just another movie. Frankly JJ Abrams is full of shxt. He swore he was not going to have crap whizzing around the screen and scene changes every 10 seconds, but that's exactly what he did. The Force Awakens is virtually identical to the last three movies. 

If a movie has you thinking "is this a good movie?" while you're in the middle of watching it, it probably isn't, and this movie had me thinking that after just 30 minutes. Basically if you've seen either of JJ Abrams Star Trek movies, it's the same as that with different music. What's missing from the Force Awakens is a good story and a couple of really good actors to anchor the thing . Abrams played it safe and lazy, and kept chopping and changing, jumping from one scene to another, never allowing the audience - me in particular - to get comfortable and get into the story. ONE story, that's all you have to do; just tell one single story. It's not about the special effects, it's not about stuff blowing up, it's about the story. 

The Force Awakens has a couple of good moments, there were a few things I liked about it, but the story itself is a big nothing .It was like watching two episodes of a Star Wars TV show joined together - and it would have made a great mini-series, but this was a feature movie.


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## Unkotare (Dec 19, 2015)

Why is everyone worried about "spoilers"? Who can't figure out all the 'twists' from the first promotional poster they put out?


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## Dogtanian (Dec 19, 2015)

longknife said:


> Sunni Man said:
> 
> 
> > I have only watched the original Star Wars movie years ago.
> ...



No he didn't. The original Star Wars (A New Hope) had an intro that was in the style of 1930's serials like Flash Gordon. It was stupid and weird, but it worked. 1, 2, and 3 don't count. There are only three real Star Wars movies, and that's the original trilogy in their de-enhanced form - cleaned up is fine, but the CGI crap and alterations are appalling.


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## RWS (Dec 20, 2015)

#4 was when Lucas decided the story was worth telling on the big screen. So he started there. And it was a very good decision.

I agree it took me a long time to get into the new main characters, but that's to be expected when you're a fan of the original characters. I go by Hank Solo in games since I was a kid, and Han and Indiana Jones are two of my top 3 favorite movie characters of all time. I liked the female character pretty soon, but that's because she's hot and can fight. The storm-trooper guy took a little while, and based on the trailers I thought he would be a boring character, but he ended up being great as well! It was the comedy that made you like them. Just like in the originals. It was actually a pretty funny movie, not as funny as Guardians, but still funny for the SW universe.


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## Remodeling Maidiac (Dec 20, 2015)

longknife said:


> Sunni Man said:
> 
> 
> > I have only watched the original Star Wars movie years ago.
> ...


The prequels are a joke. SKIP THEM & save your sanity


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## RWS (Dec 23, 2015)

Hope this isn't a spoiler... but it's funny and well done!


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## Wyatt earp (Apr 7, 2016)

Just rented from red box , that movie sucked, it was the same Damn thing as the original.


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## RWS (Apr 9, 2016)

That's a good thing... 

And I agree...


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## RWS (Apr 9, 2016)

Not that it sucked, but it was true to the original.... jus sayin.... in case it wasn't clear!


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