STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Official Thread v.6

[csroster]

There were a lot of fun parts, some good mystery and great action scenes. I liked all of the characters. I was worried about the Chewie and Han Solo parts getting too redundant but it balanced out well.

The movie starts off very fast paced and settles in, but by the time it gets to the 'blow up the deathstar' stuff I had Star Wars nostalgia fatigue and had to mentally check out for a bit.

Overall very entertaining and infinitely better than the prequels, but I didn't feel like the movie left me with the heavy emotional weight that should have come after everything that happened in it. Even the final scene left me with no resolution or any strong feelings. As the credits began to roll I thought, 'I wonder if there will be a scene after the credits that leaves me with the chills I feel like I should be having right now.'

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Reading this thread is like reading the shit that gets posted in the heavies after a big fight.

 

[aldeniro78]

Saw it yesterday afternoon.

I'm not sure Abrams was the best choice. He used the original trilogy as a reference point a bit too much and I don't care much for what he considers humor.

The movie started out well and ended relatively well, but I'll admit I dozed a bit during the middle portion while they were hanging with the little orange chick. It was just boring and unneeded.

Kylo was a decent villian, but I couldn't help but join in on the snickers when he removed his helmet. Talk about anticlimactic.

All that said, the movie was enough fun for me to say it's definitely better than the shitty prequels, but not up there with the originals. Hopefully we get more originality in the next movie.

 

[Mondo Freaks]

They should have gave Adam Driver some sort of a distinguishing facial feature. He looked like a high school kid who is into Pantera.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: December 20, 2015

THE FORCE AWAKENS Opens to Record $238M for $517M Global Launch

The Force is back, and it's stronger than ever. J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered numerous box-office records over the weekend, grossing $238 million in North America — the biggest opening of all time, not accounting for inflation — for a global launch of $517 million.

The previous best was this summer's Jurassic World with $208.8 million domestically. Overseas, it scored $279 million for a $517 million global launch, the second-best of all time behind Jurassic World ($524.9 million), which had the advantage of opening day and date in China. Force Awakens doesn't debut in the world's second-largest moviegoing market until Jan. 9.

Force Awakens' stunning performance sets a new standard for how much the North American box office can expand when the right movie comes along, and puts even more pressure on Hollywood studios to eventize their tentpoles. It's also a critical victory for Disney, which paid George Lucas $4 billion for Lucasfilm in order to get its hands on the Star Wars franchise.

Abrams' movie, buoyed by nostalgia, glowing reviews and an A CinemaScore, obliterated the previous December record set by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which debuted to $84.6 million in 2012. Moreover, overall revenue hit an all-time high, crossing $300 million for the first time ever. Mid-December isn't known for big opening numbers, since many consumers are distracted by pre-Christmas preparations.

At this rate, there's no telling how high Force Awakens will ultimately fly in terms of box-office revenue, since films over the year-end holidays can see huge multiples. James Cameron's Avatar opened to $77 million on the same weekend in 2009 on its way to becoming the top-grossing film of all time with $2.79 in global ticket sales, including $760.5 million domestically. And on the weekend before Christmas in 1996, Cameron's Titanic took in a mere $28.6 million on its way to grossing $2.19 billion worldwide.

Other records broken by Force Awakens include widest December release of all time (4,134 theaters), biggest Thursday-night previews ($57 million), biggest single day and biggest opening day ($120.5 million) and biggest Imax opening. And Force Awakens came close to taking the record for biggest Saturday from Jurassic World ($69.2 million).


'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Opens to Record $238M for $517M Cosmic Global Launch

 

[Amerikuracana]

It was good, but it is also a bit overrated. The poster above me (csroster) said something pretty appropriate when he stated that with all that took place, there was not a real 'emotional' connection to the film. It was still a 'modern' feeling film, and it was a bit 'poppy' for lack of a better term. I would actually give Dragonlordxxx props for kind of hitting nail on the head with his critique. There were/are some glossed over 'issues' which kind of cheapen the movie. The speed of powers that seem to come to characters now, which would have been impossible in former canon etc.. It was good. Go see it if you have not. I hate to even bring this up, but it is my complete honest opinion, if the cast were 'less diverse' but the exact same movie were made, I don't think critics would have given the movie a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's too high. Kind of way too high. I didn't mind the cast at all, really. Maybe a little weird that all the "bad guys" were white guys with English accents?? Those seem to be the 'good guys' in real life lol. But I digress...

This movie was way better than Phantom, of course. It was a step better than Attack of the Clones, (which gets too much hate based on Sam Jackson's bad acting, too much blue screen, and a weaker finishing fight scene.. The story and some of what transpired was actually ok) and I would not put TFA much ahead of 'Revenge of the Sith.' Without the nostalgia, TFA might even be the inferior film. I'll have to watch it again to figure it out.. And I will. Because it didn't suck.

 

[scrubido]

Honestly u need a desperate re watch of the movie.

It's implied heavily he's a bad ass. I already have plenty examples how is is From the movie.

He even talks back to Vader, something no ones does.

Lol. So you go from "He's a badass!" to "Its implied he's a badass". From "He captured them!" to not mentioning it again. You're desperately grasping at straws here. Motti talked back to Vader and he used more than 6 words to do it. By your silly logic, that makes Motti a bigger badass than Boba Fett.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

I can't believe we're going to have to listen to Sansara for the next 5 years concerning these movies.

To me he seems the very reason Sherdog as an "Ignore" feature.

 

[LC Shepard]

I enjoyed the shit out of this movie. I think a person not familiar with Star Wars wouldn't enjoy it as much, though. But for me? I was emotionally invested and I haven't been invested in a movie like this since forever.

I am also now in love with Daisy Ridley. I must marry her.

 

[SaucyJack]

I sure felt an emotional connection with Rey, Finn, Han and Chewie. It was almost overwhelming to finally see characters in Star Wars that made me care about them. I think the prequels were necessary in showing me just how important these things are. I don't think I'd appreciate this movie as much without the prequels before it.

 

[MUSTKILL]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I felt the movie was catered to the PC crowd a little too much. Even my gf said she noticed the subtle Disney style dialog. Female main character, check, minority co-star, check, tranny actor character, check. I did notice the lack of small people actors. JJ better step it up next time or else he'll get little hate mails.

And who ever said a Raid style fight in a star wars movie would be stupid is a complete moron.
The possibility could have been seriously epic. They're masters at action choreography, they could have taken the action to another level.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but at the end of the movie I felt nothing. Was hoping to get some feels throughout the movie, but sadly just another scifi movie with forgettable characters.

 

[KILL KILL]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I felt the movie was catered to the PC crowd a little too much. Even my gf said she noticed the subtle Disney style dialog. Female main character, check, minority co-star, check, tranny actor character, check. I did notice the lack of small people actors. JJ better step it up next time or else he'll get little hate mails.

And who ever said a Raid style fight in a star wars movie would be stupid is a complete moron.
The possibility could have been seriously epic. They're masters at action choreography, they could have taken the action to another level.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but at the end of the movie I felt nothing. Was hoping to get some feels throughout the movie, but sadly just another scifi movie with forgettable characters.

I don't think it was a Disney thing to have the main character be a female. I believe they are following a similar storyline to the "Legacy of the Force" series from the EU, which only makes sense that the main character be a female for various reasons. I'll explain below.

Spoiler

In the Legacy of the Force storyline, Jacen Solo (Ren in the movie) turns to the dark side. Although Luke trained him and is the ultimate badass, he refuses to kill his own nephew and basically goes into exile (just like the movie), even after Solo kills his wife (this would be Han in the movie). The only person that can stop him is Jaina Solo (Rey in the movie).

 

[John Stockton]

I love how us white men are the main characters in like every blockbuster ever and the one time we're not, some of us start crying foul.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

 

[windkick]

My only gripe was how R2D2 just turns on out of nowhere, for no reason, just as that massive death star was destroyed. How convenient.

 

[heavyarms21]

I honestly haven't seen it yet , debating on whether or not to catch the Sunday midnight Showing or Monday at like 10 am.

 

[windkick]

It's a good watch, I recommend it

 

[KILL KILL]

My only gripe was how R2D2 just turns on out of nowhere, for no reason, just as that massive death star was destroyed. How convenient.

Yeah, they didn't really explain that did they. If that piece of shit turned on earlier, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Fuck that D2

 

[shockaholic12]

Spoiler

This movie was absolutely not "go take a piss and know the plot" worthy at all. If you're saying you saw the Han scene on the bridge coming, you're flat out lying. If you're telling me you knew who Kylo Ren was going to be before the movie started, once again; bullshit. If you knew exactly how Han would react when he met Leia, or if you predicted that Rey was going to get that vision from the lightsaber, well good work Nostradamus, cause nobody else did. There was tension, mystery and freshness in this film.
It followed a similar path to a New Hope, as in yeah, there was a big climactic battle and we got to know an isolated hero, etc, and that's the whole point. Calling it "too similar" misses the premise of the movie and shows you didn't know wtf was going on when you were sitting there watching it - (hint, it's starting all over again, The Force Awakens). Not getting it is on you because the vast majority of the critics and people who have seen this movie picked up on the story the movie was trying to tell rather easily. If you/whoever did get it (doesn't seem like it) and just didn't like it, fine, enjoying movies is a matter of personal taste - but the whining is annoying and unwarranted and deserves to be checked.

This movie combined the new and the old very well and left the audience feeling like we took a trip through the future that was also kind of in the past (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) and the past is something the characters in the story are no doubt afraid of; the audience should feel frustrated along with the old timers that the kids aren't listening and don't see how bad all this can get - it all makes perfect sense as a theme moving forward given the context this movie exists in today and at the end of the day it was an excellent, fun, space adventure movie that hit all its marks.

There's reviews on pretty much every page of this thread that mention it was a New Hope re-hash so get out of here with your "a vast majority of critics liked it so you must be wrong". That's the ultimate bitch out "but the critics bro"..c'mon man!

It was supposed to be similar? Thanks for enlightening us Captain Obvious, no one in this thread but you could gleam from the dozen or so major story beats JJ re-used that his intention was to draw parallels between the stories. Congrats. Being intent doesn't mean they couldn't over-do it and rely too much on New Hopes script because they wanted to play it safe

I gave the flick 7 because it was well shot, the new content there I found mostly cool, and I liked all the new characters.

Spoiler

but when I heard Droid and hologram I knew pretty much how the 1st act would play out and besides some fun action scenes I anticipated a majority of it. Same goes for the entire third act big battle. Where it was supposed to be the most suspenseful part of the film, it was the most predictable. I didn't see every beat coming but I saw more then I hoped for and in these scenes I found myself a little bored and waiting for something new. I think they could have made some more creative choices.[\SPOILER]

 

[Matt M]

So many people who's opinions on films I have no respect for have been to see it and loved it.
And that's really putting me off.