Movies STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS v.9 (Dragonlord's Review)

I had a nightmare that there was a new special edition of the original trilogy and they replaced puppet Yoda with CGI Yoda and Darth Vader under the helmet with CGI bald Hayden Christensen
 
Avatar was excellent. I actually didn't watch for years after it was a huge hit out of hipster syndrome. I actually recently fell into watching it by mistake, and it was very good.

That said, this is Stars Wars. TFA was incredible. It did everything anybody could have hoped for, and reignited decades of excitement and latent enthusiasm for timeless characters and settings. My family is is alive with Star Wars fandom from myself, who grew up with the originals and mourned the prequels, to my wife who is experiencing them all for the first time, to my daughter who is enjoying The Clone Wars, saw her first Star Wars film, TFA, and sat with starry eyes taking in a reality so cool that she can't even talk about anything else. We bought her Disney Infinity play sets and characters from the Star Wars films, which we are watching with her, and she loves playing with them.

TFA was fucking awesome on a level rarely experienced. That movie fucking ruled. Godammit.
 
I don't understand how every complaint of this movie being a ripoff of A New Hope is followed by a complaint that Kylo Ren isn't Darth Vader. Isn't that what you guys wanted, a fresh take on older characters? He's a student, not a master. He's flawed, not always in complete control of his emotions. He's still emotionally conflicted, instead of being totally drawn into the dark side. He's still obviously quite powerful though, with a lot of potential. I thought he was a great character. I don't understand why people want a more one dimensional villain.
 
Mike90 said:
I don't understand how every complaint of this movie being a ripoff of A New Hope is followed by a complaint that Kylo Ren isn't Darth Vader. Isn't that what you guys wanted, a fresh take on older characters? He's a student, not a master. He's flawed, not always in complete control of his emotions. He's still emotionally conflicted, instead of being totally drawn into the dark side. He's still obviously quite powerful though, with a lot of potential. I thought he was a great character. I don't understand why people want a more one dimensional villain.
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What is so hard to understand?

The movie is a rip off of ANH and ROTJ. Everything from the characters being counterparts of the ANH archetypes, to the Starkiller base being a giant death star, and even the last act of the film, all were RIPPED OFF LITERALLY from the older films. Are you kidding me? How do you not see this?

Also, why ppl dont like Kylo Ren? Well I actually really like the idea on paper. A Dark Sider feeling conflicted and drawn to the light side. Thats actually a brilliant and not before seen idea. The execution, however, was weak. To start with I feel he was miscast. Then, his character lost a sense of mystery too early when he removed his mask. Finally, he was nerfed bigtime to allow an obligatory lightsaber fight that was basically fan service. As awesome as the light saber fight was, it should never have taken place. And if it did, Rey should have been been beaten decisively.

With the way things have turned out, Kylo looks like a weak villain and Rey has become a Mary Sue character. There is no respecting a weak villain, and ofcourse people are not going to like him.

TFA was hugely entertaining. The comedy in it was great. The cinematography was amazing, probably the best of all the star wars films. But to me the film lacked soul. The characters could have been interesting, but the plot let them down. Ultimately, with the direction they took, it just felt like more a super safe, formulaic, cash grab than a sincere effort to take the franchise forward.
 
Watched it again yesterday, and it seemed more obvious this time that Ren was toying with Finn in the fight. Him getting bested(injured or not) by Rey is still unforgivable, though.

No way should Rey have conquered him in the first movie.
 
I finally got around to seeing this; was not really impressed. It had some moments here and there that were, on their own, really good. I'd say that the first hour or so is a solid 7 or 8. But by the time Leia showed up I was getting bored and things felt too much like a rehash. It became too predictable and I wish the climax had a curveball in there somewhere (no, Han dying wasn't a curveball, it was obvious the second he confronted Kylo). Oh well, can't love 'em all. 5.5/10.
 
VanteMMA said:
What is so hard to understand?

The movie is a rip off of ANH and ROTJ. Everything from the characters being counterparts of the ANH archetypes, to the Starkiller base being a giant death star, and even the last act of the film, all were RIPPED OFF LITERALLY from the older films. Are you kidding me? How do you not see this?

Also, why ppl dont like Kylo Ren? Well I actually really like the idea on paper. A Dark Sider feeling conflicted and drawn to the light side. Thats actually a brilliant and not before seen idea. The execution, however, was weak. To start with I feel he was miscast. Then, his character lost a sense of mystery too early when he removed his mask. Finally, he was nerfed bigtime to allow an obligatory lightsaber fight that was basically fan service. As awesome as the light saber fight was, it should never have taken place. And if it did, Rey should have been been beaten decisively.

With the way things have turned out, Kylo looks like a weak villain and Rey has become a Mary Sue character. There is no respecting a weak villain, and ofcourse people are not going to like him.

TFA was hugely entertaining. The comedy in it was great. The cinematography was amazing, probably the best of all the star wars films. But to me the film lacked soul. The characters could have been interesting, but the plot let them down. Ultimately, with the direction they took, it just felt like more a super safe, formulaic, cash grab than a sincere effort to take the franchise forward.
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No I get the similarities to ANH, but that doesn't mesh with complaining about Ren not being a carbon copy of Darth Vader.


1. Kylo Ren: He's a completely new villain. Kylo is still in training, he''s not SUPPOSED to be like Vader or the emperor. He's the first star wars villain to show signs of humanity and vulnerability. It's the first movie too, who say Ren is even the main villain?




2. The new characters are ripoffs of the og characters. Not really. Finn is a reformed stormtrooper, trained from an early age. Nothing like that in the originals. Poe is a good pilot, that doesn't make him Han Solo. He's not a drifter and smuggler, and is firmly with the rebellion. Rey is like a combination of a young Luke and Han in a way, but isn't exactly lke either character.


3. The characters meet conveniently: Sure, but jesus christ who cares. You can nitpick anything if you try hard enough. The entire series has always had people meet conveniently. Chalk it up to the force.


4. Ren should've beat up Finn: WTF were you guys watching? He absolutely murked Finn. Finn shouldn't have been able to even hold a saber without cutting his own arm off? Says who, that's pretty dumb. Anyone can figure out to hold the blade away from yourself, which is about all Finn accomplished in that fight.

5. Rey shouldn't have pwned Ren so hard: Sure, I can see the argument for this. People are downplaying that Ren underestimated her and was injured, Ren is a student not a master, and it's already been established that she's stronger in the force than he is. Also even injured he was winning most of the fight until she used the force to pull ahead. They hint heavily that Rey is either Luke's daughter or in some other way connected to the force.

6. Story is a retread: Sure there's a lot of homages in the story and it could've been more original in parts. However Ren is an entirely new type of villain, Finn is a new type of character. Seeing X-wings fighting on a planet is new.New aliens were introduced, new monsters, new ships, new weapons. It's not as if there wasn't anything original in the entire movie. Plus I enjoyed the new super saiyan death star.
 
Loiosh said:
I'm on season four of Clone Wars.

There are things I like about the show, but I'm still really turned off by the animation style.

I'm glad I'm watching it but there are several episodes I flat out did not like.

There's some gold in them hills, though.
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watching the unfinished episodes now.

I really enjoyed season 6 save for the mace/jar jar episodes but luckily that was only 2 .
 
VanteMMA said:
What is so hard to understand?

The movie is a rip off of ANH and ROTJ. Everything from the characters being counterparts of the ANH archetypes, to the Starkiller base being a giant death star, and even the last act of the film, all were RIPPED OFF LITERALLY from the older films. Are you kidding me? How do you not see this?

Also, why ppl dont like Kylo Ren? Well I actually really like the idea on paper. A Dark Sider feeling conflicted and drawn to the light side. Thats actually a brilliant and not before seen idea. The execution, however, was weak. To start with I feel he was miscast. Then, his character lost a sense of mystery too early when he removed his mask. Finally, he was nerfed bigtime to allow an obligatory lightsaber fight that was basically fan service. As awesome as the light saber fight was, it should never have taken place. And if it did, Rey should have been been beaten decisively.

With the way things have turned out, Kylo looks like a weak villain and Rey has become a Mary Sue character. There is no respecting a weak villain, and ofcourse people are not going to like him.

TFA was hugely entertaining. The comedy in it was great. The cinematography was amazing, probably the best of all the star wars films. But to me the film lacked soul. The characters could have been interesting, but the plot let them down. Ultimately, with the direction they took, it just felt like more a super safe, formulaic, cash grab than a sincere effort to take the franchise forward.
Click to expand...

Thank you for putting my thoughts to text. I had a mini argument with a friend of mine the other day when I said pretty much the exact same thing but he refused to see the similarities.
 
Cool Hand Luke said:
watching the unfinished episodes now.

I really enjoyed season 6 save for the mace/jar jar episodes but luckily that was only 2 .
Click to expand...

The frustrating thing for me is that I really enjoyed the story, and the quality of the animation was excellent, I just didn't like the "marionette" style. The movement was so awkward, when anyone walked you looked for the strings, like Thunderbirds, which was never really my thing.

I love all the Sith stories, though, it's really fleshing out the universe for me.
 
I just finished season 2 of the Clone Wars. Enjoyed the Death Watch episodes, and I'm really eager to see more of the story about that Black lightsaber, hopefully it's explained more in the later seasons
 
J85909266 said:
Avatar was excellent. I actually didn't watch for years after it was a huge hit out of hipster syndrome. I actually recently fell into watching it by mistake, and it was very good.

That said, this is Stars Wars. TFA was incredible. It did everything anybody could have hoped for, and reignited decades of excitement and latent enthusiasm for timeless characters and settings. My family is is alive with Star Wars fandom from myself, who grew up with the originals and mourned the prequels, to my wife who is experiencing them all for the first time, to my daughter who is enjoying The Clone Wars, saw her first Star Wars film, TFA, and sat with starry eyes taking in a reality so cool that she can't even talk about anything else. We bought her Disney Infinity play sets and characters from the Star Wars films, which we are watching with her, and she loves playing with them.

TFA was fucking awesome on a level rarely experienced. That movie fucking ruled. Godammit.
Click to expand...

Your standards are low.

Sadly you are not alone.
 
2moeba0.png
 
VanteMMA said:
Also, why ppl dont like Kylo Ren? Well I actually really like the idea on paper. A Dark Sider feeling conflicted and drawn to the light side. Thats actually a brilliant and not before seen idea. The execution, however, was weak. To start with I feel he was miscast. Then, his character lost a sense of mystery too early when he removed his mask. Finally, he was nerfed bigtime to allow an obligatory lightsaber fight that was basically fan service. As awesome as the light saber fight was, it should never have taken place. And if it did, Rey should have been been beaten decisively.

With the way things have turned out, Kylo looks like a weak villain and Rey has become a Mary Sue character. There is no respecting a weak villain, and ofcourse people are not going to like him.
Click to expand...


I'm torn on whether or not he was a miscast because before he removed his helmet I thought his character was basically perfect. Costume design, mannerisms and voice was perfect. When he removed his helmet and then started speaking to Ren in the interrogation room none of that carried over. If I recall his general dialog style changed as soon as he removed the mask, felt like a completely different person. I don't know if this was on purpose as if they were trying to portray him as a conflicted insecure person. It just came off weird how he had this almost invincible aura about him at the start of the film and then they broke him down as a weaker villain as the film progressed. The entire light saber fight didn't make sense on how it played out.
 
bubbleboyjones said:
I'm torn on whether or not he was a miscast because before he removed his helmet I thought his character was basically perfect. Costume design, mannerisms and voice was perfect. When he removed his helmet and then started speaking to Ren in the interrogation room none of that carried over. If I recall his general dialog style changed as soon as he removed the mask, felt like a completely different person. I don't know if this was on purpose as if they were trying to portray him as a conflicted insecure person. It just came off weird how he had this almost invincible aura about him at the start of the film and then they broke him down as a weaker villain as the film progressed. The entire light saber fight didn't make sense on how it played out.
Click to expand...

Shhhh! Don't say that! The film was perfection. It was all so new and trail blazing.
 
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