Hey kids -

Since the reviewers got to see the movie last night, since The Average Citizen are starting to show up having seen Force Awakens, and since I'm about to blow out of work here in couple hours early for my All Seven Marathon, I thought it was a good time for the spoiler discussion!

The reviews are looking good. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 97% out of 118 reviews . We'll see how that number stands after we get a wider sample, but it's a good start. Also here is IO9's almost nearly spoiler free review (spoiler: they loved it).

Since most people are still probably a little ways away from seeing it, here's something to tide you over:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4CtXcjib4o

So have at it!

Here is the Collider Spoiler Free Review. They got to see the Movie on Monday at the World Premiere and filmed this review after the Festivities. So take that into consideration.

Collider Spoiler Free Review

Just seen it. Twice.

Going back for a third time tonight.

So, eventhough the title was very clear, I am now going to type up some spoilers....

SPOILERS COMING

SERIOUSLY SPOILERS COMING

LAST CHANGE, SPOILERS APPROACHING IN 5

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Well that settles it, we are never going to see the "big three" on screen together... That is too bad.

However, what a movie...

Great work by Ridley, Boyega and Isac. Hats off to Driver and Gleeson for holding their own as the bad guys.

I loved it.

The atmosphere was spot on, the humor was great, the tension was real, everything was so clearly a labor of love.

Highlights were the final sabre battle, the xwing coming in over the lake, Han being Han, Maz Kanata, the look and feel of Jakku, and a heck of a lot more.

Less enthust about Han and the gang fight plus the escapes aliens, Supreme leader Snoke, not a lot of returning aliens (but a boat load of new ones, so...)

Lol, it's the Holiday Special canon?

I've got about 35 hours till I go. Earliest screening in my area and still a little earlier than wide release.

And I watch episode 6 tonight to finish preparing. Not that I needed to catch back up. I can **** near write the scripts.....

How to add a lightsaber to your Facebook Profile. link I know not everyone will be into this, but I thought I would throw it out here.

Saw it this morning, as I'm back home in the UK for christmas. I really enjoyed it, but I thought it was not-quite-perfect. Until I see it a few more times, I'd rate it at a "mere" 90% :-).

I understand the desire to keep some of the themes going from the first two trilogies, but I thought the grand Super-Duper Death Star (really? Starkiller ? bah) and it's inevitable destruction by a desparate starfighter attack was just a bit... meh.

Still, definitely liked all the new characters, and although it was telegraphed a way in advance (in the movie, I've been avoiding spoilers, chat show interviews etc), I understood the choice of the mentor (and mentor-sacrifice) character, following in the footsteps of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

Overall, as someone who (obviously) enojyed the Original Trilogy, and thought the Prequels were all a bit "meh" (largely redeemed mostly by the Clone Wars series), I thought The Force Awakens was definitely a worthy addition to the saga.

I liked it. The main problem was the repetition from the original Star Wars movie (ep. IV if you prefer that). Even down to the x-wing attack going down into a trench for that last shot to destroy the superweapon of doom. They should have mixed that up a bit. They could also have used a few more "established" aliens, there is a lot of new critters there for FFG to work with. It feels like this movie is doing a lot of setting up for the next one.

After only a single viewing it is a solid 9/10 for me.

Don't forget that it is normal in SW movies

To have recurring themes, echoes and plot points. It had been in all 6 so I felt it was just what we needed.

Starkiller Base for instance is a name that harkens back to Luke's initial last name in the script for anh. I like those touches...

Also tfa feels like a love letter to anh at times bit never gets bohged down because of it. I love it. 9/10 due to earlier mentioned small gripes.

Also, Phasma was underused. Why not have that saberfight with her instead of a random trooper? That seemed a missed opportunity.

Oh, and finally, star wars is funny again!!!

Speaking as someone who's hated everything Star Wars in the last 20 years, ever since we stopped playing the WEG game, I thought it was pretty good.

I wasn't concerned about seeing it 'til friends dragged me out to see it today.

It's essentially a complete rewrite of the first two movies as a reboot, but that's all right. They were trying hard not to make it like the debacle of the prequels. It's a movie for fans of the first movies, which is no bad thing.

The acting is good. The new guys are pretty cool. It felt very 'safe', with very few risks taken, but that's fine. It's 'comfort food' for fans, and that's okay.

It felt like Star Wars, something I never felt about the prequels or all these terrible kid's TV cartoons.

It won't affect my EoE game at all, but it could have been much, much worse.

Just got back from the cinema. It was a great film. The cinematography was great. The acting was great. Some scenes were beautiful. The pacing was spot on.

But... it re-used too much from the original trilogy. A few times I wondered which film I was watching. It felt like a re-imagining. There was very little new in it. Poor FFG will have precious little to extract for its game lines!

So I have mixed feelings about it.

But... it re-used too much from the original trilogy. A few times I wondered which film I was watching. It felt like a re-imagining. There was very little new in it. Poor FFG will have precious little to extract for its game lines!

So I have mixed feelings about it.

That's not wholly a bad thing.

You could easily run a game based in this era using everything we currently have. With a few exceptions, the ships and gear and everything else are just the same.

This way at least, as the film is essentially a modern retelling of the originals, we won't need a separate game line for The Force Awakens era because everything we have already covers it.

I gave it 8 stars on IMDB. I generally liked it, but had a problem with how much the plot resembled A New Hope. And Snoke is a silly name, the giant hologram of a cgi Voldemort didn't improve the character either.

not a lot of returning aliens (but a boat load of new ones, so...)

I think a lot of the new aliens are based on concept art for the original trilogy. And the only familiar species appeared to be those that were established characters from the previous movies. I might have spotted a (first live-action) Bothan with the Resistance though, not sure.

Don't forget that it is normal in SW movies

To have recurring themes, echoes and plot points. It had been in all 6 so I felt it was just what we needed.

True, but as a couple of others have also said, I think they might have used a little too much in this case.

Starkiller Base for instance is a name that harkens back to Luke's initial last name in the script for anh. I like those touches...

True, but it also harkens most recently to the Force Unleashed games... urgh.

Also, Phasma was underused. Why not have that saberfight with her instead of a random trooper? That seemed a missed opportunity.

100% agree, although they would have to have come up with another way to end that fight without killing her.

Oh, and finally, star wars is funny again!!!

Yup, some nice touches.

https://youtu.be/X-mewHsIhAU

Oh you guys are never happy. This is exactly the Star Wars movie that we asked for! And asked for is what we got! Fights with meaning? Epic Dogfights? Actual chemistry between actors? We certainly got everything we asked for. Bahahaha

I thought it was incredible. I came in with no expectations.

As for plasma, I wasn't really bothered about her. Remember Boba Fett? That's who I saw when I was looking at her and she was disposed of the same way. Down into a pit of some description. Because to be honest she always struck me as a Sargent; a character important to the ranks of stormtroopers, but not necessarily important to the plot. I mean I wouldn't have minded her doing something, but it didn't make any difference to me. I imagine we will see her again though.

I kind of liked that the movie didn't descend too much into established matchups, and even did a decent job of making me incorrectly identify Flinn as a Force Sensitive, he never had the capability as such.

The only thing I didn't really like was this poorly explained snork fellow, but I can only assume he is the man who's decided to fill in the power vacuum left by the emperor, and is the kind of chap that shows his real face to very few people. That cgi thing we saw was probably a cgi thing.

And Ren? Well, I find him very intriguing. I am curious to how he will be portrayed in the follow up movie.

Sorry dude, but everybody here so far was happy.

Concerning the people criticizing the 'repeats' from early films I will quote Matt Soller Seitz on rogerebert.com because he put into words exactly what I think of it;

Lucas' prequels balanced light with gathering darkness, and rhymed scenes, situations and shots with the original trilogy's, to create a sense of history repeating and inverting itself. Abrams and company have done something similar in “The Force Awakens,” but at the level of characterization and scene-building. This is a subtler way to revise (or recycle) elements in a popular franchise while finding something new in them, and it explains why this film feels more fully realized than any "Star Wars" movie since "The Empire Strikes Back"—it's certainly warmer than the prequels, which often failed at characterization and plot even as they served up intricate sequences and haunting images.

I think a lot of the new aliens are based on concept art for the original trilogy. And the only familiar species appeared to be those that were established characters from the previous movies. I might have spotted a (first live-action) Bothan with the Resistance though, not sure.

In fact there was one Lutrilian in the scene where the planet gets blown up.

One thing my thick mind can't seem to understand. Perhaps someone more clever could explain. How is it that the Republic is back, but there is still a Resistance? Those seem to be two separate entities in the new movie.

It's like Hux said, the senate is supposedly objective but in reality sides with the resistance.

One thing my thick mind can't seem to understand. Perhaps someone more clever could explain. How is it that the Republic is back, but there is still a Resistance? Those seem to be two separate entities in the new movie.

I imagine that the Galaxy has entered a state of cold war, with the Republic leaving the New Order alone and unwillingly commuting to conflict openly. The resistance seems to be the most proactive "shadow" of the republic that had rejected call of peace in favour of counteracting the First Orders schemes directly. Basically the resistance is the republics hand in dealing with the new order without declaring war.

With the firing of the super weapon though, I am curious on whether this would motivate the republic back into open conflict, or make them cower and surrender to the new order. I am suspecting the latter.

I think one thing that bugs me is that there was no indication of where the First Order came from. I want to get an idea of what happened after the Emperor was destroyed. There was no hint of that in Ep VII.