I think the prequels offer quite a lot. Ignoring Jar Jar, Hayden Christensen, Darth Vader going "nooo" and Padme dying of a broken heart, the story is really rich and there's lots of fascinating content in there.

I think the prequels are great for showing Palpatines sheer genius. Man was an evil mastermind of epic proportions.

His plajn hinged on Jar Jar Binks. The prequels make him look like an idiot.

I think the prequels offer quite a lot. Ignoring Jar Jar, Hayden Christensen, Darth Vader going "nooo" and Padme dying of a broken heart, the story is really rich and there's lots of fascinating content in there.

I think the prequels are great for showing Palpatines sheer genius. Man was an evil mastermind of epic proportions.

His plajn hinged on Jar Jar Binks. The prequels make him look like an idiot.

Um. No. Try removing the chip from your shoulder and watch them again.

I just got home from watching episode VII. I have to say it was a fun and great movie for me. I do agree with many points already brought up. I'm just happy that the chemistry between Fin and Ray is there unlike the forced coupling of Anakin and Padme.

I think the prequels offer quite a lot. Ignoring Jar Jar, Hayden Christensen, Darth Vader going "nooo" and Padme dying of a broken heart, the story is really rich and there's lots of fascinating content in there.

I think the prequels are great for showing Palpatines sheer genius. Man was an evil mastermind of epic proportions.

His plajn hinged on Jar Jar Binks. The prequels make him look like an idiot.

Using a patsy is a time-honored societal manipulation tool, the fact that his plan worked and held for 20 years shows his genius.

While I'm not a big fan of the prequels overall (but not a hater either), I do agree that Palpatine's machinations were a highlight for me.

I think the prequels offer quite a lot. Ignoring Jar Jar, Hayden Christensen, Darth Vader going "nooo" and Padme dying of a broken heart, the story is really rich and there's lots of fascinating content in there.

I think the prequels are great for showing Palpatines sheer genius. Man was an evil mastermind of epic proportions.

His plajn hinged on Jar Jar Binks. The prequels make him look like an idiot.

Using a patsy is a time-honored societal manipulation tool, the fact that his plan worked and held for 20 years shows his genius.

While I'm not a big fan of the prequels overall (but not a hater either), I do agree that Palpatine's machinations were a highlight for me.

while i enjoyed all episodes 1-6 (yes even 1) i also agree that Palpatine's rise to power through manipulation and dirty tricks is really what built those prequels up so well to understand how the Galactic Empire was born and how Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader fell to the dark side

but i just didn't enjoy the 7th installment at all. but still good characters. i'll give it that much

Saw it this afternoon.

I love all six movies, so this one didn't have to be better than movie X in order to be good for me.

Overall I did enjoy it, but it does have some big flaws and misfires.

Most obvious being that it's basically a copycat of ANH. I'm not sure who's more to blame for that, Disney, JJ, or Kasdan. It's probably a bit of all 3. The problem is they wanted It to be so much like the OT they love and not like the PT they hate, as well as playing it as safe as possible. Whether you love or hate the PT, I think most can admit Lucas was at least original with it.

The score was a bit disappointing, considering Williams did it, definitely inferior to all 6 previous movies.

Also I know JJ was all big on using practical effects and avoiding CGI, which can be fine, but all 6 previous movies were all pushing the SFX limts to new heights, whereas TFA isn't at all. It actually feels a bit small and unepic at times, compared to other modern blockbusters, even LOTR from over a decade ago.

Finally I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I could definitely feel the missing touch from Lucas in this movie.

I think many of these problems will be fixed in Episodes 8 & 9. New director, new composer (probably), and after all the money and good reviews this movie got, hopefully they will be more willing to take more risks in the next two.

Saw it this afternoon.

I love all six movies, so this one didn't have to be better than movie X in order to be good for me.

Overall I did enjoy it, but it does have some big flaws and misfires.

Most obvious being that it's basically a copycat of ANH. I'm not sure who's more to blame for that, Disney, JJ, or Kasdan. It's probably a bit of all 3. The problem is they wanted It to be so much like the OT they love and not like the PT they hate, as well as playing it as safe as possible. Whether you love or hate the PT, I think most can admit Lucas was at least original with it.

The score was a bit disappointing, considering Williams did it, definitely inferior to all 6 previous movies.

Also I know JJ was all big on using practical effects and avoiding CGI, which can be fine, but all 6 previous movies were all pushing the SFX limts to new heights, whereas TFA isn't at all. It actually feels a bit small and unepic at times, compared to other modern blockbusters, even LOTR from over a decade ago.

Finally I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I could definitely feel the missing touch from Lucas in this movie.

I think many of these problems will be fixed in Episodes 8 & 9. New director, new composer (probably), and after all the money and good reviews this movie got, hopefully they will be more willing to take more risks in the next two.

problem is, if they get too many good reviews, they'll think they've done nothing wrong and won't improve.. then we'll end up with another "marvel universe.. star wars style" and i shutter to think that this will happen and hope they don't completely destroy the franchise

the only good thing left from the marvel universe is the X-men.. and only because 20th Century Fox won't give up the rights.. and i hope they never do

News flash: Base is still broken, Star Wars fans still hate Star Wars.

http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/loose-bits-off-topic/217646-why-do-star-wars-fans-hate-star-wars.html

I wish. I had liked it more.

Things I didn't like.

The whole new Republic was a single star system. Or it was several star systems in the some JJ Abrams way.

The name The Resistance would make sense if the New Republic was destroyed. It was called that while the Republic was around, and the Republic had their own fleet!

The star was called a sun. And the sun once re-constituted was the same size as a planet. It was after five shots but still.

It was a new death star. And it died like a death star. Trench run, critical exploding bit, shutdown the shields by way of land mission. The weapon being an actual Stellar Converter gave me Master of Orion vibes and I would have liked that at least, but they called it a laser. The last one used a laser, this was plasma.

Finn's stormtrooper buddy died a bloody death to Poe Dameron. He was never mentioned again.

Captain Phasma, the "strong female villain" was intimidated into shutting down the shields leading to the deaths of thousands, and then was shoved in a trash compactor.

Emperor Snokie wanted to be a clone of The Emperor, but instead looks and acts like the face on the back of Professor Quirrell's Head.

Han Solo died like a whimp, to a whimp.

Ben/Kylo Ren came off looking like a hormone-confused child version of General Zod from the new Superman.

The crossguard on the lightsaber didn't prevent it from being cut in half.

CGI aliens were CGI, even though Abrams promised less CGI. If there was lots of non-CGI, it did it's job by being non-noticeable. Unfortunately this made the real CGI very noticeable.

Mama bartender force-lady was a chinese dragon-lady stereotype to a T: Short, old, bartender, younger boyfriend, emphasis on the odd shape of the eyes, and yellow skinned. My goodness.

All the new characters had parent angst.

Finn didn't get eaten by the monster that ate all the other people it grabbed right away.

The stormtroopers are now doing the "taking prisoners" thing worse than old James Bond villains.

They killed Han Solo for instant-bake drama, and Leia didn't even shed a tear.

Mark Hamill had no lines and therefore technically shouldn't be credited.

They ended on a weak circular panning shot.

Things I liked

BB8. All of him.

Poe Dameron's character was pretty likable, and not as forced (heh) as some of the other roles.

Rey made up for Phasma. A little bit. She was pretty good in a fight, refused the call of duty, and made more sense using a lightsaber than Finn.

Catching a blaster bolt with the force was awesome. Ren used up his awesome points over the course of the movie by being whiney and ragetastic, but that scene still holds my memory.

Stormtroopers with electro hammers. And flamethrowers. They still die like wimps and wusses but hey, at least they look cool.

Han Solo was cool while he lived.

Chewbacca was cool period.

The shoggoths were scary. (Until they grabbed Finn. Then they became a runaway taxi ride.)

Finn was hilarious, and also a pretty good character acting-wise. Come to think of it, I liked all the new characters except for Snoke, Ren, and Phasma. (Oh no. I just realized why. It's because they're Disney Villains. Disney Villains are not allowed to be sympathetic in any way, dag-nammit!)

Hmm. Can't think of much else here.

My brother summed it up pretty well unintentionally. "My favorite part was when BB8 was going down those stairs!"

When your favorite scene was a droid rolling down stairs with no lines, what does that say about the writing in rest of the movie?

It was . But I'll probably see it again. Just cause, y'know. Star Wars.

(I really would have preferred Thrawn to this, just saying. )

(I should probably say that The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Mad Max and friggin' Stasis have made me pretty numb to character death, so Han's demise probably hit me less than it should have. He did what he had to do.)

Kylo Ren scares me.

He scares me. Not many people scare me outright, but he does. He's... Everything Anakin could have become, and yet... So much more powerful. A quiet, calculating, voice... Looks at people with the same, unwavering stare... The hair, even. He's everything Anakin was... But...

He's all the worst things about Anakin. Not in acting or something- no... He's the dark side of Anakin.

And he's frightening. Terrifying.

You Vader, Maul, were scary..?

Nobody's as terrifying as Kylo Ren.

Nobody.

He's a kid with a gun the Force, and while it is hard to like him as a character I have to admit: he is scary.

He's angry, confused, hurt, insecure, and incredibly powerful. He's not a thinker, and he's not one to be scared of at a distance, but close up... He's unpredictable, and that's the scariest part of all.

Even the stormtroopers don't want to be in the same room as him. (Another funny bit to add to the Liked parts section.)

(I made my first comment before reading the others. To keep it fresh y'know.)

The lightsaber fights felt much more visceral and heavy, like they did in the OT. Not that there is anything wrong with jumpy spinny flippy fighting, but I like this style better.

I felt the same way. the saber fight scenes had more raw emotion displayed. when Ren used the cross-guard to dig into Fin's shoulder, it had the feel that Ren was going to make Fin suffer every moment before he was going to kill him. then part where Rey pulls the lightsaber into her hands with the music going in the background had me choking up.

I've watched the movie twice already (I just bought 2 tickets because I was sure I'd like it...), and it's a solid 2 out of 5 for me. It wasn't a tragedy, but I really didn't like it. Weak villains (too similar to old villains too: G.Hux is Tarkin, Kylo is Vader and Snoke is Palpatine. Only thing is, I like the 3 old villains better), too many things left unexplained, a repeated plot, the old characters almost didn't spend any time together (and we'll never see Luke and Han sharing screen time again!) and in the end I felt frustrated.

BTW, I must confess... I have to say it or I'll just explode... You can hate me after that if you want, but I have to spit it out...

I hated Kylo Ren. I hated this character, and not because of what he did, but because to me he's the stupidiest character since Jar Jar Binks, and I'm serious. He is dumb as hell, he's impulsive like a child, he's weak and his whole concept is stupid. His fall to the dark side makes even less sense than Anakin's fall . This new kid on the block had a loving father, a loving mother, a powerful uncle and the hero he worships came back to the light in his final moments. Nobody told that to the kid? Also, "I'll finish what you started". What did Vader start to begin with? He started nothing: Palpatine founded the Empire and begun the hunt for the jedi. Palpatine begun the creation of every war we saw in both trilogies. So what the f... is this little stupid, retarted child saying? "Grandpa, I'll..." WTF?! So he is like Vader, but dumb, childish, weak and stupid.

As I said, it's not like I hated the guy because of what he did, but because I can't get this image out of my head: he's like 'Cartman with authoritah fell to the Dark Side'. Only dumber.

I like where they were going with the characters (Kylo/Finn/Rey/etc), just not a fan of how little time they got to do any character development in favor of just one action-sequence-after-another.

Critics are not wrong to have observed that it feels like almost a beat-for-beat remake of Episode IV, but where Episode IV might spend 15 minutes of screen time with the day of a moisture farmer, and 30 seconds of angry Sand People...Episode VII would re-use the exact same plot elements but spend 30 seconds "on the farm" and 15 minutes with the action sequence.

It's like ADHD-Star-Wars. I'll say this, though, if you think JJ-Trek was an improvement - say, preferring 'Into Darkness' over 'Wrath of Khan'...you'll love this movie.

while i enjoyed all episodes 1-6 (yes even 1) i also agree that Palpatine's rise to power through manipulation and dirty tricks is really what built those prequels up so well to understand how the Galactic Empire was born and how Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader fell to the dark side

but i just didn't enjoy the 7th installment at all. but still good characters. i'll give it that much

Yup, this exactly. Just too many action sequences to cram in for that kind of story development. No room for a night at the opera, here, or negotiations in the senate - gotta have more explosions.

I'll take the prequels over this one, any day.

"I feel the struggle within you" famously said by Luke to Vader. Not much for the fans to go on for this feeling Luke had but we all believed it. Kylo is also struggling but they make it very clear of the struggle he faces. I truly enjoyed seeing the off and on the character went through.

Rey is also a great way to take the story to new places as she is a very likeable character. I'm looking forward to seeing her in the next film as her hero quest continues.

Finn, wow this is the character that made the movie for me. What a performance from John Boyega. I know there were rumblings of Star Wars getting a nod for best picture this year at the oscars. But John's performance does deserve a reward.

for me there was only one disappointing character in the movie and that was Phasma.....

"I feel the struggle within you" famously said by Luke to Vader. Not much for the fans to go on for this feeling Luke had but we all believed it. Kylo is also struggling but they make it very clear of the struggle he faces. I truly enjoyed seeing the off and on the character went through.

Rey is also a great way to take the story to new places as she is a very likeable character. I'm looking forward to seeing her in the next film as her hero quest continues.

Finn, wow this is the character that made the movie for me. What a performance from John Boyega. I know there were rumblings of Star Wars getting a nod for best picture this year at the oscars. But John's performance does deserve a reward.

for me there was only one disappointing character in the movie and that was Phasma.....

Ridley and Boyega both friggin KILLED it. Rey showed so much emotion through her facial expressions. Watch closely, some of them only last a second, like the amused nose scrintch after the conversation with Han after he (sort of) offers her a job. Boyega, he played a character that had been raised from birth to be a stormtrooper. He nailed the tactics and strategy? Ifo you need for an assault? I'm your guy. Interpersonal relationships? Very awkward. The cast is fantastic. Can the script of episode 8 live up to their talent?

But to sum it up... The New Republic doesn't want to fight the Empire in fact Mon Mothma pretty much scraps the whole military, and has signed a treaty with the Empire. That means they can't really act against the First Order, so they supply equipment to the Resistance who fights for the New Republic so technically the Republic hasn't violated the treaty.

Thank you for this because somehow I managed to miss any mention of this.

After a year of waiting I finaly went to see Star Wars EP7. It was nothing like I expected and not in a good way. I knew the plot points of the whole movie 2 months ago and still went in to give it a try. For me, its a little dissaster. A good looking movie with hype and promisses that ends up turning Star Wars into a childish comedy.

Everyone loves it, I dont. Why? Here are the main points:

When I read the leaked script it looked a lot like a new hope...and thats what I got. A new story (not really new if you have read the EU) that seems to put all the effort in the nostalgia factor. Bad dialog, poorly written scenes that dont make you feel what they should and "everything you love about the original movies".

We have X Wings and Tie fighters! (A new version of the x wing capitalizing the original MC QUARIE ART). We have this new obsession with the blue squadron (originally the blue squadron idea that ended up being red squadron because of problems with cgi) Then again thats all we get. No other fighters. A hybrid between a Z-95 Headhunter and an x wing. On the other side, just a tie fighter. Lore wise, the interceptor should have been mass produced after the BATTLE OF ENDOR. So why just use the same type of ship and upgrade it with rotating turret and shields (guessing by the FANSTASY FLIGHT GAMES DESCRIPTION.) They still seem to blow up easily. A force like the so called New Order should have a variery of new modern ships after 30 years... ohh, right...Star Destroyers! Nostalgia factor used to apeal old star wars fans.

Characters...my god... We have our original characters going back to their original rolls because you know...nostalgia and all that. We get a new darth vader wanabe hyped beyond believe turning out to be a confused child full of insecurities. We have a new r2-d2, a new Yoda in Maz Kanata (force sensitivity- check 1000 years old- check), a new Wedge in Poe dameron, a new Deathstar Run in the so called STARKILLER BASE AKA BIGGER DEATH STAR (again nostalgia factor and referrence to the original name of who would later become Luke) a new Dessert planet called Jakku replacing Tatooine, a new Skywalker-ish character living on a dessert planet... (interesting) A new movie that feels like a freshened up version of something that we already saw. Plot twists that were not so plot twist and that we keep on hearing troughout the movie...I mean, I heard you 10 minutes into the movie, Han is your dad... I dont need you to remind me for the rest of the movie. The other shocking plot twist? Why??? Im thinking its not a good move investing on Ford and hoping he lives 10 more years fearing what to do if he died. So, they took the easy way out and removed him from the equation. That, or Ford got bored.

From what I see (movie,comics and books...) the Canon feels like they are trying too hard on making star wars so likable to new and old generations that they forget that Star Wars sells without help. If you need evidence, look at the dissaster that was BATTLEFRONT 3, something that had a 0% chance of being bad...its bad and unfinished. Some of us even bought the Rogue Squadron 1,2,3,4 games...practically same levels just because we love it. You dont need that. What you need is a creative team writing for the love of art, not to appeal a demographic, because at the end of the day, it sells itself.

We have this crazy corporate mentality behind the details on the movie capitalizing on the hate for the prequels and the what could have beens of the originals. This movie could have been well thought and made 10 years ago. That way you could have used the original characters fpo a slow transition in to the new ones for the new generations instead of this mess of quicly off with the old and in with the new.

It could have been different in the way they made the twists...that last spoiler scene involving Han could have had the first plot twist involving his legacy. I believe that It would have been better to find out who Kylo ren is in the moment Solo says "BEN!" instead of 10 minutes into the movie.

I dont know what to say or write. I feel dissapointment. Feeling ive read better and seen better on books and comics even thou they are not "canon". I hoped for somethig fresh, something feeling like star wars, not a new disney comedy with star wars skins. Personally, not sold and not convinced with the nostalgia factor.

Not a bad movie in comparison to ep 1... not a bad movie at all, but the hype was too much.

Forgot to mention John Boyega. He was funny. I like that dude.

Anyone else wonder why they chose the name Ben? Leia and Han didn't really have the connection to Old Ben the way Luke did. I mean, Leia knew of him through her father and he was Han's travelling companion for a bit but not like Luke seeing his Force ghost all the time.

Anyone else wonder why they chose the name Ben? Leia and Han didn't really have the connection to Old Ben the way Luke did. I mean, Leia knew of him through her father and he was Han's travelling companion for a bit but not like Luke seeing his Force ghost all the time.

Because Jacen would be too obvious.

MY feelings toward the movie after seeing it are mixed (better than the prequels in any case):

On the one hand, I enjoyed the first half of the movie quite a bit, especially how they portrayed Rey, Finn (beyond his initial reason to betray the First Order, I found that shaky at best), Poe and BB-8 (they managed to make a droid that is as fun as r2-d2 without being simply a copy).

On the other, the film was ruined for me by the First Order. Everything related to them is sooo cartoonish: I found the name of Supreme Leader Snoke (and the fact that he seems fond of appearing as a huge hologram) really silly. Their indoctrination program for stormtroopers is so weak that one guy, indoctrinated from birth just gives up the first time he's supposed to do some questionable things. One would imagine they would train them for that or at least catch the guys unwilling to commit to such acts early enough. Palpatine built 2 Deathstars, an immense expenditure of resources, and still lost. The response of the First Order? Build an even bigger Deathstar and station no fleet to protect it. I still have no clue what's Phasma's role in the movie, as her character is barely touched. Lastly, Kylo Ren was such a missed opportunity IMO. He starts up really well, strong in the Force (he performs some tricks unseen before, like stopping Poe's blaster bolt in mid air), dark and psychotic (obsessed with Vader, prone to random violent outbursts, although they ruined that when he didn't kill the Imperial officer), but ends up very disappointing (he got beaten by Rey and Finn, and never lived up to what he promised to be in the opening scenes of the movies, the vibe I got from Kylo Ren in the latter half of the movie was 'emo teenager').

the vibe I got from Kylo Ren in the latter half of the movie was 'emo teenager').

Kylo Ren: Totally miscast as an angsty Darth Vader Fanboy. I want to be like hiiiiiiiiiim.

And the Reichsparteitagspeech from the First Order was overacting and to much of Third Reich. Even the colour pattern was the Black-White-Red of the Swastika flag. Yeah we get it. The Empire is evil.

But I enjoyed the rest a lot and very good humour and witty one-liner.

Well done J. J. Abrams!

And them Jar Jar Abrams tried to re-make OT, copypasting scenes, crumping them into 2 hour long film

Dark_Sith_helmeted_dude Check!

Escape of nobody from Tatooine? Check

Deathstar? Check!

Trench run? CHECK!
Empire fails miserably in every step? Check!
Catwalk family scene? CHECK!

Vader wannabe, Wedge wannabe...

ugh, abrams...

I personally think that Finn will turn out to be force sensitive (thought not a Jedi) and this is the reason why he sort of instinctively knew the massacre at the beginning was wrong.

Also don't understand all the hate for Ren's character..he's something different and so much better acted than Anakin ever was, no matter how much you say you prefer the PT.

I know you can't please everyone but I think many people here seem to have set themselves up to dislike the film.

yeah as i mentioned earlier a good solid movie but it felt like i had seen it all before and basically i had..lol I felt this same way about the latest Bond movie as well.. Oh and one more thing didn't the Falcon have TWIN turrets? so why didnt the dude jump to the other one when it locked forward? and how did they make it past the Star destroyer orbiting above? Good movie and i am going to see it again, but yeah something was missing.....

on the very good side.. Rey Great character and her interaction with Chewbaca is good, I can see them making a good team. Po/FIN needs more development its like they became best friends in 5 minutes!! want to know more of their back stories and books about that would have helped THIS movie Immensely!!! PO why is HE the best fighter pilot? Wedge dead or something? Wedge should be general by now!!! and as was mentioned I understand the iconic nature of X vs Tie.. but it would have been cool to see more different ships. Also more on how the Falcon got to where it was. however everything i have questions about means a new set of Prequels when it would have been much better to have made them FIRST even if only in book form that would have been fine. Also would be nice to have had more back story on the resistance and FO. in a nutshell more backstory on EVERYTHING..lol and that is the problem with Disney killing off everything that wasn't Disney before creating their own history/backstory's that link everything up.