We are told a lot of things and for the rest, well, we have to THINK. Yes, I'm sorry, this is one of those movies that does ask us to connect the dots and figure things out on our own.

No, I don't think it's that kind of movie at all, everything else about it is too quickly paced and on the nose for me to believe that. The lack of even a little bit of detail about major plot points is hugely distracting and a big failing of the film, imo.

I just want to know if there's imperial Remenant out there as mentioned in aftermath, or if they all consolidated and formed into the first order??

Listen to the characters and read the opening crawl. It says the FO rose from the ashes of the Empire, so the empire is no more. The republic supports the Resistence and has not attacked the FO directly, but they never mention a treaty. Hux says the Republic was lying to the Galaxy. We are told a lot of things and for the rest, well, we have to THINK. Yes, I'm sorry, this is one of those movies that does ask us to connect the dots and figure things out on our own. It's also part one of three (or 7 of nine..no, not voyager!) so Snoke and Rey's parents and other mysteries are waiting to be explained in movies to come. Maz said it best, those are stories for another time.

And why does everyone hate Maz? Thought her cgi was way ahead of the prequels and Snoke, I could believe she had weight and was there, the actress who was motion-captured did an excellent job. Who wouldn't love a little old pirate lady who has obviously retired from the Galaxy and hangs out in a creepy-cool castle with scum and villainy...and Han and Chewie. I love Maz.

So... This would mean all warlords and Moffs are now under the FO banner?

This is a shift from Aftermath...

And why does everyone hate Maz? Thought her cgi was way ahead of the prequels and Snoke, I could believe she had weight and was there, the actress who was motion-captured did an excellent job. Who wouldn't love a little old pirate lady who has obviously retired from the Galaxy and hangs out in a creepy-cool castle with scum and villainy...and Han and Chewie. I love Maz.

ikr?

The faces of the tiny band in her castle looked a little snoke-ish.

I just want to know if there's imperial Remenant out there as mentioned in aftermath, or if they all consolidated and formed into the first order??

Listen to the characters and read the opening crawl. It says the FO rose from the ashes of the Empire, so the empire is no more. The republic supports the Resistence and has not attacked the FO directly, but they never mention a treaty. Hux says the Republic was lying to the Galaxy. We are told a lot of things and for the rest, well, we have to THINK. Yes, I'm sorry, this is one of those movies that does ask us to connect the dots and figure things out on our own. It's also part one of three (or 7 of nine..no, not voyager!) so Snoke and Rey's parents and other mysteries are waiting to be explained in movies to come. Maz said it best, those are stories for another time.

And why does everyone hate Maz? Thought her cgi was way ahead of the prequels and Snoke, I could believe she had weight and was there, the actress who was motion-captured did an excellent job. Who wouldn't love a little old pirate lady who has obviously retired from the Galaxy and hangs out in a creepy-cool castle with scum and villainy...and Han and Chewie. I love Maz.

So... This would mean all warlords and Moffs are now under the FO banner?

This is a shift from Aftermath...

How much time has passed since aftermath? 25+ years? Plenty of time for Germany to invade the sudetentenland and Alsace-Lorraine.

Yeah I've seen the movie but I have no idea how big the first order are a few systems a few hundred?

Can't be that big if they turn a janitor into a storm trooper is my thinking.

Why are they called the resistance? If the republic is In charge what are they resisting? Logically they should be rebels because they are officially rebelling against their government.

Why do the fo hate the resistance? If they are this big bad two squadrons of x-wing's isn't much threat, republic hypocrisy isn't sufficient motivation for blowing up five world's.

It's poor story telling to rely on books to fill in the gaps but it's typical jj.

I also don't think it's a coincidence that the final book of the Aftermath trilogy is called "Empire's End".

Nostalgia has clearly blinded people. In an ironic twist, with all the complaints about it being a rehash, these complaints about the lack of concrete details easily, easily apply to ANH.

I honestly have to wonder how differently people would react if they didn't know jj Abrams was involved. Many of the criticisms revolve around 'jj did that thing I hate that he always does' and I'm not wholly unconvinced that they aren't faults people reach for regardless of how present they actually are.

I loved it! Some of the cooler aspects I enjoyed were some of the visuals. 1st was the sheer size and prospective we got as Rey passed by the downed ISD and then when they zoomed out on her 'home.' How cool would it be to have an AT-AT as a home! My favorite quick shot was a shot of 4 tie/fo fighters flying in formation with the setting sun in the background.

One thing that is a mild annoyance is how Maz got ahold of Anakin's lightsaber post Luke losing it in cloud city. From some of the EU, good ole Palp had it recovered by a trash bot and made into a trophy. But HOW did she get it from Palp?!?!?

Yeah I've seen the movie but I have no idea how big the first order are a few systems a few hundred?

Can't be that big if they turn a janitor into a storm trooper is my thinking.

Why are they called the resistance? If the republic is In charge what are they resisting? Logically they should be rebels because they are officially rebelling against their government.

Why do the fo hate the resistance? If they are this big bad two squadrons of x-wing's isn't much threat, republic hypocrisy isn't sufficient motivation for blowing up five world's.

It's poor story telling to rely on books to fill in the gaps but it's typical jj.

The Resistence, despite being supported by the republic (in spirit if not in finances) has very little in man power and military hardware because they are fighting a guerrilla war. If people in FO space aren't willing to fight for themselves then the Resistence has already lost. At least one old guy on Jakku was willing to stand up against them. And one Stormtrooper turned traitor, that's something!

And, in what books? I might eventually read the Novelization but I haven't followed any of the secondary stuff.

The similarities to the OT was the only big issue I had.

I don't mind the focused story, but if they could carefully weave more background in, that would have been great.

Snoke was boring though. He needs a PR campaign for the next film.

Reaction: I loved the movie. So many great scenes and characters.

What is up with R2D2? He switched off, but then just happened to switch on and have a nearly complete map?

Try this out:

Luke screwed up the training of Ben et al. He foresaw, however, a chain of events that would fix his mess. So he gave part of the map to R2D2, with instructions to go low power until R2D2 detected the presence of Luke's child.

Nice, but why didn't R2 wake up the first time Rey visited the Resistance base? Why did he only wake up after Starkiller Base was destroyed?

The force awoke in R2D2. He felt a great disturbance in the force.

I could completely believe that R2-D2 is a Jedi. It could work.

Nostalgia has clearly blinded people. In an ironic twist, with all the complaints about it being a rehash, these complaints about the lack of concrete details easily, easily apply to ANH.

only that between Ep.4 and Ep.7 there are 30+ years to come up with -some- story..

I have faith in humanity; I actually believe that in 30+ years and a surely near unlimited budget somebody can come up with an other idea than "just let's ripoff Ep.4 and fill glaring plotholeS with more FX, the crowd will love it."

it looked like Luke may have shut down r2 'until the time was right'.

Or R2 was calculating the map this whole time.

Or r2 was waiting for the rest of the map, and the right person to give it to (Rey I guess)

All I know is that BB-8 trying to get R2 to wake up was one of the saddest things I've seen. Definately not the saddest thing in the movie. That might have been Leia's Dracula hair do at the end of the movie, just a little distracting.

Nostalgia has clearly blinded people. In an ironic twist, with all the complaints about it being a rehash, these complaints about the lack of concrete details easily, easily apply to ANH.

only that between Ep.4 and Ep.7 there are 30+ years to come up with -some- story..

I have faith in humanity; I actually believe that in 30+ years and a surely near unlimited budget somebody can come up with another idea than "just let's ripoff Ep.4 and fill glaring plothole with more FX, the crowd will love it."

Um, there was a story. A young girl was abandoned on what looks like the worst planet in the Galaxy to raise kids. A Stormtrooper switched sides when witnessing he horrors of war. The Republic and FO exist in a Cold War with the Resistence acting in a more direct guerrilla warfare situation. Rebuilding the Jedi failed thanks to Ben Solo and Snoke and Luke giving up, which is more of a refutation of the EU Jedi academy situation than a direct retelling of Vader's betrayal. Han has to confront his own fears and failures as a father in a very heartbreaking manner. It's a very different movie than ANH if you care to look beyond the superficial.

Nostalgia has clearly blinded people. In an ironic twist, with all the complaints about it being a rehash, these complaints about the lack of concrete details easily, easily apply to ANH.

only that between Ep.4 and Ep.7 there are 30+ years to come up with -some- story..

I have faith in humanity; I actually believe that in 30+ years and a surely near unlimited budget somebody can come up with another idea than "just let's ripoff Ep.4 and fill glaring plothole with more FX, the crowd will love it."

Um, there was a story. A young girl was abandoned on what looks like the worst planet in the Galaxy to raise kids. A Stormtrooper switched sides when witnessing he horrors of war. The Republic and FO exist in a Cold War with the Resistence acting in a more direct guerrilla warfare situation. Rebuilding the Jedi failed thanks to Ben Solo and Snoke and Luke giving up, which is more of a refutation of the EU Jedi academy situation than a direct retelling of Vader's betrayal. Han has to confront his own fears and failures as a father in a very heartbreaking manner. It's a very different movie than ANH if you care to look beyond the superficial.

the (mosaic)pieces are different, yes. yet, the whole picture is **** near Ep.4.

and I'm not flaming the movie. it wasn't bad. it was way better than Ep.1-3 that movies that never got made. it's just that there are so many half-assed moments that did -nothing-, so many "because plot says so" moments etc.. and the overall arc from ep4 over-again.. who really wants yet-another-deathstar, but with trees on it, yet another meaningless world with meaningless people who die a meaningless death, yet another trenchrun.. etc etc..

-something else- can't be too hard to imagine, I guess.

I honestly have to wonder how differently people would react if they didn't know jj Abrams was involved. Many of the criticisms revolve around 'jj did that thing I hate that he always does' and I'm not wholly unconvinced that they aren't faults people reach for regardless of how present they actually are.

I have wondered the same thing. I'm a big enough appreciator of his work to not have those preconceptions (loved the first Star Trek and have either enjoyed or appreciated his other stuff) but I remarked to someone that I missed Lucas' input and their response of "do you know if he HAD any input, or are you just basing that off an assumption?" gave me pause for thought - had this been a completely unknown director on his first picture, would people have said "this Abrahams kid is someone to watch?"

"just let's ripoff Ep.4 and fill glaring plotholeS with more FX, the crowd will love it."

Is that supposed to be some kind of description of TFA? I don't recognize the film in this nonsense at all.

I could completely believe that R2-D2 is a Jedi. It could work.

There is a story in the now (thankfully) defunct EU where R5-D4 (the red unit that blows a motivator in ANH) is actually a Jedi, sees the future and decides to cripple himself to allow R2 to finish his mission.

Yup, I'm so glad that BS was all shoved in a backroom like an embarrassing and senile relative.

Edit: In all his glory, Skippy the Jedi droid.

I like the radio drama where R2 actually sabotaged R5. Chopper would be so proud.

I honestly have to wonder how differently people would react if they didn't know jj Abrams was involved. Many of the criticisms revolve around 'jj did that thing I hate that he always does' and I'm not wholly unconvinced that they aren't faults people reach for regardless of how present they actually are.

I have wondered the same thing. I'm a big enough appreciator of his work to not have those preconceptions (loved the first Star Trek and have either enjoyed or appreciated his other stuff) but I remarked to someone that I missed Lucas' input and their response of "do you know if he HAD any input, or are you just basing that off an assumption?" gave me pause for thought - had this been a completely unknown director on his first picture, would people have said "this Abrahams kid is someone to watch?"

As I suggested, I'd like to see a more visual storyteller direct a Star Wars film - which should not be taken as a claim that Abrams is in any way 'unfit'. Considering that the franchise has its cinematic roots for a large part in eastern cinema, maybe a Japanese director, or someone like Ang Lee or (my dream come true) Zhang Yimou.

On the whole, not a bad movie. But not what I was expecting by a long shot. And it did leave me asking "why?" a few too many times.

Funny, your observations are a lot like mine, but the conclusion is different. I thought it was a great film and just don't think its failings are that problematic...except for the visual part (you mentioned the Star Destroyers, I feel there's more). One of the next films should be directed by Zhang Yimou.

The story does raise questions simply because there are big gaps. I feel there are three causes for that:

- Everything is told at such speed that there is very little time for explanation.

- Apparently, there is a lot of history between ep. VI and VII. It's probably a commercial thing. It looks like this movie ties in to books thay I never read, and have perhaps not even been published.

- Some things are just kept dark on purpose, for the next sequel.

So TFA is anything but a reboot. It is anchored in the Star Wars saga. In fact, I'm surprised (and pleased) that people who hardly know Star Wars apparently enjoy it.

I expected people who hardly knew Star Wars to love this movie. That's the target audience.

In Episode IV, Obi Wan bangs on about Jedi Knights and Luke's dad and we all just accept this. He disappears into nothing, we have no idea who the empire are or why they exist, etc etc and people just accept the film for the adventure it is and move on. I, for one, am glad that characters don't talk to each other for ages in TFA with useless exposition. We get what we need from the opening crawl; if you want more then you can explore novels etc.

I don't get why this is a problem with TFA but not with the OT...

because TFA is built directly off of the OT, and it helps to know what we're dealing with when the movie explicitly sets up a connection between the FO and the old empire

Awesome comment from Scalzi's Force Awakens review thread (which is generally great: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/12/18/my-non-spoilery-review-of-the-force-awakens/ )

I can’t help but think of these movies in terms of a roleplaying game. Han is a DMPC and his old gaming buddies, the players behind Leia, Luke, and Chewy are dropping in to play using their old characters with the new group he got together. The campaign is kind of a rehash of the original one they all played in but it’s ok, the new kids don’t notice and the old gang enjoy the nostalgia. Finn’s player is an RPG noob who wants to play a Stormtrooper even though the PC’s aren’t Empire/First Order aligned, so he settles for “ex-Stormtrooper” and proceeds to create a totally un-optimized character (too many points in Charisma). He begs the DM to let him have Stormtrooper armor and the DM relents, but then maroons him on a desert planet with a dead suit power cell and enforces the hazardous environment rules. Poe’s player is big into the X-Wing tactical miniatures game and has dozens of mini’s (that’s why he got invited in the first place), but after the first session he only shows up when there’s a ship-borne encounter on the agenda. Rey keeps min/maxing by not declaring her feat and skill assignments when she takes a new class level until she hits a situation where she needs them in game.