and we were given no reason for this.
Yet. This trilogy still has 2 more episodes to go, after all.
Sure, but the movie should stand alone as well. A hint of something would be good.
We weren't given a reason for Anakin's fall until the prequels came out, so I don't know what you were expecting.
We weren't given a reason for Anakin's fall until the prequels came out, so I don't know what you were expecting.and we were given no reason for this.
Sure we were. "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."
Not that that tells the whole story, but it's all we really needed to know at the time...from a certain point of view.
I think so. Standing alone doesn't mean no loose ends or an end to the story, but especially as a setup movie, it should indicate why people do what they do, at least if the character's backstory is built on betrayal. "Our son turned evil because he is too much like his grandpa, who was evil" doesn't make a lot of sense. Anakin turned for a lot of reasons, not because he was just evil inside, and that's basically Ren's backstory. If nobody knows why he went all red-lightsaber, someone could at least have said a line about that.
It's just a weird character treatment. They talk about getting him to turn back good like they're trying to get him off drugs or out of a weird cult, not like he killed a bunch of people. That was my impression, anyway.
We'll get the backstory, that is Luke's to tell. It's why he went into seclusion after all.
Quite possibly Ben was entitled, lazy. His parents were heroes, he is a prince with magical powers.
And yeah, I know I'm describing Jacen Solo here. 
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and we were given no reason for this.
Yet. This trilogy still has 2 more episodes to go, after all.
Sure, but the movie should stand alone as well. A hint of something would be good.
We weren't given a reason for Anakin's fall until the prequels came out, so I don't know what you were expecting.
Thing is when a new hope came out it was the first movie so backstory didn't matter to much. But B/Ren is the son of two established characters, and we want to know what happened.
I really did not like his "anger issues";
if some imperial officer enters Lord Vaders "office" and says "sir, I know we shouldn't have, but we screwed up. royally" .. he would not lash out as a 5year old and hammer on some meaningless consoles;
he'd contact accounting/human resources and tell them there's an opening / job offer for a new officer, you know: "Vaders Career Advancement; darkside with style".
kylo had a real cool entry, up to this moment. right there I thought "meh.. just another emo-kid; I find your lack of badassery disturbing; Grandpa would be so dissapointed"
Edited by WokeUpDead
That's easy for him to say, Jedi can see glimpses of the future. 
Personally I'm betting we'll get an animated series that will cover the events between episodes VI and VII.
I really did not like his "anger issues";
if some imperial officer enters Lord Vader's "office" and says "sir, I know we shouldn't have, but we screwed up. royally" .. he would not lash out as a 5 year old and hammer on some meaningless consoles;
he'd contact accounting/human resources and tell them there's an opening / job offer for a new officer, you know: "Vader's Career Advancement; Dark Side with style".
Kylo had a real cool entry, up to this moment. right there I thought "meh.. just another emo-kid; I find your lack of bad assery disturbing; Grandpa would be so disappointed"
That is the entire point. He is NOT Vader. His anger manifests in a different way. And I love that. Vader's anger was his strength, Kylo's is his weakness as it controls him.
Leia was at least familiar with Bail telling her about Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi knight and General during the Clone Wars, though she didn't really get to meet the guy. I think all three (Luke, Leia and Han) wanted to honor his sacrifice on the Death Star, as well as recognize that without Ben they would t have been brought together in the first place. Ben was the name he used when he wasn't trying to save the galaxy by leading armies or fighting wars, it was the name he used when he was looking out for his friend's kid, keeping the hope of the future safe. Han and Luke knew him as Ben and owed him more than they would ever know. And naming a child Ben would honor Kenobi as 'Force-father', I guess(like a godfather, maybe)Here's a real important question: Why Ben? Why not Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan was Kenobi's real name. Ben was his pseudonym.
That's like naming your kid TJ after a grandfather named Thomas John "TJ" Smith, instead of naming him Thomas.
Besides, Ben Solo sounds a million times better than Obi-Wan Solo. Or Jacen. Or Anakin.
This was the biggest thing that pulled me out of the movie. I'm ok with them not using Jacen or any of the names... but why pick Ben? Ben was used by Luke often enough that it made sense for him to call his son Ben. Leia and Han really did not interact with Obiwan Kenobi very much without calling him General Kenobi or Master Kenobi or something similar. They weren't the ones to call him Ben... just Luke. So for them to name him Ben doesn't mean the same as if if Luke did, only in our minds because we know what it means. To me, it was very unfortunate, because of the timing of using the name. I was name-wrestling and then Han died. The whole scene lost all emotional impact because of it. Not to mention it was telegraphed way too early.
I expect to see a lot of "growth" in Kylo Ren in the next two films. I don't think Han's sacrifice will help him as much as he thought and I'm sure he'll be tormented by it at some point... but he has to grow harder somehow. He cannot be as powerful or impactful as Darth Vader until he can command respect instead of being cringeworthy... though the chuckle brought on by the stormtroopers slinking away was worth it!
Mostly I hope that going into the last ten minutes of the 9th episode that I'm still guessing what will happen in the final conflict between good and evil and though I expect good to win (it is a family movie series owned by Disney after all), I don't know that redemption or salvation is the goal in this set, considering we already have that plotline.
I really did not like his "anger issues";
if some imperial officer enters Lord Vader's "office" and says "sir, I know we shouldn't have, but we screwed up. royally" .. he would not lash out as a 5 year old and hammer on some meaningless consoles;
he'd contact accounting/human resources and tell them there's an opening / job offer for a new officer, you know: "Vader's Career Advancement; Dark Side with style".
Kylo had a real cool entry, up to this moment. right there I thought "meh.. just another emo-kid; I find your lack of bad assery disturbing; Grandpa would be so disappointed"
That is the entire point. He is NOT Vader. His anger manifests in a different way. And I love that. Vader's anger was his strength, Kylo's is his weakness as it controls him.
that may be so - it still does not appeal to me. like I said.. "emo kid image", and that's not really my kind of villain. YMMV, of course
Even the pope doesn't like Kylo Ren!
"L’Osservatore Romano complains that Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke are pale imitations of predecessors Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine"
That's right; The Vatican! Well that just blew my mind! They watch SW in the vatican?
Now I know it's not like his holiness the pope (il Papa) himself has made a formal statement regarding his dislike for the villains of episode VII... But I'd like to imagine Pope Francis comming out of a screening of TFA and going "Oh no Kylo Ren is so lame! Definatly no Vader material. Now Darth Maul...That was a scary bastard! He reminds me of someone."
It's not often that the Vatican and I are on the same line about things, but this is one of them. 