Star Wars: The Force Awakens Reactions - SPOILERS HERE ONLY

[TheVileOne]

Luke made the map as a "just in case" something happened that Leia needed him. He left the beginning with R2, who went into shutdown until someone, specifically a force user appeared, and he left the end with a Church of the Force guy.

Wasn't annoyed with the Starkiller since it wasn't like it needed a one hit finish, it took a lot to pull off destroying it.

 

The X-Wings weren't able to do damage without the sabotage by Han, Chewie, Ray, and Finn.  And the interior was heavily guarded.  The planet was also heavily shielded.  They couldn't do a coordinated mission on a forest moon to blow the planet up.

[Matt D]

There were a few too many sudden discoveries like the lightspeed jump into something and Han using the bowcaster for the first time.

[Brian Fowler]

It did seem odd that Han would have never once used it before.

But I got a beautiful cross-cut action sequence of X-Wings vs TIE Fighters dogfight and first a Shield sabotage and then a lightsaber duel. They pulled the best of EP I, IV, and VI and mixed them together for the climatic fight. And they did it well. How could you not love that?

[Control]

Luke made the map as a "just in case" something happened that Leia needed him. He left the beginning with R2, who went into shutdown until someone, specifically a force user appeared, and he left the end with a Church of the Force guy.

Wasn't annoyed with the Starkiller since it wasn't like it needed a one hit finish, it took a lot to pull off destroying it.

Did it actually say that Luke made the map (or any of the other parts of that story)? Because I certainly missed that, if that's the case.

[Matt D]

It did seem odd that Han would have never once used it before.

But I got a beautiful cross-cut action sequence of X-Wings vs TIE Fighters dogfight and first a Shield sabotage and then a lightsaber duel. They pulled the best of EP I, IV, and VI and mixed them together for the climatic fight. And they did it well. How could you not love that?

Due to limitations on showtimes, we saw it in 3D and the space stuff was crazy great.

 

Another point. We're in a totally different place than the people who saw Star Wars for the first time. That was true in 2001 but it felt more so now. During the initial Tie Fighter vs Falcon bit, it harkened back to the hours I played X-Wing desperately flicking the joystick trying to get behind a Tie Fighter to get a shot. We've interfaced with this material so much over the years.

[Raziel]

Luke made the map as a "just in case" something happened that Leia needed him. He left the beginning with R2, who went into shutdown until someone, specifically a force user appeared, and he left the end with a Church of the Force guy.

Wasn't annoyed with the Starkiller since it wasn't like it needed a one hit finish, it took a lot to pull off destroying it.

Did it actually say that Luke made the map (or any of the other parts of that story)? Because I certainly missed that, if that's the case.

It's a safe inference since R2 had all but the uncharted region and was is low power mode since Luke left.

[Chaos]

I am upset that I did not pick up on the Jedi Mind Trick victim Storm Trooper being Daniel Craig.

 

I kind of was spoiled that he had a small cameo and still didn't pick up on it.

[Brian Fowler]

I guess the big question now is "how hard do they hit the plot points of Empire for Episode VII?"

I hope it's not quite such a retelling as this was to Hope, but clearly we get the dark installment where the New Order kicks ass and takes names.

[Control]

Luke made the map as a "just in case" something happened that Leia needed him. He left the beginning with R2, who went into shutdown until someone, specifically a force user appeared, and he left the end with a Church of the Force guy.

Wasn't annoyed with the Starkiller since it wasn't like it needed a one hit finish, it took a lot to pull off destroying it.

Did it actually say that Luke made the map (or any of the other parts of that story)? Because I certainly missed that, if that's the case.

It's a safe inference since R2 had all but the uncharted region and was is low power mode since Luke left.

Fuck that. If that's the reasoning, it should be part of the film, since the entire plot is based on the goddamn map.

[Matt D]

I still can't get over the fact that they were putting their resources into finding Luke when there was a new Death Star being built under their noses.

 

It was very much Star Wars VII: The Search for IV and that personified it.

[Brian Fowler]

The new death star is insignificant next to the power of the force, duh.

[Brian Fowler]

Also, my favorite current rumor: Smoke is Darth Plagieus or however it's spelled.

Sure, it would lean way more on the prequels than they did in this film (only obvious prequel reference I caught was Ren's throwaway line about using cloned Stormtroopers) but it would be an interesting move.

[Raziel]

I still can't get over the fact that they were putting their resources into finding Luke when there was a new Death Star being built under their noses.

It was very much Star Wars VII: The Search for IV and that personified it.

What resources, one pilot? One infotmant on Maz's planet? Then one squad when the Droid showed up?

The knew it existed, as they had schematics, but no knowledge of what it could do or what was beyond the shield, as every trooper is indoctrinated, and until they had Finn, they had no one with inside knowledge. They couldn't get past the shield until Han said fuck it anyway.

I'm not sure where your getting this idea that they had every person in the Resistance searching for Luke when even the opening crawl said that looking for Luke was Leia's pet project and she only sent Poe to the one person she thought would have info.

[Matt D]

It was what the focus of the plot was, as much of the focus of the plot of Star Wars was on the Death Star.

This was more like map map map map map, oh shit, Doomsday weapon.

In all seriousness, the one shot that I wish they had spent more time on, was Finn seeing the far off destruction in space. That was why he decided to do the right thing and we didn't really see it. We just saw him run up to Han.

[Raziel]

Of course it was the focus of the plot, that's what we were watching. We didn't see anything of Alliance leadership until the 3rd act. And they obviously were concerned about it. The map is what brought the heroes together this time, instead of the plans. Doesn't mean the weapon was an afterthought to the characters we weren't seeing.

[John from Cincinnati]

The X-Wings weren't able to do damage without the sabotage by Han, Chewie, Ray, and Finn. 

 

 

Man, this Abrams guy sure loves sabotage. 

[Raziel]

Also, remember the whole reason Leia went to Tattooing in 4 was to retrieve Obi-Wan.

[J.H.]

The Starkiller was the most ridiculously powered weapon I've ever hard of. It collapses a sun to power a multi-tiered laser weapon?

 

Sorry but wouldn't collapsing a sun be enough to?

 

James

[TheVileOne]

Also, my favorite current rumor: Smoke is Darth Plagieus or however it's spelled.

Sure, it would lean way more on the prequels than they did in this film (only obvious prequel reference I caught was Ren's throwaway line about using cloned Stormtroopers) but it would be an interesting move.

 

I'm pretty sure that rumor is effectively debunked at this point.  They already said Snoke is a new character.

[EVA]

The fact that Ben Solo became a "Ren" and not a "Darth," should immediately clue everyone in that Snoke is not a Sith.

[Craig H]

My guess is that Snoke is a charlatan and that leaves Ren even more disturbed and hateful.

I also realize I'm probably the biggest Lost fan here, but I got a HEAVY Lost vibe at the end of the movie. From the islands to the Lost inspired track titled "The Jedi Steps." The beginning of that track felt like JJ went to John Williams and asked, "could you do something like this?" And I love it.

And people are overlooking another JJ favorite, a hidden source of power that's one of the most powerful in the universe. I love that too.

[EVA]

For better and for worse, it was unapologetically a JJ Abrams movie.

[Matt D]

The fact that Ben Solo became a "Ren" and not a "Darth," should immediately clue everyone in that Snoke is not a Sith.

 

They talked about how the Sith were different from the Empire, who were different than the Order.

[Jrag]

After sleeping on it, I think my overall take is that the first 2/3rds of this film was the best Star Wars experience since Empire.  The last 3rd left a lot to be desired, but I've always been a characters over plot type of guy (LOST SHOUT OUT) so it worked for me.

[odessasteps]

Given the whole notion of the mythic cycle and things repeating themselves and do on, i can see how this movie is apparently working off ep4 template.