 December 19, 2015 - 2:06am | If you haven't seen the movie yet and missed the blurb in the title: SPOILER ALERT!!! It's you're own fault if you read any further.  With the disclaimer out of the way, lets talk about the movie. _____________________________________________________________ The new characters melded well with the old ones, and Han & Chewbacca were awesome as always. I had read about Darth Tantrum prior to seeing the flick and was happy to see it wasn't Darth Crybaby/Anakin level. The reactions of his subordinates were great...the officer fully expecting to be Vader'd to death and breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't happen along with the patrolling storm troopers pausing and performing an about face. Ren definitely has a reputation already that is only rivaled by Vader's. I was glad to see the opening crawl tradition carried over. The Star Destroyers seemed a lot larger and intimidating this time around and the opening appearance of one eclipsing the screen was refreshing from a dorsal point of view. I enjoyed the various Easter eggs, such as Finn tossing the Saber probe aside and triggering the holo-chess game among others throughout the film. While the revamped Death Star was played out, at least it was a refreshing concept of being built into an actual planet versus the mobile space station times three, more so with the extended range that resolved the need for being mobile. Lots of nods to the original trilogy as such, but for the most part they worked. Despite Ford's admission to being one and done with the rebooted franchise, his death was fairly predictable. My wife --- who had avoided all the reviews and internet talk --- saw it coming well before it happened. However, it was more dramatic than I expected, I figured Ren would have simply force-pushed him over the edge instead of running him through and experiencing a dying breath moment. Finn cracked me up. He was always dodging the truth while doing so in heroic fashion. "Sanitation?!?" "Yeah, actually I'm just here for Rey." Poe had witty one liners in a Han Solo-esque fashion but it was Finn who kept me laughing out loud. BB-8 wasn't the disappointment I thought it would be, and I am thankful for that. I'm still not overly wild about R2-soccer-ball, but it wasn't Ewok/Jar-Jar deplorable either. The saber duel wasn't as invigorating as I'd hoped for, but then again it was non-Jedi vs Sith followed by newbie-Jedi vs Sith so it was at least acceptable as such. And we got to see an actual use for the Swiss Army Jedi Saber hilt blades that launched it from lame-kewl factor to okay-that-makes-sense factor. Of minor disappointment was the lackluster John Williams musical score, which sounded more Indiana Jones than Star Wars. It felt like there was a major budget cut and it was limited to Williams, because even the aforementioned Indy scores were memorable and this one all but disappeared into the background noises. In addition to Star Wars movies looking like Star Wars movies, they also need to SOUND like Star Wars movies, and this one did not. My only major disappointment so far (I do plan on seeing again within the next week so I may find more nits to pick) was Luke's overly brief screen time. Sure, he's been missing for a few decades, I get that much. But he could have at least had a speaking role, even a brief few words instead of a final cameo eye contact appearance. I mean Kenny Baker was listed at the bottom of the closing credits as "R2-D2 consultant" and R2 had far more screen time than prominently mentioned Hamill. In the end it is an awesome flick and I am happy I saw it on opening weekend. |
January 1, 2016 - 2:39pm | Darth Vader's helmet was an extended SS helmet... |
 January 1, 2016 - 3:10pm | True "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 1, 2016 - 4:37pm | So extending off the premises of a 1977 movie that predates the history of the current one isn't as bad as it was made out to be. Honestly I didn't have an issue with the neo-nazi look of the First Order. In fact, with a name like First Order I would probably be disappointed if they were presented as anything else but nazis...the name itself lends the organization as being a fascist regime, and nothing defines who the bad guys are more than a nazi theme. Remember seeing New Hope for the first time? Big ship chases little ship, big ship captures little ship, door blows open and white troopers storm in fighting against grey troopers. We may question who the oppressor really is, who the bad guys really are, but once Vader walks through...all of our doubts are instantly dispelled: without Vader uttering a single word we now KNOW who the bad guys are. The Empire/First Order is far more space Nazi-esque just like Ming the Merciless is supposed to be far more space samurai-esque. Changing either lends itself to the PC crowd. ;) |
 January 1, 2016 - 5:02pm | The thing with Nazis is that it's widely accepted they were bad. No one will complain if you demonize them. Thus they figure large in the public consciousness as the epitome of evil to the point of being cliche. If you used Republicans or Democrats as the epitome of evil, which some would love to do, you'd end up with controversy. I agree with tchcklinxa that we could use some new troupes besides space Nazis and evil Brits as bad guys. But who or what is safe to throw under the hover bus? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 1, 2016 - 6:13pm | That's rather a problem and hard thing to do today, and it goes back to PC. You could make the villians more like communists, the problem is most people in the movie industry are either socialists or out right communists. And they would not like a movie that portrays their ideaology as evil. So once again you have the controversy. Even in anime the Principality of Zeon could be considered the original space Nazis as Gundam made it very clear after Girhen Zabi's speech after the death of Garma Zabi ending it with the yell many Gundam fans know, "SIEG ZEON!" But at the same time, Gundam and some other anime series also get the audience to pick sides as each side has it's own grievances with the other. It ends up not being so black and white or good verses evil. And there are many other anime that take that approach, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Martian Successor Nadesico, etc, etc. But this is something the general movie goer would not really accept from a sci-fi. Star Wars is sci-fi for lazy people more or less that want to just watch the good vs. evil age old drama, they don't want to have to question the rational, morals or ideals of both sides. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
January 1, 2016 - 7:37pm | Well on the whole the movie was okay & I had fun (went to the SMG theater, the food was really good and I could have good beer and adult beverages! Not a cheap outing but heck it was my B-day), the overall series of movies is a space opera around one really dysfunctional family. SO even though it is good versus evil it is also prick teens with issues versus parents I guess. I don't know who we are allowed to push under the hover bus as everyone gets all offended too easy these days... good Q on that. Only good thing about everyone's touchy feelings is I get forced sensitivity training from time to time which allows me to banish the suites who hate tie-dye shirts or ethnic clothing/accessory items I wear at work: nothing makes bullies in suites turn and run like "This is the traditional dress of my people, are you not honoring our district wide culturally inclusive policies?" (it's like a banish monster spell from D&D) Man do they scurry away like the frightened cowards they are inside... LOL. They have no authority over me these suites but they sure try throwing their authority around, calmly turning their own PC talk on them is so fun. I think I will always think the original Star Wars movie Lucas made in this saga was the best though. It is hard to trump Vader for bad guys. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 1, 2016 - 9:22pm | Breaking a 38 year tradition would have been bad, JJ/Disney really had no choice in how to present the bad guys. Had it been a stand alone movie and it's own distinct franchise, then it would be different. George learned that the hard way with the prequels, what with all the perceived racial tones directed at the Trade Federation (Asian slurs) and Watto (Jewish slurs). Which was ridiculous in its own right, at least George didn't katow to the PC crowd with that. But the simple fact remains: the bad guys in the prequels were anything but Nazis w/British accents. Granted THAT particular enemy had not yet come to be. Rather all the clone troopers had an Autralian accent, the slave owner merchant Watto had a Jewish accent, Trade Federation had Asian accents, and finally the schemers Palpatine (Scottish), Maul (British but voiced over by a neutral accent) and Dooku (British) being the only hint at what was to come in that theme. But the big mistake in my eyes was changing the Federation Battle Droids from neutral robotic to childish moron voices. To me that was more irritating than Jar Jar Binks on his usual retard rampages combined with the asininity of Ewoks, and the entire concept of them being the "bad guys" --- let alone even associated with the bad guys --- was completely lost. Any & all of the other flaws in ROTS could have been forgiven, but to me the retard robots killed that movie and lumped it right in with the other two prequels in the category of "three were good, three weren't". |
January 2, 2016 - 6:12am | "three were good, three weren't".
Sounds like something Tolkien-esk, "One movie to find them all and in Darkness bind them!" I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 2, 2016 - 11:19am | the asininity of Ewoks, and the entire concept of them being the "bad guys" --- let alone even associated with the bad guys --- was completely lost.
Any & all of the other flaws in ROTS could have been forgiven, but to me the retard robots killed that movie and lumped it right in with the other two prequels in the category of "three were good, three weren't". The battle droids need not talk at all just follow orders, Disney got away with that in the Black Hole and it worked. It even gave the killer robot Maximillian an even more menacing appearance that it never utters a word. And it's been going around for years and it does make some fans angery and I can see why. Lucas at one time the Ewok were a representation of the Viet Cong, which only meant he viewed the Empire as US soldiers in RotJ. That symbolism doesn't sit well with a lot of people, which they would surely tell Lucas where he could go some place hot and violently place something up a specific body cavity of his lower extremities. I've come to the conclusion I don't agree with the philosiphies of many people in hollywood, not like I used to. But the days of John Wayne are long gone. "three were good, three weren't".
Sounds like something Tolkien-esk, "One movie to find them all and in Darkness bind them!" Funny you say that. The creator of Gundam Tomino tried to tie the other Gundam series into his original Universal Century with the series Turn A Gundam. Saying a dark history had happened at some time wrecking civilization creating an openning for these alternate Gundam stories. And then came Gundam Seed, 00, Age and now Iron Blooded Orphans which speaks of a long ago Claimity War. So in theory all Gundam series are connected, by some means no one can figure out now. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
January 2, 2016 - 11:26am | One thing Lucas should have never done was change the movies after the fact... I hate the "new" endings or other tweaks. I was fine with Solo shooting first, it made him the "this is reality" guy vs the Jedi "ideal" guy but both guys are necessary to train the hero, to present choices to the hero... but no he changed it latter with the magic of computers, so Solo is all mister perfect, no no no, character growth is okay... people can change. The Ewok party was better then the new ending even... ugh. :( "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 2, 2016 - 3:35pm | The battle droids need not talk at all just follow orders, Disney got away with that in the Black Hole and it worked. It even gave the killer robot Maximillian an even more menacing appearance that it never utters a word. Which also would have worked. Granted I don't mind the automaton/human interactions (such as the conversation between the battle droids & Qui-Gon prior to boarding Padme's ship) as it gives the audience an idea what is transpiring. But changing it just to make it asinine is just...asinine. Lucas at one time the Ewok were a representation of the Viet Cong, which only meant he viewed the Empire as US soldiers in RotJ. That symbolism doesn't sit well with a lot of people, which they would surely tell Lucas where he could go some place hot and violently place something up a specific body cavity of his lower extremities. Ewoks were originally written as beasts that could make a Wookiee cower in fear. Now THAT would have worked. Instead we can now see where the spirit of Greedo Shot First stems from... |
January 16, 2016 - 6:05am | Despite denials by Abrams and Craig, Daniel Craig played the Storm trooper who Rey convinces to release her and drop his gun. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 16, 2016 - 7:23pm | You can also hear both Obi-Wan actors in Rey's flashback sequence...a Guinness phrase was recycled from the OT and added into McGregor's line, the entire line essentially ends up being spoken by both actors. I liked seeing Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman from Heroes) as an X-Wing pilot. I've read that Carrie Fisher's daughter & Abram's father have cameo appearances as well. |
January 17, 2016 - 1:04am | Simon Pegg does a cameo as the alien short changing Rey on the rations. Which makes him a Trek/Wars crossover I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 17, 2016 - 8:46pm | Which makes him a Trek/Wars crossover
Same can be said of the director.  |
April 24, 2016 - 2:11pm | So now that the DVD has been out for 2-3 weeks, it's time to revisit this thread. Fisher looked considerably better off camera/in the interviews than she did on screen, they must have "aged" her some more for the flick. Ford states that he didn't want his character to die, rather he wanted the character to have a dignified meaning. I never caught Threepio's gold arm (replacing the red one) at the end of the movie until it was mentioned in the special features. A couple of the deleted scenes were really good, particularly one where Kylo Ren and a squad of troopers search the crash landed Falcon perched on the cliff. A snow speeder scene, which looked good by itself, was wisely left out as it had no continuity with what we did see on screen. Nice behind the scenes stuff on BB-8, interesting methods on making that one come to life. Of noteworthy mention: this is the first Star Wars DVD release to be presented exactly as it was originally seen in the theater. |
 April 25, 2016 - 7:59am | Of noteworthy mention: this is the first Star Wars DVD release to be presented exactly as it was originally seen in the theater. And that's because -- we hope -- George Lucas won't be able to revise it again and again and again. Joe Cabadas |
July 20, 2016 - 8:09pm |  |
July 21, 2016 - 7:53am | ROFLMAO! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 21, 2016 - 2:49pm | OMG Too Funny!  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 July 25, 2016 - 6:19pm | I can not believe I am going to do this but I must. I am going to DEFEND a Star Wars movie. As Obiwan told us the Stormtroopers are the best shots in the Galaxy. We see this in the opening scene when they storm (pun) the airlock and hit defending crew who have partial cover and braced positions while they are on the move and shooting through smoke. We see it in the last scene when the Rebels go in with 4 or 5 squadrons and come out with less than a half dozen ships. We see it during the Battle of Hoth when again they are on the attack and on the move in a snow storm against entrenched defenders; they hit things. We see it on Endor when they unrealistically hit capital ships with the Death Star's main gun. Sorta like hitting flys with a howitzer. On the ground they shoot alot of Ewoks. Teeny tiny Ewoks. We find out the Stormtroopers are the Clones in the Prequels and TV shows. They won the Clone Wars by hitting things and hitting almost all the Jedi. You know the guys who reflect laser blasts back at you. In the Force Awakens somebody was killing all those villagers in the opening scene. Got it now. They can hit things. So where did we get this idea they can't hit anything. Forget the cinematic reason of you can't shoot the stars of the movie with extras hiding their faces; it all boils down to a simple mistake most people make watching the first movie. Most of the first movie (fourth one if you use George Lucas counting) is spent aboard the Death Star. During all that time the Stormtroopers never hit our heroes while they are busting out of jail. Heck by the sheer number of shoots fired they should have killed them all by mistake. So why didn't they? The Stormtroopers were ORDERED NOT TO. Yep by never hitting the escapees they are actually proving what great shots they are. How do we know this? Princess Leia told us so. "That was to easy. They let us escape." Maybe you were thinking that applied to the four Tie Fighters. You were wrong. Darth Vader felt the prescene of Obiwan on the Death Star. He quickly figured out why they were there and told everyone "Let them escape" So Every Single Stormtrooper on the Death Star is told not to hit the escapees even if it means they are going to be killed and they do it cause Stormtroopers are the best soldiers and best shots in the Galaxy. Now I am going to watch all the STTOS episodes and try to recover from defending Star Wars. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
July 25, 2016 - 6:22pm | ROTFL! Me thinks rat trAveller may need to Gargle with Windex to remove the taste from his mouth for having defended Star Wars. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 26, 2016 - 1:56am | "We see it in the last scene when the Rebels go in with 4 or 5 squadrons and come out with less than a half dozen ships." TIE pilots shot down those ships, not storm troopers. Halfway into battle their best pilot (Vader) joins in that effort (and from what little we saw on screen he practically scored enough kills to earn the "Ace" title from that engagement alone). While the prequels depict Clones as multi-faceted warriors capable of fighting both on the ground and piloting spacecraft, by the OT they are different breeds of training hence the different uniforms to distinguish them as such. I'll touch more on this in a bit. "We see it during the Battle of Hoth when again they are on the attack and on the move in a snow storm against entrenched defenders; they hit things." And then we see them missing after Vader specifically orders Leia & Chewie to be brought to his shuttle at Bespin (not to be confused with the unseen Death Star order of "let them escape"...nay, this was clearly depicted on screen as "bring them to me"). An astromech droid, two humans, and a wookiee burdened by the weight of a mis-assembled droid on his back manage to evade and kill a slew of "bullseye artists". "We see it on Endor when they unrealistically hit capital ships with the Death Star's main gun." Again, not storm troopers. "On the ground they shoot alot of Ewoks. Teeny tiny Ewoks." Only to be defeated by said teeny tiny Ewoks. Mind you, this was an "entire legion of my best troops" as Palpatine explained it to Luke aboard the DS2. "We find out the original Stormtroopers are the Clones in the Prequels and TV shows." Fixed that for ya. The OT troopers were not Clone Troopers. Clones simply take too long to produce, even with their accelerated growth rates it takes a full decade to fill an order. Roughly 20 years elapse between ROTS and New Hope, that's only enough time to fill two orders of Clone Troopers. While they served their purpose in the formaton of the Empire, by the time the "conquest of the galaxy" started they simply needed too many boots on the ground and "hired on" AKA recruited/trained (possibly utilizing the aging clones as instructors). As I opened with, the pilots were not storm troopers, they were pilots that started off as normal humans who were recruited and received a different level of training apart from the other normal humans who were recruited to be troopers. That said, it is true the entire gag stems from, as you mentioned, the simple fact that you can't kill the stars of the movie...but it still falls flat when trying to justify them as bullseye artists as is noted above. |
July 26, 2016 - 3:31am | Keeping it short Tie Fighter pilots are Stormtroopers. They use them for everything just specialize them. Vader killing alot is typical of a great pilot. During the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot one American pilot got seven kills while some American pilots got none. When they were creating the clones in secret production was at one level. Then the Emperor takes control he can then ramp up production. This is another flaw in the Star Wars movies of course since the initial run was for one million clones with another million coming soon. This number might impress civilians but again going back to WW II the US Army in 1945 numbered 8.2 million which does not include the Navy, Marine Corp and Coast Guard. Now we are told once again that the Stormtroopers are clones in both New Hope and Force Awakens. In New Hope Princess Leia knows Luke isn't a Stormtrooper because he is too short. How she figured that is simple since Stormtroopers come in one size she knew he wasn't one. Force Awakens the big shock was a StormTrooper of African descent. Why would this be a shock to anyone if the Stormtroopers in the first three were not clones? The reason Finn is a Stormtrooper is that the New Order lost the Empire's cloning facility and had to resort to stealing children to fill their ranks. This Offhandidly exposes a horrible situation taking place in several third world countries of child warriors. The rest of your statements are as you said, Headliners can't be killed by extras. Of course the biggest gaff of this mess is the officers. On the Death Star you have Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
July 26, 2016 - 8:46pm | Now we are told once again that the Stormtroopers are clones in both New Hope and Force Awakens. I don't recall hearing that in either flick, the closest was with the First Order threat of replacing their "jedi model trained" troops with clones. In New Hope Princess Leia knows Luke isn't a Stormtrooper because he is too short. How she figured that is simple since Stormtroopers come in one size she knew he wasn't one. That was merely another sarcastic shot from Leia, much like her retorts to Tarkin a la "holding Vader's leash" and "recognized your foul stench when I was brought aboard". She has no love for the Empire and has no qualms stating that feeling, much like I do with Zeb's Guide.  Lest we forget, shortly after that very scene we also saw a taller trooper bonk his head on the partially raised door while the others passed through unscathed. The simple fact is in the OT the storm troopers came in all sizes, look no further than file photos from the film:    That's a lot of not-clones for them to all be clones of the same size. |
July 27, 2016 - 1:21pm | One short clone? One tall clone? That is a quality control issue. Refer your complaint to the QA/QC department. I take this as further proof they upped the production numbers and quality suffered as a result. Thanks for proving all my points Shadow. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
July 27, 2016 - 6:41pm | There is no one short or one tall, rather no two that are alike. Big difference. And we still come back to "Legion, best, troops" versus "teeny, tiny, ewoks". ;) |
July 27, 2016 - 8:02pm | The picture shows one short trooper and you said one tall trooper hit his head. Just taking what you gave me and showing you are proving my point. No matter that they all come from the same place, they learn from experience. There is also luck factors. So once you have troops who survived long enough to gain that experience, you put them together and give them extra training. Then you have a legion of your best troops who hit lots of Ewoks cause they are really good shots but George waved the pen and told them to lose. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
July 27, 2016 - 10:12pm | The picture shows one short trooper and you said one tall trooper hit his head. Just taking what you gave me and showing you are proving my point. No matter that they all come from the same place, they learn from experience. There is also luck factors. So once you have troops who survived long enough to gain that experience, you put them together and give them extra training. Then you have a legion of your best troops who hit lots of Ewoks cause they are really good shots but George waved the pen and told them to lose. George Lucas' "Farce" was against the Emperor that day. Joe Cabadas |
July 28, 2016 - 12:59am | I posted three pics, all showing troops lined up abreast, all in varying heights when you compare each row. It's not just one short guy, it's not just one tall guy...it's all varying heights. Even the painted shuttle bay scene --- where the artist actually had the option of making them all the same as they could today with modern CGI tech --- and they're still depicted in varying heights. |
