Kylo Ren was the highlight of TFA SPOILERS

[Chris Mosher]

So, I enjoyed the latest Star Wars. It was far from a perfect movie and a total rehash of A New Hope but it was fun and the new cast elevate their characters beyond what was in script.

SPOILERS

The real heart of the film was Kylo Ren and his character development. I know there have been complaints about him but i think people have been expected more then what was intended of Ren by the story. I think Ren is at the same point in his training that Luke was when he was with Yoda in Empire. The scenes with Ren fighting off the lightside were a great parallel to scenes of Luke and Anakin and their battles with the darkside. Driver really sold the conflict within Ren when the character was alone. Though I thought that Snoke did not have the best design I do like how their convsations steer Ren's story.
The climax of Ren's arc was Han's confrontation on thar catwalk (does this galaxy not have even basic safety standards?). Han's death is clearly meant to resemble Obiwan's from A New Hope but instead of a heroic sacrifice to save friend's done willingly, Han is killed so that Ren can exorcise the parts of the lightside that still cling to Ren. In a way this Ren's final test and a reflection of Luke in the cave. Ren killing his father is instead a victory and Ren has seeming devoted himself fully to the darkside . My hope is that in the next film features Kylo Ren fully devoted the dark and he is now up to top form. Hopefully the next film continues with this arc and that Driver is allowed to go full on evil.

 

[Chris Mosher]

I meant post this in off topic.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I'll just post this before the mods move the thread, but Ben was a really dumb character with no motivation, no development or arc, no motivation beyond being a dick, an incredibly lazy and shoe-horned connection to Han, and a dumb as fucking fuck haircut.

Also he apparently sucks as a Sith because a literal random chick who no fighting experience kicked his ass.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I'll just post this before the mods move the thread, but Ben was a really dumb character with no motivation, no development or arc, no motivation beyond being a dick, an incredibly lazy and shoe-horned connection to Han, and a dumb as fucking fuck haircut.

Also he apparently sucks as a Sith because a literal random chick who no fighting experience kicked his ass.

Rei totally had fighting experience, what are you talking about?

EDIT: Also, she reminds me of Amuro Ray from Gundam, and anything that reminds me of Gundam in a good way is awesome.

Not with a lightsaber and not using the force and not against a sith.
So no. She had about as much experience as I do having taken boxing classes.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

That's not how close combat works. I punched a dude once. That doesn't mean I can pick up a chainsword and fight a Chaos Space Marine, even if he's a novice Chaos Marine.

And yeah Ren sucks as a character but he's trained from the man who beat Vader. And Vader was a badass war veteran.
And he knew the Force was a thing for longer than like 5 days.

Imagine fighting Juhani or a Nurgle Sorcerer literally right now.
Think you'd win? I don't.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So people will beg to differ.

I personally prefered Finn over Kylo eventhought he got defeated by him.

Sounds like joining the First Order is alot worse than the Empire if they snack children away from their parent to the point they don't remember their real name!

Whatever hardship he had to endure before his first outing as a Stormtropper, he still had some humanity within him and proven to have courage how cowardly he can be at times.

Thanks to him that I starting to hold some sort of symapthy toward a Stormtropper well if only a little.

 

[Hoplon]

I'll just post this before the mods move the thread, but Ben was a really dumb character with no motivation, no development or arc, no motivation beyond being a dick, an incredibly lazy and shoe-horned connection to Han, and a dumb as fucking fuck haircut.

Also he apparently sucks as a Sith because a literal random chick who no fighting experience kicked his ass.

Rei totally had fighting experience, what are you talking about?

EDIT: Also, she reminds me of Amuro Ray from Gundam, and anything that reminds me of Gundam in a good way is awesome.

Not with a lightsaber and not using the force and not against a sith.
So no. She had about as much experience as I do having taken boxing classes.

He's not Sith, not even fully trained by Snoak. you assuming he's Sith is a mistake. She was clearly established to be experienced with melee combat earlier in the film. you can not like it all you want but it's not out of no where. even using the force, surviving on a world like that she was probably unconsciously drawing on it, he just makes her realise what it is.

 

[Chris Mosher]

I'll just post this before the mods move the thread, but Ben was a really dumb character with no motivation, no development or arc, no motivation beyond being a dick, an incredibly lazy and shoe-horned connection to Han, and a dumb as fucking fuck haircut.

Also he apparently sucks as a Sith because a literal random chick who no fighting experience kicked his ass.

A couple things about that final fight, Rei did seem to have some fighting experience earlier in the film. Ren was also hit buy Chewie's bowcaster after Han's death and you see the blood on the ground. He also had the emotional weirdness of having killed his father. I also dont see much of a difference between Rei at the end this movie and Luke a farm boy turning out to be an ace pilot the first time he climbs into an Xwing. Luke is also not able to make the shoot on the thermal port until he just gave himself over to the force.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I personally prefered Finn over Kylo eventhought he got defeated by him.

Finn's the best character in the movie. That's not saying much since all the characters are rather weak, but he was the only one that didn't feel like a palette swap. He's the "funniest" character in the movie, but they restrained from making him a straight-up comic relief. He's kinda like a Marty McFly; Someone who is heroic, but who shits his pants regardless when things get real. Though obviously he has nowhere near the comedic timing of Michael J. Fox.

 

[Gizmo1990]

To each their own I guess. Cound not stand the little shit myself. Spent the whole movie wishing that someone would simply slap him round the face and shout 'Fucking get over yourself!'. Rest of the movie was good tho even if it was just A New Hope 2.0.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ugh really? I hated the guy. Whiny, pretentious, parricidal...

 

[MiskWisk]

Maybe this will change, but I found him at his most intimidating when he gave orders or was silent. Every time he started talking just made him more pathetic. His temper tantrums against the computers when he was given bad news could have been startling but he came off as amusingly pathetic when he was still slashing at the pile of slag. His motivation desperately needs saving too since it is currently "Daddy didn't love me because he sent me off with my Uncle to be a space wizard." Not the greatest reason for murdering your dad.

Also, I can't be the only one who thinks Snoke looks like Slenderman.

 

[Kingjackl]

People calling Kylo Ren out for being "whiny" or "emo" (seriously, is it 2005 again?) are kind of missing the point. He's like that because he is conflicted. He lashes out in anger because deep down he feels the pull of the lightside and is getting hypersensitive over it. Also, like Rey and unlike Vader, he has apparently not had much proper Jedi/Sith training. So he lacks the discipline of a Jedi, the power of a Sith to channel anger, and the ability to fight with or even build a lightsaber. This is speculation, but I think the reason the blade looks the way it does and appears to fizzle compared to Anakin/Luke's lightsabre is because he didn't really know what he was doing when he made it.

The central theme of this movie seems to be about the younger generation trying to live up to the legacy of the last generation. Ren is desperately trying to live up to Vader (he had no way of knowing Vader was redeeemed since no one apart from Luke saw it) while Rey appears to be following in Luke's footsteps. That's what made the cimactic duel between the two of them so good. You can also see this theme with the expy characters (Poe/Han, BB-8/R2-D2, etc.) as well as the meta aspect of Abrams trying to live up to Lucas.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

SNIP

Guys, that's not how fighting works. Skill with one weapon doesn't equal skill with another. This isn't Fallout, she didn't pause the movie to level up her Melee skills to 75 and unlock the LightSaber Specialist perk.
She has no idea how to hold her hands, her feet, her shoulders, how to move, strike. Nothing. She had never held a lightsaber before, she had only barely touched one. And had literally never used the force before.

Keep in mind Luke was some sort of prodigy and even with the help of a Master like Obi Wan Luke couldn't beat a single training droid for the first movie. And it took to the 2nd movie to be able to use his powers.

And here's Rey, beating Ren. Who despite what you believe, was trained. Fully? No. But certainly years and years and years of training and combat experience. Enough to kill all other Padawans and presumably enough to survive a fight with Luke.
And then he got more training.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I liked him (totally saved by the acting though), but it was weird that he was so useless with a lightsaber. The only thing I miss about the prequels is the duels, and I'm worrying that we're never going to get to see stuff like that again. That said though, weak? He can freeze a blaster shot with the force. That's bitchin'.