So Episode 7 apparently is pretty damn good

[chozo_hybrid]

Star Wars Episode 7 was great, had some really good humor, great action scenes and the new main characters compliment each other really well. The villain left an impression too, I thought Kylo Ren was played especially well.

If you care about Star Wars, make an effort to see it soon, some big stuff happens and it would be a shame for someone to ruin it for you.

It was a well done film, not perfect, but damn good. Yes it has throwbacks to the original trilogy, but it's not constantly doing it. They had to play it a bit safer with this one in order to prove it's not going to be the prequels all over again and show they know what they are doing.

Snip

It's not that bad, and she isn't perfect at everything. Honestly, just go see the film to decide for yourself.

 

[Halla Burrica]

Everyone! I have seen this movie, and I can tell you right now that it does not simply just pander to fans and milk the nostalgia cow for all its worth (though just to be clear there are a lot of references and other things meant to evoke nostalgia and Disney executives are probably rubbing their hands together and having dollar signs in their eyes thinking about how much they are making on merchandise alone). It's really fun movie and... screw it, from here on out I'll just copy my earlier Youtube comment on Moviebobs review of it, so if it seems weird, that's why.

It's a damn awesome movie, even though it relies very heavily on the structure and characters from the first movie (a lot of the locations look are really similar to the original ones as well). That use of nostalgia isn't just a cynical cash-grab though, like a lot of the marketing and merchandising for this movie has been, it feels like an honest and sincere celebration of the classics, while still adding substance on its own.

The new characters are a great bunch, especially the lead roles of Rey and Finn who work great together and both have compelling arcs of their own, can't wait to see them again. The new villain, Ren, is also great and will probably surprise you. I won't spoil what his deal actually is, but it's something quite different from what he's been set up to be. One thing I really appreciate is how they're introduced with surprising subtlety. When we first meet to our heroes it takes quite a while before any of them them say a single word, but thanks to the actors and good cinematography we get a pretty good grip on who they are before they even open their mouths, which is not an easy thing to do.
I'd also like to give extra credit to the returning characters, especially Han. Harrison Ford did a great job and went back to his character nearly seemlessly despite not having played him for decades, he really lives up to the legend, both in the movie and to the audience. There's a lot of fanservice with funny jokes and entertaining referenes from these returning characters, but it doesn't become distracting because they're not just there to pander to old fans, these returning characters have their own stories and motivations and serve as an important part of the story, not as pointless fluff.

It completely gets the spirit of Star Wars, it is a goddamned fun movie that feels alive and breathing at every turn, like we really are in a galaxy with huge expansive worlds and cultures. Highly recommend that you give it a look, even if you don't care about the story the action and special effects are marvelous and could honestly be good enough reason to watch the movie.

 

[NLS]

Sounds too good to be true, so anyone who've seen it tell me, is the girl jedi in this film is an actual good character or her only character attribute is being a girl? You are my only hope.

Well, she's going to please a lot of people, simply on the grounds of being The Girl That Can.

Spoiler

People go to her rescue, but she doesn't need to be rescued. They take her hand when running away from danger, and she yells "I know how to run! Don't take my hand!". She beats the crap of the guy that beats the crap out of another guy. She also bests Han at fixing/piloting the Falcon, and he's so impressed by that he offers her a position on the spot. In many ways she reminds of Lieutenant Mary Sue, "the youngest Lieutenant in the [Star Trek] fleet - only fifteen and a half years old".

You have that much to look forward to.

I'm too scared of reading the spoiler...

Basically she's the best at everything and beats every character - old and new - at what they do, much to everybody's impression.

Oh god, no, no,

Damn it, why can't hollywood write a female character that is not shit.

I'd say she's not shit.
Everything about Rey's strengths as a character makes sense with her backstory. She's been pretty much on her own without any kind of parental figure for almost as long as she can remember. She's a survivor, all her skills come from a need to survive on a day-to-day basis, no hand-holding or social etiquette or anything along the way. This also makes her a loner and an outcast in many ways, weary of attachment and even afraid of embracing the Force, rejecting it on many occasions.

So when she first clashes with Finn, who is trying to redeem his previous life by playing the hero, she ends up reacting with a "who are you and why are you trying to help me?". Nobody's ever helped her before, and being slightly socially awkward, she's not afraid to show that she doesn't need help and that she appreciates the recognition she can get from showing off her skills.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Snip

Agreed, it hit all the right notes with me. Wasn't perfect, I have a couple of small gripes with it (mentioning would spoil stuff), but I say that whilst knowing I had a massive grin on my face for more than half the film.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sounds too good to be true, so anyone who've seen it tell me, is the girl jedi in this film is an actual good character or her only character attribute is being a girl? You are my only hope.

Well, she's going to please a lot of people, simply on the grounds of being The Girl That Can.

Spoiler

People go to her rescue, but she doesn't need to be rescued. They take her hand when running away from danger, and she yells "I know how to run! Don't take my hand!". She beats the crap of the guy that beats the crap out of another guy. She also bests Han at fixing/piloting the Falcon, and he's so impressed by that he offers her a position on the spot. In many ways she reminds of Lieutenant Mary Sue, "the youngest Lieutenant in the [Star Trek] fleet - only fifteen and a half years old".

You have that much to look forward to.

I'm too scared of reading the spoiler...

Basically she's the best at everything and beats every character - old and new - at what they do, much to everybody's impression.

Oh god, no, no,

Damn it, why can't hollywood write a female character that is not shit.

Well, maaaaaaybe that's just my cynical interpretation of the character. I'm sure a lot of people will fancy her. Don't despair just yet.

 

[Naraka]

Page two and already it's "Thurs a laaaady in thuh show!!!"

/wrists

 

[Fox12]

Sounds too good to be true, so anyone who've seen it tell me, is the girl jedi in this film is an actual good character or her only character attribute is being a girl? You are my only hope.

Why would you even draw that assumption? Women make up, like, half the population. It's not exactly weird for there to be a prominent female character in a film...

It's the same reaction we got after Mad Max came out. If she's a bad character, it's because of the writing, not because she's a woman. People are acting like it's the death of film for there to be a female character outside the kitchen. Besides, Princess Leia had that whole spunky feminist thing going for her too, and no one cared then. Even if this new girl fits into that mold, it would actually be in line with the original trilogy.

 

[circularlogic88]

I feel vindicated in my opinion that Force Awakens was going to be nothing but circle jerking around the original trilogy and lo and behold I was not proven wrong in the slightest. This whole movie pretty much waits until the last 10 or 15 minutes to decide to push the plot forward into new territory. The rest of the time is spent spinning it's wheels in callbacks and references to stuff from the original trilogy.

Don't get me wrong, it's visually stunning, the cast is good, and the whole movie feels more true to the series than any of the prequels.

I wouldn't say it's pretty damn good. It's okay provided you've never seen anything Star Wars up to this point. I mostly found it tedious and yeah the female lead mildly irritating.

My problem with this movie and with Abrams is this: I've seen this before and it isn't hard to mimic what's already been done. Abrams' big "mystery box" moment is left until the very end and it's only then that I'm actually interested in what's going on as its not cribbing off of the original trilogy.

 

[Battenberg]

Just google how people originally reacted to Phantom Menace when it came out. The hype was always going to influence initial reactions positively. Looking back over the variable quality of Disney sci fi films I'm happy to let this one pass me by and maybe pick it up on blu ray a year or so from now if people still think it's good then.

 

[cooperb21]

The only negative i have seen is that it has alot of fan service.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

From the various sources I've read it seems to be exactly what I expected; a competent film that takes refuge in the original trilogy in order to convince us that this won't be another prequel trilogy. I never expected it to be bad, but I never expected it to be anything other than a decent, safe introduction to this new trilogy. I hope the next installments can disentangle themselves from the original trilogy and take on an identity of their own.

 

[Hawki]

So, I saw the movie today. And if I were to sum it up in one word, it would be "meh." If I were to sum it up in three words, it would be "Star Wars fanfiction."

Now, to start off, here's how I rank the now main 7 Star Wars films:

7) Attack of the Clones
6) The Phantom Menace
5) The Force Awakens
4) The Empire Strikes Back
3) Revenge of the Sith
2) Return of the Jedi
1) A New Hope

Please ignore how low I've ranked Ep. V (that's a whole other story), and focus instead on where it is - right next to TPM. If anything, this is on par with TPM, but for different reasons. TPM is a film with good ideas marred by poor execution. TFA is a film with good execution marred by a lack of ideas.

I can't go in depth without spoiling things, but let me establish this - this film has little to offer. It is practically a copy of A New Hope. Not exactly, but for instance, it has a cantina scene. The scene is much later in the film than it was in ANH, but it's still there, leads to similar conversations, and similar outcomes. This film operates on the principle of "remember when that was a thing? Well here's a similar thing to that thing in the OT? Look, don't you see how much we love Star Wars? For God's sake, the Kessel Run line is practically repeated verbatim. Say what you want about TPM, but at least that was distinctly its own era with its own style and worlds. This is practically Original Trilogy Mk. II with different paint jobs for the X-Wings and TIE fighters.

Yes, I do see how much you love Star Wars, Disney. What I DON'T see is a reason for this film to exist. There's lines from the trailers that never make their way into the film. There's contrivances galore (there's literally a line that says "that's a long story" as to how x retrieved y). The New Order are trigger-happy morons. If TPM has over-choreographed lightsabre fights, this goes so far in the opposite direction that it's a headscratcher as to how x could last so long against y. In short, the film is competent. If this were the first in a series, I'd be far more receptive to it. But as it is, this film has nothing new to offer. If certain plot ideas are developed in further installments, there's hope for this new trilogy, but right now, this is an average film with nothing new to offer the Star Wars franchise. Not the worst film I've seen all year, but easily the most disappointing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think I liked him the most out of anyone.

Spoiler

He's just this wimpy stormtrooper who fancies himself a hero, but is terribly ill equiped at being one.

That... doesn't sound too good. Especially given the marketing.

I'm sure some people will feel lied to that he's not a more capable hero, but he's one of if not the only character who isn't just another simple archetype. Rey is basically just Luke Skywalker, Poe is Han Solo, Kylo Ren is Vader, some other guy is the Emperor, and Han Solo is Obi Wan Kenobi. Finn is kind of a mixture between C-3PO, Luke, and Han. And he is heroic, he's just way in over his head. And it's sort of fun watching him make a brave face against all odds.

 

[Guffe]

Saw the movie yesterday (16th of December) and I was hyped, all my friends have HYPED it even more, and even then, it still exceeded my expectations.
I was pleasantly surprised and it was a good movie.
Not going to go into detail or anything since I don't want to spoil for anyone who doesn't want to get spoiled

 

[Buizel91]

Seen this film twice already, and it's great! Perfect? Not a chance. Just Great and that's all it needs to be.

It's funny when it wants to be and serious when it needs to be, no character has been included simply for comic relief, all characters have at least one purpose in the film.

Could more characters have gotten screen time? Sure. Phasma doesn't even have a fight scene, but then did Boba in ep 5? Nope. When she was on screen however she did feel very intimidating.

Seen a complaint about how

Spoiler

Rey was able to defeat Kylo and do everything. To answer the first Kylo had been injured...Twice, he would of been exhausted concentrating on the fight and ignoring the pain. And for the second part, she was a loner, living on a world that seems more hostile than Tattooine, and she obviously new her way around a ship because of the fact she had been looting wrecked ships for however long, living on a world like that she obviously learned a thing or 2 about defending herself, Hell we see her take on 2 bandits who try to steal BB-8 but she overcomes them with near no trouble.

It wouldn't be hard for her to pick up a lightsaber and use it, especially when she has just learned she can use the force, heck we see her using it way before she knows! her reflexes are far to quick, like Anakin in ep1 she can see things before they happen, it's not mentioned but its pretty obvious with some of the things she does

Overall its great fun, and if this trilogy keeps up the good work, it will be far better than the prequels and more on par with the originals. This is just the first film, kicking off a new trilogy, some things will be unanswered and some things will have been left hanging. Sure there are plot holes

Spoiler

how the fuck did poe get off jakku and back to the resistance? felt a bit force, and R2-D2 having the rest of the map to lukes whereabouts was random as fuck

But did they ruin it? No, it does nothing wrong that the originals and prequels didn't do, (the resistance and first order always having intel etc, but then the rebels in ep 4/5/6 always seemed to pluck info from thin air as well)

It's fun, its well made and is the film we have been waiting for, perfect? Not a chance. But then no Starwars movie is (Empire stikes back is the closest followed by ep6 and this one)

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ok I see people are talking about the film now (I just come back watching it)-

Spoiler

I liked how most of the creature/ aliens were guys in suit and animatronic (the animals) than CGI.

Look like that guy who posted that conspircy thread on here was right about Kylo Ren identity but not about that character death and Luke reappearing.

Sure I wasn't suprised at his death since afterward I realise his role in the film was Obiwan Kenobi. I was however suprised that Rey was force sensitive (aka Jedi) than Finn who I was expecting to be the one. I assume it was him cos of those still shot holding the lightsaber.

The reference to the old films were fine (about the 12 parsec and Finn finding that training ball).

Whose that old guy at the start of the film or just some random guy? I thought he appear in the old triliogy somewhere.

Heck even the location were pretty much a call back to the old films like Jakku aka Tatooni, the Resistance base is Yavin and the new Deathstar was Hoth I guess.

Speaking of the new Deathstar, I did find the new one more intimatating seeing how it was an actual planet this time round than an artifical moon. Also it shoot long range and the bean can be splitted. Still I hoping it won't return in the sequels. Oh did Courasant get destroyed or was that some other city like planet?

Made sense that Luke didn't appear in the poster as the scene of him in it was just a vision and only truly appearing on screen right at the end.
I liked the new twist of stuff like this time round that Porkin character survived!

Also I bet if George were to reedit the film, he will make it so that random guy try to attack Han first before he shove him into that alien path! #Hanshovefirst!

I thought the new TIE Fighter were cool at first for having a rear gunner but once again it proven to be ineffient against the new X Wing eventhought they got their engine cut in half!

Also how come the resistance are alot smaller to the Rebel and what happened to the A, B and Y Wings? Also I guess it was called back to the first film in that it look like only 3 X wings survived but only to reveal there were 3 more at the very back!

The new cast were ok. I want to know Kylo Ren motive to joining the dark side which I can guess he got that inferior complex going on (he doubted that he can lived up to Luke expectation to be a great Jedi). Also did Kylo got his hand chopped off and I can bet he may have the "Darth" title in the next film. Lastly he doesn't look like as if he was Han and Leia child.

Kylo lightsaber does proved to be effective for having that light crossguard afterall when it come to the blade clashing by having the side stabbing the other person!

Lol I thought Snoke was a giant which I also guess he got some kind of intimation complex going on aswell if he need a giant life size hologram build in that room!

If that "Life debt" is still canon (I mean they never mention it in the triliogy) is Chewie fee now or will he stick to Rey or Luke now? Speaking of Chewie, was his crossbow always that powerful?

I can guess there is a conspiricy going on that Rey is Luke daughter now.

Overall it was ok/ good but it was just similar to the old films.

 

[ed_phelan]

I went to the midnight showing, obviously, and think that there will be two schools of thought when it comes to the reviews.

People who want to see their heroes from the original trilogy will be well chuffed. "The gang get back together" and save the day.

People who want to see the next stage in this epic may be disappointed. I felt like I was watching a re-hash of A New Hope meets Phantom Menace. People are praising them for using Lawrence Kasdan to bring the new trilogy back in line with the originals, which it does. BUT he could have come up with a slightly different plot to A New Hope. I mean come on! But the film flows nicely from the chronological prequel, unlike the prequel trilogy which don't flow into the originals at all well. So, we'll have to see where they go with episodes VIII and IX.

I guess it is for each person to decide but it is a good watch either way...

 

[Jute88]

It was a good, fun film. Not great, just good. I was actually surprised how many comedic moments this film had. Even the villain had a couple of funny lines and scenes, which I appreciate. And as some have already mentioned, yes, it tries hard to resemble A New Hope. But it my opinion, I think this one might be better than episode 4, time will tell. Though the attack against the first Death Star is still one of the most intense moments in this franchise. The Force Awakens lacks that nail biting moment. But in short, a fun good movie.

 

[ed_phelan]

It was a good, fun film. Not great, just good. I was actually surprised how many comedic moments this film had. Even the villain had a couple of funny lines and scenes, which I appreciate. And as some have already mentioned, yes, it tries hard to resemble A New Hope. But it my opinion, I think this one might be better than episode 4, time will tell. Though the attack against the first Death Star is still one of the most intense moments in this franchise. The Force Awakens lacks that nail biting moment. But in short, a fun good movie.

Nice summary, I think you've got it exactly