Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

[RobW]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Loved that Luke was hanging out on Skellig Michael tbh.

I enjoyed it for what it is. A satisfying, very funny space opera. Full marks for that. I wasn't ever bored, it looks brilliant, and making bringing Solo to the fore was well judged.
Great cast, I thought Adam Driver was particularly good. I don't know whether Abrams was overcompensating for the lack of humour in the Episodes 1-3, but there was an awful lot to find funny, particularly Kylo Ren's strop after Rey escapes and the two Stormtroopers who turn heel immediately.

Some gripes. Clearly, Serkis enjoys playing CGI characters an awful lot. I'm getting sick of it tbh. I thought Gwendoline Christie was wasted (at least we got to see Driver's face).
It's a shame they couldn't think of any other way for the Empire/First Order to show their nastiness except through another fucking Death Star.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Yeah, I didn't get not seeing Ms Christie out of helmet. Having made such a thing about having a female baddie, too. Maybe she has a bigger part in later films (or were her and all the others blown up at the end?).

[RobW]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: Yeah, I didn't get not seeing Ms Christie out of helmet. Having made such a thing about having a female baddie, too. Maybe she has a bigger part in later films (or were her and all the others blown up at the end?).

She must have perished surely, along with Gleeson (who was also very good at being very bad).

[RobW]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Reading the reviews now. Love this line from Matt Zoller Seitz for RogerEbert.com

"The Starkiller Base is ten times the size of the last Death Star, but key characters cross paths inside of it so regularly that it might as well be a U-boat."

[Ray de Galles]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: Yeah, I didn't get not seeing Ms Christie out of helmet. Having made such a thing about having a female baddie, too. Maybe she has a bigger part in later films (or were her and all the others blown up at the end?).

I agree it was weird to barely use (and not even really see) her. Peculiar that she was so compliant in disarming the defences too, you would have thought she'd have died rather than do so.

She must be in at least the next movie, pointless to have trailed her appearance as they did when her actual role amounted to little more than Daniel Craig's.

.

[RobW]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Ray de Galles wrote:

Yeah, I didn't get not seeing Ms Christie out of helmet. Having made such a thing about having a female baddie, too. Maybe she has a bigger part in later films (or were her and all the others blown up at the end?).

I agree it was weird to barely use (and not even really see) her. Peculiar that she was so compliant in disarming the defences too, you would have thought she'd have died rather than do so.

She must be in at least the next movie, pointless to have trailed her appearance as they did when her actual role amounted to little more than Daniel Craig's.

.

Oh man, that was Daniel Craig? Definitely have to see it again now.

[Ray de Galles]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

You wouldn't know that unless you'd read the info online, though there is a little bit of "What the fuck was that about?!" to his lines in the scene.

[RobW]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Ray de Galles wrote: You wouldn't know that unless you'd read the info online, though there is a little bit of "What the fuck was that about?!" to his lines in the scene.

I'd forgotten that Simon Pegg had revealed that Daniel Craig had a cameo. I see Nigel Godrich also had one.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Who was Simon Pegg? The guy dishing out payment to the Scavengers?

[Ray de Galles]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Ah, possibly as I knew I recognised that character's voice but couldn't place it.

[Beatle Simon]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

RobW wrote:

"The Starkiller Base is ten times the size of the last Death Star, but key characters cross paths inside of it so regularly that it might as well be a U-boat."

When the resistance compare the size of the Death Star to the size of the Starkiller Base, this reaction would've been perfect;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ECJWYRLs2E

[Stumpy Pepys]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Yes, really enjoyed this. If nothing else, there was a genuine sense of reality and physicality in the film that was completely missing in all the prequels. Particularly in the fight sequences, but even in the spaceship battles.

Liked: Rey, Finn, BB8, Kylo Ren, Ford, some good jokes
Disliked: Another death star. Really?

[Moonlight Shadow]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

The X-Wings attack scene over the lake (which is Thirlmere in the Lake District I think...) gave me goosebumps, very old fashioned in a way.

[Benjm]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Harriet Walter was my favourite cameo spot.

To be fair to the Empire/First Order, what else can they do but commission a bigger Death Star? They can hardly downsize and fly round the galaxies posting dog shit through people's letter boxes. Not without significant loss of face, anyway.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

The Starkiller base idea was cool. Come on, it literally sucked in a whole star then spat it out.

A bit like Supreme Leader Snoke.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Benjm wrote: To be fair to the Empire/First Order, what else can they do but commission a bigger Death Star? They can hardly downsize and fly round the galaxies posting dog shit through people's letter boxes. Not without significant loss of face, anyway.

I think the series has painted itself into a corner, in that Abrahams had no choice but to have a 633 Squadron / Dambusters climax with X-Wing Fighters'n'all.

But surely other megalomaniac schemes are available? A giant mind-control system to subjugate opposition? Swarms of tiny killer drones?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Oh, and two cameos I completely missed (and there are more)

1. Simon Pegg as the salvage dealer on Jakku
2. Daniel Craig as the stormtooper who unshackles Rey

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Stumpy Pepys wrote

But surely other megalomaniac schemes are available? A giant mind-control system to subjugate opposition? Swarms of tiny killer drones?

A 60-foot high hologram of fucking Gollum? I mean come on, am I the only one who's going to comment on how shit and lazy that was?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: A 60-foot high hologram of fucking Gollum?

As opposed to a giant hologram of Darth Sidious/Palpatine?

[multipleman78]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Han dies and then the survivors return to the resistance base. Leia, who had sensed Han's death, walks right past Chewbacca and cuddles Rey. Rey is probably her niece but come on, she has to comfort Chewie first. That dude has been beside Han for about 50 years.

Loved the film but that annoyed me.

Did the force awaken in Rey once Kylo tortured her? She had shown great reflexes but nothing else til that point. Once he opened her mind, she seemed to be ridiculously powerful and he knew it too.

[Ray de Galles]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Yeah, Kylo's use of the force to probe her mind flicked a switch in hers and The Force was suddenly flooding through her.

Leia's comforting her first because she's her mum and she's just lost her dad (even if she doesn't know it) surely?

[multipleman78]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

I think it is her niece. Even if Rey is Han's daughter, she could still have at least acknowledged Chewbacca as he walked by. She basically blanked the poor big guy which was rough considering he had given her a big hug when he first saw her earlier. I guess i just felt sorry for his character more than any other character at that point.

[Ray de Galles]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

I was more perturbed by the idea that, in all the decades they'd been compadres, Han had never had a go on Chewie's bowcaster before.

[Patrick Thistle]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Mrs Thistle's one criticism of the film was exactly that about Leia hugging Rey not Chewie. But then maybe its a homage to him not getting a medal in Star Wars.

I loved this film. Seen it twice already. I liked the humour. Rey is a fantastic character. Finn is interesting - makes the stormtroopers real people.

Captain Phasma was wasted as a character though. Han's death was kind of obvious as soon as he went onto the bridge.

I liked the tentacled monsters. Comedy threat at its best. Rey's "That's lucky" when she saves Finn was her best line.

I had thought BB-8 could turn out to be another Jar Jar. But he was ace. Really loved his thumbs up to Finn.

Han and Leia's conversations were great. C3PO interrupting a moment like the total dork he is was funny.

Yeah, all told it was more than I'd hoped for ahead of time.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Force Awakens Spoiler Thread.

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

Oh, and two cameos I completely missed (and there are more)

3. Ewan McGregor, Alec Guinness and Frank Oz in Rey's flashback scene. Thank God that Abrams resisted the idea of having them back as CGI'd ghosts (he must have been tempted).

Patrick Thistle wrote:

Finn is interesting - makes the stormtroopers real people.

That was really cool. The Empire has been defeated once with a droid army, then again (twice) with cloned stormtroopers, now they've moved on to specially bred slave ones. It's a natural progression.