Movie Discussion: Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Force Awakens

Evie Totty | January 2, 2016
CRAP I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO VOTE FOR MY FAVORITE MOVIES. That said I'm glad this one was first and Mad Max second. TOTALLY the way I would have gone.

That said - loved this movie. Hated the mirroring of New Hope but whatever. It was so well done I don't care. I can't wait to see more of Poe (the new Han - kinda since Finn is also the new Han) and Rey.

I have to say my favorite part of the movie was ACTUALLY the introduction of the Falcon. I cheered out loud. I loved when Poe was revealed to still be living. Daisy whats-her-name did a FANTASTIC job being Rey (how the hell did Rey know Wookie anyway?).

I was so stunned by the death of Han Solo that I was still in shock by the end of the movie. I cried on the way home. Han Solo was my first movie character crush. Well I liked Luke coming into it like every other little girl... but Han was a man where Luke was still just a boy. The ladies my age know what I mean.

And I'm REALLY not a fan of how he went out. Not at ALL. He deserved better. Much better.

Here's to looking forward to Episode 8 and the 'side projects'. I'm very hopeful.

Scott Hardie | January 2, 2016
I read an article online that summed up what we lost with Han Solo: The only ordinary human in the original Star Wars. Everyone else was a Jedi or an alien or a droid, very much foreign to us, and Han was an ordinary everyman like us although plenty comfortable among aliens. I suppose the new series offers Poe as the new everyman since Rey is a future-Jedi and Finn has been trained since birth to be a Stormtrooper (but sure doesn't act like it), but Poe is badly underdeveloped compared to the other two. Here's hoping that he gets more attention in the future.

Kelly had Han's death spoiled for her by a jerk online. For me, I could just sense it was coming; the movie was so closely mirroring A New Hope that a fatal showdown between "Obi-Wan" and "Vader" had to be coming up, and then Han walked out on that catwalk... I, too, was disappointed by the close mirroring of A New Hope and wish for new stories in subsequent films. Even one of the weakest ideas in A New Hope, that the Death Star is vulnerable to destruction by one well-aimed shot, is repeated again, as if no one learned.

Similarly, I'm disappointed that the Empire (sorry, the "First Order") is back and in full force, rendering the triumphs at the end of Retun of the Jedi pointless. It's necessary to have an evil to resist, but does it have to be essentially the same evil that was already defeated once? They stopped just short of having Palpatine turn out to be alive. (But then, the Death Star already came back in Return of the Jedi after its destruction in A New Hope, so the original films already had a problem with hitting the reset button before J.J. Abrams came along.)

Rey is far and away my favorite addition to the series. I really like hyper-competent characters, who are skilled and effective and so good that they simply intuit what to do next, like Neo in The Matrix or John McClane in Die Hard. I feel drawn to them as leaders, like I'd get out of their way and give them whatever support they'd need rather than trying to give them suggestions. This reminds me of a meme online that asked, "Superman has gone mad and is laying waste to the planet. What three heroes do you recruit to stop him?" and a friend of mine replied, "Batman and whoever Batman says for the other two." Some people are just so good at what they do that it's just a pleasure to see them go to town. Rey falls into that category for me. I could see other people being annoyed that she's automatically good at everything she tries (she's been called a Mary Sue), but for me the character worked like gangbusters. Maybe Daisy Ridley is responsible for that.

I don't know why they're calling this a new trilogy. It's not like they're going to stop at Episode IX and make no more. The offshoot films like Rogue One aren't going to carry the franchise.

I spent the lead-up to this movie doubting Disney's strategy of releasing another Star Wars movie every 12-24 months, fearing oversaturation. Now I'm frustrated: I have to wait a whole 12-24 months for another one?! The Force Awakens is that good.

Evie Totty | January 2, 2016
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention my irritation at the deus ex machina of R2D2. But again - whatever. I've already seen TFA twice.

And that sucks about Han being spoiled for Kelly. I had successfully avoided virtually everything regarding TFA other than the first trailer. I managed it for Age of Ultron and wanted to see how it worked for TFA. Gangbusters. Seeing that Poe had not perished was worth it alone. I know that a lot of people would not have remembered seeing him in a flight suit for press or even his action figure - but I would have. I remember stupid crap like that and it would have totally spoiled it for me.

And yeah - I'm ready for another.

Scott Hardie | January 3, 2016
The map provided by BB-8 was said not to match any known star charts of the galaxy. Then R2-D2 projected the exact section of the galaxy that it was part of, and it was a pretty large part, spanning maybe a third of the galaxy. What the hell? How did anyone miss that? That's like saying that "this map doesn't match any known part of Earth" when Africa and southern Europe and the Middle East and India are all visible in the map. Oh, so BB-8's map was reversed. That totally throws people off. That's like Luke Skywalker hiding in public under the alias "Reklawyks Ekul." No one could possibly get past that brilliant obfuscation method.

Evie Totty | January 3, 2016
LOLOLOL

Erik Bates | January 4, 2016
Thank you for pointing out the map, Scott. I was thinking the same thing. I half expected someone to chime in and say, "God damn it, Gary! You had one job!"