SPOILERS - The Force Awakens
-
FinnXPoe is my OTP.
-
See, I really like the idea of Jar-Jar being Supreme Leader Snoke for two reasons.
-
It would show George Lucas didn't botch the prequels as badly as most of us think, which I very much want to believe. The idea he meant for JJB to be the true 'phantom menace' all along - and some people have broken movie stills frame by frame to show that he did, just very subtly - would be ingenious.
-
It would work tremendously in the sense that Snoke isn't just some random new guy we've never heard of. Sure, he could (also?) be Darth Plagueis but otherwise we've already seen how closely some tropes are being replayed in the new trilogy - the abandoned child on a desert planet, a droid carrying clues meant for the Resistance, etc. So mirroring how much Yoda was underestimated by Luke for his appearance in a Sith could be great.
Plus I can't wait to hear the groans at the theatre at a reveal like that.
-
-
Finn/Poe for life
Rey/Finn/Poe also for life
-
-
So I thought it was great. I would also like to think that the similar plot elements from the originals was to say: We love the old Star Wars as much as you do, let us prove it to you, introduce our new characters and reaffirm our commitment to it. We will tell new stories in the upcoming episodes, so please trust us.
That's my hope, at least. Regarding Kylo Ren getting the smack down, I think it had a lot to do with killing Han. They show us throughout the movie that he has questions and doubts and there's an easy parallel with Darth Bane when early on, he became much weaker with the force when he couldn't give himself fully to the dark side. I think the clincher was, at the end, when Snoke said to have Ren brought to him to complete his training.
I'm also curious to see where they go with Finn. Rey and Poe both have their archetypal roles, with Rey even having a bit of Han about her. I'm excited to see what they do with him.
-
Didn't like it. Rey was too much of a Mary Sue. Able to use a lightsaber without training? Best Mechanic evuh? Best Starship pilot evuh?
I don't know what kind of character develop you can have for someone who is perfect.
-
As a fan of power fantasy movies, I agree she was pretty Mary Sue, but to be fair, I think most of the complaints are exaggerated.
Luke was was a total noob to combat, and was able to block blaster bolts while blindfolded from the drone after about 30 seconds of training, I think lightsabre use is pretty intuitive for those strong in the force, especially for people from rough parts of town.
Being a whizkid mechanic seems to be standard issue for SW main characters. This is easiest for me to give a pass since her job is mechanical in nature.
I do agree that she was waaaay too good of a pilot for someone who spent her life digging around old ships and from what we can tell has never flown before. This is the one that puts her into Mary Sue territory for me. That and her escape from the torture chair. I really enjoyed that scene, but it was pure MS.
-
Oh god, not the Mary Sue thing again. I'm noping the hell out of that.
-
I fucking hate the "Rey is a Mary Sue" bullshit I can't even.
Luke is a Mary Sue.
Anakin is a Mary Sue.
Star Wars is populated with super special heroic characters. The only reason we're having this conversation is because she's a woman.
Edit: in fact
-
@Roz said:
The only reason we're having this conversation is because she's a woman.
You know, that's probably pretty legit, since so far nobody has talked about how Padme managed to be pretty badass in her own right. Crack shot, certifiable genius, master manipulator, infiltrator, and negotiator. Even if she was perving on a nine year old.
From a book I like, The Star Wars Heresies:
Padme falls off the walkway onto a deadly conveyor belt, and begins dashing and jumping between stomping, crushing machines, the proverbial clashing rocks confronted by Jason and the Argonauts... This [later] opens up into a terrific battle scene, during which Padme acquits herself very well. In a great bit, she even manages to pick her own lock, demonstrating once and for all that she's truly the liberated woman. Crawling to the top of the post she was shackled to, she capably fends off the fearsome, clawed Nexu. Like her daughter will against Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, she turns her chain of slavery into an effective weapon. Once more proving what a crack shot she is, Padme snags a blaster and takes down a few Geonosians herself, as a massive battle erupts between hundreds of Jedi and battle droids. She even commandeers a cart pulled by a running Orray, successfully navigating the chaos until the beast is killed. In one of the coyest exchanges of the film, Padme and Anakin wind up fighting side by side. Shooting back his own line at him when he asks whether she considers this a "diplomatic solution," she replies, "No, I call it 'aggressive negotiations.'"
-
Loved it so much more a second time. I feel like I was able to shed all the preconceptions and anxiety and just enjoy the fun of it. And it's a lot of fun.
And holy hell I am shipping Finn and Poe. (The actors kind of are too.)
-
I don't find Rey any more Sue-ish than any Star Wars main characters, nor do I mind if she is. The hero's journey concept pretty much requires it, defining the hero as uniquely capable of taking on the tests and challenges and ultimately bettering the rest of their kind through their awesome deeds.
But. I dislike the shortcut on her force training because it's a disservice to her own character arc.
The Han 'it's all true' scene is such a big moment, but it completely undercuts things for her go from the revelation the force even exists to slinging Mind Trick without ... erm, any idea that it's even a thing? In the originals, that power itself is the link between wide-eyed clueless farmboy Luke watching Obi-wan wave away Stormtroopers like they're nothing, and a hooded, Obi-wan looking Luke rolling up to Jabba's and doing exactly the same thing. It's the viewer's very first proof of just how far he's come at the beginning of RotJ.
So I'm not a fan of them skimping all that. The instinctive lightsaber stuff, and what might effectively be low level battlemind/battle meditation during the final saber fight? That's fine. Her kicking Kylo's ass is fine (it's pretty clear he's not nearly so far along on his training either). But from-the-butt Mind Trick bothers me. You can come up with all sorts of ways it could be justified (something sympathetic from her breaking the mental intrusion, or even instinctively reading something from his mind when she does), but it feels like a short cut, and I'm not sure what will now take the place of showing us she's actually completed her training. Maybe she'll freeze a bolt like Ren, since that's the first big force power they show? I dunno.
-
-
-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAUSHFASLKJGHFVKEJASHFADFASDFDFC FDC
-
I guess we'll never truly know how much more money the now most successful film release of all time could have made.
-
I'm curious where they got their number. "People who read their site" is vague as shit.
-
@Glitch said:
I'm curious where they got their number. "People who read their site" is vague as shit.
Which is only part of what makes this so hilarious.
-
You shut up. White males are a disadvantaged group. We... I mean they, they need all the help they can get.
-
@Coin said:
They should have named him Wedge, though.
He would've been cut from the movie almost entirely.
Now that I've seen it, I have to say: Solid, decent, not great, I understand the complaints about being derivative except that I think this is the point. There are non-derivative parts of the movie that serve to me as lynchpins. Where Rey is herself is the point, she is getting sucked in via the plot ... er, I mean Force, which is being pretty heavy-handed. ("No, you don't get to keep beating on Ben. You're done. Have a sudden physical separation.")
The last five minutes, though, is entirely new. Luke goes to Yoda because he's told to. Rey goes to Luke because she has an obligation to the Universe, to the Force?, to find him and bring him back.
For that scene alone, I'm on board 100%.
