The Force Awakens Spoiler Thread

[DiracPool]

From: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/harrison-ford-passes-samuel-l-jackson-to-become-172650916.html

"(Harrison) Ford has sequels to Indiana Jones and Blade Runner on the horizon, and it’s possible that he may appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII, as currently listed on the actor’s IMDb page."

How does one survive being run through by a light saber and then tossed off a bridge into an abyss? Or are they going to bring him back with some sort of "Search for Spock" type katra?

 

[axmls]

From: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/harrison-ford-passes-samuel-l-jackson-to-become-172650916.html

"(Harrison) Ford has sequels to Indiana Jones and Blade Runner on the horizon, and it’s possible that he may appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII, as currently listed on the actor’s IMDb page."

How does one survive being run through by a light saber and then tossed off a bridge into an abyss? Or are they going to bring him back with some sort of "Search for Spock" type katra?

My guess would be some kind of flashback.

Interesting fact: I read Mark Hamill got paid in the low seven figures for the film.

That's right. Over a million dollars to turn around and look at the camera.

 

[DennisN]

Speaking of money...

According to Box Office Mojo, The Force Awakens is now at #1 (all time domestic gross), and at #4 (all time worldwide gross). Will it beat Avatar? It is also the fastest growing movie ever (all nine categories from $100 to $500 million). And looking at domestic grosses (adjusted for ticket price inflation) is clear evidence of the incredible success of the Star Wars franchise; considering the top 20 movies, 5 of them (!) are Star Wars movies.

 

[DiracPool]

That's right. Over a million dollars to turn around and look at the camera.

Yeah, but it's the way he turned Plus, didn't he flip back his hoodie? That's worth 150 grand right there.

 

[axmls]

Speaking of money...

According to Box Office Mojo, The Force Awakens is now at #1 (all time domestic gross), and at #4 (all time worldwide gross). Will it beat Avatar? It is also the fastest growing movie ever (all nine categories from $100 to $500 million). And looking at domestic grosses (adjusted for ticket price inflation) is clear evidence of the incredible success of the Star Wars franchise; considering the top 20 movies, 5 of them (!) are Star Wars movies.

That's what happens when you combine extensive merchandising and appeal to three generations of people who grew up (or are now growing up) with their own Star Wars trilogy.

 

[_PJ_]

I read from too many people, that it is actually a remake of New Hope, with barely different storyline. Could you give me any good reason, why should i watch this in movie?

It's a reboot for a new generation, but because Disney also had a whole crowd of middle aged fans from the 1978 movie as well as the youngsters that 'enjoyed' possibly some parts of the 'prequels' AND an unimaginably huge horde of cult followers with which an amount of canon and re-released merchandise had to be maintained - so they provided a fresh revisioning but in serilialised format.
Honestly, I had no intention of watching it until maybe later when it was on TV , but tickets were a Christmas present and I was not disappointed. Admittedly I had rather conserved hopes, but overall I was actually pleasantly surprised with the freshness of the movie, despite the obviously familiar tropes.
Will you enjoy it?
Only you can really answer that. How invested are you in the franchise, in the other movies, in the canon or in the continuation of the brand?

They also said it was ridicolous, how close Han jumped to Death Planet. If jump is possible in the presence of strong gravity, that ruins the whole consistency of the world, rebels could have simply jumped away from the surface of planets, when imperials came.

It's a Star Wars fairy tale/fantasy like all the others, If anyone had wanted to provide any scientific plausibility or physical adherence then I'm sureLucas would have done so from the start. Basically, you shouldn't be expecting any less than high fantasy as with most other pop-culture movies.

 

[ODST]

Snoek in Dutch means pike fish, snoke, snoek? Jar Jar is of the gungan species, which is an aquatic race... Darth Jar Jar?!

Now, for the big thing. I can't believe no one has mentioned this (this is to you Snoke detractors). The theory is that Snoke is Darth Plagueis (i.e. Palpatine's former master whom he claims to have killed in his sleep). Evidence:

I do feel the force awakens fell flat with the story, though the cast did a great job. I think though that the next movie will be amazing... and I look forward to more of Darth Snokes, and what his story is...

 

[George Jones]

I haven't read this thread yet.

My wife, my nine-year-old daughter, and I went to see this movie last night. We all loved it. I was a bit surprised by my wife's reaction, as she claims that she doers not like sci fi stuff. My daughter was absolutely thrilled; this was only the second movie that she has seen in a theatre, and we don't have a TV at home. I was taken back to a different place in space and time, to when as a teenager I saw the original Star Wars release several thousand kilomteres form where we saw The Force Awakens last night.

 

[rcgldr]

For me the issue is dealing with Rey. They may have Rey turn out to be Luke's daughter or otherwise related to the Skywalker family, but considering she develops force sensitivity so quickly, faster than any previous Skywalker, it would make more sense to have her story be similar to Anakin, where the "force" decided to create another person powerful with the force, perhaps to compensate for Anakin.

As for Rey's force sensitivity, I think that the scene where she's being interrogated is more important than the fight with Kylo. In a matter of minutes, she's able to repel Kylo's mind powers and reaches into his mind. One comment about the fight scene, is that in the second encounter, she's able to hold off Kylo for a brief pause to relax and further increase her powers in just a few seconds. This should be an issue, Rey's rate of progress is much faster than any other Jedi we've seen before, so even if Kylo gets the best dark side training possible, the disparity between Rey's superior powers over Kylo should just get greater over time. By the time of the next movie, Rey should be like the class 5 Jean in the X-Men series with nearly unlimited powers.

My guess is that next movie in the series will be a bit of a let down. It won't be the first time in the series. After Episode 6, since Leia remembers her mother while she was young, an explanation for why Padme chose to be with Leia and not Luke should have been explained, but then Lucas avoids this by changing the story line and killing off Padme at child birth. Then there's the issue with Anakin only being able to see enough into the future that Padme's life is in danger, but not that he's the cause, a bit too convenient, just enough force sensitivity to match the story line. And you have to wonder why Emperor that had used Anakin's fear of losing relatives to get him to turn to the dark side thought it would be a good idea to kill Anakin's son while Anakin watched.

 

[DHF]

I just recently watched this movie with my family, I was actually going to wait until it was on Amazon Prime but my younger son contracted Star Wars Fever and begged us to see it. Like others who grew up with the originals and later suffered through Ep1,2&3... I went in with low expectations. I was however pleased, yes there are plenty of plot holes but show me a sci fi movie that doesn't. Yes They went through all the same beats as the original but managed to keep it feeling fresh however. I really enjoyed Rey and Fin although I really feel they could have done more with his character, he had a very powerful story to tell. My wife mentioned after the movie that what was missing was Finn, after encountering his old caption again was to demand that she take her helmet off so he could look her in the eyes. So they could have expanded on him more but maybe they will later on.

On the subject of the Captain, I too feel she caved WAY to easy to lower the shields and did so at the first threat, she should not have caved, Like Finn, she would have been raised and conditioned and should never have buckled. To get around this they could have restructured the scene so that they find Rey first then they encounter the captain, when she refuses to give into their demands, Rey could have used her not-yet-a-Jedi mind tricks on her.

The one part of this film that I really couldn't get behind was Kilo Ren, in my opinion he was the least effective villain ever. He started off fairly intimidating but then he took off the mask and its like all the intimidation leaked out. For the rest of the film he came off as a simpering brat and while yes you can argue that he is not not fully trained and has mommy and daddy issues, in the end it does not make for a good villain if all you want to do is flick him in the ear and tell him to go to his room. the battle between him and Rey however was very nice and I loved the scene when she used the force to claim her saber from Ren. See if he wasn't a brat and just picked it up with is hands the movie would have been over but no he had to try and force grab it, for crying out loud he was what... One, maybe two meters away from it? See? Spoiled Brat.

On a final note, not that it had any impact on the movie but my wife wondered about Rey's light saber, She was told that it was her Father's yet it is blue, Luke Saber at the end of Jedi was Green. The blue one, the one Obi-wan gave Luke, that one was blue, it was also however plunged into an abysses along with Luke's hand courtesy of Papa Vader. So where exactly did this Blue saber come from?

 

[Orodruin]

So where exactly did this Blue saber come from?

It is the blue saber that was Anakin's and was handed down to Luke by Obi-Wan. Its story from Bespin to Maz is unknown as far as I am aware, but most certainly an interesting one.

 

[DHF]

It is the blue saber that was Anakin's and was handed down to Luke by Obi-Wan. Its story from Bespin to Maz is unknown as far as I am aware, but most certainly an interesting one.

I would say that it is impossible that it survived the fall to the center of a gas giant but then again we are talking about magic swords in a universe with the Force so I guess anything is game.

 

[Orodruin]

I would say that it is impossible that it survived the fall to the center of a gas giant but then again we are talking about magic swords in a universe with the Force so I guess anything is game.

Just because Luke went that way does not mean the saber did.

 

[DHF]

I will concede to that. There is the remote chance that it got stuck somewhere in the bowels of cloud city rather then falling out into the atmosphere.

 

[Orodruin]

I will concede to that. There is the remote chance that it got stuck somewhere in the bowels of cloud city rather then falling out into the atmosphere.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Skywalker's_lightsaber

 

[DennisN]

I will concede to that. There is the remote chance that it got stuck somewhere in the bowels of cloud city rather then falling out into the atmosphere.

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...and-world-affairs.589024/page-41#post-5339510

 

[DHF]

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...and-world-affairs.589024/page-41#post-5339510

OK that was bad, I am getting over a cold and can't take deep breaths yet and laughing is a dangerous affair...that link nearly killed me.

 

[Ibix]

So I finally got time to go and see it. I think I must be the only person on the planet who hadn't seen it - I was literally alone in the theatre.

I liked that it had characterisation, dialogue, good acting and chemistry, all notably lacking from the prequel trilogy. I thought the opening with the Star Destroyer eclipsing the planet was pretty much perfect - a call back to A New Hope while being completely new. Shame the rest of the plot was more or less what we'd seen before. Starkiller Base was a nice touch - Luke is called Luke Starkiller in early drafts of A New Hope. The Imperials generally have brains - even the Stormtroopers act like competent soldiers, reacting rapidly and sensibly to the warning of incoming X-wings. They still can't hit the broad side of a barn, though, where the heroes miss maybe three shots in the whole film.

To add to the "who is Rey" debate - did anyone else note that "when you're desperately trying to sleep at night, the place you go, the ocean and the island" (or something like that) that Kylo Ren forces (hah, see what I did there?) out of Rey is a dead on description of the place she finally meets Luke? Regarding her skills with the Force - she picks everything up quickly when she's around someone who knows what they're about. Her assessment of the problems with the Falcon exactly matches Han's to the point that she completes his sentences. She understands Chewie, BB8, and Teedo, plus Basic/English - that's four languages. She picks up on what Kylo Ren is doing to her when he tries to mind-rape the map out of her, and then uses that on him and the guard, but uses no other Force skills until Kylo Ren tries to Force pull her lightsaber to him - whereupon she learns that trick. Then she's in a lightsaber duel with a (semi-)trained opponent. Whereupon she's suddenly at his level (though he's off his game after murdering his dad and being shot by Chewie's bowcaster). I think she picks things up directly from people around her.

Things I didn't like. Why did the Captain with the cool armour just turn off the shields for them? The Stormtroopers generally seem to be supposed to be "death first!" kind of people. And why does a captain of infantry even know how to turn off the shields, let alone have the authority to do it? Kylo Ren became whiny and annoying when he took of his mask - kind of like a teenage Snape. JJ Abrams still clearly has no concept of scale. Somehow the final attack on Starkiller Base was not as gripping as the trench run from A New Hope. I think there's something about the way the old one is filmed - cutting between the action and watching helplessly from Yavin IV, Leia's reaction when she thinks Luke's been killed early on, and the graphic of the moon slowly appearing from behind the gas giant.

 

[DennisN]

Nice review, Ibix .

Sorry, I could not resist commenting on...

So I finally got time to go and see it. I think I must be the only person on the planet who hadn't seen it - I was literally alone in the theatre.

"Episode VII
IBIX AWAKENS

The audience has vanished. In its absence, the sinister
FIRST PROJECTIONIST has risen from the ashes of
the IMAX theatre and will not rest until Ibix, the last viewer,
has seen the movie.."

 

[DennisN]

To add to the "who is Rey" debate - did anyone else note that "when you're desperately trying to sleep at night, the place you go, the ocean and the island" (or something like that) that Kylo Ren forces (hah, see what I did there?) out of Rey is a dead on description of the place she finally meets Luke?

Yes, I noted that too.

 

[Scott C.]

Well, OK, but Leia is Princess of Alderaan, and Darth Vader makes her watch, and she begs, and cries, etc. Whereas in this movie, they all look up in the sky and go "Whoops, there goes another planet".

Old guy, comment: Though Vader was there, It was Governor Tarkin that made Leia watch the destruction of her home world (after getting she revealed the location of the secret rebel base. I completely agree with you in every other respect.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Video's out for sale today. I went for the deluxe. Movie running on 27" monitor about two feet from me.

 

[DHF]

I am sure my kids will be begging me for it soon, just need to hold out until they ask this way it will look like I am getting it for them. :)

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I am sure my kids will be begging me for it soon, just need to hold out until they ask this way it will look like I am getting it for them. :)

You do the parent thing very well.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Please, who are Rey's parents?

 

[DennisN]

Please, who are Rey's parents?

Everybody wants to know . There are a lot of theories out there on the internet/youtube...

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Everybody wants to know . There are a lot of theories out there on the internet/youtube...

Oh, good, just two more movies until we find out?

 

[DHF]

My money is on Luke Skywalker.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

My money is on Luke Skywalker.

Spontaneously?

 

[DHF]

Spontaneously as in did I just decide this? naw I suspected it was him from fairly on in the Movie. During her flashes as she picks up the light saber for the first time I think there was a flash of the island, there also seemed to be a flash of R2D2 (who she had not met yet) now granted this could have just been foresight but the impression I got was that it was a memory. When Emo Ren was interrogating her, he also mentioned the island which leads me to believe it was not foresight.

Generally it just feels like that is the direction the movie is pushing us. Now what doesn't add up is that Rey was not a toddler when she was abandoned, I think she was about 8 so she should have a pretty solid memory of her parents, yet we don't get the feeling that she recognizes Luke when she sees him. Of course we can't confirm this because he was only on screen for 45 seconds and there was no dialog. had they gone over 60 seconds they probably would have had to pay Mark another million dollars so they must be saving the good bits for the next movie ;)

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I was asking who the mother was. ("Spontaneously" was a reference to Anakin, who was raised in a single-parent household for a good reason.)

 

[DHF]

When we see Luke in the last scene of the movie, he is standing over a grave. I strongly suspect that is his Wife's Grave.

 

[Orodruin]

See also the first few pages of this very discussion.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

When we see Luke in the last scene of the movie, he is standing over a grave. I strongly suspect that is his Wife's Grave.

Mega-flashback City coming...

 

[Heisenburgundy Gold]

Rey being Luke's daughter? Wow, that would be an awful plot twist.

4) And yes, Rey is supposed to be extra special. But come on, she really shouldn't be able to beat a trained fighter like this. It kind of ruins the entire story for me. And she also shouldn't be able to fix every ship she goes into. Must have been the force telling her how to fix things I guess.

Sure, this has been an enjoyable movie. I liked it. But if it wasn't a part of the star wars franchise, I would probably not bother with the sequels. The movie just doesn't stand on its own.

Don't worry Rey isn't Luke's kid. Nothing in the movie said so.

There's a popular theory going around that would totally explain why Rey was so good with The Force in TFA...she formed a Force Bond with Kylo Ren during the interrogation scene. For those of you who don't know what that is it is the Star Wars equivalent to The Vulcan Mind Meld. When two force users form one they have instant access to each other's thoughts, memories, and skills. It totally explains why Rey was able to do he high level force powers in less than a day because Kylo already knew that stuff and she was tapping into his mind.

The only time Rey ever used her powers was while Kylo was using it on her or afterwards:

She read his mind while he was in the middle of probing hers. Then halfway through she's able to do it just a well as he does.

When she tried to use the Jedi Mind Trick she struggled her first couple times until Kylo starting marching back to the room to get her. The closer and closer he got the more confident and better she got at it (the closer the two are together the more powerful the bond).

After Kylo force blasted her she was able to use telekinesis like a pro. It was already established at the beginning Ben was exceptional with this power when he froze Poe and his blast simultaneously with no effort whatsoever.

And during their climatic duel Rey was over matched by Ben until he came out of nowhere and offered to be his teacher. Then she closed her eyes and tapped into the force. Afterwards she became a saber virtuoso whose style mimicked Ben's to a tee. She even started walking like him and became far more aggressive like he was.

Episode 7 was made with two backing movies in mind. The writers left some things ambiguous to be explained in the sequels.