Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

The most important aspect of the political situation TFA fails to establish is that the Imperial Remnants/First Order and the (New) Republic have signed a treaty. That's all we really to know.

The other two elements, that the First Order is working to undermine that by building a superweapon and the Resistance exists to fight against those efforts, is revealed in the movie.

That's enough for TFA. The conflict between Leia and the rest of the Senate over the course of action to take with the First Order may sound interesting on paper, it's not interesting to see a bunch of politicians debating and deciding to not take action or to take an action we as the audience think is stupid (because that's what it is - I can't think of any movie where this has worked, from 300 to Pacific Rim).

There are more episodes coming out and I would be surprised if the fallout from the destruction of the Hosnian system was glossed over in Episode 8 (opening crawl or otherwise). TFA was fast paced and based in the immediate aftermath, but the state of the galaxy now will likely serve as a key aspect of the story moving forward.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

I don't necessarily want to see it, so much as it feels like a dangling thread of detail that was missed. I don't want more political speak, but it just feels like the goal of the OT was just glossed over in its destruction.

Hopefully it will be discussed further in Ep. 8.

God loves you!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

An overview of all US home video releases:

(Nathan Butler's "From The Star Wars Home Video Library" playlist is a must-see for obsessive-compulsive Star Wars video collectors. It covers all American Star Wars releases and the most prominent foreign ones.)

There's also an Honest Trailer:

This time J.J. didn't even bother to record an audio commentary for the movie sad

So honor the valiant who die 'neath your sword
But pity the warrior who slays all his foes...

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Got a heavily spoken-over re-watch this past weekend courtesty of Amazon streaming. The friends on my couch discussed and opined over the whole running time, but we never were able to nail down (or ret-con) how a stormtrooper could suddenly decide to, "do the right thing." What have you guys got for that?

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

The Force Awakened and moved him to compassion

Witness me!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Having seen most of the bonus disc, I'm sort of disappointed. Then again, TPM probably has the best bonus disc of all time, maybe tied with RvD2.

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257

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

drewjmore wrote:

Got a heavily spoken-over re-watch this past weekend courtesty of Amazon streaming. The friends on my couch discussed and opined over the whole running time, but we never were able to nail down (or ret-con) how a stormtrooper could suddenly decide to, "do the right thing." What have you guys got for that?

I'd say he's acting more out of fear than anything for the first half hour of the movie, and indeed a good portion of the rest of the running time. Couple that with imprinting on Rey and I buy the face-heel turn, especially since we're not given any signs that he bought into the First Order's ideology to begin with. He'd committed no offenses beforehand and was an exceptional soldier, that doesn't equate to being a fanatical purist.

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258

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Yeah, I was a little surprised at how breakneck the pacing was because J.J. actually said he was taking inspiration from Terrence Malick in how he directed the film. If there's one thing Malick films aren't it's a race to the finish line. You can see glimpses of what J.J. is talking about in certain shots and moments, but I would've loved to see him try to go outside his (mystery, whackity-schmackity-doo) box and stretch more things out.

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

I think he saved all his "breathing time" for the shots with Luke and Rey

Witness me!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

I noticed Donnie Yen is in Rogue One, cool.
Makes me wish Uwais and Ruhian hadn't been wasted in TFA. It would be awesome to see Star Wars: The Raid


Shoot, what if those guys ended up being a cult of rogue force users who eschewed weapons altogether? No lightsabers even. Just martial arts augmented by the Force, blocking blasters with their hands (a la Vader)................

Last edited by Writhyn (2016-04-07 18:20:18)

Witness me!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Squiggly_P wrote:

Uwais is in TFA!? What part does he play?

http://www.liveforfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/star-wars-the-force-awakens-5.jpg

Kanjiclub.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2016-04-08 00:58:51)

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Razoo Quin-Fee to be specific.

...yeah, I went there. Let's not all pretend we're too cool to know the names of minor Star Wars characters! tongue

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

It was funny. I'd just seen the Raid the week before for the first time. I saw Mad Dog and went "this is gonna be EPIC!"

Witness me!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Writhyn wrote:

The Force Awakened and moved him to compassion

Believe it or not, I like this one ^ the best.

@Squig & DarthP, I guess from an in-film perspective it is handled just fine. We see him struggle in the village, we get that he's about to get busted by Phasma, he quits. However, and this was my thought on the first-watch, how does this guy ever get into a squad? If the FO is really as ruthless as we are led to believe, Finn should have been executed in the field for cowardice.

Anyhoo, in the spirit of curiosity and fair-shake giving, I bought Greg Rucka's "Before the Awakening." The Finn backstory in there tells us that he is a highly successful (the best in his class, even) cadet, but his 'flaw' is that he cares about his fellow cadets, and presumably people in general. He gets reprimanded //by Phasma// repeatedly for not being ruthless enough, for helping his fellow cadets when they are weak. What is never addressed is how someone raised from infancy in that culture can't deal with it, and rebels against it...or why he was still allowed to be a part of it.

Does this foreshadow some great expository flashback or fireside confession in upcoming episodes? What is in his past that made him want to be 'good'? Why was he not happy like the other stormtroopers? That is what I'm dying to know. A writer someplace spitballed the character: a stormtrooper who changes sides. I want to know how they justified the backstory that leads to that, such that it's more than that superficial whim.

Last edited by drewjmore (2016-04-08 16:13:19)

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

I believe there's a line of dialogue in the film that implies the raid on Jakku was his first combat mission. We can deduce that the double whammy of seeing his friend(s) killed and being ordered to execute unharmed people is something that doesn't sit well with him. This is the first true test and he 'fails'. I'm not sure that that really requires further explanation or justification. After all, Vader kills the Emperor because the torture of Luke is the step too far in his eyes.

Finn's subsequent turn isn't instanteous if you remember, and I wouldn't call it based on a superficial whim, first he's merely running, then he meets someone that he likes enough to want to impress, and his going along to Starkiller base is part wanting to save that someone. I think the key points of his arc are all on-screen and well done, without needing to bring too much of your own concrete.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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266

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Yeah, I definitely remember Jakku being his first mission. It was a sink or swim moment, after which he would have been found to be successful or - after that performance - discharged at the very least. And he sank, hard, they just had no way of knowing he'd do what he did.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

They mention it in the scene in Maz's castle when Finn reveals to Rey that he was a stormtrooper.

http://i.imgur.com/lksORS6.jpg

I don't see Finn's desertion to be much of a stretch at all. At the start when he tells Poe 'because it's the right thing to do', he's basically bluffing and Poe sees through it right away.

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

I don't care much for Finn. I can buy into his desertion as discussed above, but aside from that he's a generic whacky guy who makes boyfriend jokes. I really don't buy that someone who was indoctrinated and spent all his life in an imperial environment could be this way. I'm not feeling a tangible character when I see him on screen.

Sébastien Fraud
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269

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Just got the blu-ray, watching it now. Something I never noticed before:

Rey: Where do you come from?
BB-8: Bleep bloop bleep.
Rey: Classified? Me too. Big secret.

Ha.

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Just saw this, thought it was interesting:

"ShadowDuelist is a god."
        -Teague Chrystie

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271

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

It rhymes.

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Huh.

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Like poetry!

Extended Edition - 146 - The Rise Of Skywalker
VFX Reel | Twitter | IMDB | Blog

Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Wow, seeing it side by side makes it work fairly well. And watching the fight with Finn broken down that way definitely shows that Kylo, despite his injury, was enjoying taking it to Finn over betraying the First Order.

As for Finn's turn, I personally found it very interesting, from a character point of view. Speaking to the psychology, there are many soldiers, doctors, and other professionals who demonstrate outstanding classroom skills, knowledge and proficiency and absolutely crumble in the face of the real thing.

I will agree on the pacing of the film though. I think that is a lot more of Abrams' style than anything else, though I see it more and more in line with contemporary film making style.  There are so many moments that I wish would just be given a few more beats for the emotions to come through.

God loves you!

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Re: The Star Wars 7 Thread (SPOILERS. SERIOUSLY. ALL THE SPOILERS.)

Yeah, I liked the film in terms of the interesting characters it set up. But I had major problems with the pacing, which made it feel like some modern action flick rather than a Star Wars movie. I also felt the movie seemed to lose focus once Han Solo came into the picture. Like up until that point, everything was so tight; Luke is missing, Rey finds the droid with the map to Luke, Kylo Ren is tracking them down, and basically the movie seems like it's a race to see which side can get to Luke first.

But once Han Solo is introduced, it seems to veer off course a bit. And speaking of Han, the movie waits 17 whole minutes to acknowledge why Han is even in the movie. Like he comes on board the Falcon and we get no clue as to why he's there, how he found them, or why the story is now about escaping the CGI tentacle monsters. It's only after landing on Maz's planet that the movie thinks we deserve some explanation. Once on Maz's planet, the movie really seems to lose focus. What happened to the urgency in finding Luke? And it also seemed to bit odd to me that Maz just randomly had Luke's old lightsaber. It just seemed like the movie was telling us to not think about it too much and just accept what was happening.

Things pick up again towards the end on Starkiller base but again, the Luke storyline is nowhere to be found. But this part is still interesting due to all the character stuff with Han, Kylo, Rey, and Finn. Overall, I think the film's biggest success was setting up interesting characters that we want to see more of and learn more about. Like I wanted to learn more about Rey's backstory, Kylo's backstory, and what made Luke disappear. But as a film on its own, I just wish it had more focus, less random occurrences, and better pacing. So I still enjoyed it, but I'm hoping Episode 8 is a more intimate and focused film where we can explore the characters more, kind of like TESB but with a completely different plot.

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