I feel like we've covered the duel a lot already, but as for Rey mind tricking the trooper:

I don't think that's at all a stretch because exactly one scene prior we saw Kylo breaking into her mind and her fighting back. We know she's just witnessed someone use the Force to attempt to read a mind and that she's resisted it; it's not a big leap from breaking into minds to suggesting those minds do things. And it's not as if she succeeded at first either, it took three tries.

At the end of the day Luke using the Force to take down the Death Star would seem to come out of nowhere as well, but we all accept that just fine. Not sure why this scenario is any different.

In that vein, on r/starwars it was suggested that Ackbar, upon seeing BB-8's hologram, burst out with "It's a map!" I lol'ed.

Everyone on the speculation threads on TFN and r/starwars desperately want to believe he's Plagueis. This despite the fact that a.) Palpatine is explicitly said to have killed him, b.) his species in-canon isn't Snoke's, and c.) Disney is distancing themselves as far from the prequels as possible. I personally got really damn excited when it looked like he was gonna be an eldritch abomination, to the point where I was almost disappointed to see his hologram fade out.

Whatever he is, I can't wait to see more of him--more Serkis in my Star Wars, please. The mocap was great, too--his being a hologram and being softly lit probably helped there, because while Maz is also great, the texturing on her in particular, the eyes entered uncanny valley for me when she was in bright light.

Keep in mind that bowcaster is insanely powerful--it's shown as knocking people off their feet when they get shot. And Finn has most likely had melee combat training as a stormtrooper (they do have that riot gear, after all). Add to that the fact that Kylo is pretty volatile and inexperienced and I think it's an even enough match up. Viewing Kylo as a badass is the wrong approach to take, I think--they're very clearly presenting him as a childish, confused figure who *wants* to be Vader but is in no way capable of it. The trick with the blaster bolt is cool, but largely flash, not a lot of substance, compared to Vader just absorbing the bolts with his palm.

Really enjoyed it, but I'm not at all sure how I feel about the climax. I didn't feel Starkiller Base had enough buildup, and the tension of the third act suffers as a result--the final duel is intense as all hell, but the dogfight feels almost like an afterthought.

Also not sure how to feel about Han's death, I love what they've done with Kylo but I don't think they gave us enough of his and Han's relationship for it to truly feel meaningful.

That said, I absolutely loved a lot of the rest of it and will be enumerating how as we discuss, I'm sure. Just wanted to get my only big complaints out of the way up front.

@Fireproof, the movie had such potential but just floundered. Some striking visuals and really cool moments stirred into a whole bunch of mediocre/disappointing/etc. Not anything to do with ScarJo, though, she was fantastic as always.

I'll fully admit that I have a pretty visceral distaste for it, probably more than it deserves. For me, in addition to its mediocre writing and its reliance on pop culture as a crutch, it's just so masturbatory. It's unhealthy, IMO, and it's the exact sort of fantasy I'd have had a few years ago--the whole world becomes obsessed with the things I like, I get the perfect girl without having to undergo any personal change whatsoever, etc. etc. Sure, Cline pays lip service to the notion that you have to get off the computer and have real relationships, but that's not a theme that's prevalent throughout the book, it's sorta just dropped at the end as an escape route. All of which wouldn't bother me nearly so much if the book did have interesting things to say about all the pop culture stuff, but it just doesn't.

It's kinda like the WAYDM crew feel about Pan's Labyrinth, for me. If it weren't so universally acclaimed I wouldn't have nearly as much hate for it, but as is the overwhelming love coupled with its flaws coupled with my overwhelming dislike for nostalgia porn just made it the perfect storm. I don't begrudge someone their enjoyment of it, just like I don't think someone is an awful person for liking TPM, but I just had this visceral hatred for it that I had to exorcise.

I was extremely disappointed to find Brian's Twitter empty of thoughts on the subject.

I'm dubious about Kurtzman's involvement, but at the end of the day it's new Trek in its proper medium. I'm excited