I forget the details, but he wanted, if I recall correctly, to escape to the outer rim, and wanted Rey with him. He then felt compassion to help her out.

If I told you this important stone is on our planet, why can't you just find it? I mean, it's definitely here.

By people who don't know it, it's a piece of shit. I wager the current trader is just sick of this ship getting in his way, and just tucked it away instead of risking it get stolen again.

Yeah, I got nothing.

Obviously the saber is on a need-to-know basis. Han simply didn't need to know.

Owen explained this pretty good further up.

It certainly is played out like that, and I would be surprised if she isn't.

I still think the final duel started off as an inside joke. I can see the story meeting right now...

"Hey, I've got an idea! Lets have a lightsaber fight in a forest! No one has ever done that before!'

It's really easy to nitpick this movie, but some of the issues being brought up (not just here, but elsewhere) are really trivial. Couple of thoughts below.

R2 has the overall galaxy map which allows them to position the smaller map provided by Max Von Sydow. I think the system where Luke was found was uncharted. It's not like it was the Statue of Liberty and they wouldn't need New York to find it - they didn't even know if it was in the States or not (to continue that analogy).

I don't think the graphical puzzle bit at the end is very helpful on selling the logic behind the maps though and that's where the problem comes from. If you didn't have that and it was simply just a map or location, then it would be fine. But I guess they wanted that 'aha moment'.

It's "garbage" at the time on Jakku, and it hadn't been flown in years, but that's not to say it didn't have trade value previously. It indicates the passage of time better than an 'as you know' scene.

Chewie was surrounded by stormtroopers which were posing a more immediate threat and Kylo was a long way away. He was lucky he even made the shot that he did. He makes a run for the Falcon after he blows the charges and probably isn't even aware that there's a duel going on. Heck, he may not even realise that Kylo is still alive. In terms of storytelling though, what purpose would Chewie serve being there as well? It's a key moment in the arcs of Finn, Rey and Kylo. It would not do anything for Chewie's story that hasn't already been done with his almost suicidal rampage which has him blowing up the base that they're all still inside!

Why would he know what's in Maz's personal quarters or storage room? This seems an unrealistic expectation.

The First Order arose from the ashes of the Empire, it says as much in the scrawl. The relationship is presumably subordinate, but who knows at this point. Something to find out more about in the next movie.

edited to add - regarding the score. At first, I thought it wasn't particularly good but with successive viewings and the soundtrack itself, it's actually very good. Much better than any of the prequels stuff. It's possible that the film is so overwhelming at first that you just forget it in light of everything that is going on.

Last edited by redxavier (2015-12-22 22:50:57)

I'd say you should try listening to the soundtrack to this one then. There is some really good stuff there along with the classic themes.

Rey's theme is great and very recognizable once you know what to listen for. Kylo Ren and Finn also got their own solid themes, but not nearly as developed as Rey's.

I do think that JJ's approach doesn't lend itself as well to showcasing the music as George's did. Because the movie doesn't stop to breath as much, the music doesn't feel as integral to the storytelling as it did in the other movies.

I'd definitely say that John Williams delivered. But then again, I'm not one of those crazy people who thinks he's been on autopilot for twenty years. So I would say that 

Last edited by Hansen (2015-12-23 04:29:45)

You're sick, there were Rebel pilots and ship crews there. Mon Mothma might've been handy.

...But yeah that was my first thought too "Yub yub, Commander."

I expected Chewbacca to go mental and kill everyone.

I'm not 100%, but I think that might be racist.

Chewie has repeatedly been established as a thoughtful, and caring guy that loves his friends deeply; and even  ignoring the fact that Han was most likely saying that just fuck with Luke, based on what we know about Chewie he's not really the type of person that's going to fly into a raging fury at the drop of a hat. He'll protect them furiously, and obviously he's a huge presence and incredibly powerful, but he's also just as much of a person as any one else, and is going to feel a loss like that deeply....and THEN fly into a fuck-you rage and blow the entire planet into oblivion if he can.

Which is exactly what he does.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2015-12-23 18:26:19)

There is one shot of Chewie obviously mourning Han in between Leia and Rey comforting each other and Artoo waking up. It's fairly brief, and I too would have liked some interaction between Leia and Chewie, but it's not like there's nothing there.

I loved the first two acts. The third act fizzled fast.
1. Rey going from no force knowledge to controlling a storm trooper and then fighting a powerful dark force user was lame. Even if Ren was wounded and trying to take her alive, it seems he completely forgot he has this ability to freeze people with the force. That would have been smart, obvious, and him not even trying took him from being a powerful but conflicted character to being an IDIOT. I lost all sense of a compelling villain after that fight.

2. They repeated the third act of a new hope and rotj almost point for point: death star, bigger death star, even Bigger death star. Which would have been GREAT if they FAILED. I thought for one minute that this movie would end with the death star 3 being unharmed and the resistance (totally not the rebels) having to run for it and deal with it in the next movies.
Nope.
They win. It ends with a ship flying in through a hole and blowing it up from the inside. After the people on the ground disable the shields from the inside (due to an oddly pushover Phasma).

They could have subverted all expectations by having the good guys fail their primary mission (still saving Rey so it's not a complete downer). But they chose to repeat the old thing almost exactly.

To sum up, JJ made another Star Trek Into Darkness

It just hit me again: the bad guys built a third superweapon with a single weak spot capable of destroying the whole thing.

But that is a good point about the mind control, Praxus

Last edited by Writhyn (2015-12-25 07:29:25)

Maybe we'll get some interesting backstory about Rey in the next film that mitigates it, but for now being able to use the Force with no training is a major break with canon. The prequels make it clear that Jedi normally trained intensively for years before even becoming knights. Luke got some training but more important he got guidance from Obi-Wan's ghost WHILE trying to destroy the Death Star.

It's the difference between being coached on making a souffle while you make the souffle vs spontaneously making a souffle after someone hits you with a souffle pan.