Flashback would seem best to me. Bringing people back from the dead isn't really done in Star Wars.

Just back from the theater....

WOW,

what a fantastic movie, story is good, cast is excellent, the look and 3D was breathtaking.


...and I have to admit, I had a little tear in my eyes seeing my old heroes again.....

Han's dead, baby. Han's dead.

I called it...so...no surprise there for me. The Starkiller base was on the poster, no surprise there.

Only the parent-son revelation was a true surprise.


Ford back? Nah! He's happy to be out. Flashbacks. And those are likely already filmed. Can't have your flashbacks age (any more).

Very fun. Very well made. Very safe. 9/10.

ESB is still the best.

Some thought/questions coming out of the theater....

With Han gone, Finn should have a bigger role in episode 8. Finn will be the wildcard character going forward. A redeemed stormtrooper who appears to be Force sensitive since he can handle a lightsaber in combat. (Though Han used a lightsaber in Empire... that was just to cut open a Tauntaun.) The story is unless you are Force sensitive, you are unable to handle a lightsaber. Who Finn is and where he comes from will be interesting.

Like everyone mentioned with Ford signing up for the remainder of the movies, we will see him in flashbacks that will show how Ren (Ben) turned dark.

All this talk of Hamill losing weight and prepping for his role was a bit disappointing to only see him get a minute or two of footage at the end of the movie and no words. His presence and appearance was powerful though. Perhaps much of his episode 8 footage are already complete.

I see the Empire is still primarily employing Brits.

The empire still builds massive structures without adhering to proper OSHA regulations i.e. Han walks out on the ledge and it doesn�t even have railing just like previous episodes.

Why do all the parents in the Star Wars universe desert their kids? It leads to anger and hate which leads them to the Dark Side.

My long term prediction- Rey will learn to be a Jedi (and perhaps Finn as well). There will be an epic showdown in episode 9 between the cousins Rey and Ren. But since Ren has showed signs of weakness, mommy (Leia) will be there to bring him home instead of killing him off. The End. (/slightsarcasm)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE

0:50 not film


On top of Luke's line not being in the film-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w

0:50 (again) not film. Maz gave the saber to Finn, not Leia or what appears to be a female

Maybe something I seem to have missed, so I hope someone can clarify what I think is kind of a big plot hole:

Kylo is supposed to be a failed student of Luke, not to mention his nephew.

Sooo...he knows Luke, right?

If he does, didn't Luke ever mentioned Vader's redemption to his nephew in all the time they were together? Or did he pull a "from a certain point of view" on Kylo? He certainly seems to have told him where to get the helmet. Why would Kylo still think that Vader's destiny was the dark path?

On a side note, I never understood how killing the Emperor and the death of Vader in ROTJ brought any balance to the Force. If anything, it turned the balance in favor of the light side (not withstanding the now seemingly additional dark side characters).

Force Awakens was pretty good but nothing earth shattering. I think for me the biggest flaw was Adam Driver. He didn't have the acting chops to pull off such a critical role. And it's a shame about Max Von Sydow. What a waste of such a great actor. They should have just cast a no name actor for such a tiny role.
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I enjoyed myself, I liked it. I dug the characters and thought it was much better than any of the prequels. But yeah it was pretty safe and very similar to ANH wow. A few parts that annoyed me:

They build up Starkiller base as being HUGE, super powerful. 10 times the size of the original Death Star. Yet it has a weakness more obvious than the previous two? I didn't expect the entire planet to explode when they took out the power thing, I thought maybe it would of just disabled the big beam weapon. Also for being a very ragtag group the resistance sure didn't take very many losses in the battle. I thought Matt from Heroes would for sure bite the bullet Porkins style

But overall I enjoyed it. Had some emotions during the movie which is pretty pathetic haha. When Han says "The Resistance is coming" and the X-Wings are flying low along the water with that beautiful music my eyes got a little watery haha. And the "it's true...all of it part." And when Rey got the saber in her hand. What's wrong with me?

Stuff that was badass:
2 seater TIE fighter. So cool! Finally looks like TIEs are a match for X-Wings with that rear gunner. I wonder if they have shields too.

Ren stopping that sniper bolt from Poe in the beginning. So cool.

Ren force choking that officer was nerd awesomeness as well.

Oh and I have a man crush on Poe, seems like such a cool Starwars character. Okay nerdgasm over.

I understand that the movie couldn't be rated "R" but I felt that the film teetered a bit too far into tongue & cheek territory. The tension that should have been there with certain scenes just didn't exist and I concur 100% with kestrel's comments about the Starkilller base and the near non-existent Rebel casualties.

Ok all you armchair astrophysicist out there.... What is bothering me is the whole blowing up star systems. What is the effect to the rest of the systems if you take a couple out? Black Holes because of the suns energy being sucked up? Gravity shifts making planets collide?, creating a Domino Effect where systems implode? What? I'm sure it must have been covered in "Star Gate SG1" but I must have missed that lecture.

Mark was busy doing this in the UK about the same time

What they got paid:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entert...n-a6780391.html


"Ford has reportedly been paid �16.7 million for reprising the role of Han Solo and will also get 0.5 per cent of the film�s gross earnings, estimated to be �1.3 billion. He�s also already been handed �1 million in compensation after breaking his leg during shooting at Pinewood studios."

"Both leading stars will receive a pay check of �300,000 while also taking a cut of the box-office earnings once it inevitably makes over $1 billion (�671 million)."

"It was also revealed that director JJ Abrams was paid �3.3 million to direct the film and will take a two per cent share of the film�s gross, while Carrie Fisher � reprising her role as General Leia � was paid �1 million."

16,7 Million pounds? No wonder Disney had the character killed off.*

Greed is eternal (Ferengi rule of acquisition No. 10)



* in relation to what the rest of the cast make

What you call "greed" I call "market forces".

And I'd sooner call Disney greedy than Harrison Ford anyway.

I hope Boyega and Ridley get percentage on studio gross, and not net points, otherwise they're getting screwed over by Disney. Studios always finds a way to edit the earnings so they can write it off as a loss and not pay taxes.

I meant Disney for potentially being "cheap" (if that was the reason to get rid of such an expensive character). The "Harrison Ford company" took what they could get out of that deal.

A-list actors/actresses these days are no longer single persons but small to medium businesses with dozens of employees.

Ah, ok, I agree with that! Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I think it's best to leave the brain in the lobby before watching a Star Wars movie, because if you start thinking about some of the stuff, it ruins everything.

Like how were the protagonists on the Resistance base able to see the destruction of the - I assume - Corruscant System in real time, with their bare eyes? How close are all these star systems? At what speeds were they travelling, as they seemed to travel only a couple of minutes? How did the Resistance obtain real-time telemetry from Starkiller base ("30 seconds until the weapon is fully charged")? It was in another system a couple of lightyears away, I assume.

How much real time did pass within the movie? There were strong emotional bonds between characters that knew each other for what seemed to be a couple of hours, maybe days.

So I will revert again to Space Opera mode, which is IMO how the Star Wars universe needs to be perceived.

+1 Jayhawk


Yup, leave brain at the door when seeing Star Wars. Actually, that will apply when seeing at least 90% of scifi and action movies.

+1

Oh I agree. These real-time, all seeing observations are convenient, but are these the "plot holes" people speak of? Or.. are there bigger holes in the plot that I am missing?

I didn't really see any plot holes in the film but what I did see were some contradictions.


So the First Order is supposed to be this all-powerful and efficiently run empire and yet the defense of the oscillator facility was laughably bad against what was a small force of X-Wing fighters. I call it an extreme case of "Keystone Cops" or "Inspector Clouseau" syndrome where the good guys have to win so the seemingly all-powerful bad guys have to have some illogically placed weaknesses.