From: jas221@yahoo.com   
      
   On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 4:50:05 PM UTC+8, Sandman wrote:   
   > Lots of spoilers here, do NOT read if you haven't seen it and don't want it    
   > spoiled!   
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   > SPOILER SPACE!   
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   >    
   > So, I thought I'd comment on the movie on a more point-by-point basis. When    
   > the Phantom Menace was released, I was very excited and left the theater    
   > feeling good about it, but as time passed I slowly realized what a piece of    
   > junk it was.   
   >    
   > So when going to the Force Awakens, I felt that it was important to stay as    
   > objective as possible, and if I enjoyed it, I would enjoy it not just   
   because    
   > it was Star Wars, but because it was a well made movie.   
   >    
   > So, some comments:   
   >    
   > Practical effects! Abrams really delivers here. Tons and tons of special    
   > effects are practical in this movie. Sure, whenever they're flying around in    
   > the Millenium Falcon it's all CGI, but that's where CGI works.   
   >    
   > And there are some CGI that was unneeded, like Maz and Snoke. They could   
   have    
   > been people in makeup and costumes and it would have been more fitting.   
   There    
   > are some scenes, especially towards the end, that are obvious green screens,    
   > but most of the settings are real and on location and obviously so.   
   >    
   > The lead characters, Finn and Rey, do a pretty good job. While Rey being    
   > force-sensitive is a bit of a coincidence in the whole scheme of things, the    
   > original trilogy is also filled with similar unlikely coincidences, so I    
   > don't mind that.   
   >    
   > Finn doesn't really add much to the movie or to the plot, and could have   
   been    
   > left out entirely.   
   >    
   > The plot is most of the time a cut'n'paste of the plot of ANH, sometimes    
   > subtly, sometimes in your face. At times you get the feeling of "Didn't we    
   > see exactly this" when the resistance (rebels) are seconds away of being   
   shot    
   > to pieces by a world-destroying weapon and fighter pilots need to do a   
   trench    
   > run and shot a specific target to blow it up. Or when a droid holds the map    
   > to find Luke Skywalker, stranded on a desert planet after its owner has been    
   > captured by the First Order (Empire), where it meets the one person that    
   > seems to be the key to once again defeat the Sith.   
   >    
   > Kylo Ren, being the son of Han and Leia, first sounded cheesy, but it was    
   > actually quite well done. Him, being the son of force-sensitive Leia but    
   > having "too much of Vader" in him made a good connection to Luke and ANH.   
   And    
   > while the actor playing Ren didn't feel "right" at all times, I think that    
   > was deliberate. He is young, he has been seduced by the dark side, he is    
   > conflicted and insecure, and the way it plays off him wanting to be as    
   > powerful as Vader is well done. And seeing how he is wounded in the end I    
   > predict we'll see a more powerful and more hateful version of him in movies    
   > to come.    
   >    
   > So - the Force then. In the start of the movie, Kylo Ren stops a blaster   
   shot    
   > in mid air. Not deflects it, stops it - meaning it is stuck "hovering".   
   While    
   > I have no problem imagining that someone powerful in the force doing this,   
   it    
   > felt a bit "show offy" so to speak, and felt a bit out of place.   
   >    
   > And in the end of the movie we see Rey, recently having found out that she's    
   > force-sensitive, successfully fighting Kylo with a light saber after having    
   > broken out of containment using mind tricks. And yes, we saw Luke do the   
   same    
   > with Vader in ESB without much training, but he was clumsy and unpolished,    
   > while Rey looks like she's been trained by a Jedi master. Even Finn puts up   
   a    
   > good fight with a light saber. It just felt out of place.   
   >    
   > So, Harrison Ford did a great job with Han, and it felt 100% like Han. Very    
   > good. Same with Chewie. Carrie Fisher, not so much. Leia is wooden, looks   
   out    
   > of place and just doesn't cut it. Mark Hamill is just on-screen for about 30    
   > seconds and has no lines, but he looks awesome.   
   >    
   > While Han is central to most of the movies plot advancement, Leia and Luke    
   > aren't, which is good. I think the right choice is to keep these characters    
   > low-profile and let us follow new characters.   
   >    
   > So set design. A lot of tings are slightly updated, new storm trooper   
   armour,    
   > new coloring of the Tie Fighters, the X-Wings are now styled as in the old    
   > Ralph McQuarrie designs. But most of it looks like a organic evolution and    
   > makes sense. When inside the First Order premises, the set design is very    
   > (*very*) similar to the Empire set design. It's a bit darker and maybe a bit    
   > more polished, but very similar, in a good way.   
   >    
   > The resistance base bears a striking resemblance to the Yavin base, with   
   lots    
   > of greenery, stone temple etc etc. Dirty and used machines and such.   
   >    
   > There is exactly no politics in this movie - Yay! The opening crawl talks a    
   > bit about the republic and the new perils of the new first order.   
   >    
   > Talking about the First Order, it is visually - at least in one scene - a   
   lot    
   > like Nazi germany, visually. There are rows of storm troopers amidst red    
   > banners and a man speaking to them from a central podium with a huge red    
   > banner/flag behind him. This must have been deliberate of course, but it   
   also    
   > feels a bit cheap to borrow the nazi connotations so obviously.   
   >    
   > Also, while I like the entire "drop into the story" of TFA, where not much    
   > backstory is revealed, it seems a bit weird that the First Order managed to    
   > build a world-destryong weapon without the resistance knowing about it in   
   the    
   > time between ROTJ and TFA.   
   >    
   > But like I said, I like that we're not given a backstory to just about    
   > anything in the start of the movie. We're promptly thrusted into the action.    
   > Who is Finn? Who is Rey? Don't matter, just roll with it. Great! We get a   
   bit    
   > of a force-induced flashback of Rey but that's about it.   
   >    
   > I also like the fact that the family bonds between Kylo and Han/Leia isn't    
   > kept as a reveal later on. We learn early that he is their son, before it    
   > would have been a "huge" reveal. Maybe we'll get another later (like Rey    
   > actually being Luke's daughter).   
   >    
   > All in all - great movie!   
   >    
   > --    
   > Sandman   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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