From: mr@sandman.net   
      
   Lots of spoilers here, do NOT read if you haven't seen it and don't want it   
   spoiled!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
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   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   SPOILER SPACE!   
      
   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   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)