Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/18/15)

[Xenoburger_]

No. That's the definition of having powers, isn't it? Mods can infract anywhere, but can only modify/delete/close posts or threads in their assigned sections.

Hmm, must have only been infractions then.

 

[rushmore223]

Yeah, I would just about give up on Star Wars if Tarantino was given the reins. He's fine for certain movies, but is a terrible fit for star wars. It's like asking him to Direct The Color Purple.

 

[Khev]

J.J. Abrams Explains Why The Force Awakens Isn't Just a Carbon Copy of A New Hope

A droid carrying important information is jettisoned on a remote desert planet. A mechanically inclined loner with a mysterious past finds it, setting them off on an adventure that will see the destruction of a huge weapon and more. Yes, The Force Awakens mirrors the original Star Wars, and J.J. Abrams thinks it had to.

“It was obviously a wildly intentional thing that we go backwards, in some ways, to go forwards in the important ways,” Abrams said in a podcast with The Hollywood Reporter. “Ultimately the structure of Star Wars itself is as classic and tried and true as you can get. It was itself derivative of all of these things that George loved so much, from the most obvious, Flash Gordon and Joseph Campbell, to the [Akira] Kurosawa references, to Westerns — I mean, all of these elements were part of what made Star Wars.”

Though Abrams admits to hitting all the tried and true beats from the original film, he thinks that pales in significance to everything else.

“I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!’” he said. “We inherited Star Wars. The story of history repeating itself was, I believe, an obvious and intentional thing, and the structure of meeting a character who comes from a nowhere desert and discovers that she has a power within her, where the bad guys have a weapon that is destructive but that ends up being destroyed — those simple tenets are by far the least important aspects of this movie, and they provide bones that were well-proven long before they were used in Star Wars.”

Those bones, he feels, were necessary to get where this story had to be.

“What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards,” Abrams said “So I understand that this movie, I would argue much more than the ones that follow, needed to take a couple of steps backwards into very familiar terrain, and using a structure of nobodies becoming somebodies defeating the baddies — which is, again, I would argue, not a brand new concept, admittedly — but use that to do, I think, a far more important thing, which is introduce this young woman, who’s a character we’ve not seen before and who has a story we have not seen before, meeting the first Storm Trooper we’ve ever seen who we get to know as a human being; to see the two of them have an adventure in a way that no one has had yet, with Han Solo; to see those characters go to find someone who is a brand new character who, yes, may be diminutive, but is as far from Yoda as I think a description of a character can get, who gets to enlighten almost the way a wonderful older teacher or grandparent or great-aunt might, you know, something that is confirming a kind of belief system that is rejected by the main character; and to tell a story of being a parent and being a child and the struggles that that entails — clearly Star Wars has always been a familial story, but never in the way that we’ve told here.”

“And yes, they destroy a weapon at the end of this movie, but then something else happens which is, I think, far more critical and far more important — and in fact even in that moment, when that is happening, the thing I think the audience is focused on and cares more about is not, ‘Is that big planet gonna blow up?’ — ‘cause we all know it’s gonna blow up. What you really care about is what’s gonna happen in the forest between these two characters who are now alone.”

“Yes, the bones of the thing we always knew would be a genre comfort zone,” Abrams concluded. “But what the thing looks like, we all have a skeleton that looks somewhat similar, but none of us look the same [on the outside]. To me, the important thing was not, ‘What are the bones of this thing?’ To me, it was meeting new characters who discover themselves that they are in a universe that is spiritual, that is optimistic and in a world where you meet people that will become your family.”

It’s a great podcast, that’s well worth a listen. They talk about Abrams’ early career, why he didn’t want to be “The sequel guy,” how Rian Johnson contributed to Episode VII, how Abrams influenced Episode VIII, and more. Here’s the link again. 'Awards Chatter' Podcast — J.J. Abrams ('Star Wars: The Force Awakens') - Hollywood Reporter

 

[xipotec]

I know that when I was seduced by my seven foot tall deformed geriatric neighbor with magical powers and he told me to kill my dad in order to be all evil and stuff, it was tough...but hey man, that's real yo! You know what I'm sayin? That's real life, home boy!

I'm so glad TFA finally told a story about real life....about time a film did that.

You can't have it both ways....is it a "teen novel" or not? Your analogy falls flat on its face if your saying absent parents and bad influences do nothing to a young mind. The evidence of what happens in this situation is all around us. Pick up a newspaper.

You said the movie was a bad teen novel for what happens to Kylo in this situation. i would argue every terrorist was a child who was left to be brainwashed by a equally evil person just as Snoke is doing to Kylo. Your sarcastic reply only reinforces the weak argument your making to continually try to prove Kylo is just a whiney emo brat.

I see people just like Kylo in real life every day. Damaged by uncaring people and led to do bad things by people who use them to get what they want.

Its called character development and character conflict. Ignoring the sci -fi aspects of the story and your left with a pretty simple story thats really not that hard to understand and is quite a common/relevant issue

 

[Spartan Rex]

After watching the movie yesterday and processing dialogue, possible motives, probabilities and such I'm going with Rey being Luke's daughter.
I know wow that came out of left field right?
I haven't read many theories but I'm sure it's a popular one.
But here's the rest of it: Rey's mother/Luke's wife was at the Jedi academy when it got hit by Kylo and the Knights of Ren and died at their hands.
Reys mother was also a Jedi or at least a student. This is the explanation for Reys accelerated progression and strength in the Force,she is the offspring of two Jedi.
Think about it: Ben is the product of just just one parent strong in the Force but Rey has two. Remember the Jedi in the prequels were forbidden to marry and have offspring for what ever reason so we don't really know in movie canon what would happen. But obviously it did happen in fan fiction with Mara Jade marrying Luke.
But I don't recall that that made Luke's offspring more powerful than Leia's. Well I think this is now the official answer from Kasdan on what happens when two Jedis get busy. As for why Han and Leia don't know her? Luke probably thought it best that the Jedi train in solitude and away from Republic and Resistance oversight and not have official ties. (One of the few lessons learned from the Chancellor Palpatine era). Luke of course wanting to protect his Uber Jedi daughter from baddies pulls a Kenobi and even sends her to a sand planet (at least Kasdan is smart enough to realize putting yet a third Skywalker to grow up on Tatooine is beyond the pale for even the most die hard StarWars fan to swallow) Still pretty sad Luke would do that to his only(?) child seeing how he didn't really like it himself. Von Sydow was probably the one who was watching over her from a distance and of course had to die like Owen and Beru. No coincidence that Sydow has the missing map piece and is revealed at the right time to set things in motion.

Anyway that's my theory and I'm sure someone else had it before me. But I havent read many other articles or come into this thread much before seeing the movie yesterday so as to avoid spoilers.

 

[Khev]

Very good theory Spartan. Man if that's true then the celebration of heroes at the end of ROTJ becomes almost painful. To see Luke, Leia, and Han all hugging and then to think that a few years later Han and Leia produce a child that murders Luke's wife. I say party with the teddy bears, party with those teddy bears! I never imagined that a sequel to ROTJ would make me appreciate the very things I found as faults in the film. And not in a "okay after gungans I like ewoks more" kind of way either. I just like seeing the heroes enjoy themselves in ROTJ and I no longer give a flying **** how silly or easy any of their victories were in that film.

On another note someone was taking issue a couple weeks ago with TFA's final shot not matching up with the "group shots" of previous films. Neither did ESB. Luke, Leia and the droids watching the Falcon fly away actually wasn't the last shot of the film. The camera was actually moving during the last shot, which was of the Rebel fleet flying away.

So the four films (prequels don't count) end like this:

ANH: Indoor group celebration, static shot
ESB: Outside, no celebration, moving camera
ROTJ: Indoor group celebration, static shot
TFA: Outside, no celebration, moving camera

 

[Spartan Rex]

Very good theory Spartan. Man if that's true then the celebration of heroes at the end of ROTJ becomes almost painful. To see Luke, Leia, and Han all hugging and then to think that a few years later Han and Leia produce a child that murders Luke's wife. I say party with the teddy bears.

Yeah, didn't think about that. Indeed, the Skywalker family legacy was about to become even more tragic. Perhaps it's yet another reason Luke makes no contact with Han and Leia. To spare them the news that their son was also responsible for his wife's death and of course not be angery and lash out at them. It's bad enough they know he falls to the dark side and betrays the Jedi but to know your son also did that? What if his wife was pregnant wth another child at the time? Maybe what happens sends Luke into another struggle with the Darkside with thoughts of hate and revenge against Kylo. Maybe he doesn't want to taint Rey with his bitter feelings? He probably has to exile himself so he doesn't give in realizing he still is the Jedi orders best hope. Luke still sees the big picture on what the galaxy needs and it's not him running off on a rage induced vendetta.
Luke will remain the beacon of hope in this trilogy.

 

[WWEJedi]

So the four films (prequels don't count) end like this:

You are wrong. They are part of the story. They do count.

 

[GasparZizou]

I was thinking about this movie when it suddently hit me, we may actually see old Luke doing crazy jedi **** in the next one.

I absolutely cannot wait for that.

I hope they make him Bruce Lee style (in his JKD theory), as in, economy of movement, since he's old, but maximum elegance, none of that dumb Yoda **** from the prequels, I hope he uses minimum effort to attack and defend and has crazy ass force skills.

And then it also hit me, I can't wait for an Old Luke figure, damn consumerism

 

[Asta]

You are wrong. They are part of the story. They do count.

And so does the EU.

All of it.

Including Jaxxon.

It's not Artoo's fault if he got some of the facts wrong after his memory got scrambled while defragmenting during TFA.

 

[WWEJedi]

I"m sure Luke could do exactly what Yoda did in AotC and get praised.

 

[GasparZizou]

Not really, stuff like that will get called out these days, back then people were amazed by the (then) state of the art CGI, and they would ignore such cheesy action, now they will criticize even the benchmark CGI. And I didn't see too much cheese in TFA so I don't expect it in the sequels.

Btw you gotta stop with the prequels apologies.

 

[cmiller99]

I"m sure Luke could do exactly what Yoda did in AotC and get praised.

Nah, that's not against the entire point of Luke's character.

 

[Khev]

Yeah, didn't think about that. Indeed, the Skywalker family legacy was about to become even more tragic. Perhaps it's yet another reason Luke makes no contact with Han and Leia. To spare them the news that their son was also responsible for his wife's death and of course not be angery and lash out at them. It's bad enough they know he falls to the dark side and betrays the Jedi but to know your son also did that? What if his wife was pregnant wth another child at the time? Maybe what happens sends Luke into another struggle with the Darkside with thoughts of hate and revenge against Kylo. Maybe he doesn't want to taint Rey with his bitter feelings? He probably has to exile himself so he doesn't give in realizing he still is the Jedi orders best hope. Luke still sees the big picture on what the galaxy needs and it's not him running off on a rage induced vendetta.
Luke will remain the beacon of hope in this trilogy.

It would give even more weight to the emotional undercurrent of Han, Leia, and Luke in TFA. So much pain and guilt felt by all. If Han knows his son killed Luke's wife then we get more insight as to why he didn't get excited about the news that BB-8 could locate him. Instead of jumping at the chance to see his old friend he feels partly responsible, as the father of the murderer, for Luke's loss and isolation. Luke on the other hand feels responsible because it was his pupil. Han's guilt at Luke losing his wife prompts him to immediately keep Rey close, all he can do to "make amends" on any level is to preserve the one remaining person Luke holds most dear.

When Luke sees a grown Rey at the end he tears up not only at seeing his daughter again, but once again gazing at his wife's eyes as he sees them reflected back in his grown daughter. Could be some really weighty stuff if it plays out that way.

 

[WWEJedi]

People have to stop with the PT hate too.

 

[cmiller99]

You're the one bringing it up half the time.

 

[DiFabio]

You are wrong. They are part of the story. They do count.

Why do you let people on here bait you so bad.

 

[WWEJedi]

You're the one bringing it up half the time.

Not in this thread. Go back through and see for yourself.

 

[cmiller99]

Why do you let people on here bait you so bad.

That is true. Instead of starting threads about why people hate it so much, just ignore us when we bring them up in a negative light.

 

[cmiller99]

Not in this thread. Go back through and see for yourself.

Half the time. I'd say this thread falls into the other half of the time when everyone else is talking about it first. It doesn't mean you have to be a martyr about it and take the bullet for the PT team though.