STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS
Added 2023-05-12 12:46:26 +0000 UTCHey Rangers, shout-out to *JORDAN TAMMINGA* for requesting this film hope you guys enjoy!!
Comments
lol the next two really are bad tho, but yeah they should form their own opinions
Mark W
2023-08-08 01:52:37 +0000 UTCHey this is to Vince and Shoshana, No, No Stormtroopers are not clones. According to Star Wars lore, Imperial stormtroopers are men and women who have been recruited (or conscripted) at a young age to serve as expendable foot soldiers of the Empire, gradually replacing clone troopers as their accelerated aging forces them to retire.
haze
2023-07-08 19:40:43 +0000 UTCAnd to summarize: Star Wars isn't about the laser swords, spaceships, interstellar travel, cool gadgets and planets or the aliens and different species. Its about a poetic set of love stories......I am looking to see if Star Wars delivered o that, as everything else is the setup to that and of secondary/tertiary importance........but ultimately, the movies failed to do that for me in a critically thoughtful and intellectually engaging way. ----- So while I love the universe, fairly disappointed overall with what we got, especially since Episode 8 for me seemed like it was the start to making Star Wars actually be a serious franchise with depth to it that could be thoroughly discussed in academic circles. (Maybe even one day rising or getting close to the level of Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) or Herbert's "Dune" series). ------ Episodes 1 through 7 was rather simple storytelling aimed at children, while 8 started to tackle more philosophy, and then 9 plummeted all that to the ground. Oh well. Thats all I got to lament for now. ----- Happy(?) reading my long, annoying comments. π
Coelacanth
2023-05-22 08:52:55 +0000 UTCSorry, I might have a few ad-hominems in there at you, but I don't "really" mean them. Just came out in the heat of writing this long response. So if you do end up reading it, please forgive me for the harsh language and try to see the merit of my points, I know that responsibility is with me to write more justly, but its the internet --- you know how it is. We write with a stream of conscious style when commenting, so once again, I pray that you overlook the cuts and strikes. You don't deserve them.
Coelacanth
2023-05-22 08:42:48 +0000 UTCSPOILERS AHEAD WARNING ------- Fair enough. My comment wasn't directed to you per se. I was pointing fun at the older crowd who thinks they can gatekeep Star Wars because they head-cannoned stuff and want it to be within those guidelines. ----- About the movies themselves: Star Wars lore is nothing more than the movies. All the EU stuff doesn't really matter for this reason alone to me: The point of the 9 movies was to tell a love story and then a reverse love story that showed a hero's journey within a hero's journey with plot that were reflections of themselves. In other words, while everyone is like, omg star wars is this cool sci-fi fantasy with laser swords and cool powers and aliens, all George Lucas was trying to do was tell a love story that you can see summarized in his 2015 animated film, Strange Magic. That's actually Star Wars. ----- Rian Johnson for me understood this to a tee, since, you know, he actually spent time with Lucas and learned from him his actual vision. You can see all the literary tropes and cinematography used that is reflective of what I described regarding the love story and hero's journey. Such as the "coffin" shot Rey is in when she's in the pod, reflecting that of Padme when she passed. That is just one of many examples. ----- Episode 8 was nearly perfect for me in finishing the essentially Strange Magic storyline. (Its a reverse beauty and the beast type situation.) My only real complaint was that the actress who played Rose, while an incredible actress, didn't really look the part in the movie. Not because she's East Asian, but her overall presence. She even looked too young and just didn't feel like a serious love interest for Finn. Needed different casting from an aesthetic perspective, as shallow as that may be. ----- However, due to backlash from fans who don't think or care about this reverse hero's journey love story that Lucas actually wanted with his Star Wars trilogies, everyone is upset that Luke wasn't flying around defeating hordes of enemies or whatever, even though this was an incredible character arc for Luke at his old age that Rian Johnson wrote for him. And, I'm sure there could have been some extra minutes of Luke doing some cool action stuff, but Mark Hamill is old and more so his body isn't in the best condition for him to be that active, so they feasibly probably couldn't give us too much with him anyways. Although, I'm sure that would have placated narrow minded, head strong fans. ----- His idea about abandoning the ideology that failed his family and himself is a fantastic story to explore, to which he learned more from as an older person and came around to, and lends to the hope that is the finishing, proper love story that was supposed to be Rey and Kylo. ----- As cheesy as it is, because Lucas is indeed cheesy and so is Star Wars in general, its the story that was supposed to be told. ------ But here we are, having to deal with folks not really understanding that and wouldn't accept it anyways. I mean, you said it yourself, you are upset at "lore". That to me, is a joke. There's no ancient tablet that has definitive anything on it regarding Star Wars "lore". Sure, if you mean, you want the movie to maintain its own logic yeah that's on the writers to try and be logical about that. I think besides that, there is no "lore" beyond what is in the previous 7 movies and even that I know Lucas changes things here and there and adds things like "midi-chlorians", etc, but that's whatever really. Its a fantasy story, give it a break. Main thing is, does it finish with a love story that is not broken like Anakin's and Padme's, but one that actually works? ------- Whereas Episode 8 is the best Star Wars movie in every aspect (except the introduction of a new franchise, obviously A New Hope gets that honor), Episode 9 sucks because it tries to do too much fan service to get back viewers and has a shitty writer and barely delivers on the most important part of the Star Wars main reason for existence: the love between 2 souls that's actually healthy and upon which brings balance to their lives, friends and family and the Force itself. ----- But this is why I jabbed at the middle aged white men thing......because folks such as yourselves couldn't care less about any of that and want to see some cool action stuff. ------ To be honest, while I do think its all cheesy and a bit ham strung because Lucas has some good ideas, but sucks at everything, from filmography to writing, I really wished Episode 9 finished all of it the way Lucas had intended, even if no one wanted to deal with a love story and see instead cool sci-fi stuff. Then at least the whole thing about things "rhyming, its like poetry" and Campbell's Hero's Journey would have come to fruition (Hero's Journey is the main book that inspired George Lucas to even write and tell this 9 "episode" love story. He even has a whole event where he invited the author to speak about it all, etc and the literary tropes Lucas cares about, hence why as teenagery "Reylo (Kylo Ren and Rey)" is, that's what the point of Star Wars ultimately is: Rey-Kylo love story is the antithesis to Anakin-Padme), with Luke being the bridge to bringing that balance to the Force after Rey and Kylo put things right with help of Luke and gang. ------- Anyhow, Episode 8 set that almost perfectly, even if 7 was also pretty bland attempt as the writer is not on the level of Rian Johnson and 9 just went from finishing the rhyming 3rd and end trilogy to trying to win back the vocal folks who care about made up "lore". ------ In fact, there was talk that Lucas had actually thought of maybe it being 12 movies, where the Kylo character tries to take on all the burden himself of restoring some order, but slowly with the help of Rey in the next few movies doesn't go the way of Anakin, and is able to actually live happily ever after with Rey and truly be on a full redemption journey. ------- But yeah, forget literary tropes and techniques, coupled with a simple and very ham-strung Western (just classic American really) love story..........nah, instead we just need a badass Luke beating shit up and being all cool and being the white savior, etc oh and lore...we need lots of lore....lots of aliens and previous Sith Lords, like Darth Plagueis, and Luke actually somehow going back in time and beating him up too and then teaching everyone how great he is and how he is the chosen one basic white guy to save everybody (I mean come on, Lucas eve made him the quintessential white farmer boy, the model American man). ------ If we just had references to more lore and more Luke being all macho.....woot, what a great story that would have been. ------- Honestly, lol, it might have been more fun that whatever the heck Episode 9 was trying to salvage. That movie was trying so hard to honor the original intent of Lucas's Star Wars scripts (Kylo redemption and kiss with Rey, etc) and just trying to forget all that Episode 8 Rian John masterfully setup and win back annoying vocal fans. ------ I suppose there is some merit in that though......at the end of the day, Star Wars isn't just Lucas's art piece......the story he wanted to tell got hijacked by it being a big movie franchise with many folks who are now affected by it and need it to succeed with actual fans......it cant exist as the work of just a film auteur and his vision......as unfortunate as that is .......atleast from my personal perspective. I'm sure someone will say, really bro? Eff all that and just tell a good, cool and fun story. I know......I get that too, but I really just wanted a cohesive vision to be told so we could actually talk about that and analytically critique it from an academic perspective, not just discuss "lore", which is so boring to me. Cool, there's a million spaceships and lightsaber fighting styles, etc, but that's just spitting "details", it's not actual philosophical depth, which is what Episode 8 brought to Star Wars for me. (Kind of why parts of Andor TV series stood out to me, as boring as the rest of the show was, there was some awesome dialogue writing in the show) ----- And when I say philosophical depth, I know, even Episode 8 isn't particularly super intellectually engaging, as say something like Inception or The Prestige, but it opened a new layer of discussion to take Star Wars seriously in a more academic way, but all of that felt shutdown with Episode 9 and the new shows that have come out. Hence why the Mortis Arc rom Clone Wars is so awesome; it is a hallmark of depth Star Wars could bring to the table, and partly what Episode 8 was starting to interweave, but all that seems nipped in the bud. --------- Frankly I want to be completely done with the whole Skywalker stuff and anything related to it. ------ I love the Star Wars universe, so wish we would just see critically thoughtful storytelling with new characters set in the future and after the Skywalker saga stuff..............my current new hope.
Coelacanth
2023-05-22 08:36:20 +0000 UTCI can assure you my disdain for Episodes 8 and 9 have zero to do with my age nor the color of my skin. It has to do with the lazy writing and lack of consideration for Star Wars lore.
MotoDork
2023-05-21 23:54:41 +0000 UTCI personally hate the sequels. In my opinion they destroyed a beautiful ending of the movie series. Some characters got too much capabilities while others were left with no use. I could write atleast five pages about that, but i'm sure that they will keep watching, so i don't want to spoiler anything.
Thomas
2023-05-19 09:03:16 +0000 UTCGuys, please don't listen to the middle-aged white men who have nothing better to do but be upset they aren't the center of attention. It is def worth watching the next 2 movies (Episodes 8 and 9) and checking out the standalone films "Rogue One" and "Solo" as well (prequel movies to Episode 4, the first Star Wars movie you guys watched). --------- If you decide to continue your Star Wars franchise journey further than the 9 or 10 movies, checking out "The Mandalorian" (first 3 seasons just aired, which is 24 episodes all together so far) tv series would be great too! ------- Once done with the movies, we can upload a list of everything Star Wars to watch in order, incase you guys want to watch beyond the films. The TV series are pretty big right now, and we are all anticipating Disney to make some more films actually in the next few years, so maybe its the perfect time to catch up on all the Star Wars content released so far!
Coelacanth
2023-05-16 14:00:44 +0000 UTCYeah, I don't get it. It is literally forcing an opinion on someone. Someone doesn't like it, so they tell everyone they know not to watch it. Probably because they'll end up liking it and have a difference of opinion. God forbid two people differ in opinions.
Smellwell
2023-05-15 17:22:26 +0000 UTCsome people just want others to be as miserable as them
Tony Nav
2023-05-13 18:30:55 +0000 UTCOr you can let them form their own opinions on the films. If youtube reactions were massive in the 2010s people would be saying the same thing about the prequals "You can skip the prequals, unless you want to be disappointed" yet they love them.
Isaac
2023-05-13 16:29:53 +0000 UTCTo those of you that are telling them not to watch the rest, please stop. Let them formulate their own opinions of them. I'm sure they will find something to appreciate in them.
Trey Mitchell
2023-05-13 00:27:16 +0000 UTCMara Jade had a pink lightsaber Looking at bright light can cause sneeze
Mrvideotape
2023-05-12 20:17:20 +0000 UTCNoooooo turn back now before it's too late. Rogue One is the only other film you need to see
J Lawrence
2023-05-12 20:04:19 +0000 UTCDonβt forget that leia is also darth Vaderβs daughter so that is how kylo ren is the grandson of Darth Vader
Alfred O'Meally
2023-05-12 19:46:35 +0000 UTCJust my opinion, but you can skip the last two movies of the sequels, unless you want to be disappointed lol. Rogue one is peak Star wars and the last great movie they made
Raden
2023-05-12 19:18:28 +0000 UTCRelease order: (Seems people forget that Rogue One released in 2016) Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 2015 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - 2016 Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 2017 Solo: A Star Wars Story - 2018 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - 2019 I was 16 in 2016 so maybe a few people here are younger but I remember everyone being excited post Force Awakens at a time when Star Wars was doing pretty well. People were excited for Rogue One going into 2016. Pretty much the teases for Rogue One began right after the release of Force Awakens so maybe that's why some people are getting confused.
Isaac
2023-05-12 16:08:49 +0000 UTCWouldn't call them terrible tbh. I feel like the sequel hate is blown beyond what most people think of these films just like how the Original Trilogy fans blew up the Prequal hate. I will say that the Sequels suffer from not having a solid plan, Prequals are pretty mixed but at least they had a well thought out story showcasing Anakin's turn to the Dark Side and becoming Darth Vader. Most people who react to these films like them for the most part but may disagree with some decisions made. They're not my cup of tea but I wouldn't call them terrible films. Looking over Lucas plans for his trilogy I would 100% say that fans would've hated those as well. So idk, I prefer stuff beyond the movies anyways so it's not a big deal to me.
Isaac
2023-05-12 16:05:38 +0000 UTCIts bizarre. I saw both films in cinema. Maybe its partly because they were only a year apart in release and i believe Rogue One is the best Star Wars film that Disney have made. Thats probably why i thought it was first.
SavageDiplomat
2023-05-12 15:46:38 +0000 UTCProbably because timeline wise it is first.
matthew bremmer
2023-05-12 15:43:02 +0000 UTCJust to clarify - clones and stormtroopers are not the same. The clone army was decommissioned after the clone war ended at the end of Episode III. By the time of Episode IV (the very first Star Wars movie) Stormtroopers are now the new army, and they are just regular humans, not clones.
Joseph
2023-05-12 15:17:55 +0000 UTCI stand corrected. For some reason i thought it came out before. I think a lot of people think the same. Im not sure why myself
SavageDiplomat
2023-05-12 15:14:19 +0000 UTCRogue 1 released 2016 dec. Force awakens released 2015 dec.
matthew bremmer
2023-05-12 15:08:33 +0000 UTCWatch Rogue One as well
Mark
2023-05-12 15:05:59 +0000 UTCRogue one was released between force awakens and last jedi and solo was released between last jedi and rise of Skywalker
bobby hill
2023-05-12 15:05:51 +0000 UTCIm referring to release order
SavageDiplomat
2023-05-12 14:50:01 +0000 UTCNo it didn't.
matthew bremmer
2023-05-12 14:19:59 +0000 UTCNo it wasn't
matthew bremmer
2023-05-12 14:19:50 +0000 UTCAre yβall referring to the continuity because rogue one was released a year later after this
Chriis Josiiah
2023-05-12 14:03:47 +0000 UTCNo it wasnβt π
Chriis Josiiah
2023-05-12 14:03:26 +0000 UTCYou have to watch Rogue 1! Came out before this one
Alex
2023-05-12 13:16:31 +0000 UTCJust to let you know you skipped a film Rogue One was released before this.
SavageDiplomat
2023-05-12 13:14:03 +0000 UTCHow did they not request rogue one
Allan Molina
2023-05-12 12:56:26 +0000 UTCThis is the only one of the new trilogy that is somewhat watchable. The reason these were terrible compared to the originals is because George Lucas did not direct them. He sold the rights and now Disney controls Star Wars.
David
2023-05-12 12:50:34 +0000 UTC
