Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens (Abrams 2015) -- SPOILERS THERE ARE.

[Henry Gale]

Hahaha, this is absolute nonsense, but all right then: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/20...-force-awakens

According to Abrams and Kasdan and Ardnt, R2-D2 waking up wasn't triggered by Rey, but by BB-8 in the middle of the movie. But because R2's been in a coma for a long time, the booting up process takes a while and is only complete at the end of the movie.

I mean.. I just took it as Rey's arrival triggering him too, mainly with her now discovering the force and finally being brought to the base (since she was also away, captured by Ren when the rest were there before). But from the perspective of Abrams & co., with 3PO's "he's been like this since Master Luke left" line, I feel like our reading of it is likely true, but the truth is likely more rooted with her potential family lineage (whether it's as a Skywalker, a Kenobi, or whatever), and instead of leaning into that in interviews like this, they just used the BB explanation as a weak backup.

Or laziness in the writing. There's always that.

[Dukefrukem]

Hahaha, this is absolute nonsense, but all right then: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/20...-force-awakens

According to Abrams and Kasdan and Ardnt, R2-D2 waking up wasn't triggered by Rey, but by BB-8 in the middle of the movie. But because R2's been in a coma for a long time, the booting up process takes a while and is only complete at the end of the movie.

That's by far the most absurd thing in the movie now.

[Henry Gale]

I stayed through the credits and they were credited for "Fight choreography on freighter sequence." So they didn't do the whole movie, just the scene they were in. I think what obviously happened was that the scene was originally an elaborate action sequence but got cut down significantly for time.

Yeah, it's likely, and also a shame. But both the Star Wars series and Abrams' with his past films have always been pretty good about releasing tons of deleted scenes, so there is a chance we'll see all that someday. Or the small chance they'll reprise their roles in the Han Solo standalone movie.

I'm fairly sure the same thing happened to Gwendoline Christie.

The fact of the amount I heard her and Abrams talk about the character in interviews over the past year, and her having, what, ten to fifteen lines in the whole thing? Definitely feels suspect.

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Also, if you watch the original teaser back. The shots of Rey, Poe, the X-wings (our current banner!), and the instantly-iconic one of Kylo igniting his broad-saber, all aren't in the final film.

[Irish]

What didn't I like? [

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Look, I'm glad we have a female Jedi kicking ass in this movie. It's a sign we are progressing and that at least some people are trying to branch out and give representation and Daisy Riley is a good actress. Unfortunately, I thought Rey was by far the least interesting character in the movie, Finn/Rey shipping nonwithstanding, and I can see why people is saying she is Mary Sue-ish: She doesn't seem to have many flaws, she can pick up, like, anything very fast, including the force, the Millenium Falcon and lightsabing (granted, Ren was very aweakened from Chewie's gunshot, the fight with Finn and specially, the internal conflict) and her little flashbacks and lack of a home is not enough to turn her into a very compelling character. She is basically a Jedi version of Goku.

]

[

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I don't think Rey is a Mary Sue, at least not by the original definition of that term (she's obviously not a stand-in for JJ or Kasdan). I do think she's a touch overpowered, although they can wave most of that away in the next movie provided she's made to be "force sensitive." In the original movie, every character had a clearly defined role and skillset and personality. In TFA, several characters are good at the same things and have similar personalities.

But: one of the things I thought was legitimately funny was that Rey is so capable and Finn has no idea what he's doing. He pretty much sucks at everything, gets knocked down and punched out multiple times, and needs to be rescued more than once. I thought this was a neat contrast to Rey kicking so much ass.

]

What did I truly hate? An asshole at Bleacher Report (sports page) spoiled...
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Han's death. I'm still so, so, so pissed at that.

]

That is super goddamn lame of them, especially given it's really the only legit spoiler in the entire movie.

What am I wondering? [

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Is Finn a Jedi candidate? What will they do with Kylo Ren? What kind of stuff will Luke do? Can Leia do Jedi stuff? Will Lando appear in the next movie (he better appear in the next one)? Did you really get Max von Sydow for such a small part? Will he do more stuff? Will J. J. bring more LOST alumni (he better does)?

]

One of my bigger disappointments was that Leia was once again relegated to the sidelines. Her lines are mostly expositional, which is a far cry from where that character started. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Rey.

Max Von Sydow's appearance made me chuckle. [

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The fanboy bloggers made such a huge deal of it when he was originally cast and his part is less than nothing.

]

[Irish]

Hahaha, this is absolute nonsense, but all right then: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/20...-force-awakens

1) Jesus, that's lame. Is R2-D2 running Windows XP? WTF?

2) EW ran a series of articles like this last week. "JJ Abrams explains ________ about The Force Awakens." It was all basic stuff, and every time I saw one of the links I couldn't help but think, "Why didn't they just put that in the movie?"

[number8]

Overheard a group of American boys coming out of this unanimously declare Rey their favourite character. Sort of heartening to hear.

I loved Rey, especially as the father of two young girls. I loved how, each time Finn, Solo, and the rest went in to try and save her, she pretty much saved herself before they got the chance. And the third time, she wound up saving her would be savior.

As far as role models go, Rey is a significant upgrade from Leia and Amidala.

Indeed. My girlfriend said it best - "You do realize that I'd have been totally beside myself as a ten year old girl if I had someone like Rey for a fictional role model?"

[[ETM]]

That's weird. Disney doesn't sell that set, as it's a Target exclusive. Target has Rey as the icon for the "Action Figures" section on their website, yet they don't offer a Rey action figure AT ALL - alone or in a set of any kind. Just the Funco big head figure.

[ciaoelor]

Am I wrong to say that it short-changes the Black actors? Lupita Nyong'o is hired.... as a voice actor. And John Boyega is hired... to play the wannabe hero? It takes two steps forward, and two steps back. Wouldn't it have been ballsier, and infinitely more interesting, to have given the Rey character to Lupita, and Boyega's role to.. a White actor?

And isn't Rey's character a little too good at everything? The movie is so desperate to make her a superhero that it robs her scenes of any suspense. A great hero can be brave, but visibly in-doubt, and strong but recognizably vulnerable.

P.S. Mad Max: Fury Road had the smarts to not have male characters react and respond to the fact that a female character is so independent and strong. This sort of thing happens at least 3 times.

[megladon8]

Everything about this was wonderful. Just loved it.

Going to see it again ASAP.

[bac0n]

Um.. What in the blue hell....?

[Ezee E]

Am I wrong to say that it short-changes the Black actors? Lupita Nyong'o is hired.... as a voice actor. And John Boyega is hired... to play the wannabe hero? It takes two steps forward, and two steps back. Wouldn't it have been ballsier, and infinitely more interesting, to have given the Rey character to Lupita, and Boyega's role to.. a White actor?

And isn't Rey's character a little too good at everything? The movie is so desperate to make her a superhero that it robs her scenes of any suspense. A great hero can be brave, but visibly in-doubt, and strong but recognizably vulnerable.

P.S. Mad Max: Fury Road had the smarts to not have male characters react and respond to the fact that a female character is so independent and strong. This sort of thing happens at least 3 times.

Eh, I still felt it was thrilling as Rey was piloting the Falcon and fighting Kylo. She certainly wasn't invincible. Had the higher hand, but there are moments where she's getting pushed around.

[Ezee E]

Um.. What in the blue hell....?

Ha. I was just at the Disney store, and made a comment in the other thread about how there's literally no Rey figures at all. Plenty of Finn/Kylo... But no Rey. I figured they just sold them all.

They had plenty of costumes of Rey though. Again, from the other thread, that'll be next year's biggest costume I figure.

[Ezee E]

They're in limited supply it seems, as the minimum on eBay has them all at $35 or more:

[DavidSeven]

That's a shame about the Target set, but I was actually at the Disney store today looking for gifts and spotted this:




Was the only multi-character set I saw in the store. Snapped a photo because I had read the discussion above earlier.

[Irish]

Am I wrong to say that it short-changes the Black actors? Lupita Nyong'o is hired.... as a voice actor. And John Boyega is hired... to play the wannabe hero? It takes two steps forward, and two steps back. Wouldn't it have been ballsier, and infinitely more interesting, to have given the Rey character to Lupita, and Boyega's role to.. a White actor?

I don't know if they could have gotten Lupita for a bigger role. She's still fresh off an Oscar win, and her quote must be fairly high. The advantage with unknowns like Ridley and Boyega is that the studio can pay them next to nothing (~$200k for TFA) and sign them to a three picture deal without fuss. I'm not sure that would have been so easy with Lupita.

With science fiction, the creepy thing to me is when there are black actors in the cast, but no black people in the story because everybody is hidden behind mo-cap, sfx, or body paint.

Guardians of the Galaxy appears diverse when you look it up on IMDb -- the cast includes Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro -- but some scenes and locations feel overly "white" because every actor who is vaguely ethnic has had their ethnicity erased. (They did the same thing to Idris Elba in Star Trek Beyond, which I find disconcerting.)

By comparison, The Force Awakens took the almost radical step of putting a black actor front and center and was completely unapologetic about it. They didn't hide him at all. I think that's cool.

Either way, progress is progress. My hope is that there's some kind of trickle down effect here (to use an ugly Reaganism). If people see minorities cast in high profile genre stuff, maybe that will make it easier to hire that Black artist who just walked into Marvel Comic's offices, or that Asian kid to write episodes of Rick and Morty, or the Latino woman as an voice actor in the next version of Call of Duty or whatever.

Then maybe in ten years, or sooner, maybe not every name above the line will be so "white" all the damn time.

[Sycophant]

And isn't Rey's character a little too good at everything? The movie is so desperate to make her a superhero that it robs her scenes of any suspense. A great hero can be brave, but visibly in-doubt, and strong but recognizably vulnerable.

Inclined to agree with this. I think the character's really good and her performance is strong, but her amazingness, especially early on, is perhaps too amazing to be kind of interesting. Rewatched the original trilogy with my girlfriend and her sister recently, and her sister complained that Luke's annoying in the first two movies. Annoying isn't quite the word I'd have for Luke, but he is a bit whiney and his occasional cockiness and inexperience are big parts of what make him a character rather than a badass newgod from the very moment we meet him, and that's a big part of the appeal and what makes the series work, in my estimation. Rey seems almost perfect from the get-go.

P.S. Mad Max: Fury Road had the smarts to not have male characters react and respond to the fact that a female character is so independent and strong. This sort of thing happens at least 3 times.

True dat.

[[ETM]]

That's a shame about the Target set, but I was actually at the Disney store today looking for gifts and spotted this:




Was the only multi-character set I saw in the store. Snapped a photo because I had read the discussion above earlier.

Yeah, but those are not action figures, but figures with fixed poses glued to the base.

EDIT: Of course, what really matters is that the Hot Toys 1/6 scale figure is pretty good: http://www.hottoys.com.hk/productDet...?productID=354

[Dukefrukem]

I need to stop buying Hot Toys....

[Scar]

Enjoyed it. Felt more for Chewie during 'the scene' than Han, and loved the war of attrition style light saber battle.

[Scar]

Oh, and a small part of my twisted sense of humor wanted Hamil to say something.... As the Joker.

[Irish]

cc: EvilShoe

[Milky Joe]

That is one seriously annoying voice.

[Ezee E]

I need to stop buying Hot Toys....

Wow, those are pricey.

[Irish]

Enjoyed it. Felt more for Chewie during 'the scene' than Han, and loved the war of attrition style light saber battle.

Did you go regular or IMAX 3D?

[Scar]

Did you go regular or IMAX 3D?

IMAX 3D. That shot with the star destroyer was rather neat.