You mean the guy that saved a movie that had been in developmental hell for over a decade working from a Frankenstein script that had been rewritten and pieced together from several different takes over said decade, and still managed to make a fun summer blockbuster out of it that became one of the highest grossing films of all time is in charge of a movie that the studio actually gives a shit about from the start, with vastly more resources at his disposal, and being overseen by Rian Johnson?
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
What did you think of The Force Awakens?
- Thread starter cereal_killerxx
- Start date
- Status
You mean the guy that saved a movie that had been in developmental hell for over a decade working from a Frankenstein script that had been rewritten and pieced together from several different takes over said decade, and still managed to make a fun summer blockbuster out of it that became one of the highest grossing films of all time is in charge of a movie that the studio actually gives a shit about from the start, with vastly more resources at his disposal, and being overseen by Rian Johnson?
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
I liked, and think it was a good stepping stone of familiar things to create more diversity on stories in future installments.
I wouldnt have exploded the new death star though, let it be a threat.
I wouldnt have exploded the new death star though, let it be a threat.
Vincent Grayson
Member
I liked it. I'm not the biggest SW fan, so I don't have especially strong positive feelings on the OT or especially strong negative feelings about the PT.
In terms of overall rankings, I'd put it just below Empire and above the others.
I suspect I'll enjoy Rogue One quite a bit, and if nothing else, the cinematography seems to be head and shoulders over the other movies in the series.
In terms of overall rankings, I'd put it just below Empire and above the others.
I suspect I'll enjoy Rogue One quite a bit, and if nothing else, the cinematography seems to be head and shoulders over the other movies in the series.
Magic Mushroom
Member
Liked it a lot really. Nice character beats, good action, a surprise or two and that SW vibe missing from the prequels. I hope Rian Johnson builds on it and I expect he well.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I liked it a lot, and it was my son's first Star Wars theater experience as well as opening night. So that was awesome.
One thing I've commented to my better half on is our daughter likes the movie, but she always tends to check out towards the end. Upon repeat viewings I find myself sorta doing the same?
Makes me think the movie runs a hair long.
One thing I've commented to my better half on is our daughter likes the movie, but she always tends to check out towards the end. Upon repeat viewings I find myself sorta doing the same?
Makes me think the movie runs a hair long.
ReBurn
Gold Member
I hope 8 really kicks ass. I understand that 7 had a lot of setup to do, so I hope 8 gets right to the point.
DoctorFling
Member
I love it for making Star Wars fun again and adding some really cool characters to the cast. I understand the complaints comparing it to ANH, but it sets up a really great springboard for sequels.
DarkLordMalik
Member
Mediocre.
Worse than Revenge of the Sith.
Worse than Revenge of the Sith.
What!? He worked with Lawrence Kasden, the guy who scripted Empire!
And someone else said the prequels art director was awful... Doug Chiang, he's involved in the new films as well. To be fair it wasn't his fault Lucas had an entirely different aesthetic he wanted to bring to the prequels. One that doesn't really make sense, since older stuff look s more futuristic and vice versa, lol.
UnblessedSoul
Member
I thought the plot sucked, Carrie Fisher should never have been cast on there. The girl was annoying and too much time focused on her. I've never been nostalgic when it came to the original three movies.
Crimsonlink
Member
I really don't understand why Kylo Ren is so old. They really fucked up making him so damn old. Even Luke was only 19 when A New Hope happened.
I can't seriously believe people like the PT more than EP7.
I honestly never feel like this. The only time I did is during the first viewing but the films underbelly of character dymanics really wash out the taste of familiarity.
Though I will say I hate JJ's style in general and I do agree with you about those criticisms. I was really upset when they hired JJ to direct AND write, but luckily Kasdan was involved as well.
I honestly never feel like this. The only time I did is during the first viewing but the films underbelly of character dymanics really wash out the taste of familiarity.
Though I will say I hate JJ's style in general and I do agree with you about those criticisms. I was really upset when they hired JJ to direct AND write, but luckily Kasdan was involved as well.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
It's my favorite Star Wars movie to re watch.
Everything looks like you can reach out and touch it. The characters don't have that Lucas corniness. The sound design is phenomenal.
There is only one thing I dislike in it, and that is the squid monster thing on Han's ship.
Everything looks like you can reach out and touch it. The characters don't have that Lucas corniness. The sound design is phenomenal.
There is only one thing I dislike in it, and that is the squid monster thing on Han's ship.
Wait, on a second thought...didn't TFA single handedly destroy the lore of ep. 1-6?
Either that, or we can finally give a shit about Jedi prophecies and all their other mambo jambo. Don't even try to spin this shit "It wasn't Anakin. It wasn't Luke. It was always Rey" Haha, great.
"the one who brings balance, my ass"
Maybe "balance" was only referring to Lucas'/ Disney's bank account.
BTW: the pathethic attempt to create this kind of sub-plot in TFA where they are trying to mystify the events that happened 40 years before ("...it's all true"), was one of the cringiest scenes I watched in years.
Either that, or we can finally give a shit about Jedi prophecies and all their other mambo jambo. Don't even try to spin this shit "It wasn't Anakin. It wasn't Luke. It was always Rey" Haha, great.
"the one who brings balance, my ass"
Maybe "balance" was only referring to Lucas'/ Disney's bank account.
BTW: the pathethic attempt to create this kind of sub-plot in TFA where they are trying to mystify the events that happened 40 years before ("...it's all true"), was one of the cringiest scenes I watched in years.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
Do you think it is unrealistic for something truly traumatic happening in history to erode because of a combination of deniers or oppressors?
People on planet Earth apparently don't even remember Nazis and they weren't even half a galaxy away. Real life is making that TFA subplot easier and easier to swallow.
Junior Mint
Member
Felt pretty generic and forgettable to me - about as safe and by the numbers you could get with a movie. Haven't thought about the movie since I watched it and I honestly have no desire to ever watch it again. I felt no attachment to any of the characters (although I do like Finn) and I actively dislike the protagonist and antagonist.
Really hope we get something more unique with Rogue One and the other sequels.
Really hope we get something more unique with Rogue One and the other sequels.
The worst preferring Episode 2 to it!
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
History isn't taught consistently in perspective in even our own world, so I just find hesitance at dismissing the way it plays out in TFA.
theCalamity
Member
It's a decent movie, but that's it. I really never got a sense of adventure for it. The movie was so concerned with getting to the next setpiece. The first act is the best, but after that, it's just this blur. With that and the power mechanics and wasted actors (You have the dudes from the Raid but you don't do anything with them?) and wasted characters, it's pretty ho-hum.
RareFantasy64
Member
Didn't care for it. Made me appreciate the prequels and Lucas more
I liked it. I don't think Rey and Finn are amazing characters and I would have liked more Poe, but visually it was great and it made for a fun theater experience. Also think coming after the travesty of the prequels elevates it somewhat. Compared to those it's a classic.
Overall: solid, and probably my third favourite Star Wars film after A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back (eternally the best SW film by far).
Overall: solid, and probably my third favourite Star Wars film after A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back (eternally the best SW film by far).
D1renegade
Member
This makes the issues I have with him even more glaring . This is a grown ass man throwing temper tantrums and acting like a little bitch
I honestly never had any problem with this plot point but its eerie to be living in a time that has seemingly forgotten what should be memorable recent history as well.
The events depicted at the end of ROTJ on the Death Star itself (really the crux of the overthrow of the Empire) were only truly known to a few people. To the galaxy at large, a despotic regime was overthrown when their superweapon was destroyed. The average layperson didn't even know Palpatine was a Sith.
You've got kids today who have never heard of Paul McCartney so of course there's people who don't know the Jedi or speak of them in some far past tense.
Wat? Correct me if I' wrong: the rebells won the war. Why would the winner hide stuff like Jedis and their powers, their war heroes? How do you even do that in a technical advanced universe like SW? Imagine the US tried to conceal what happened in Hiroshima + Nagasaki or 40 years. How realistic would that have been? No, this scene in TFA isn't unrealistic, it's beyond stupid and is an insult to life itself. It felt shoehorned as if they started with the trailer and wanted that scene in the final movie.
Cipher Peon
Banned
The only Star Wars property to every exist that I enjoyed. It was a fun time and I LOVED Kylo Ren (he was so relatable and badass!!). Definitely my least favorite Abrams film, but that goes to show how great he is if my least favorite of his films I think is "great".
Not really excited for any other Star Wars movie besides Han Solo because while I don't care about the character at all (he's super boring), it's being directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have made consistently INCREDIBLE movies and are amazing at the art of directing. Now take that and take the opposite of that and that's how I feel about Rogue One :I
Not really excited for any other Star Wars movie besides Han Solo because while I don't care about the character at all (he's super boring), it's being directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have made consistently INCREDIBLE movies and are amazing at the art of directing. Now take that and take the opposite of that and that's how I feel about Rogue One :I
still watching rogue one on Thursday
Imagine you (as some kind of wordly Westerner) pick up a random kid living in say, Africa or some Eastern European village, that knows nothing of the world. Do you think they would be aware of the various world events that have transpired over the past century or so? They may know a couple of things, but what they mainly know is their existence.
You take a kid living most of her life in the desert wastes and another kid who was raised from birth as a killing machine. They don't know much of what someone from Coruscant (for example) would know.
It sounds like you want your history with the franchise respected over realistic world building. Solo is explaining the events of the saga that we know by heart to people who are essentially low information characters.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
We live in a world where articles on par with The Onion's writing style have influenced how people feel about current events. You are trying to argue that a universe more advanced than ours would magically never have to deal with misinformation.
You are trying to say that Empire sympathizers would not spin history to their children in a particular way. History would not be taught differently across the span of several thousand planets.
What you are saying is literally absurd. Much of what you know about real world history probably isn't even correct, especially if you are American.
Ok nice, let's do this. Said kid from Africa collects scraps from impressive wrecks of WWII military gear and never aks: "wtf happened here?". Said kid is so out-of-this-world that it is able to fly and repair a plane? Come on, son. You're bending the rules of the SW universe quite a bit here. The bolded: that's exactly my problem with TFA: the world-building and new lore is BS in the context of it's own universe.
The Star Wars universe is overrun with technology that's been around forever. I don't know about you, but the kids in school who were good with their hands weren't necessarily up on their world history, and they had the benefit of living in the middle of the suburbs.
I was able to assemble my first PC with little to no knowledge of the events of the Third Reich. I taught myself to do that, and this was in the mid 90s. This was back when the computer that you used in school was an Apple IIe that was mainly utilized to play Oregon Trail and Appleworks. My knowledge of the world had absolutely no bearing on my technical ability.
You are living in a world full of low information birthers and Nazis who trust in feelings over truth, and you are having trouble buying someone in a galaxy full of millions of habitable planets, living by themselves in a broken down AT-AT on one of the more remote planets having little to no knowledge of galactic historical events.
Got it.
It was okay. To many of its issues are front and center for me upon rewatchings. Ultimately I find it a generic film that mirrors A New Hope to much. I understand why it's like that but that doesn't end up being a positive for me. It's not even a film where I go back to just to rewatch particular sections. I think that's good indicator if I enjoy something a lot. Do I rewatch the movie again multiple times from start to finish? Do I go back to just watch certain parts of the films instead? Or do I not care to do either of those? TFA falls into the later group sadly where as the other six films fall into the first two categories with the bulk of them being in the first. Just to say it I do not hate the prequels at all. I see where some find fault with them but I still enjoy them very much even if I like the OT more.
For example AoTC is possibly my least favorite of the prequels due to the romance aspect of it and how that's written and it's also longer then it should be but I have no problem going back watching entire sequences of that film. For example the Obiwan vs Jango Fett sequence from the fight in the rain on Kamino to the astroid field chase. Or to watch the entire Battle of Geonosis once Yoda appears with clone trooper fleet. I also kinda get a kick out of the diner scene with Obiwan as well and Anakin and Obiwan's chase after the bounty hunter in the beginning.
With TFA the parts where I might be willing to do that are so short that it doesn't even make putting in the blu-ray worthwhile. It's easier to watch the sequence on youtube since it's only two or three minutes long. Like Poe's X-wing fight when he shows up on the planet Han take Finn and Rey to. That sequence is really cool but it's so damn short. The film is filled with stuff like that at the same time I really don't want to watch it from start to finish just to get it all. TFA just wasn't unique or different enough for me. I don't think it brought enough to the table where was Clone Wars and Rebels clearly did and do. For all the crap the PT gets I don't think anyone can say it wasn't unique or different and I appreciate that a lot.
For example AoTC is possibly my least favorite of the prequels due to the romance aspect of it and how that's written and it's also longer then it should be but I have no problem going back watching entire sequences of that film. For example the Obiwan vs Jango Fett sequence from the fight in the rain on Kamino to the astroid field chase. Or to watch the entire Battle of Geonosis once Yoda appears with clone trooper fleet. I also kinda get a kick out of the diner scene with Obiwan as well and Anakin and Obiwan's chase after the bounty hunter in the beginning.
With TFA the parts where I might be willing to do that are so short that it doesn't even make putting in the blu-ray worthwhile. It's easier to watch the sequence on youtube since it's only two or three minutes long. Like Poe's X-wing fight when he shows up on the planet Han take Finn and Rey to. That sequence is really cool but it's so damn short. The film is filled with stuff like that at the same time I really don't want to watch it from start to finish just to get it all. TFA just wasn't unique or different enough for me. I don't think it brought enough to the table where was Clone Wars and Rebels clearly did and do. For all the crap the PT gets I don't think anyone can say it wasn't unique or different and I appreciate that a lot.
brandonh83
Banned
DAMN
Is it confirmed to be overseen by RJ? And I agree the movie will be better than people think.
I was very disappointed in TFA. But I was way over-hyped with all the marketing and just wishing for Star Wars to come back.
The new characters were alright, but nowhere near as memorable as the original trilogy. Even some of the prequel characters like Obi-wan and Qui-Gon were more memorable for me. Yes, even Qui-Gon!
They could have done some really interesting things with Finn being a defector and formerly indoctrinated from his youth, but they didn't.
Rey just seemed there to be the main character and move the plot along. She finds the MacGuffin and then becomes a MacGuffin.
Poe was barely in the movie and only really interacted with 2 other characters.
The only really memorable new character to me was Kylo Ren. I'm interested to see where his story goes.
Maybe the story would have been better if they had less Han and gave the new characters more scenes to grow.
My personal order right now would be:
ESB
ROTJ
ANH
TPM
TFA
RotS
AotC
The new characters were alright, but nowhere near as memorable as the original trilogy. Even some of the prequel characters like Obi-wan and Qui-Gon were more memorable for me. Yes, even Qui-Gon!
They could have done some really interesting things with Finn being a defector and formerly indoctrinated from his youth, but they didn't.
Rey just seemed there to be the main character and move the plot along. She finds the MacGuffin and then becomes a MacGuffin.
Poe was barely in the movie and only really interacted with 2 other characters.
The only really memorable new character to me was Kylo Ren. I'm interested to see where his story goes.
Maybe the story would have been better if they had less Han and gave the new characters more scenes to grow.
My personal order right now would be:
ESB
ROTJ
ANH
TPM
TFA
RotS
AotC
Me - thought she was atrocious and brought the whole movie down
Ganzlinger
Member
Good.
The first few minutes were awesome and showed the potential of the movie. I mean Kylo stops a laser shot. Phasma looked awesome abd intimidating. It then proceded to waste its potential. They just wanted to tell a story and they didn't care how to get to those arcs as long as the general story was told.
How is this possible? In what was was she "atrocious"?
NaDannMaGoGo
Member
Awful world building from the get-go. While the prequels are still worse movies, they at least did much better in that regard.
Wasn't really better world building, just much more of an effort I'd say.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
We need to find out who sent the bounty hunter, let's visit this random as hell diner and talk to a guy who will literally never be seen again. "World building."
Competent. Has places and things that appear to be actual places and things. Has characters who at least somewhat seem like believable human beings.
And coming off the prequels these things made it seem amaaaaazing
In retrospect it's just okay. The starkiller base stuff was eye rolling.
And coming off the prequels these things made it seem amaaaaazing
In retrospect it's just okay. The starkiller base stuff was eye rolling.
I rewatched it when the blu-ray came out, it's pretty much in second/third place for me, tied with A New Hope. It was a magical theatre experience and I still love it.
That being said, I'm actually expecting Ep VIII to be even better. So excited to see what Rian Johnson's been up to.
That being said, I'm actually expecting Ep VIII to be even better. So excited to see what Rian Johnson's been up to.
- Status