"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

Where was the cameo for the Bad Robot?

 

I'm not sure where this Jedi celibacy thing is an issue for some. Skywalker married in the EU books. And then there's this ... Jedi Knights 'not celibate' says Star Wars creator

 

Probably just wishful projection by the fans.

 

Cantina scene, I think.

 

Anakin was forbidden from marrying Padme because attachment could lead to jealousy (and that, as we know, could lead to anger, which could lead to hate which could lead to suffering, etc).

So, I guess more accurately, Jedi can get down with whomever they please, they just can't get married.

 

I would think having children, in our out of wedlock, would be forbidden as well.

 

Early in the movie, I think when Finn is making his way across the desert after the TIE fighter crashes, he steps in a small hole and the Bad Robot pops its head up to look around as Finn continues on.
Honestly, I didn't even make the connection until sitting through the credits and seeing the company's logo at the very end. When I first saw it, I thought it was going to be something more sinister like the Jawas in ANH. But it never came back, so it was just a cute, silly cameo.

 

I just got back from seeing it and I'll agree with the perception here that it was a great ride. I've seen it described before as what a lot of people thought the prequels would be like, and I'll agree with that. I never hated the prequels as much as most and I thought they felt Star Wars and told the story. Hated, hated, hated the massive cartoonish use of CGI though and I cringe seeing it edited into the original trilogy. It was very, very nice not dealing with it to that massive extent. That alone made me happy! My 11-year-old who went with me and is much more interested in Marvel than Star Wars but likes it enough, made the comment right away about how real everything looked.

I won't touch on tons of the plot points since that's been fairly hammered. I didn't really like Deathstar III too much either, maybe what I liked least, but at least they made it more complex in taking it down. I actually really liked the handling of Ren. It is definitely an interesting change for him to be fighting the light rather than the dark. I thought the handling of Finn's transition was OK too. He didn't like the carnage and he wanted to get the hell away from it. Shows there is some brain in the storm troopers I suppose. Also, someone brought up the fact that he handled the light saber well. I sort of wonder if there is some power within him, too, and that has led to all being discussed about him. I think it would be a cop out for Rey to be related to any of them. Could be a pretty interesting aspect going forward. Definitely my key question leaving, who is she?

On a Han note, a guy on a sports fan board I participate in actually gave that away the other day and did it on purpose. He did it in such a way that you couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Which is good because I totally forgot. Until the exact scene and then I went, oh he's going to die, isn't he? So in the end it didn't take away from my enjoyment and didn't bother me much. Guess it does mean it was fairly telegraphed, but I thought it worked.

Anyway, fun stuff. I really liked it.

 

Part of the implicit message of the prequels was that the Jedi had gotten over-arrogant and a lot of their old rules were full of shit.

If Anakin hadn't felt attachment to Luke, and wanted to make up for his loss of Padme, he wouldn't have mustered up the courage to pitch Sidious down the chute, and the Dark Side would have ruled the galaxy.

 

Just got around to seeing this last night. I don't know what you guys are smoking. Kylo Ren sucked balls.
Oh, don't get me wrong, he was awesome ... right up until he took the mask off and become a shittier, more annoying version of Anakin in the prequels.
You mean to tell me we have this absolute ruthless badass in the first half hour of the movie ... and then all of a sudden he becomes a teenage boy trying to find his proper place in the universe? GTFO.
Kylo Ren was/is the worst villain I've seen in this series and by far the worst part of this film and it's not even close.
And I don't blame the actor. It's not his fault he has a stupid face. It's JJ's fault for choosing a poor plot point to build up our supposed villain.
But this was one of two gripes I had with the film. The other, bigger issue, was that the movie played way too kid friendly for me.
I enjoyed the comedy and found it refreshingly funny but, at the end of the day, this was supposed to be a film that establishes a new trilogy and, IMO, you can't do that if you're not going to make it somewhat bleak and gritty.
I don't need you to have everyone depressed and moody ala The Dark Knight but give me something that doesn't feel like it's three minutes away from a large cast musical number.
Seriously. I get these movies are for kids and for merchandising and that's cool but if you're not going to establish the bad in the universe (And, no, Kylo killing Solo in one of the shittiest major deaths I've ever seen doesn't count), then I'm not going to buy in to the eventual storyline success of the good side.
Now, all this being said, those are my only two issues with the film and otherwise I really enjoyed it.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rey. She was the single handed best part of this movie and I'm smitten with her character. Total badass and someone I found myself rooting for almost instantly.
I also really enjoyed Finn's story. I thought it was really original to take what has always been the most generic of villains in a Stormtrooper and give him life, give him a thought process and a motivation for his actions.
I liked Han but, boy, you could just see how that character's story really had nowhere else to go. He's pretty much done it all and was just running out the clock in life so I'm glad they gave him a sendoff, even if it wasn't nearly as cool as it could have been. (To me, this would have been the place to go super evil with Kylo and instead of having the internal crisis of a prepubescent teenager on that bridge, it would've been awesome to see this as the moment where he finally became sure of himself and dispatched of Solo without a single shred of trepidation or remorse.)
Lastly, I LOVE what they're doing with Luke. I don't know how much they paid MH to be in this film but it was worth every penny as that one scene with Rey at the end set the next film up perfectly.
I'm interested to see where the series goes from here. I think Rey being Luke's daughter is the easy tell here. It'd be better, IMO, to have her be the youngest member of Luke's last Jedi class and have her be the only prodigy Luke was able to save from Ren.

 

I do see the issues with Ren, but I completely disagree with your take on the scene with him murdering his father. The conflict is what makes the character interesting. He is immature and conflicted. They set that up earlier in the movie. He is haunted by his family's legacy.

Ren reminded you of Anakin? Good. He is supposed to. He wants to be his grandfather. He just wasn't as well trained and perhaps he is not as powerful.

And by the way, for those who insist that he is ripped off from Jacen Solo in the old expanded universe, it ain't close. Jacen was far more powerful by the time he turned. He was far more sure of himself. His motivations were different.