"The Force Awakens" (with SPOILERS)

I thought they explained Finn's turn to good, in that he was never really on board with all of the First Order's methods but that was the first time he actually had to face them. The massacre at the village on Jakku was his first battle, and likely the first time he'd seen that kind of brutality up close.

Ken Leung (Miles from "Lost") was another Abrams collaborator who was there. The red robot from the production company's Bad Robot logo also had a cameo.

I did like the new characters more than I thought I would. BB-8, especially. Going in, I thought it would be this movie's Jar Jar and it turned out to be kind of cool. I loved its small interactions with R2-D2 as well, where it seemed to show respect to its elder. Finn was great and Rey was much better than expected.

The only problem I had with the lightsaber fight was that Finn -- someone who literally had figured out how to turn a lightsaber on two days ago -- was able to hold his own for a bit and score a hit on Kylo Ren, who has been training and using one for most of his life. Ren should have dominated that fight from the jump.

 

At the beginning of the film, they referred to the old guy in the village who had the map as "an old ally," but never said his name. Was he someone from the original trilogy and I missed it? Who was he supposed to be?

 

I don't recall Max Von Sydow appearing in the original trilogy. I racked my brain on that one as well.

Funny that Daniel Craig played a stormtrooper (he was the one that freed Rey in hilarious fashion).

BB8 was awesome. My kid loves him already and has never seen a Star Wars film.

@Madhavok, C-3PO did not know that R2 had the rest of the map. I believe there was specifically a line where he said he didn't think R2 had it.

 

I thought that as well...but don't forget...Finn has been raised to be a fighter. I'm sure he learned various weapons to fight with, although I do think he said he was best with a blaster.

 

Just seeing her picture irritates me.

 

I knew I saw Miles! As for the red robot, yeah. Nice shoutout to Bad Robot.

Big Pern - You're right. Not sure why I thought 3po knew. Knew Artoo was down. That's what it was. My mistake.

 

Saw it this afternoon. As others have said, it's a really fun movie. I was a little disappointed by the whole "Death Star III" attack, but overall this was far better and far more fun than any of the prequels.

My 6-year-old didn't realize Kylo Ren was still alive, instead asking "So who's going to be the new Darth Vader now?"

 

One missed nostalgiac opportunity: When Han and Leia essentially say goodbye, Leia says something like "You still drive me crazy." Should've been an "I know" retort from Han. Instead they simply embraced.

 

I was waiting for Han to tell Ren he loved him, then Ren says "I know" as he killed him.

 

I had a similar thought, but I thought Han was going to tell Leia "I still love you," and she was going to reply, "I know."

 

I really liked this movie despite the obvious lifting from A New Hope. However, I kind of wish they didn't kill off Han just like Obi-Wan. The death was telegraphed with no real surprise to it. I don't mind them killing off Han, but I wish they had waited for the next movie or had done it where he has a chance to kill Ren but hesitates to save him and is then killed.

As for Rey, her being Luke's daughter would not be a surprise. Her not being related to any of them would not be bad either. It would be nice if she weren't just so we don't have another "no, I am your father" or "I have it. My father has it. My sister has it" moment.

Beyond that, the new characters were great, the call backs were great and the story avoided many of the failings of the prequels. The being too much like ANH is why I rank it below the original trilogy but it's way above the prequels.

 

I have to think Harrison Ford didn't want to be in more than one of these. And they needed to dispense with the character anyway. This can't be the Adventures of Luke and Han, Part 2.