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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2015 23:37:15 GMT -5
Adam Driver is really ugly. This was the biggest thing that bothered me in the entire movie. Not even joking.
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Post by moran on Dec 19, 2015 23:57:30 GMT -5
You know what would have worked better? If they saved Luke for Episode 8. It would have been cool if the credits rolled right as they hit light speed. I actually disagree. Although I felt like the pacing at that point was a little awkward, it felt more natural on a second viewing. Most importantly, the desperation in Rey's eyes as she holds out the lightsaber for Luke to take is a really critical beat for her character. While this film did recycle a lot of plot elements from A New Hope, it did so in order to highlight the differences between the old characters and the new. Rey is a fascinating character, because---although she's set up as the Luke analogue---she actually couldn't be much more different. Luke wanted to escape his childhood on Tatooine, Rey seems bound by a past that she can neither remember fully nor fully forget. Once he learned about the path of the Jedi from Obi-wan, Luke quickly desired to follow that path; Rey, on the other hand, seems terrified of the prospect of being a Jedi. Luke sought to cultivate that power, while she wants to run from it. As she meets with Luke at the end of the film, there's an almost biblical weight to the proceedings:
"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:41-42)
I think it's setting up a lot for the sequels, as it leaves open (much more than it ever was with Luke) the possibility that her fear will turn her to the Dark Side. I agree with all that. It's a great scene. Just felt a little unnecessary. Kind of like if Empire ended with Lando walking into Jabba's palace and embracing Han in carbonite.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 0:03:20 GMT -5
It was a really unwise choice for a director with this much experience to end the film with. It's not like people are going to be sitting around biting their nails, asking each other, "What's going to happen NEXT?" We'll all sit on our asses for three years and see the next movie in due time. This doesn't really add to the hype at all, and really just serves as an unnatural stopping point for the narrative.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Dec 20, 2015 0:20:05 GMT -5
It was a really unwise choice for a director with this much experience to end the film with. It's not like people are going to be sitting around biting their nails, asking each other, "What's going to happen NEXT?" We'll all sit on our asses for three years and see the next movie in due time. This doesn't really add to the hype at all, and really just serves as an unnatural stopping point for the narrative. It may not be a great stopping point narratively, but it is a good stopping point in terms of character, which is really what this film was focusing on. The story? Meh. The characters? Interesting. (which is something you could never say about the prequel films)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 0:22:11 GMT -5
As a writer, I take umbrage with any flaws in storytelling. Especially on so grand a stage.
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Post by GamerL on Dec 20, 2015 0:28:54 GMT -5
I do think Luke should have actually said something at the end.
Or even better, when Mark Hamill turns around he's not Luke at all but Cock Knocker, that'd be pretty fucking funny.
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Post by moran on Dec 20, 2015 0:31:22 GMT -5
As a writer, I take umbrage with any flaws in storytelling. Especially on so grand a stage. Exxxxxactly. And Luke looks pretty portly for someone who's been living on an deserted island.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Dec 20, 2015 0:34:55 GMT -5
Can you honestly say it wouldn't have been more awkward for them to do a 3-minute "search for Luke" scene at the beginning of the next film before moving on the the actual plot? In my opinion, Abrahms wanted to get this bit out of the way, so that the next film can open with something more interesting. Having Han's rescue begin RotJ made sense, because it was a significant undertaking; on the other hand, once they knew his location, it was never meant to be an epic trek to get to Luke. The goofy map was a MacGuffin intended to keep Luke from taking over the story of Episode VII. Devoting screen time to (as you pointed out) a foregone conclusion would have just been a waste of everybody's time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 0:37:50 GMT -5
I can understand what they were going for here, but I think they were trying to do too much in too short of an amount of time. I think it would have been better to just leave Luke out until the end of the first act of Episode VIII.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Dec 20, 2015 0:48:13 GMT -5
Yeah, that's probably true. I thought it was a terrible ending the first time I watched it, and then did a complete 180 upon the second viewing. I think the through-line of Anakin's Lightsaber (yet another MacGuffin---boy, Star Wars is just swimming with those!) necessitated the scene at the end. The impact of Rey giving the saber to Luke (or, rather, desperately willing him to take it from her) would have been incalculably diminished by spacing it out across two films.
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Post by GamerL on Dec 20, 2015 0:53:07 GMT -5
How did Maz get that Light Saber? I'm assuming it was still somewhere on Cloud City?
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Post by sabbacc108 on Dec 20, 2015 0:57:58 GMT -5
How did Maz get that Light Saber? I'm assuming it was still somewhere on Cloud City? Well, In the original EU, Vader actually went to great lengths to recover both the lightsaber and Luke's severed hand; as for the new continuity, who knows? Clearly, it's going to play a significant role in the plot of the later films, since an explanation was rather conspicuously avoided in this one. Add one to the tally of Unfired Checkhov's Guns.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2015 1:01:36 GMT -5
A dark side acolyte being obsessed with obtaining Vader's clothing / accouterments was also a part of the old EU. It was smart to try to work that sort of stuff into the new establishment.
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Post by sabbacc108 on Dec 20, 2015 1:06:07 GMT -5
Though, every time someone talks about collecting Vader accoutrements, I can't help but thing of those abysmal children's novels from the 90s ( The Glove of Darth Vader, I'm looking at you!), and the ensuing Mega64 sketch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=etwJnVBHy9c
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Post by GamerL on Dec 20, 2015 1:14:57 GMT -5
A dark side acolyte being obsessed with obtaining Vader's clothing / accouterments was also a part of the old EU. It was smart to try to work that sort of stuff into the new establishment. There was so much EU stuff I imagine it would probably very difficult to come up with entirely new ideas that aren't similar to stuff in the EU. Though, every time someone talks about collecting Vader accoutrements, I can't help but thing of those abysmal children's novels from the 90s ( The Glove of Darth Vader, I'm looking at you!), and the ensuing Mega64 sketch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=etwJnVBHy9cHa! I remember checking those books out from my school library in like second or third grade, yeah they were bad but I still enjoyed them
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