The Battle Bar, Our Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

Blax's pimp hand remains quite strong, I see. Politics are fine; the overwhelming consensus is that, even among the controversial prequels, the story of Palpatine's rise to power is extremely well written. Politics become an issue when they're handled as densely as it was in TPM: where procedure is covered at length. No one wants to watch C-SPAN, even in a galaxy far, far away.

But politics are fine in Star Wars, if handled correctly and in the proper medium. 👆

Flipping thru TFA's Visual Dictionary: it's consistently mentioned that tech and stormtrooper training increased, but also that the First Order is much too small to challenge the Empire at its height.

RotS is all about politics, and it's still my second favorite Star Wars film, with TFA being a close third. Thing is, it's obvious why nothing was said in this movie, and that's because it's just a set up for the sequel. As much as this is clearly poetry, that's probably where TFA differs from ANH. ANH had it be pretty obvious that more was to come, but it could stand completely on its own. It wasn't Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. It was just Star Wars. It had to establish a galaxy, and carry its own story. TFA doesn't because it has a shit ton of novels coming out before and after its events, plus two more movies.

True that.

This might clear things up on Kylo Ren:

Spoiler:

Kylo, for reasons unknown to him, felt his powers weaken upon killing his father:

"Stunned by his own action, Kylo Ren fell to his knees. Following through on the act ought to have made him stronger, a part of him believed. Instead, he found himself weakened."

--The Force Awakens

More info on the impact Kylo's wound had on him:

"Kylo Ren struggled to stand."

--The Force Awakens

Kylo, at least in the novel, was only toying with Finn until he was tagged, after which he immediately ended the fight:

"Taking a step back, Ren reconsidered his opponent. When he closed the distance between them, it was with a purpose that had been previously lacking. Expecting an execution, he had found a contest. Now he had been touched. It was time for play to end. Advancing relentlessly, he was driven by something Finn could not even sense, far less counter. Still the ex-troper fought back, until Ren landed a blow that cut across Finn's chest and sent the lightsaber flying from his hand. It landed in the snow six meters distant. It was over."

--The Force Awakens

The clash between Rey and Kylo seems very reminiscent in principle to Anakin vs Dooku:

"Expecting weakness, he encountered only strength. Her skill with the device was raw at best, but it was backed by a fury that was as new to his experience as it was unexpected.

[...]

To an observer in the distance, it would have appeared as if a series of small explosions were going off in the depths of the forest. Blow after blow landed as lightsaber struck against lightsaber. Though Ren was bigger and stronger than Rey, their struggle had nothing to do with physical size. What she lacked in mass, she made up for in ferocity.

[...]

A long moment passed, in which Ren sensed a change in the air, a change in HER. Then she opened her eyes and attacked, viciously, in a way she didn't know she was capable of, striking again and again as Ren was slowly driven back."

--The Force Awakens

Ren seemingly could have killed Rey twice during in the fight, and hesitated due to confusion when she closed her eyes:

"Ren held his lightsaber, poised to strike. "I could kill you right now. But there is another way."

[...]

Rey closed her eyes. Ren hesitated, confused by her actions."

--The Force Awakens

Also, just a cool side-note, Ren is apparently partially able to hold her off even after being disarmed, at least in the novel:

"Unarmed, he raised a hand and utilized the Force to fend off one slashing blow after another, until finally her fury penetrated his remaining defenses."

--The Force Awakens

Obviously this doesn't change everything, but it's a little "good to know".

This is from a novelization?

NewG: Seems like it more or less confirms what we'd already gauged from Ren, though the fact it describes him as weaker, struggling to stand, toying with Finn, and Rey as a badass with lots of raw potential is nice to have on print for the harsher critics.

Where did you find the excerpt, by the way. Is the novel out/leaked already?

The novel had a simultaneous release with the film.

I see... worth reading?

It's dry as toast, tbh. One of those novels you only pick up for some background and fight specifics. Otherwise just stick with the movie.

I cum on my toast so it's not usually dry.

Tbh, that excerpt from above didn't really add anything you couldn't see on screen besides

Spoiler:
him being conflicted about Han,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWRtccdiS70&t=0m04s

Originally posted by Ushgarak
That was pretty stupid, wasn't it?

That being said I won't continue this discussion because I don't want it being misinterpreted as criticizing you.
---
I'll type up my thoughts on The Force Awakens soon.

Anyway, The Force Awakens was a 10/10 film. The best Star Wars film yet.

> 10/10

I'll probably watch it again before giving final thoughts, but it's one of those movies I really enjoyed most of, but made some cringeworthy turns here and there that make me critical of the movie in general. It's certainly no Phantom Menace, but it's also not my favorite.

The only part I didn't like was Snoke, tbh.

I wish he was a Thrawn and not a Palpatine.

Already listed this elsewhere, but:

-Didn't like the over-emphasis on the Force and the lack of attention towards the physical state of the galaxy with the First Order and all.

Spoiler:
Were we supposed to care about those Republic worlds?

-Didn't like the portrayal of the Force itself, especially in the case of Rey. The vision scene was cool,

Spoiler:
(though her cliche runaway scene was off-putting)

Spoiler:
rapidly gains advanced powers intrinsically that she shouldn't know how to use over the course of 20 minutes

Spoiler:
goes oneness via mid-duel meditation

-Wasn't a big fan of the

Spoiler:
Death Star 2.0 sub-plot. Now, I'm okay with there being a new Death Star-type weapon,

Spoiler:
(Ackbar???), with an actually gripping sequence, as opposed to wasting time on [SPOILER]Rey running through the forest because she doesn't want to do... something.

Those are the main issues, along with Ridley's over-acting, some pacing problems in the second half, and some cringeworthy dialogue. But as much as I've detailed my complaints, they're for the most part only minor/medium problems as far as the movie as a whole goes.

For the most part, I really loved this movie. Great characters, fun adventure, awesome action scenes, well done comedy, etc. And the opening scene was riveting. Honestly I'd agree on this being 10/10 if it was just the first half of the movie; it only dropped off from being a potential fav for me in the later acts.

I had no problem with Snoke, personally.

We're just going to have to wait a year and a half for the ESB matching film to be released. Not sure what's left for the big bad to do at this point besides

Spoiler:
slaughter off the rest of the old gang.

I'm expecting a Obi-Wan vs Vader/Yoda vs Sidious kind of thing to go down at some point.

I personally can't wait to see Luke in the 8th film.

As for the storytelling, it's basically a remastered version of ANH with a few twists here and there.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Already listed this elsewhere, but:

-Didn't like the over-emphasis on the Force and the lack of attention towards the physical state of the galaxy with the First Order and all.

Spoiler:
Were we supposed to care about those Republic worlds?

We needed more actual exposition in the opening crawl, and less mystical poo-doo from virtually every character that had no place to be talking about the Force.

I agree though that they should have clarified some shit though, but I don't think it took away from the film, just that said knowledge could have made it even better.

-Didn't like the portrayal of the Force itself, especially in the case of Rey. The vision scene was cool,

Spoiler:
(though her cliche runaway scene was off-putting)

but the way she

Spoiler:
rapidly gains advanced powers intrinsically that she shouldn't know how to use over the course of 20 minutes

and

Spoiler:
goes oneness via mid-duel meditation

made this feel like I was watching a fan-movie rather than something official.

-Wasn't a big fan of the

Spoiler:
Death Star 2.0 sub-plot. Now, I'm okay with there being a new Death Star-type weapon,

but the way everything was dealt with so cleanly was super anti-climatic and a rehash of what we've already seen, and it wasn't done as well as we've already seen it. Again, I wish more emphasis was put on that and the Resistance leaders

Spoiler:
(Ackbar???), with an actually gripping sequence, as opposed to wasting time on [SPOILER]Rey running through the forest because she doesn't want to do... something.

Spoiler:
The rehash Death Star plot was good.

There wasn't tension like in ANH where you were scared for the Rebel's well being and that Yavin might blow up.

But rather I was fully devoted to the battle and clapped when the Starkiller base was destroyed since those were the ****ers responsible for killing Han Solo, so the destruction was something personal to the viewer and a sense of revenge. 😉

Those are the main issues, along with Ridley's over-acting, some pacing problems in the second half, and some cringeworthy dialogue. But as much as I've detailed my complaints, they're for the most part only minor/medium problems as far as the movie as a whole goes.

it only dropped off from being a potential fav for me in the later acts.

Spoiler:
The fight scene with Kylo and Han and then the Kylo fight should have cancelled out any issues you had with the Starkiller base fight.

I had no problem with Snoke, personally.