Holy goddamn did JJ Abrams ever awaken the force!

just got back from the new Star Wars.... 1st impression? wow, like being 3 again

Is this thread gonna have spoilers? If so we should tag the topic with [SPOILERS] or something!

I saw it :) just want to be aware of my fellow equipboarders who haven't seen it yet

I am not saying ANYTHING, though the surprises were all predictable.... but so were the surprises in Empire Strikes Back, that's part of the Star Wars ethos. This was a worthy successor to the first trilogy I grew up with.

Actually it was quite good. Saw it today in 4dx, because my friend booked the tickets wrong, but aprt from the constant motion, vibrations, water, and have shots of air down your neck, it was quite decent. I'm pissed it's two more years til the next episode. Do you think Ray is Kylo Ren's sister?

SPOILER!

either that or Luke's daughter... she's clearly more powerful than the Solo boy, she gave him an ass whoopin' without ANY jedi training... Obi Wan chose to train Luke even though he knew Leia was Luke's sister, clearly the force is stronger in Luke and Leia takes after her mom more, if Luke was gettin' it on with one of his Jedi students and their child is Rey then that would explain why she is such an uber-badass... but she definitely must be a Skywalker, she has Vader's piloting and engineering talent for instance

I am not saying ANYTHING, though the surprises were all predictable.... but so were the surprises in Empire Strikes Back, that's part of the Star Wars ethos. This was a worthy successor to the first trilogy I grew up with.

[SPOILER ... SPOILER ... YOU SHOULD STOP READING NOW... ]

Probably because it's almost a carbon copy. I definitely enjoyed the film. I'm not saying anything negative about it. But let's be honest, there was SO much ... borrowed. SO many scenes/camera shots/transitions identical to IV-V-VI, clearly the '70s vintage style. The funny thing was how they broke Luke's character into three different people:

• Ray's character to kid Anakin/Luke, growing up poor in white rags on a desert planet scrapping old ship parts for food (they couldn't find her a different costume? and did I see tuscan raiders? but we aren't on Tatooine...)
• Poe is Luke the pilot, even had the same suicide run down that narrow corridor to fly into the ship and fire the winning shot (this scene was a combo of Luke's "swamp rat" shot and Anakin's scene flying that bright yellow ship around the cargo bay)
• Fn ("Finn") is Luke the hero, emotionally head-strong charging into battle despite being less-skilled, inexperienced, and having no real plan of attack
• our hero (FN) ends up on a medical bed in white cloth robe with the heroine at his bedside (again, Luke)

There were so many other "borrowed" scenes and stuff:

• total cantina band scene ripoff, down to the fat Jabba-esque lounging dude and his slave girl
• the rebel pilots saying goodbyes and getting into their X-wings, remember that scene with Luke and Han? mm hmm same scene and even the other pilots had same alien faces and same helmet assortment and jump suits and everything. Leia's control room was the same. It's like they never left the set of Episode VI (maybe for continuity?)
• Han's last scene with the big bad takes place in - you guessed it - the abandoned death star way high up on a narrow utility bridge/catwalk, and of course there's the epic fall into abyss

The only thing I was hoping they'd reuse was the music, but they actually didn't. Not really. Much more original score, I think, than what I've heard other trilogies regurgitate. It was beautiful (again, not negative) but I kinda missed the classic character themes. I did notice one similar theme ... from Episodes I-II-III ... the Anakin / Padme love theme! It came back. I don't remember exactly which scene, but I totally heard it at least twice in Force Awakens. That was a shocker because I remember it getting not-so-rave fan reviews.

heh heh, I wanted the homage to the myths of my childhood I got, for sure.... would not have settled for anything else (okay, maybe I would have)... it was done with the right mix of reverence and humor... the film was very meta-aware of what it was doing

good ears with the music, I wasn't sure anyone else noticed the element from the prequels

I watched it today. It is my third favorite star wars film.

The scene with the thing and those guys and they re all "WeeeeEEEEOOOOOOh! Cushaw Cushaw!" .... Brilliant.

Should have been louder and the film revealed things that I would have preferred were left as a big reveal in the next films like Vader being Lukes dad.

I hear ya on all counts, but I get what Abrams was going for too. Fun movie overall, right? I did NOT sit in the theater picking it apart like I expected to, I just enjoyed the ride for the most part, which is what makes it a worthy sequel.

i've watched it three times, still can't get enough with all of the TIE, X-Wing and Millennium Falcon dogfight scene :)) combining those scenes with the music scoring, goosebumps.

I may see it a second time in the 4-d seats that move with the movie.

Its my third favorite stars wars film to date. It did a wonderful job of not pissing me off, as well as mirroring Episodes 1 and 4.

I have 4 issues with the film and if anyone can guess what they are... you get to feel good about yourself.

if I could read minds, Boom? I would be using that skill on people with more to offer me than self-esteem.... or maybe I would be using it to convince storm troopers to release me...