Paul_SD

The negatives amount to the story which is full of "remember when you first saw this? Remember how cool that was? well here it is again with a slight spin"
Part reboot/ part remake is as huge a spoiler as you need to know going in to adjust your expectations.
But then being Abrams, people should have been expecting this...especially with all the familiar iconography on display right down to the death starry looking thing on the one sheets.
If you were hoping for a narrative to blast off in new directions worthy of those visuals in the trailers and TV spots, you might be disappointed.

OTOH, I'm seeing nothing but praise for the new characters. People, even ones that have issues with the story, like them quite a bit and that is a huge leap over the prequel experience.
If they can shake the "been there/done that" with the next two films, then the new trilogy should be a clear net success.

dex14

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Brack

Love Paul's pre-review, as if he doesn't even need to see the movie to know how to fix the sequels. It's rather uncanny.

Paul_SD

Brack, do you know/realize just how much of TFA cribs from the OT?

Brack

Nope, since I'm not hip to what "cribs" means? Is that slang for borrows or imitates?

Rob V

You base this On what? The poster?

Paul_SD

Well, I had my suspicions based on all the old familiar iconography that has been on display all along (tie fighters, x-wings, stormtroopers...all tweaked slightly but by and large comfortingly familiar)

add to that Abrams track record as a filmmaker who seems to love to revisit good stuff that he enjoyed in his youth, but tweaking it so that it is supposedly new ("KAHHHHHNNNNN!")

and this was confirmed from reading just two reviews that don't recite a plot blow by blow synopsis, but do drop a few plot points



Will be interesting to see how much that list will grow once people actually see the film.
And I do believe there is a big difference between a homage and plagerism.
I can just imagine what it was like for Lucas to sit in an audience watching people responding enthusiastically to material he basically already created almost 40 years ago, but that now has someone else's name attached to it like they created it out of whole cloth.

Brack

Well as long as the script is good, then it can be said they created it out of whole cloth, since he hasn't written a really good script since the original Star Wars.

E Unit

Has it been mentioned how long the IMAX sequences are? Or is it just one sequence?

Mike86

I knew there was going to be a lot of callbacks to the original film. A lot of things have hinted at that the entire time. I guess I don't really see it as an issue either if the film is good.

joe_b

Another obvious ripoff homage of the original film...

It's like poetry... every stanza kinda rhymes with the last one.

candyrocket786

Well...speaking of recycled shit.

Mabuse

FYI, The Phantom Menace was full of call backs and references too.

joe_b

^ True, but nothing that blatant. It didn't completely copy entire scenes... the closest was blowing up the droid control ship (at least there was no trench run) and the victory celebration at the end.

Ranger

What did they borrow from the EU novels? I can only think of:

candyrocket786

Big Boy Laroux

ok, that's it. i'm out of this thread. the desire to click is too great. Later!

Mike86

Yeah me too. Its too tempting to click on the spoiler tags but I want to go in not knowing much and only have to wait until tomorrow night.

fumanstan

There should really be a Star Wars lore thread

Abob Teff

Damnit, spoiler that shit! I didn't need to know that Khan was in this movie!

I understand it can be hard to watch other people take over something that you created and poured your heart and soul into. However, as for Lucas sitting back and watching, isn't that what he has gotten fat off of for the last 40 years? He didn't write any of those novels or comic books or video games or ... It's just that he doesn't get the final stamp of approval on the cash printing machine anymore.

Solid Snake

SW and ESB are great films. RotJ is a flawed as hell. I hated the PT.

Not a SW fan at all. I just like good movies. And I'm pretty pumped for this too.

bunkaroo

Guh?

Seriously just let it go. You either misspoke or you're wrong. Either way, move on?

Mabuse

Going through the planet core was like Empire when they fly into the asteroid creature's mouth, numerous people "have a bad feeling about this", they go to Tatooine, the wise eldest Jedi gets killed by the bad guy Sith, Palpatine's guards are a call back to his red guards from ROTJ, that's just off the top of my head.

AOTC had even more.

My point is that the presence or lack of call backs, references, fan service, whatever you want to call it, does not in itself indicate anything regarding quality.

Paul_SD

I know very little about this film, only a few general plot points.
Nothing you cited is anywhere close to how TFA "references" it's sequences, nor how they fit into the service of the film as a whole.
If I simply say two words-, that's pretty much all you need to know. Nothing will be much of a surprise after that and everything will succumb to a "oh I see what you did there, Abrams" reaction.

This doesn't seem to bother most (all?) reviewers who seem to be very happy that the film has zip and pep and light-on-it's-feet humor, along with some enjoyably charismatic new characters.

Not having seen the film, on basic principle I'm not keen on what Abrams has done just because it is creatively lazy to the Nth degree.

OTOH, maybe this is exactly what needed to be done since Lucas had poisoned the OT well so thoroughly over the last 20+ years with his endless tinkering and 'fans are the problem' attitude.

Now everyone, young and old, can go forward- all on the same page and just ignore the OT for all intents and purposes since so much of it will be .

Rob V

I'm done with this thread until Saturday lol... See ya!