Thoughts on STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS!

Stewart here…

Okay, I plan to keep the first half of this post relatively spoiler-free, but will discuss more specific points in the latter half, so don’t worry, YOU’LL BE WARNED.

So, let’s start off with some broad things about Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

–The new characters? Great. The old ones? Great (with a slight exception, but that’s a spoiler).

–Rey and Finn: awesome team.

–Han Solo’s arc? That was a surprise.

–Kylo Ren is luckily not Vader 2.0.

–Poe Dameron is the shizznit.

–I always said J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films were more Star Wars, and he does a great job at finally applying that style to an actual Star Wars movie.

–Sigh, YES you don’t have to worry about an insane amount of lens flares.

–Been a while since I’ve seen a Star Wars movie that was, well, funny. There’s jokes that land, and sight gags that are hilarious.

–Where this movie ends? Oh what a great way to end this chapter.

–No talks about trade routes, blockades, or midichlorians. That alone puts this higher than the prequels.

–Comic relief that is FUNNY comic relief.

–Some great practical creature work, which does inadvertently affect the primarily motion capture characters.

–I so want one of those BB-8s its not funny.

–Lots of callbacks to the original Star Wars, maybe too much, but that’s in the spoilers.

–There was two or so moments during this where I legitimately got misty-eyed, and those weren’t really the big moments of the film that they happened in.

And now, we’re getting into SPOILERS, so if you haven’t seen the movie, you can stop here, then come back later.

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No, seriously, SPOILERS are next, so if you keep going, that’s on you.

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Look, I mean it this time. Don’t complain to me if you go any further. OKAY?

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–“Hello! It’s me, C-3PO! You may not recognize me because of my red arm!”

–Kylo Ren using his Force powers to hold that laser blast in mid-air? Damn!

–The reveal of the Millennium Falcon was so perfect.

–HAN SOLO DIES! I suspected he was doomed once he confronted his son, Ben (oh yeah, Kylo Ren is Han and Leia’s son) on that platform, but jeez, you could hear a pin drop in the almost full theater I watched it in before it happened. And Leia’s reaction to it was heartbreaking.

–Kylo Ren is an interesting villain, and once you see who he is, you also find out he’s not meant to be the imposing presence Vader is, but he’s a jerk kid who has an arc that seems like the one Anakin should have had in the prequels. He’s challenged by Rey, and because he thinks he’s so much the better fighter, gets his ass handed to him.

–By the way, that scene in the interrogation room where Rey turns things on Kylo was so wonderful. And then her attempt to use mind control on the stormtrooper was great (by the way, I read that stormtrooper was voiced by Daniel Craig).

–R2-D2 being in sleep mode, for a really obscure reason. It just seems weird he’s relegated into storage until the end.

–Hi, Captain Phasma! Bye, Captain Phasma!

–That final Lightsaber fight might be one of my favorite Lightsaber fights ever. And Finn’s failure in fighting Ren gave a great payoff in Rey besting Ren.

–ANOTHER planet killer? Well, it does destroy five planets at once, so I guess that’s a step up. Also, its a hollowed out planet, which I can see taking thirty odd years to do.

–Luke appears in the climax, but doesn’t say anything. I’m kind of cool with this.

–That space barge scene with the CG monsters was a bit much.

–Here’s hoping they work on the CG for Snoke, because it’s not there yet.

–BB-8’s “thumbs up”. Han asking to use Chewie’s crossbow.

–Chewie shooting Kylo in the guts after he murders Han was great. And then later, Kylo keeps hitting his wound like he’s psyching himself up to fight.

–Also, blood in this movie.