Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Movie Review

Yeah there was a reason why kylo ren lost to rey on the snowy forest fight.. it wasnt lazy writing.. kylo ren had “compassion” to rey as snoke said, “your failure was was a not because of her strength, it is because of your weakness” it will make sense in episode 8

why did rey win? because feminism! it's time for a female protagonist!

Episode 10-12 should've been called the "pre-prequels".

Sorry Star Wars fans…The Last Jedi is shit…an awful movie. Don’t trust those rotten tomato scores, critics were paid and a big fan base pushed it hard. Very disappointed with the movie. Fire the director and hire a grown up to write the script…just awful.

The force awakens its not a good movie its a hardcore softreboot. Its a copypasta that kills original ideas, its basically fanservice for nostalgiafags

Watched it again yesterday, still like it…. and i didn't like any of the older movies… sorry don't kill me, please xD
I know is not a perfect movie but perfect movies and difficult to come by in general…

Strongly disliked it

To me this is a Solid 7/10 Film about where I'd put Rogue One and Return of the Jedi
But to me I want more Films like Empire and Revenge of the Sith, more personal stories and you dont leave the theater asking questions but being hyped up from what you just saw.

TFA just has too many things left unsaid, which hey maybe one day knowing the infomation will make me like the film more now but as of now. Without knowing why so many characters are doing what they are I'm lost.
Anyway solid film, but fuck the Death Star a 3rd time

Although Ren gets shot by the crossbow by chewie

you do know kylo was seriously injured when he fought rey right? he took a crossbow hit from chewie and was still able to fight. the same crossbow they showed not once but twice literally blow multiple people away. he also had a lightsaber wound from his fight with finn. did you miss that? oh, and he had just killed his father that might have a bit of his attention too

I'm not saying the criticism of Rey beating Kylo is unjustified, but I think the argument can be made either way. I personally think they did an acceptable job of showing how injured Kylo already was, bleeding and clearly in pain. So it made it more believable that an infuriated, revenge-seeking Rey would beat an injured and exhausted Kylo, regardless of who gets more training. Training only goes so far. Also, I think the argument could be made that Kylo losing was done for Kylo's character, not for Rey's. You're saying that Rey beating Kylo cheapens Rey's character because we're less sympathetic to her, where I'd argue that the opposite is true, Rey beating Kylo gives us sympathy for Kylo Ren, and will help us understand his motivations down the line. They basically did the opposite of what they did for Luke, and I think that will help cement Kylo Ren as a great villain down the line if it pays off.

I never understood the criticism that Poe abandons BB-8? Abandons how?

I didn't find the characters charismatic, compelling, consistent or well written. They all acted forced and unconvincing. Most of them I despise Po and the black stormtrooper which name I don' even remember. They are acting so out of the character it's unforgiving. Instead of being a trained soldier as a Grey Worm but with a little more personality – he is a forced Luke 2.0. But Luke was consistent with his backstory. And that joke about his maintenance squad ugh, just kys writers. Po has been a soldier for years. He is another trained military guy yet acts like a farm boy.
This movie was supposed to reboot the franchize making it better. All I've seen is a quickie for money. Lots of cut corners and poor writing forced by time schedule. Tens of little issues that could be fixed if anyone actually cared for quality. But hey marketing was good, audience was ripe for a new star wars film, so why bother wasting time on quality if they can harvest a huge chunk of moneycake and move to the next one.
Marketing beats quality. If you pay for it before you can see it – it doesn't have to be good, it just needs to be overhyped. I actually had to watch a star wars VII commercial on youtube before watching the star wars VII trailer.
Now I'm gonna wait and pirate every one of their new movies until I see some quality that deserves money.

As has been stated before, Kylo is in serious emotional and physical pain while combatting Rey. Hell, he toyed with Finn and let him get a few good strikes until he finished him off.

Rey having a surge of force power makes a lot of sense, actually. Those who cry foul fail to realize how little Luke trained with Yoda and how often Luke went against his instruction. Yet he was able to fight a known Sith Lord and hold his own?

Star Wars is malleable, but nit- picky extremists try to clamp down on its rules without truly accepting that it is not a rigidly defined universe like Star Trek or the Mass Effect series. Honestly, it’s precisely why I love it so much.

No one understands the force fully. Which makes it so mysterious and so badass when it’s on display.

HOW can someone like fin just HOW THE FCK? he is like a new jar jar

I disagree with your assertion that Carrie Fisher has had the least success of the original trio after RotJ. She may not have been starring in a ton of movies after that, but she did have a successful writing career and her filmography shows that she had steady work from the 80s up until her death.

My issue with him taking off his mask to interrogate Rey is that it ruins the reveal. Imagine if we never saw Kylo Ren's face, and they never revealed that Han was his father.

Fast forward to Star Killer base when we as the audience look on in shock and confusion as Han rushes out to confront Kylo. The uncertainty we would have felt as Han bantered with Kylo. And when Han demands Kylo remove his mask, and Kylo asks Han what he expects to see, we would have gotten the bombshell reveal, "The face of my son!" It would have had a far greater impact, and a hell of a reveal.

You hit the nail on the head on how quickly they rushed Rey into being power. Though have to look at what Disney has been doing for the last few years. Pushing hard using Star Wars as a platform to push some Female Only agenda or something crackpot. As the head of Disney is not a bright bulb. Don't get me wrong. I am not bothered by Rey being a Strong Female Lead. Yet….the fact she went from a girl who had no freaking idea who she is. Right to the point of beating down a man who was a vastly better fighter than her. I mean seriously. It isn't sexist at all if he was. As he was freaking trained by a damn Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker (and yes Luke is a Jedi Master…it is canon on how he got that title. He didn't just give himself the title. Look it up). Really it was poorly written and if anything. It would have been a better idea if she was wounded but Kylo couldn't connect with the final blow. As Starkiller Base started to rip apart and Rey ran off using the chaos to flee. It would have been a far more favorable outcome. Even with Kylo being injured. He should have bested Rey.

Yet of course. Once The Last Jedi is released. Watch and suddenly hear the wave of crying. As Rey's hand gets cut off. Suddenly Star Wars fans will cry out the whole trilogy is clearly a soft reboot of the original trilogy. Just watch. (And to those who are dirty scumbags who did see the movie before it was released…illegally. Shut it). Though if that does not happen. Well, maybe there is hope for Lucas Arts with their Mouse Eared Overlords.

I still fail to see the issue with the Rey/Kylo fight considering the circumstances and context of said fight. Rey spends the first part of it in retreat, she's clearly not fighting like some Jedi expert – and Kylo is also coming to the plate with two strikes and two outs in addition to him not wanting to actually kill/beat her but convince her to join with him.

But then, I'm of the mind that Rey, while being the weakest of the three main characters, is still decently developed, just that a lot of it is done visually or in passing, quick little asides.

totally agree with u. its a great movie but sw fans are super critical. with good reason but i still liked it alot and im a huge sw fan myself. i also enjoy the prequils

Well, it's Star Wars, the fan version. It's not a bad thing. The fandom exists, some of the new actors are part of it. Directors are part of it – and it was done well. In a few hours I'll know if now they have the confidence to make something different.

I agree with the general tone – it's a good movie, very enjoyable, very fun. It has problems but personally I don't mind them very much.

As for Rey – I think she has a weakness. Not one that is easy to see because it's things she does not do, she does not even try to do, rather then things she tries and fails. She has no plan, no goal no idea what to do other than GTFO. She does not do anything. She does not take the lightsaber (until the end) she escapes Kylo Ren and then wanders about the base doing nothing until she meets the rescuers (and even then does not do much). So she needs to learn to make some decisions and find her path. Even if she does not need more power there is room for her to grow. On the other hand it makes her a passive character, which is a problem – but her constant unaimed activity, her power and the acting distract us enough to barely notice.

Finn is the opposite. He is always planing and manouvering. He gets Poe to take him off the Star Destroyer, he gets Han to take him to Starkiller Base. For a killing machine he got some good training in the art of deception (which is actually a problem – he is not supposed to be that good, but it highlights Rey's weakness).

A little late, isn't it?

Best review of a space based earth movie by an earth based space cricket. 10.4/8.7 would definitely watch again – the review not the movie, it sucked hard.

how much percent do I agree with you Beau?

It's over 9000!

What a fantastic review. By far the most unbiased take I've seen. Bravo good sir.

I honestly don't understand how anyone can claim this film was good. It's the worst of the star wars film. Bad acting, writing, dialogue, action & special effects. All the characters are poorly developed if at all. Literally every single character has no motivation. Finn was an overtly racist caricature of a runaway slave. Finn as character, exist solely as a plot device to pump up the awesomeness of Rey. The acting ability of Jon Boyega is clear, but he's given shit to work with. Daisy Ridley can't act for shit. Her acting was so bad, it became distracting throughout the entire film. She has two settings, look up wide eyed & gritting her teeth to look tough. I remember stories about thousands of actresses auditioning for the that role. No one will ever convince me, that she gave the best audition.

First watch, as the stormtroopers ran toward & then retrieved him, I legit thought Po was being dragged in front of (to then be killed by) his own blaster bolt!

I'm so tired of people who rip on it cause it's a re-hash. Seriously the movie was amazing in terms of balancing. People will never be satisfied. If there's no callbacks people would be complaining. I'm sure of it no matter what the hard core fan base are gonna rip on it like they can make a better one.

you have a way of arguing in a way where you're still respecting the the other argument. like with the last fight of kylo and rey. i do believe maybe they should've done a better job at showing kylo's vulnerability than they did because he got shot in the leg by chewies crossbow blaster and that it can hit hard like a grenade. so they gave the advantage to rey. kylo was getting weaker through out the fight because y'know he's losing a lot of blood. maybe show some close ups of his injured leg, wound and trail of blood before they fought.

Kylo was hit in the gut by the bowcaster, the same weapon that blew an armored storm trooper off his feet and killed him instantly, and when fighting Rey, she was on the defense the entire time, basically stumbling and running away and only overcoming him at the end, barely. Meanwhile, you talk about "vulnerability", but Luke's arc in ANH was exactly the same, if not worst. Luke, with no training and no experience flying an Xwing, out maneuvers darth vader and uses the force to destroy the super weapon space station, the death star, with a 1/1000000 shot. If you find fault with how the movie ended with Rey, you have to say the same for Luke.

Everyone is calm about TFA. TFA has a 93% on rotten tomatoes, and even RedLetterMedia, objectively the best movie reviewers when it comes to star wars, and also the most critical of Star Wars, gave the FTA a thumbs up. While the main criticism of it being a soft reboot is certainly a fault, obviously rehashing a lot of the same beats from ANH, it added a lot to the franchise and was a superbly directed, acted, produced and edited film.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a great return to form for this franchise. Yes it can be seen as a retelling of A New Hope, but I am willing to forgive this because the new characters are very intriguing and unlike Rogue One’s characters, MEMORABLE!! Rey is a fantastic protagonist and the mystery around her character is one of the more intriguing parts of the film. Kylo Ren is a formidable villain that is as ever humane as he is opposing, and the conflict surrounding his love for the dark side but also the hidden love he has for his family makes him a conflicted character who’s arch I can’t wait to see established through future films . Finn is a lovable character, not my favorite, but John Boyega definitely gives his all. Seeing the return of Han, Leia, Chewie and even Luke was not only nostalgic, but wonderfully incorporated into the story. Great direction, great characters, and an overall enjoyable film that reminded me why I love Star Wars so much.

Great review! I agree almost entirely, the only amendment i would say is that you failed to mention that Kylo was badly injured in his duel against Rey. He was hit by Chewies bowcaster which in the very same film had been seen to send people flying apon hitting them, Kylo barely flinched when hit but giving that we know the power of the weapon and that they went to effort to emphasis his injury during the duel (with both images of him hitting the wound and of his blood on the snow) you can assume they were giving you an out as to why the super powerful Kylo was defeated.

I would also argue that killing his own father not a few moments earlier might have played a role in lack of focus, just thought it was worth mentioning due to you dismissal of duel scene as a complete mistake. Otherwise great review, as always.

Fuck this movie

Really don't understand the appeal of Kylo Ren. I love his lightsaber design and it was awesome when he stopped that blaster bolt, but all of the intimidation established by that scene completely evaporated when he starts throwing tantrums. To me, he seems even more annoyingly whiny and emo than Anakin. At least Anakin faced some real trauma and had some good reason to be unstable and turn to the dark side. Maybe they'll reveal something similar with Kylo in the next movies, but so far, it seems like he turned just cause he wants to be Darth Vader.

Honestly, I prefer the novel of TFA as the movie just I find is disappointing. I do NOT think it is the worst SWs movie. Anyone who thinks this way needs to be slapped. ATC really holds that title for good reason. But at the same time, this movie isn't amazing either. My biggest gripe with this movie besides the lack of world building is that it betrays its main plot: finding Luke Skywalker. The entire movie was building upon locating Luke and portions of the map and is basically pushed aside for Starkiller base. Which there is NO excuse. If you want to do a superweapon, fine but explain it/ make it something unique. As for finding Luke, there's a reason why we got that dumb Deus Ex Machina in the movie with R2D2. Maybe, had the map been on the base and have Poe try to find it would have worked. Overall, I give the movie a 65/100. It has its moments but really it is a glorified TV pilot. But better things are coming in my view with TLJ.

This is an excellent movie review.

Basically, TFA had strong characterisation but a weak plot which is why I rate Rogue One slightly better overall.

TFA: Characterisation A, Narrative E -> Overall C
Rogue One: Characterisation C, Narrative B -> Overall B minus

I didn't agree with everything you said but I appreciated your perspective. I seriously hope the last Jedi is going to be as good as fans of the TFA seem to think it will be, as I want a the series to be great but I am not sure it will.

I agree 100% on everything you said. Great use of words. You should do more videos

I agree 42%

I want rey to use the force on my lightsaber

The main problem I have with saying "Rey shouldn't be able to beat Kylo Ren because she has no combat experience" is that the first time we meet her, Rey is shown beating down several dudes with her staff. She hasn't used a lightsaber before, but she's no novice when it comes to wielding a melee weapon. And Kylo was really, REALLY wounded. Like, he got shot with a Wookie bowcaster, which has been shown to be no joke. So while Rey is a little too good at some things, I don't have a problem with her winning.