Nerd Blasphemy, Redux.

[theweaselking]

Went to see The Force Awakens - non-3D on a Sunday afternoon meant a nice non-crowded theatre

Comments

Finally, I can talk about Star Wars

[livejournal]

User andrewducker referenced to your post from Finally, I can talk about Star Wars saying: [...] see it again, so I can experience it without expectations hanging over me. has a good review here [...]

[kalimac]

What got me about the map was that it reveals the location of Luke Skywalker, as if he were some kind of natural feature on the landscape.

[damerell]

[theweaselking]

All Jedi have an inherent sense of drama. It's the first Force Power they teach at Jedi School.

[glenn_3]

Wasn't it a map to the Jedi temple Luke went to find? The First Order got their copy from the records of the Empire, I think they said, so it doesn't make sense that it's a map to Luke. (Or rather, it didn't start its existence as a map to Luke.)

But yeah, lucky thing he didn't move on since he found it. Of course, when not working to police the galaxy, Jedi do seem to pretty much just grow roots in some isolated place.

[damerell]

[eididdy]

With the acknowledgement that I haven't yet read all of your comments, I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen one mention of how many scenes/characters/situations seemed like they were taken from the older movies. I thought you'd be all over that.

[theweaselking]

I mostly shrugged at that. They're consciously setting up a third-generation parallel to Eps 4-6 and 2-3[1]. And it feels particularly clumsy because JJ Abrams tries to be George Lucas but lacks the talent, vision, and skill[2], but the fact that the parallels are clumsy doesn't make them accidental or bad. Star Wars is always about generations, the sins of the father being addressed (sometimes poorly!) by the generation after

[eididdy]

I liked the movie, but this was just the stuff I could think of off the top of my head:
-Droid given secret information during attack by bad guys, subsequently lost and hunted on desert world.
-Tortured member of good guys is saved by not-Stormtrooper.
-Bad guys have planet-sized weapon that is used to blow up planets.
-Forested/jungle world with tan stone temples, i.e. Yavin IV, take 2.
-Small, wrinkled humanoid has insight into the Force.
-Hoth, take 2.
-Death Star small, vulnerable spot, take 3. Fourth-wall Breaking explanation doesn't really help.

I don't mind callbacks, but when it feels like names were crossed off one script and replaced with others, that's a little irritating.