The biggest problem with TFA was...

This is the exact some question i had after i first came out of the movie, then i thought.
Ill talk about why she might have developed so fast according to fact, then theories.

She's obviously heard stories of the Jedi before (how else would she know to try the Jedi mind trick). She knows how it works, but to her it's just a fantasy story, until she discovers it within herself. All the knowledge of those "stories" she then puts to use. Luke in New Hope, was fascinated by a lightsaber, and Obi-Wan's mind tricks, so in that aspect she is already a step ahead.

Almost certainly, she is more powerful than Luke, which is really the only origin story of someone learning how to use the force, that we really know. (could use Anakin as an example but it kinda got lost between 1 and 2). We are using Luke's story in the OT, as the basis of our knowledge of how fast a Jedi develops. Rey could just simply put, be more powerful than Luke, and hence why she developed faster.

NOW TO THEORIES!!!
- Rey was trained as a child (possibly by her father? Luke?), and her mind was wiped and left on Jakku
This would explain why it came so suddenly. When Kylo Ren exposed her to the force, it awakened inside her, triggering a power than had laid dormant inside her for years, or that she though she forgot.

 

I adore this movie. Despite that, the biggest problem I had was the Starkiller base destroying 5 planets and it not making a difference to the story at all. We don't even know what is going on there. I know they tell us about it but I think with a few more minutes of setup that would have played better. I think setting up the Republic as essentially burying their heads in the sand on the fact that the First Order was building Starkiller base would have worked wonders as well. They could have even had Leia warning them about it.

These are minor gripes in a movie that I think is amazing.

 

You would be correct and that is the biggest downfall in most sequels. They always try to outdo the last by multiplying the previous films strong points.

Debbie Does Dallas for instance. If they were to make a sequel they would make it Debbie Does The NFL. Episode three would be Debbie Does Every Sport Team. And Episode 4 would be Debbie Does The United States. And Episode 5 Would Be Debbie Does The World.

The reason? Human stupidity. No one has figured out yet that you can have a sequel that doesn't mimic and enlarge the last but rather do something a tree does.... BRANCH. Branch off and do something new. Not every Star Wars movie HAS to have the fate of the galaxy at hand. It could be something simple as a character trying to find their way.

But human error will always repeat itself and that is why we got death star 3.0. Wait till next episode. A GALAXY DESTROYER.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 23, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 23, 2015 ---

Ask yourself why TESB is regarded as one of the films best. The fate of the galaxy wasn't at stake. It was about discovery and adventure.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 23, 2015 ---

test

 

I think you made a great point. She could have heard of the "Jedi powers" as myths, and realized she was force sensitive and tried it out. I buy into that thanks for the reply

 

Yeah, that felt a little downplayed in the film, especially considering we knew virtually nothing about the political atmosphere in the Galaxy at the time. Reading background info about the Republic/Resistance/First Order relationship helped me understand the situation more, but on first watch I was rather confused about the situation as well.

 

Listen, it's clear we just interpret these things differently, but you're cherrypicking hard.

If you feel let down that the OT heroes weren't heroic enough, that's fine, but your willful incredulity towards other people's interpretation is silly.

 

Great post. You're absolutely right. JJ and LK (in agreement with Disney) had the OT heroes backslide so that the new generation could seem more important and clued in. It's utterly shameful. But it'll make them a lot of money. I'm so close to being done with Star Wars right now, every time I read someone support this crime. I just... it makes me sick. I mean, people are fine with Luke f***ing Skywalker weeping over a gravestone every day for the last 14 years? That's what he does. Get up. Cry. Look out across the ocean. Cry. Look back down. Cry. Go to sleep. Cry. Get up. Cry. WTF. Those people aren't Star Wars fans.

If there was no way to make Episode 7 without undermining the accomplishments of the OT heroes, then it shouldn't have been made. And I'd have been fine with that.

 

Its just a reboot of episodes 4, 5 and 6 all in one but without the music!

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 23, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 23, 2015 ---

Let me expand...

Episode 4 - Orphan on a desert planet meets a droid with a vital message that has to be delivered to the good guys...

Episode 5 - Dad and Son have serious family issues...

Episode 6 - The good guys blow up a shield generator and then a death star killer thing

Episode 7 - Orphan on a desert planet meets a droid with a vital message that has to be delivered to the good guys... Dad and Son have serious family issues...The good guys blow up a shield generator and then a death star killer thing...

 

KK said Lucasfilm wanted to bring in a new generation fans to SW who've never seen SW before. So TFA kind of does that, condensing the elements of the OT into one single film, which is familiar to older fans but not too similar.

 

Starkiller Base. Wish they would have gone with something other than Death Star 3.0.

 

IMO the biggest problem I had with The force awakens is the same problem I had with The phantom menace. The climax of both films feel rushed and it seemed like the writers, directors, producers, whatever were so focused on staying within a certain time frame that they made careless and avoidable mistakes regarding the continuity of both stories as a whole. An example of this is the epic amount of Villain decay Darth Maul and Kylo Ren suffered in their final battles with the heroes of there stories. From his establishing character moment on Tatooine where he not only proves to be skilled enough to keep up with a Jedi Master but has enough raw power to send said Jedi Master running for his life. HE WAS ONLY AN APPRENTICE mind you. Now fast forward to the climax of the film were Maul not only takes on the Jedi Master again but also takes on his apprentice simultaneously! It was two against one and even though Maul was out numbered he was still dominating. He KILLS the Jedi Master and knocks the apprentice down a shaft. the apprentice now weakened and hanging on for dear life suddenly gains enough strength to not only propel himself out of the shaft but to propel himself over his opponent "WHO HAD THE HIGH GROUND", was more skilled than him, who also had one of the most deadliest lightsabers in the whole franchise and CUT HIM IN HALF!........yeah right! Now on to the Master of the Knights of Ren. Kylo on his introduction was introduced as exceptionally powerful force user. The fact that he could stop an energy bolt mid air interrogate Poe, command Phasma and her troops, intimidate Finn and then release said energy bolt from his subconscious force grip shows he has enough skill and raw ability to out class many of the Jedi/Sith Masters from the golden era. I have never seen any of them show that level of matter and energy manipulation. not only that but his extra sensory perception was so acute that he could sense far away occurrences with precise detail. His predecessors clairvoyant abilities only allowed the to feel what was happening. Kylo had full blown telepathy! Now lets fast forward to his final battle. A "critically injured" Kylo uses super speed to not only beat Rey and Finn to Starkiller Forrest, even though they were closer to the exit, but has enough energy to telekinetically lift Rey up and fling her into a tree with enough momentum to knock her unconscious. He then proceeds to harass our heroines boyfriend and out of nowhere the boyfriend displays melee skills that would have been useful earlier when he was fighting one of his fellow storm troopers, that completely beat the brakes off him. Finn lasted the fight longer then he should have and within the 15 secs it surprisingly took Kylo to slice Finn open, Rey COMPLETELY recovered from her concussion with no side effects whatsoever and won a game of Force tug of war with the molecular level telekinetic Kylo Ren......................................................She then proceeds to give Kylo the long over due spanking that Leia and Han should have given the 30 year old manchild years ago but even my disdain for Kylo wouldn't allow me to over look the fact that our girl Rey has not been trained a lick. Her final hour superpowers came out of nowhere and before I get bombarded with "theories" of her forgotten five years of youngling training and her downloading all of Kylos skills through their Vulcan Mind Meld. Let me say that five years of youngling training is not enough for some to be able to use Jedi Mind tricks, win a game of force tug of war with a more experienced force user and beat the more experienced force user in a lightsaber duel. Also if force sensitives could download abilities from and into one another Then why didn't Obiwan and Yoda save some very valuable time and lives by just installing all their knowledge and experience into Luke?

 

Remember, Sith use their aggression as a part of the dark side of the force. The Jedi are more reformed and stuff like that which is why Wui-Gon Jinn lost also due to his age. Ono-Wan Kenobi almost tapped into the dark side of the force to KILL Mail much like Rey did in TFA. Also, thanks for the novel, it woke me up .

 

That is brilliantly funny! I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time! Thank you!

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 24, 2016, Original Post Date: Jan 24, 2016 ---

So, TFA didn't break the narrative into paragraphs so it was easier to read?

Yeah, me too. Run-on paragraphs are so frustrating!

 

Movies that are too vague are frustrating !

 

Yes! That thing with the person after they did that.

 

That thing called The a force Awakens that confused us further !

 

No, TFA didn't follow the continuity of it's own narrative or the Star Wars canon for that matter so it would be less frustrating and easier to understand.

 

TFA was very good but NOT great.
It had a few flaws & things I would have changed.
Here are a few big gripes/bits:
1) the editing-pacing, I agree with a few members that more scenes & texture should have been added. JJ & Kasdan chose the easy route to appeal to teens, millenials rather than tell a rich, fulling story.
2) the deliberate attempt to say how signifigent & important Luke Skywalker is, yet choose NOT to use him or have him be in the climax or 3rd act.
3) The whole Maz & her castle bit. This was a great character & could have been terrific like Yoda in TESB but JJ/Bad Robot picked rushing things & removing some of this material with Maz. She could of narrated a brief flashback scene to clear up a few points to Rey about the 30-35 year gap but no, we get a fast-edit mishmash .
4) the hurry up/hey so what attack on Star Killer Base. So the "plot" is a small group of fighter space ships destroy a weapon the size of a planet, which by the dialogue & SFX/CGI is approx 100 times as large as the Death Star. WTF?

 

@Darth Rhapsodyne you make a lot of valid points. LOL. I do kind of wish they had at least inserted some "training" plot devices to aid in the plausibility of the battle. I think they did try to demonstrate how compromised Kylo was that it was plausible that he could lose the fight. I also have a theory about Finn's increased melee capabilities but I do admit that Rey's "sudden tapping into the force" does have a sort of Deus Ex Machina feel to it... but...

...it's Star Wars. I guess we to suspend our disbelief in some areas.

 

I wish they had inserted some training too or at least cut back on Kylo's abilities. He is actually the one who is over powered because if I remember correctly he was not even finished with his training but was displaying abilities that surpassed a Jedi Master from the golden era.