[SideswipePrime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgileSiamang7

By being nearly the same as episode 4 at the beginning and towards the end, how is it not nostalgia baiting? They don't seem to want to risk doing something too new, so they get everyone in the seats and keep them there by re-telling a New Hope with some add-ons (really well acted add ons, but with this plot they're still essentially add-ons) and the removal of older characters, in Han's case permanently (no problem with Han dying, besides the fact that they set it up pretty similar to Ben's death. I'd have no problem with the imagery/symbolism if the rest of that act wasn't the recreation of a New Hope). Everyone who seems to like this film is giving it a pass for basically doing the same thing it did the first time around, just one a bigger scale (more planets destroyed) and a different old man killed by a Sith. If any other movie or franchise did this, everyone would be hissing and booing, and I refuse to give Star Wars a pass just because I like some of their films before.

Even the parts that were it's own they just rushed. So R2-D2 just had the rest of the map to where Luke was and wouldn't wake up, even though he was safely in Resistance hands till that little piece was secured? He could have at least shown them that part of of the map, so they could send some forces to search their undercover, since apparently the First Order has apparently the same 90% map according to Ben, and you can be sure the sequel will have First Order forces playing a guessing game and scouring any planet in the area for Luke. Instead we just have Rey rush to him quickly, no problem, and movie ends with them sharing an awkward glance.

Part of the reason everyone and their mother kept hating prequel Anakin was because he whined like a child. Ben does the exact same, but he gets a pass. I don't disagree with people's view of Anakin, there's no denying that, but how is Kylo Ren anything other than a whiny fanboy of his Grandpa's bad half? Not all Sith are brooding, Dooku had a dignified way of handling himself, and Maul was just intimidating. Ren is basically everything people hated about the ruined Vader image, but now they're accepting it. Why, because he can stop a beam in mid-motion? That's cool, but it doesn't save his character. When he's holding Rey hostage he actually tries that nonsense Anakin was spouting on the Mustafar after slaughtering all those jedi: rationalizing his side as the good guys. Anakin tires to sound like some sort of justified person after killing little kids, and Ren calls the Resistance murderers after vaporizing 5 whole planets. If anything, Ren comes off worse.

Because to me "nostalgia baiting" is when you just cheaply throw stuff in without context, and do it soley for just "Hey! I remember that!" and I'm not giving it a free pass because it's Star Wars. If there's one thing the Star Wars fandom has proven is that there are no free passes, just look at how hated the prequels are, and I've come to see that Kylo is a "You love him or you hate him" character. I wasn't talking about his deeds when I said he was Anakin done better, but more in terms of motivation, and how he was acted. He's much more convincing in that role, and I think he pulls it off well. People don't necessarily hate Anakin just for his whiny-ness. It's also because we only saw him in a negative light, and because he was so easily swayed, it was insulting, so his fall to the dark side wasn't this horrible tragic turn, but more of "Yeah, ok, sure this is happening now." and I'm not giving it a free pass "because it's Star Wars" Disney and Abrams new that they couldn't mess it up, so I'd rather this then they take too many risks, and we end up with another Phantom Menace. Play it safe for the first one, then do your own thing with the other ones, once you've got people on board. That and while at it's very base it follows the same story beats, it does a lot different, like the whole beginning is basically new stuff, and the new content does outweigh the old.

As for R2-D2, I don't know why he didn't...I'd have to watch it again. As for Rey, I mean, she DID have the map, so why wouldn't she rush to find him? As for the last shot, yeah, the helicopter shot was kinda dumb.