No one has explained this yet I think:


Why was the force sleeping? What/who woke it up? And what is the difference now that it is awake vs. before when it was sleeping? (I was never aware it was asleep, how does that work for the force anyway?)

dumdumdumdum

I think that was part of the point. The Sith were destroyed. What is left must be either very ancient Sith (possibly even the race of Sith) or someone who more or less learned from a pamphlet (ancient writings found? Manipulating Jedi-training or writings?).

He was definitely a kid. And someone said above that Rey was some expert swordsman, but that's not what I saw. I saw a lot of lousy swordsmanship from both sides. Neither was well-trained. But Rey was far more force-sensitive.

I think in the middle of the sabre fight, she was connecting to the Force and setting her mind free. "Let[ting] go" as Obi-Wan called it.

Everything I saw in the film looked purposeful, deliberate. And what I saw was a bunch of people entangled in lives they didn't much care for, and then the Force awakened in them and they followed its streams into a new path -- a new struggle.

I liked it!

Pretty much spot on mate - though I'd like to add a reminder that Rey was already very proficient at staff fighting so it's not like she lacked all of the skills required to wield a lightsaber.

Regarding Finn's abilities he has most likely been trained in the use of the Z6 Riot Control Baton that at least one Stormtrooper uses in the film. That ought to be sufficient training for him to use a lightsaber without disembowelling himself.

Yeah, Kylo Ren was badly injured and weakened. Rey merely recalled and followed the advice of Maz Kanata to close her eyes in order to better feel and connect with the force. She's far from the first Star Wars character to have done this (even during a critical moment).

Usually such "pause of meditation" happens in slowmo to suggest that it takes an instant, but in SW7 the scene wasn't done very well.

At the start of the movie he could freeze blaster lasers without any effort but at the end he was defeated in combat by a derpy stormtrooper and a newbie girl.. -_-'

I thought about that. Vader didn't stop blaster shots. He just let them come. Did he absorb the energy, like a force lightning absorption? Did his robotic hands just take it instead? If so, why didn't blast his hands off?

So then I thought, maybe he stopped it because he could. Perhaps he applied himself in a way that someone else just simply had never done before. Perhaps he spent time doing something that nobody tried to do before.

Also, he was quite crippled in the fight. His real battle was lost when he felt the pain of murdering his father. It completely blinded him from the near-death-shot from Chewy. The movie played up how powerful Chewy's crossbow was and then Kylo got hit by it and lived where others usually immediately died on impact.

So maybe he is stronger than many others in the force, but he was distracted and injured.


I don't think the Force was sleeping at all. I think the awakening of the Force was inside Rey. The Force awakened itself in her. And she was clearly very closely tied to it in a way that made her incredibly powerful.

The Force was clearly still actively working b/c Skywalker had Jedi recruits and the Dark Side had been working for a while.

Why was it asleep inside of her? What caused it to awaken? If it is so strong and she is so close to it, what is the deal? I mean, is there any basis ever anywhere in Star Wars lore that the force lies dormant somehow? IT'S THE FORCE. It surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together, and yet, it was copping a nod inside this person? Somehow not being CONNECTED to everything else? Seems like contrived BS to me!

I got home on Friday and my friends gathered to go watch in on Saturday, so I joined. Never liked the Star Wars movies much, honestly I like the Star Wars games much better than the movies and fuck disney for deleting Kyle Katarn.

In the end, it was an entertaining couple of hours. I laughed a bit, saw a few pretty explosions, then went home. I liked the droid and how well it expressed emotion, its thumbs up with the lighter was brilliant. And I liked the idea of a half trained Darth Vader fanboy being the bad guy, while he wasn't threatening at all after taking the mask off I found him hilarious somehow and I think the actor made a wonderful job of precisely not making him feel dangerous. Then again, that might not be what they were shooting for, but for me it was enjoyable in general.

I think Kylo Ren awoke the force in her (sounds suspiciously like the title of the movie) when he was mind-probing her. He was trying to draw out information she had (but didn't consciously memorize) and he bumped the wrong synapses.

Not fully trained of course but enough to a) mind-trick the Stormtrooper b) focus the fighting skills *she already had* to fight him and c) listen to Maz and close her eyes and focus on the force. Oh yeah and d) force-grab the light saber.

Who knows, she may have been trained in the force at least a little and mostly forgot because she was left on that planet when she was just small. Or the memory was purposefully blocked (a better explanation if Kylo Ren actually woke it up in her).

When she lighted up the light saber the music kinda tells you something. Not sure if it was Luke's theme or Leia's theme.

I finally watched the movie and successfully dodged spoilers. I have to say though that i was expecting Kylo Ren to kill his father. He had to do it to completely slip to the dark side. The rest was a nice nostalgia trip. Lots of recycled ideas, yet it was entertaining and for newcommers to star wars probably even more. All in all worth watching.

To start, the Force is just not super-explained. So I'm sure different people have different opinions on exactly how it works. For me, the Force is connected to everything, but not everything communicates with it. The Force seems to be a power of goodness and life, but it can be manipulated by angry, self-serving people. But the Force seems to be most-useful when people pursue goodness and the Force is there to help them along their way. I don't think Luke knew more or less about the Force when he pulled his lightsaber out of the snow in ESB. Instead, he needed his lightsaber and the Force provided. In the same way, the Force provides for Rey when she needs it. The Force is more reachable, so she reaches for it.

Again, this is how I've seen the Force. I should rewatch the OT and see exactly what Obi and Yoda say about it.

You're really desperate to hate this movie. You haven't seen it so you're just following the hive mind. Since you won't stop posting nonsense...

- Rey is extremely unlike Luke. Luke was a sheltered farm boy, anxious to have adventure. Rey is NONE of the above. She wants to stay home, despite all of the difficulties there. She never complains. Luke has his family slaughtered and has a personal stake in bringing down the empire.
- Han is absolutely NOTHING like Obi-Wan. I can't even.
- BB8 is definitely more his own character than Artoo. In the original trilogy C3PO and Artoo were co-characters, this one kinda rolls it up in one, with some extra humour.
- Kylo Ren is *trying* to emulate Vader but he is way, way more driven. He's also kinda unhinged. There's something that makes him desperate to break away from the light side (we don't know what, yet) and he will sacrifice the things most dear to him to do it. It reminds me WAY more of Jacen in the books than Vader.
- Hux. No opinion. Not a significant character from the way I view the plot.
- Death Star. So? The First Order needs to be some kind of threat to the galaxy, a galaxy that is not actually under its control. It was the weakest part of the story but who cares? What would you suggest otherwise? A virus? A robot army? Then you'd just complain that they're stealing from other movies.

The map plot line is orthogonal to the new mega weapon.

The "two at a time" restriction was established by Darth Bane. His idea was that the dark side quest was all about power, the student needed to kill the master to prove his power over him and grow. A Sith Lord would never tolerate more than one student. Before that there were Sith academies, lots of students. The ancient Sith were a race, maybe he is supposed to be from that?

Then again, like you said, the movies haven't expounded on that, just the books have done so.

The whole Snoke thing was disappointingly vague. Then again, the whole Ben/Kylo Ren thing was only lightly addressed, there's lots to work with in the sequel. I wish they had laid a bit more groundwork though. I didn't see him as a threat at all, even in ANH the Emperor was the mind behind the Death Star, the one who corrupted Vader, the big bad guy behind the whole oppressive empire.

Yeah but I think it's quite clear that Kylo Ren has trouble focusing his force powers whenever he is caught off guard or faced with a real challenge (such as the opposing force of Rey - she clearly has the upper hand in that regard). There's plenty of evidence that the youngster has some serious anger management issues.

*J.J. really needed his lens flare fix! Seriously though, to me it looked like Kylo Ren created some kind of stasis field around Poe Dameron in which the blaster shot got suspended.

You're trying to justify flaws with speculations O_o
The reasons must be found in the movie, otherwise they're just fanfiction.

To me he felt sad before killing Han, but he really wanted to do it to improve his evil side.
Anyway, I agree that he was badly injured, but.. would any other decent Sith have performed so poorly in the same situation?
Why going after Rey alone? He even knew that she could use the force now.
So stupid...
(and saved by a crevice-ex-machina).

I lol'd too XD

See first comment in this post.
If it were true, in a normal movie we would have had a scene with an explanation.
At the moment your theory is just pure invention (but who knows, maybe it could be used in the future).

Hi there! I finally watched the movie. It's rather late, so I won't go through the five pages of discussion now, so I'm sorry if I repeat stuff others said, I just really want to get it all off my chest :)

First of all- I was pretty much right with my expectations. It's way better than the prequels, and not nearly as good as the any of the original movies. The acting is mostly good, the visuals are good, there's some fine action scenes and humor. All that said, I will now mostly complain. Because let's be honest- if it wasn't for the prequels settign the bar so low, this would be a very, very disappointing movie.

First of all, this is pretty much a remake of the first movie (Episode 4 that is). It's actually rather astonishing how close it is. And people were angry about Star Trek Into Darkness copying Wrath of Khan. Do I even need to explain it all? The information hidden in the droid, the droid falling into the hands of a force sensitive orphan from a desert planet, the orphan and the droid leaveing the planet on the Millenium Falcon, the new Death Star (fuck Starkiller Base- it's a Death Star and you know it), with it's one weakness, the X-Wing attack... damn... at times it's almost shot for shot. Also, I have to ask- who in the fuck would build another Death Star? Yeah, the other two were such inspiring triumphs, surely another one is a great idea! I sure would look at the recent history of my predecessors, and be like "we need another one of those! Only BIGGER!"

Is it me, or does everyone keep whining in this movie? Remember how excited Luke was, and how determined he was? How happy go lucky Han was? How strong and decisive Leia was? How it all made for brisk paced, swashbuckling space adventure? In this movie everyone whines. The main characters whine about wanting to run away or go back home, the villain whines about not being strong enough... Poe Dameron is the only new character I really liked, because he was the only fun one. I know the heroes need a character arc, but in my opinion it made the movie drag, and sapped the fun out of it. And Kylo Ren is poor villain, not very sinister, not very intimidating. You got Max von Sydow for this movie, could he not have played the General commanding the First Order Army? Or a dark Jedi? He could bring some gravitas to it, make it menacing. Kylo, the herr Flick general guy and the holographic Supreme Leader With a Silly Name didn't do much for me.

Also, am I just dumb, or is the situation very poorly explained in this movie? What is the Republic, and what is the Resistance? Which one is the former Rebellion? Where is the often mentioned Republic Fleet? Why didn't it do anything when First Order was building (presumably for years) it's giant fucking Death Star? What is the First Order? I mean yeah, they are some remnant/replacement of the Empire, but do they control half the galaxy, or are they like a terrorist group? What's left of them after the bases' destruction?

Why didn't Luke go after Kylo Ren when he destroyed hi new Jedi Order? Was leaving him running around with his lightsabbre claymore killing people really the thing to do? Thanks a pantload, Luke.

And finally, the big one: Han Solo's death. In my opinon, very disappointing. Look, I was expecting him to die here since I first heard he is in the movie. But it should have been epic and awesome, in a blaze of glory. I had this scene in my mind, where he does some suicide manouver piloting the Falcon to save everyone, and his on the comm with Leia. She sees what he's doing and says "I love you". He says "I know". And then it's the most epic Falcon vs TIE fighters and Star Destriyers battle you've ever scene that buys the good guys time to win, and ends with the Falcon going out in a blaze of glory. The scene we got felt weak. Others probably felt different, but I didn't like it at all.