Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

But the night club from the opening scene of Temple of Doom was named Club Obi-Wan.

Ah, right.

Ava Du Vernay Suggested These Star Wars: The Force Awakens Reshoots that Put the Focus on Rey’s Perspective

http://www.themarysue.com/ava-duvernay-the-force-awakens/

Yeah, Ava Duvernay's input caused the snow fight scene to become what it was.

Also, you could have just put this link in the general thread.

Personally, I think the fight would've been better off without that moment. It felt like something out of a parody of a stereotypical shonen anime.

I thought it was a great, impactful moment that put the focus on Rey coming into her own Force sensitivity and owning it, just like Luke's moment where he takes the shot at the Death Star after feeling the Force.

edited 20th Oct '16 6:05:23 PM by higherbrainpattern

I feel like it's a few seconds too long (Kylo just pretty much stands there doing nothing, which doesn't make a ton of sense in the scene), but I liked it, I think it works.

I felt like it was pressing a magic "I win" button. Rey was visibly struggling to even stay alive during that battle for a solid couple minutes, but after the close-up, she was suddenly fighting back with enough force to overpower Kylo through sheer might. There was no real build-up; Rey's realizing her skill with the Force had already received a climactic pay-off in the form of her calling Anakin's lightsaber to her. I honestly would've preferred it if she was fighting on par with Kylo from the beginning, as it would've flowed more naturally from her sudden surge of Force talent instead of having two climaxes separated by a solid block of getting her ass kicked.

In Luke's case, he had Obi-Wan whispering in his ear for half of the Battle of Yavin IV, and his main external obstacle, Vader's squad, was taken care of by an outside influence. Taking the shot that destroyed the Death Star was the climax of his personal plot arc, and unlike in TFA, A New Hope was satisfied with using that as the high point of the plot and wound things down from there.

I do like the significance of the moment, but I agree that it goes on for a few seconds too long. Rey completely closes her eyes in the middle of a pitched battle, for several seconds, while Kylo Ren basically just stands there doing nothing like a complete dope. If it had been trimmed down by a few moments, it could have retained its impact while also being a little less narmy.

He doesn't just stand there, he's actively wounded and trying to tempt her to the Dark Side. He's trying to turn her for his own and Snoke's benefit.

Not only is Kylo Ren actively wounded by both Chewbacca and Finn, but he's still managing to keep himself fighting in spite of those wounds, and being aggressive for 95% of that entire fight. Rey winning when she focuses on the Force and starts fighting back doesn't change or negate that.

edited 20th Oct '16 6:42:15 PM by higherbrainpattern

Sure, I don't at all question Rey winning the fight - that makes sense given the circumstances. It's just that the way it's shot can make that specific moment a bit narmy, because typically when you close your eyes completely and stand still for several seconds in the middle of a swordfight, you immediately get your head chopped off.

But Kylo Ren's inaction during that moment makes a lot more sense when you interpret it as him thinking that he's successfully tempting her. "Ah-ha, she's closing her eyes and doing nothing, I must be luring her to the Dark Side." He's arrogant enough to believe that, after all.

Kylo Ren is also also a Force wunderkind who can stop blaster bolts in mid-flight. He might be the most powerful Force user we've ever seen. He probably wasn't expecting to meet his equal so soon.

for me that moment is narmy because it look like Rey wins thanks to kylo remind her of the force, it was something like

Kylo: I could help you with the force?

Rey: the force?....OH RIGHT, THE FORCE!

Kylo: wait, what is ha....nononononono AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I mean, dont get me wrong I understand the point an all but it just make me laught for a moment

again, we see the bow explote things, hwy it didnt blow Kylo apart?

It's one of those moments I think would've been stronger on print than onscreen, by allowing us to hear the thoughts of the characters. Same with the "Kylo and Rey stare down while he holds up his hand ominously." More Matt Stover would be good there.

Kylo had just offered to train her. He did nothing during that moment because he was waiting for an answer.

I like to imagine these were their thoughts.

It's basically canon.

True, but it's just... awkward staging, I guess? Like, I don't know how I'd fix it, but it seems off, somehow?

Anyway, my favourite part about that scene is the colour script. See, big budget blockbuster directors, you can use colour theory to enhance the story you're trying to tell, instead of just trying to make everything as grey and desaturated as possible (*cough*Zack Snyder*cough*). And the snowy backdrop really adds to that. It actually feels cold and desperate.

edited 20th Oct '16 8:10:45 PM by Pseudopartition

Well, we don't see it blow people apart, we just see it blow them way the hell back. When I watched it, I and the people I was with assumed that Kylo Ren was wearing some sort of highly durable lightweight body armor under his robes, judging by the way he was able to shrug off injuries. That would account for him surviving the bowcaster bolt - as for why it didn't blow him across the room like it does everybody else...eh, it's Star Wars, physics need not apply.

It's also possible that he was able to use the Force to shield himself at the last moment, so he only took partial damage. If it's that, then it would indeed potentially explain why he wasn't blown back.

Or maybe just Kylo Ren is just Made of Iron. He's a pretty badass guy, after all, despite all the shit he gets. And Force-users already tend to be hardier than their mundane counterparts.

Heck, I really liked how colorful the entire movie is, not just that scene. Rather than movies where everything's just pale and grey and washed-out, you had the dry browns and oranges of Jakuu, the warm reds and browns of Han's ship, the silvers and greys of the Falcon, the greens of Maz's planet, the cold black-and-white aesthetic of the First Order...varied use of color can make everything so much better-looking. That applies to more than just movies, too.

edited 20th Oct '16 8:16:48 PM by RBluefish

That look of Rey calming down and tapping into the force works well within the scene, it's a moment of clarity where she accepts her destiny. The problem is that she's been accepting her destiny ever since she started playing with the Jedi mind trick as a toy, and was able to overpower Kylo by grabbing Anakin's lightsaber with the force. She spent so much time already exploring her force powers it ends up diminishes that moment. It's an example of giving characters a lot of cool things to do but losing track of them having an actual story arc.

I disagree, actually. Both using the mind trick on JB-007 and summoning the lightsaber to her hand were certainly stepping stones towards accepting the Force ("you have taken your first steps"), but they weren't The Moment. The mind trick was essentially "hey, I'm going to try using one of my cool new superpowers on this guy and hope it saves my life." Summoning the saber was more significant, since it essentially represents the legacy of Star Wars heroes (complete with musical cues), but it still wasn't The Moment. The Big Moment, the real moment where Rey accepts the Force into herself and embraces her destiny, was when she called upon it to defeat Kylo Ren, The Dragon of the story. Everything else was leading up to that.

Yeah, it would have been a cop-out if she'd just suddenly tapped into it, but I bet she'd been subconsciously using it the entire movie (the Falcon chase, finding Luke's lightsaber at Maz's castle, the mind trick, Force-pulling the saber towards her) and when she was pinned by Ren was "the moment."

Oh, Mephistopheles, not this again. The endless "believability" debates about Rey make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork.

to be fair, we are taking about the scene and how it was shot so at least is not the good old "Rey is overpower" bullshit

So it's a common theory that Rey might have gotten access to some of Kylo's knowledge when he was trying to mind read her. This could partially explain her sudden proficiency with the Force. Does anyone wish they had actually showed this though? Maybe by showing a flash of images that she's seeing in his head or something?

I think searching for an in-universe reason for Rey's awesomeness with the Force is likely futile - it has everything to do with how action hero protagonists are written these days. The kind of extended incompetence that Luke showed as a fighter in ANH and ESB would never be done today, unless he was specifically written as a loser.