Han jumps the Millenium Falcon from within his Freighter as the Falcon is being eaten by a Sharktopus and while taking fire from the other smugglers.
Han can't have had escape coordinates ready when he went to get the Falcon?
I doubt he could tell one Stormtrooper from another over that distance. Although granted he could have started investigations (off camera) after the raid, and learned his designation then. To me he seemed to look towards Fin, because he sensed something different about him.
This seemed, to me, what the scene was telling us. He was basically in mid stride, and soemthing made him stop. Maybe he sensed a moral conflict nearby with force magic, but sensing just...something odd, that he wasn't trained enough to recognize as force sensitivity, seems much more likely.
Yeah, I completely missed it as well - I only knew because of that article I linked.
I recognized Ben's voice, but didn't catch any of the words. I think it was one of those things where you don't need to know what the words were, but subsequent viewings will be cooler for the experience of figuring it out. Which is a thing I really like in this sort of film. I want to have to wait for some things, and rewatch and pay closer attention for others. That's, for me, part of the fun.
They certainly didn't show them calculating it - certainly nothing on a par with the calculation shown in the original film when fleeing Tattooine.
Though perhaps the Falcon had had an upgrade in the interim - does Moore's Law apply even there?
He seems to have become a much better pilot and navigator over the course of thirty years. Which makes sense.
Also, see above. He probably had coordinates set up for an escape, whereas in ep4 he had to calculate on the fly. And who knows, maybe the falcon has a better nav computer. Thirty years has passed. Or it just has more complete star charts, due to his connections in government and a life of rebel work and smuggling.
Yeah, that would be my guess, too. I
really don't like the hyperbole attached to Han in much of the EU, and was actually very glad to see that TFA showed him as a much more fallible, and thus human, character. So I'd rather he not be considered the bestofthebestofthebest.
Being the best doesn't make him less human. Or fallible. He's just an extraordinary pilot and navigator. I mean, he made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs. If that isn't a feat of navigation...I mean...
But seriously, the best explanation for the 12 parsecs thing is that he is an insanely good navigator, and made a trade run through a hyperspace lane in an exceptionally efficient line, and was bragging about his navigation/the Falcon's nav computers, more than anything. ie, "man, me and this ship can nav so good, we flew Kessel straighter than anyone ever has!"
It's weak, but it works.
Anyway, I don't know what I think of Rey as Luke's kid. I mean, unless Han and Leia also didn't know about the kid.
Having a few days to think about it, I really like the ending. It's more dramatic than natural, with how long they stand there, frozen in silent face acting, but it really works. It communicates more than the scene would have if they'd spoken, IMO.
It was a little weird to not see anyone force jumping, but I like how Kylo Ren's force use is very brutal, immediate, visceral. He is definitely not Vader. He is Anakin with less panache and more open rage. Frankly, I fracking love it.
Snoke isn't gollum. Am I the only one who didn't think anything in the vein of "hey look gollum?" or have anyone I went with say anything like that?
I mean, yeah it's Andy Serkis, but I didn't see Max von Sidow and think "Hey, it's the old Judge from Judge Dredd"...idk.
Like, he didn't act in any way even vaguely similar to gollum...?
I'm glad Chewie shot Ren. And I'm glad that they showed Leia feeling it happen, because it reminds viewers that she has the force. I wish we could see her use it more outwardly, but I can also totally see her not being interested in learning to throw people and use a lightsaber, and so never doing so.
Poe's escape from death...I like it. I know it's jarring for some, but the surprise of it, and the "wait...how?" reaction of Fin and Poe's "I know! It's crazy! My jacket! Let's hug!" response just works. They're bros, and it's cool. It's something I wish the orig trig (thank you cracked) had done better with Luke and Han. I love their genuine, unironic enjoyment of eachother's company, and I love that they have at least as much friend chemistry as Fin and Rey have
-potentially romantic but not for certain we'll see- chemistry.
SPeaking of which. Fin and Rey. Are perfect. I admit I am rooting for romantic entanglements. I thought they had awesome chemistry, and it would just be rad. I mean, as a bisexual man in a pretty homophobic world, I would be cool with Fin/Poe, too, and I'm sure the fanfic writers are hard at work on that, but I'm "team Fin/Rey", all day. And no, it's not out of an sjw desire to see the black male lead romance the white female lead. For once. OK, it's only like...10% that, at most.
The lightsabers.
The LIGHTSABERS!
Thank you, JJ, for awesome lightsaber fights. I loved the prequel duels (most of them), and the originals were awesome in their own right (before I played star wars video games or ttrpgs), but the new ones are perfect for the story they're in. ANd the effects for them are my favorite lightsaber effects thus far.
And hate all you want, I love Kylo Ren's saber.
I wish the Resistance pilots had been a mix of ships. I'd especially loved to have seen some a-wings and y-wings. I've always liked the a-wing more than the x-wing.
