A Critique of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Part 2

This is Part 2 of 6 of a series of videos all about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
We continue on by getting all of our characters fully introduced and discussed while pushing this wonderful plot along, with bonus tangents to Wall-E, Guardians of the Galaxy, Buffy, Saving Private Ryan and oh! of course, some Star Wars in general.
The Thumbnail art is courtesy of Oliver Pocock
Big thanks to Jay from SinsSins and Logicked for their cameos. Check out their channels if you are interested -
/ logicked
/ stickman3thousand
[The complete bibliography will be placed here once it's complete.]
Here is a link to my second channel, where my Podcast "EFAP" is hosted. - / @everyframeapause
If you want to join my silly community, use this link - / discord

[@sapheiron]

Table of Contents: 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - The Opening Scene: Poe's Capture 10:09 - On Juggling Conflicting Tones (21:27 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: An Unbridled Praise) 27:44 - The Opening Scene: Aftermath 38:44 - Rey's Introduction: The Robot is Better 45:01 - Poe's Interrogation: The First Order Needs Intelligence 47:15 - Rey's Introduction: The Other Robot is Also Better 49:55 - Jay from SinsSins Cameo 52:52 - Rey's Introduction: Character without Development 1:02:36 - Finn and Poe Escape: Love at First Sight 1:19:05 - Kylo and Hux: Revenge of the Clones 1:24:36 - Finn Meets Rey: Rey Beats Finn 1:31:54 - Logicked Cameo 1:34:49 - Finn and Rey Escape: Apolitical Hand-Holding 1:42:21 - Finn and Rey Escape: The Millenium Falcon 2:02:23 - Kylo Ren Tantrum: Threatening or Just Angry? 2:06:22 - The Heroes Argue: BB-8 Approves 2:11:43 - Han Solo Arrives: Solo: A Fanservice 2:17:09 - Outro (Feedback is appreciated.) Edit: I misspelled BB-8 as BB8.

[@Blast_5240]

Thank you. This will help us to rewatch bits we wanna see again.😄👍 appreciate the evert.

[@DaelinZeppiTheComputerGamer]

Thanks. Helps break these videos into nice bite sized segments.

[@laggymclaggylag5882]

Thank you for making this.

[@Tacom4ster]

Which one has more proper film criticism rather boring nitpicks? Like complaining about a bloody helmet? I would recommend skipping to 13:05, which felt like the first proper criticism.... which too many long clips.

[@sapheiron]

Adrian Dezendegui I'm not sure what you mean by 'proper film criticism', but I guess the bit from 38:44 is the most conventional in regards to how people usually talk about movies on KZbin. Does that help?

[@VoxisProductions]

Too short.

[@miep3934]

So sayeth the blessed pipeman

[@travislawrencemusic]

🤣

[@darknessbobulus]

Long man bad! So sayeth the Blessed Pipeman!

[@misshapenape8196]

lOnG MAn BaD!

[@MarcAlcatraz]

blessed pipeman

[@elektra81516]

Rian: "I found Hux's character very funny" Hux in TFA: *Is hitler*

[@yanribeiro7108]

*Blows up multiple planets* Rian: LoL.

[@sagieboi1204]

I know. Good grief Hux was ruiiiiiined in TLJ

[@Duncecap64]

@@Business_News Its framework was set, generic as hell but it could be expanded upon due to the fact he could face down a force user like Kylo who was way stronger than him physically yet they are rivals on equal footing as far as their interactions with the first order were concerned. Basing a character on reality or what is established before does not make them a joke by definition. Using your logic Son Goku from Dragon ball is a joke because he is based on Son Wukong from Journey to the West. Yet we know this isnt the case because the 2 are not the same character by the time their stories come to an end, or in the case of Goku Continuing (GT was awful). Either way a barebones framework can be improved upon, which is not what we got.

[@Duncecap64]

@Karl Quetzacoatl again this is the fault of The Last Jedi and Ryan Johnson's vision of the character. Slapstick was forced into a character who was shown to be competent, or atleast selectively due to TFAs heavy reliance on convince and the first orders selective incompetence. to go in order Hux calls for homing missiles at the escaping fin and Poe which causes them to crash on Jakku, hux sends a squad down to the known crash site (The numbers sent us the incompetent part, because Finn and Rey would most likely die if they send more than that), Hux putting denying the enemy the potentially Galaxy saving Intel over using it themselves if they have to as a last resort, Hux calling for the destruction of the new republic (Even if the reason for it was dumb, cause the Resistance is more dangerous than the republic apparently despite the fleet they send later only consisting of 12 T-70 X-Wings), Hux evacuating the base when it's evident the base is going to go up in flames, even bringing the injured Kylo Ren to Snoke to "Complete his training". I won't argue the baby face and over the top speech to just look like a certain real life figure, however I would hardly call Hux useless in TFA since his actions do drive the plot along, though some are more a question of the writers hand showing for select incompetence rather than a guy who does nothing. Again the Hux we see later is thanks to Ryan Johnson, not JJ Abrams.

[@RorytheRomulan]

The asshat didn't realize he was supposed to direct Star Wars, not Charlie Chaplin.

[@Xxgxxaxx]

MauLer: "So Rey's parents are nobody's, unless of course Kylo is lying." Me: cringes with knowledge

[@SiddharthShenoy]

You're not the only one *CURSED* with knowledge.

[@Xxgxxaxx]

@@SiddharthShenoy yeah

[@eyeballpaul700]

@@SiddharthShenoy I understood that reference

[@-MrFozzy-]

@@eyeballpaul700 I understood THAT reference

[@blazefa.]

@@-MrFozzy- omg, tros reference, to thanos reference, to cap reference. This is amazing

[@eccentrikhat3863]

Mauler’s stellar arguments as to why Finn taking Rey’s hand was actually character-appropriate and not the franchise virtue signalling shows his fantastic dedication to objectivity. He could easily have just called it pandering and everyone would have agreed, but he took the time to make an argument many in his audience would initially struggle with simply because he wanted to evaluate the movie as fairly as possible. Respect to you, Mauler.

[@Hexensohn]

Highly doubt Abrams or anyone on the writing staff put that much thought into it. I appreciate Mauler's effort but, even if that was the intent, it doesn't feel genuine. It feels forced, unnatural, and awkward. Like someone told them they had to interact in that way.

[@haku8135]

Except for one single detail. Why would Finn grab her hand and not her arm? Who is like "Shit run!!" and then tries to take their hand like they're crossing the street as children? Grab their arm and pull them as you start running. You certainly wouldn't start bickering about them not letting you hold their hand, you'd be panicking and trying to pull them with you. Not that it makes sense for him to try and bring her along in the first place. If he thinks they're after HIM bringing Rey WITH him will just put her in danger for no reason. The more logical action is to run away and HIDE on his own, looking for a means to escape the planet under their radar. Pulling Rey along only works if he KNOWS they're after the droid Rey has which he doesn't.

[@caseysaunders2168]

@@haku8135 honestly? my mother grabbed me by the hand, for the sole reason that it was usually the easiest to grab as it had the shortest distance from your own hand to theirs, and allowed for a lot easier and firmer of a grip than a whole arm, especially because they are two adults, not one large adult hand and onw small child arm. secondly, he knows they're after him, but she's been spotted with him. there's no hiding her, she will be tracked down too. as he said himself! being associated with a known traitor may make her a target for any possible information, such as her association with him, where he's headed, the map, or other important details to the Resistance. granted, she doesn't know any of that - Finn doesn't either - but the Troopers aren't aware of *anything* involving Rey, including her lack of knowledge. she will still be targeted, under the assumption she *may* be important, and simply ignoring her would be a huge plot contrivance in order to protect the protagonist of the movie, and shove the movie along. in addition, he witnessed a slaughter of an entire village due to a similar search for personnel went south (due to Kylo) and, likely, wanted to save these people from the same fate that gave him trauma enough to leave the Order. in summary, the droid is meaningless in this aspect, their decisions make sense from a character perspective, and the use of a mother/child comparison to try and poke holes at the hand holding is flimsy and, ultimately, doesn't hold any water. have a good day

[@haku8135]

@@caseysaunders2168 "my mother grabbed me by the hand" "the use of a mother/child comparison to try and poke holes at the hand holding is flimsy" Apparently not, you CONFIRMED it for me. Adults grab CHILDREN'S hands. When you're in a rush and your goal is to get someone to move in a particular direction, trying to hold their hand a STRANGER'S hand doesn't make any sense. ESPECIALLY if they don't know they're supposed to be running. No, it's not about DISTANCE. It's about common sense. If your MOTHER grabs your hand, you'll let it happen because that's your fucking mother. She could grab your hand for no reason and you'd probably just accept it. A veritable STRANGER trying to grab your hand would result in the OBVIOUS reflex of "get the fuck away from me you creep". Rey's response in "piss off" when he keeps trying to hold her fucking hand is CORRECT, I'm arguing there's more likely than not some woke agenda behind the scene because it makes no sense that FINN would go for a hand hold in the first place. Because you don't seem to understand how geometry works, let me explain something to you. The hand ONLY provides a good grip, if the hand you're gripping, grips BACK. If it goes lose it's extremely difficult to keep hold of. If that person actively wants to escape your grasp, it's basically impossible to keep hold of them normally. If you want to get a firm grasp on someone and stop them from slipping easily out of it, you go for their WRIST or the elbow. Sure it can be slightly tricky if we're talking like a dainty woman trying to grab hold of like, a body builder, but that's a very unusual situation and very clearly not what's happening here. Finn, if his goal is to force Rey into coming with him, would obviously want to get a firm hold on her and prevent her from breaking the grip so she cannot endanger herself unknowingly by allowing the troopers to reach her. Which assuming they're after Finn, Rey would just tell them what happened, they would KNOW she's telling the truth because they know who Finn is and they know for a fact he doesn't have fucking allies on Jakku, so her story of having just met him and not giving a shit who he is but he went whatever way would be accepted. The first order wouldn't slaughter the whole village for FINN, he can't think he's THAT important. They attacked a village for the map, which Finn knows he doesn't have. Even assuming these 2 troopers did attempt to apprehend Rey, Finn is well aware she's a BETTER TRAINED FIGHTER than First Order Troopers. You know because he IS ONE and she beat his ass up very easily? If he doesn't want to force her to follow him, once again there's no point holding her fucking hand because his only option is to convince her with WORDS. Holding her hand does nothing but make her think he's some creep. This entire hand holding scene makes NO SENSE. If he wants to force her to follow him, he should get a FIRM grip on her arm and start pulling her. If he wants her to follow him willingly, he has to talk to her. Trying to out of nowhere hold her hand only for her to effortlessly break his grip resulting in them arguing does NOTHING. I'm fairly certain these troopers are not trained to daintily hold someone's hand when escorting them somewhere. Why would he go for her hand in the first place if not to have a scene where a man tries to grab a woman's hand and the woman bravely and strongly refuses him? Just because Mauler COULD rationalize it doesn't make the scene rational.

[@VentA_7]

@@haku8135 ok 4 things: 1. Fin is not gonna be able to calculate what’s the best grip to grab a person in the middle of avoiding people 2. You say he confirmed your point about the adult and child, yet that doesn’t mean much, you still have yet to comment on how it’s faster to grab her hand than her arm, cause it’s closer. 3. Rey best Finn cause she magically appeared in front of him and smacked him with the staff in a ambush move, she didn’t physically over power him. (Ignoring her god level luck and power she gets in a fight), all finn has seen is her struggle to fight of 2 goons and her being able to ambush Finn, that doesn’t help sell a perosn on the idea you can be 2 trained soldiers in a fight. Even if she could, it’s still a bad idea to go fight 2 guys with guns when neither of you have none, running away was the best option. 4: NONE OF THIS actually debunks any of mauler’s points in the video on how this is a character moment, you have used the fact in a rush Finn grabbed the closest part of Rey to him as evidence of this not being forced, which I’m sorry but is a very loose connection to reach that conclusion. None of this hand-holding discussion actually counters the fact it makes sense to grab a person likely to be chased by people with guns due to being associated with you. Nor does it counter the logical reaction of a dude grabbing your hand and pulling you along causing you to try and free yourself from the gripe. You haven’t refuted any of mauler’s points: You’ve just fixated on Fin not doing the most practical grab he could of done

[@blueg8731]

11:52 Ruin Johnson: "We kind of started with a Monty Python sketch." No, you didn't. Don't insult Monty Python.

[@_S0LUS_]

Ah yes monty pythons famous yo mamma joke I remember it well

[@Rain..._]

That was pretty triggering

[@crossbones116]

'we uh, we wanted the audience to think it was okay to laugh.' Oh I'm laughing Rian, just not at what you want me to...

[@goufr3540]

@KingKaiju54 Starkiller Base, Starkiller Base, Starkiller Base...its only a model.

[@1985Cyrus]

My X-Wing is full of eels.

[@josiahweber7744]

So, if Rey's parents are no one then her name should be Rey Solo?

[@JohnnyZenith]

Daisy Ridley is an awful actress and Rey is an awful character and I didn't want too a character called Rey doing an Anakin or Luke on a desert planet. Yawn.

[@timy9197]

According to Disney Wars logic lol

[@KaosNova2]

Statement: In the game Galaxy of Heroes, I terminate the meatbag and her entourage daily.

[@unpopularopinions7407]

Don’t you dare give them ideas.

[@wednesdaygeckok.7899]

STOP

[@MarkyMark845]

Han's "we're all going to be a lot thinner" line in the trash compactor is funnier than all of the intended "comedy" in the sequel trilogy.

[@Randomthew]

Thanks for reminding me about that 😁

[@Sandlund93]

Yeah, and it's not even funny. Which brings down the comedy of the sequels even further.

[@MrGeorgeFlorcus]

It's actually a shame that Rey's introduction is, overall, quite strong at first, considering that by the end of the trilogy, she is arguably one of its most poorly handled, and easily it's most contentious.

[@haku8135]

If they'd just stopped the movie there Disney would've lost less money overall.

[@cdoggo3352]

Her introduction was indeed well done

[@user-mw2vn7pv8n]

Yeah it went down the drain real fast. As soon as she steps foot in the Millenium Falcon she doesn't stop being mindbendingly annoying until the end of ROS.

[@scottwhitman9868]

the problem is that her introduction is all the character we get

[@chunky8684]

That can also be said about Finn, Poe, and Kylo

[@mxed1916]

What? Winston Churchill? I thought he was a myth!! From that legendary "World War 2" that supposedly happened 80 years ago. THAT WAS EONS AGO, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER!!!

[@crossbones116]

The worst part is there prolly are people RL who think like that.

[@jasonpratt5126]

@@crossbones116 yep, there was a survey about that in Britain some time ago. A completely stupid number of people thought Churchill was a fictional character.

[@denkerbosu3551]

@@jasonpratt5126 but their accent sounds so intellectual!

[@GracodanaAlpha]

This is what my mind went to immediately

[@funkoxen]

to be fair the galaxy forgot about an entire religion in 25 years

[@EmanGameplay]

Now I'm just waiting for Captain Marvel: An Unbridled Rage EDIT: 0:26 HE USED MY VIDEO!!!! AHHHHHHH I CLAPPED I CLAPPED WHEN I SAW IT!

[@Are_you_eyeballing_me]

Now you can copystrike him and rid the galaxy of Longman threat.

[@fmsyntheses]

Maybe it'll be really good.

[@tomfaddis]

Haha, oh Jay....

[@TheOrthodoxClown]

Hey man you make great memes I just wanted to say keep up the great work man and also you have a great day

[@Seomus]

Just don't see it oepning weekend. Go see Alita instead!

[@Elnont]

Hux in TFA: is an unhinged yet stoic space Nazi who was abused as child and is the only equal to Kylo Ren despite not having the force. Johnson: yea that’s a real comedic character.

[@cranberryrosebud]

The amount of quotes from JJ's and Ryan's interviews and director's commentaries, that are basically saying, "I personally found this thing funny/cool, so we added it to the script!" is really telling of the attitude towards the writing of the ST. I love how we've reached a point where we're expected to applaud Hollywood writers/directors for shoving their vision into scripts, ignorant of the existing continuity - I mean, it's really all about family, isn't it?

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

For no reason he got turned into a fucking joke because Johnson is a fucking idiot.

[@SyamDaRos-EndoManno]

"I am the spy"

[@Gillymonster18]

By the time I had seen TLJ, I didn’t remember much about Hux. By the time that movie was over it was all just sour. You can’t tell what at first but the more you apply brain cells the worse that movie gets when you dive past superficial flair and puddle deep attempts at philosophy.

[@occam7382]

@@cranberryrosebud, it's really sad and pathetic when you realize that George was very, VERY intentional with everything he put in his stories. He never threw anything in there just for the sake of it. Everything was meant to service the story in some way. But no, it's J.J. and Rian who are the storytelling geniuses. (That idea makes me want to puke)

[@TheUplate]

"The robot is better" Oh, I disagree, Mauler! Wall E is far better

[@pilkers2]

Ooof..

[@wearywanderer7018]

Lol Well done

[@the_absurd_hero]

Well played..

[@slchance8839]

Wall E was in the Jawa Sandcrawler in Episode 4, sitting quietly next to Threepio before Threepio reunited with R2.

[@ThomasBolt]

10/10

[@muznick]

( Tico sexually assaults Finn ) Obi Wan: "I can't watch any more." Genius!

[@xPurpleDrinkx9001]

riiiiiight. Because using RoTS as a meme has never been done before...

[@atreides213]

Lexington SteeL It never gets old, though.

[@scottski02]

"Destroy the Last Jedi, we must!"

[@GraySheep1717]

@@xPurpleDrinkx9001 Against using RoTS as a meme, "It's treas-" actually no "Well, you can fuck right off to where you came from" -And I'm Rag'''''''''s

[@buffalowick8003]

That shit is pure comedy at its finest.

[@matthewbennett558]

59:40 - "There is this bizarre atmosphere of blaming the audience for being invested in it" SO. WELL. SAID.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

Victim blaming has always existed in history.

[@maskeddog2077]

No! Long man bad! LONG MAN BAD

[@ardentfire3956]

NPCs are incapable of being genuinely invested in anything, that's why they lash out at people who are.

[@matthewbennett558]

@@ardentfire3956 I get what you're saying, but I don't think it's helpful to lump all of "them" into a camp with a blanket critique any more than its accurate to lump all of us who have critiques as "misogynists" or "bigots". There is certainly an echo chamber / head in the sand problem but the more we chip away at the false ideals they hold with reasoned arguments rather than personal attacks the more it invites them into an actual dialog instead of being put in the defensive AND the more it invites those on the fence towards reasoned discussion by not giving large news venues a leg to stand on with their emotionally charged rants.

[@mariokarter13]

This is a movie about space wizards intended for children. It's also the most important movie of all time, and you know those only come around thrice a year. Can't you just enjoy the spectacle? Never before have we had a movie with a female protagonist that is also called Star Wars. It's a cultural milestone, stop thinking so hard.

[@Rand00mThing]

I finally know what happened: Rey and Luke's characters got swapped in the script. SHE was supposed to be a grumpy person, not trusting anyone and being frustrated 24/7 for waiting for her parents to return on this sandplanet. Luke - because of his past adventures - was supposed to be an expert in everything. Flawless and a shining beacon for the forces of Good.

[@sologamer3122]

Would have honestly been such a better version. This is just classic modern Hollywood destroying old icons.

[@MrHinchapelotas]

The Finn shooting stormtroopers scene just makes me think of "There are no bad tactics, only bad targets". I'm really afraid the entire "Finn does not like killing" thing was something we made up and the director and writer only ever saw it as "Finn realized he was shooting at the wrong people".

[@WreckageBrother-rd5zf]

Well duh they weren't innocent villagers

[@benhaney5843]

As soon as Finn wasn't a storm trooper, they were back to being emotionless cannon fodder, and their humanity was never even mentioned again.

[@Unknown-hb3id]

Nah. It was mentioned in Rise of Skywalker with that space horse girl and her whole unit turning good, but the rest of the movie plays off their deaths either as nothing or as a gag/joke. Very odd.

[@joeyn985]

I really think a better movie would have been a buddy cop style movie between Finn and Poe where they work to try and rescue more stormtroopers or start mutinies. Even getting to see more from stormtrooper perspective, like seeing them carry out regular missions. We need a miniseries like Generation Kill but with stormtroopers

[@awesomechainsaw]

Which is such a missed opportunity. Imagine a series where the main character is a force sensitive stormtrooper maybe even a high ranking one. Caught between the Rebels and the terroristic remains of the empire. One side wanting him dead for his crimes the other for who he is. Why not also make him or her a darksider. Hell we can even take the general plot structure. First movie they have to find a map to luke skywalker cause they want to be trained. Second movie their trained. Third movie they fight a powerful darksider and commit to the light. Hell why not also make the film’s weapons hyperspace bombs. New hyperdrive based weapons that maintain their velocity upon exiting hyperspace allowing them to crack planets apart. Something that was previously impossible.

[@haku8135]

@@Unknown-hb3id Actually they establish that ALL the good storm troopers had already left, and Finn was the last one, so killing swathes of kidnapped orphans is fine cause they didn't shake off the severe mental abuse.

[@Unknown-hb3id]

@@haku8135 Actually, Finn was the ONLY good stormtrooper in TFA until Rise of Skywalker changed that and established that they could convert en masse. The original script even had them do so to a greater degree. Even if they couldn't have been turned good again, that inability should be considered tragic by the movie these characters instead of some fun jokey mess. I seriously hope the second part of your sentence is sarcasm or some sort of sick joke.

[@garavon6894]

When you're more happy about MauLer's new Star Wars Critique than about new Star Wars movie

[@smillingdooku8116]

What new star wars movie?

[@lukasr1166]

@@smillingdooku8116 i think he means ep 9

[@smillingdooku8116]

@@lukasr1166 oh I tought that it was another one of those le epic mini series movies

[@garavon6894]

@@smillingdooku8116 Yea, I meant ep.IX

[@KaosNova2]

Query: What Star Wars movies, meatbag?

[@Suzy9MM]

I think one of the largest crimes of this trilogy is the failure of the writers to live up to the building of character they did for Finn. He had such a large amount of potential. Imagine, a Stormtrooper, the classic image of the Empire and the evil of the Darkside, becoming the Jedi that inspires Luke to end his isolation and renew the HOPE that he once brought to the Galaxy.......So much wasted potential....

[@atom_gray]

imagine Rey having Finn's origin story...

[@WK-47]

@@atom_gray that could've worked and even justify her being a blank slate who thought Luke was a myth. Meanwhile, Finn could've been in the Resistance from the get-go but had to find his courage, which he could've done through his bond with Rey, seeing her take such personal risks for what she believed in. It's a shame the trilogy was essentially a shot in the dark with so little forethought and care when it was the biggest media event of the decade. It's like no one at any level could commit to either playing it safe or taking creative risks, and Disney signed off at the end of the day after checking off a shopping list of things the audience had to see on screen. At least we'll always have the OT to enjoy as its own flawed but solid saga, and the ST will stand as a lesson in hubris and design by committee. Lucas made mistakes but had vision, passion, and the right people around him to course correct when needed.

[@atom_gray]

@@WK-47 Finn and Poe are easily interchangeable/combined under this scenario... having "Rey" as the reluctant fascist adds miles of character to work from, rather than stoking the Mary Sue trope a minute longer...

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

It would have been such a cool story to explore. But no, he is just some clown. When Finn turned on that lightsaber I was thrilled because of the possibility of what this could be. Wasted, so utterly wasted.

[@Cipher71]

I will never forgive what they did to my boy, Finn. He had the potential to be the single best character in the whole trilogy and they fkd it. :(

[@panameadeplm]

jesus christ that point about rey thinking luke was a legend while scavenging a star destroyer and living in an AT-AT while wearing a rebel helmet had me dying

[@jonathanhathaway54]

I'll be honest I kinda get that in the story, I mean how many times in our history do we debate different figures in our history or active events existing, how many times has something been supposedly been done by someone who didn't exist? How I think it would go down is that she hears about a bit of empire stuff and hears some farmboy managed to be brought before the emporer and help kill him... Anyone would call B's on that

[@panameadeplm]

@@jonathanhathaway54 well it's kind of on the same level as if we were in 1950, and you would not believe that tzarist russia got toppled by the bolsheviks and that joseph stalin, the son of a shoemaker, did not exist; ignore the fact that we're comparing luke skywalker to stalin

[@jonathanhathaway54]

@@panameadeplm Stalin with a lightsaber, ridiculous or threatening is the real question. I think it's compounded by the sheer size of the Galaxy, she surely would have heard the story but only as rumors, it's less like Stalin coming to power and more like if someone heard that a hobo had a kung Fu battle with lightsaber Stalin and Lenin helped him blow up Moscow... You'd probably call bullshit (even if I scuffed the analogy)

[@panameadeplm]

​@@jonathanhathaway54 I understand what you're saying, and obviously there are going to be billions of people like that in an entire galaxy, but even in the middle ages, news spread way faster than people think. Everyone in the known world knew about the fall of Rome, or the sacking of Constantinople, etc. within a month, and they didn't even have motors, let alone faster than light instantaneous communication accessible to anyone with virtually no infrastrucutral requirements. If there are ruined AT-ATs there, and Rebel gear, you can assume that a battle was fought there, which means it's not an irrelevant location, and that it at least has a functioning spaceport. I don't think anyone should ever steel man a work of fiction, ever. You can headcanon or logically infer, based on what _isn't shown,_ that Rey was a solipsist or an InfoWars type or something, but that is the slipperiest slope, and carrying water for writers is why I believe there are no good stories anymore. I mean, look at basically all of anime. People self-inserting and auto-generating personalities and depth for characters they are aesthetically attracted to after the fact has caused, for all intents and purposes, the entire industry to absolutely abandon the concepts of pacing and storytelling beats in favor of lowest common denominator archetypes and tropes, to be fertilized with actual meaning exclusively inside the viewer's mind and not on screen. As far as I'm concerned, if a work of fiction cannot demonstrably and irefutably prove its own intent, then it is not deserving of the intent thrust upon it by the viewership, even if said viewership is uninanimous in its interpretation of the work. It's a thing we have to accept, even if it forbids us from 'objectively' loving the things that we love.

[@jonathanhathaway54]

@@panameadeplm I think you're heavily adding to my statement of things here things here, we do have info from the movie to tell us that it's likely people wouldn't hear about it, remember how people in the OG trilogy barely knew who Jedi were and some not believing in the force or seeing it as a myth? It's a similar boat. There is a difference between making your own story and seeing a possible inaccuracy in a statement. Based on the info we get in the series and the fact that Rey barely seems to talk to anyone it's reasonable that in this world a lot of skepticism or lost info applies to events like this. Yes the empire fought a battle there but to lead back to the Rome example even with many people living under Rome it doesn't mean they knew exactly why it fell, much like how when big leaders die people always suspect foul play even when not applicable. You may be speaking objectively but you're building off the faulty premise that the info people share is flawless /and/ fully believed by those who hear it, even people today are theorizing about deaths of figures like Stalin and JFK all with conflicting details to how it happened. Personally I didn't like the sequels but I'm willing to defend it against an inaccurate point.

[@ryandowd7040]

I just stopped everything else I was doing.

[@Oozywolf]

Clicked off a video hating on Brie Larson. Sequel hate trumps all

[@izzymcgee2527]

Lol same.

[@VioletDeathRei]

@@Oozywolf Don't worry Brie will still be terrible when you get back.

[@thomasbschorr5495]

Same here

[@stefstef4420]

#MeToo

[@benhaney5843]

Its funny, I never heard Star Wars referred to specifically as a "children's movie," or, "just a movie made for kids," until it was used as an excuse for its mediocrity. You never hear, say The Avengers, referred to as a kids movie. And you never see good or great actual children's movies spoken about in this way either. No one ever says The Lion King is "just" a children's movie. Even though that's what it is. Very telling, no?

[@captainace8295]

That's a good point.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Shitty deflecting tactics to avoid criticism. Because we know that children's films don't need to be of quality, amirite?

[@Brownie-ms6sv]

I always used the kids movie thing to forgive the bad stuff in the prequels, so I could just get on with enjoying new star wars films when they first came out.

[@whiteshadow8520]

Most CGI movies, such as Toy Story, are "kids movies". You could say that BTTF was aimed at the same age-range as Star Wars, but yeah, no one says they can be silly, or calls them silly. On the other hand, "A Night At The Roxbury" was an adults movie, but it's silly and no one would really say otherwise

[@gui3402]

George Lucas said that Star Wars is for kids and that kids is the target audience. However, he also stated that he values education and respects what a child's mind is capable of comprehending. That being said, kids being the target audience doesn't mean that it can't be good or enjoyed by adults. Any good kids movie will be enjoyable for adults as well, and star wars is proof of that.

[@scienceviking4490]

You know, Rey thinking that Luke was a myth could actually work. Given her background, Rey likely has no formal education and is probably completely illiterate. Anything that she knows about the events of the original trilogy would be from hearing stories or rumors, and rumors tend be exaggerated over time. You could say that Rey grew up hearing heavily embellished stories about his adventures. When she was a kid she believed all of them, but as she grew older she started to realize that a lot of these stories were just impossible, and she eventually concluded that Luke probably wasn't real. This could even give Rey some much needed character moments where she asks Original Trilogy characters if Luke really did things that he actually didn't do. For instance, she could ask Han if Luke really killed Boba Fett in single combat with only a stick. This would also explain how she knew that Han was a smuggler, since he would have been mentioned in stories about Luke. This could even be a significant part of her character arc once she meets Luke. At first she's disappointed because he isn't as awesome as she's heard. However as he trains her in the Force and she learns about the truth of his adventures, she starts to find him inspiring because, in spite of his very human flaws, he absolutely is a hero, and this shows her that she can overcome her flaws and be a hero too.

[@occam7382]

That would actually make for a pretty interesting storyline... but it would've required actual creativity and care on the part of the creators, along with the boldness to actually do something different from the Original Trilogy. All things which J.J. Abrams clearly lacks.

[@kylienielsen6975]

I forgot that the initial scene of meeting Ray was actually very good. They had a lot they could have worked with if they didn't just abandon it.

[@anomaloushost4865]

44:43 "This scene is basically Shrek 1 for 1" I lost it.

[@michaeldorsey9231]

BB-8's mannerisms really added to it XD

[@bishopthefool]

When Mauler says he does a lot of research... he's not kidding

[@Furcifer93]

10:56 Nice to know that there's more footage of Mark Hamill staring horrified at Rian Johnson that I didn't know about.

[@stock6600]

And so incredibly sad at the same time

[@Braintoast93]

It looks like Mark was thinking: "Could he just stop with his madness for one moment?"

[@-JaggedGrace-]

maybe he's just zoning out, like I do when I see someone chewing food with their mouth open

[@benjaminatwood]

@@stock6600 Definitely. Crushing loss of potential. Horrid scar on the franchise.

[@void735]

Im impressed Mark could stay cool on sett. I would just interupt him constantly like "Ryan, what The fuck? You cant have luke do that! It makes no sense, even after your own reboot rules."

[@melew25]

Regarding Poe’s joke and it potentially being in the torture scene, you also could have referenced how in Casino Royale, Bond is making jokes while being tortured by Mads Mikkelson, which leads to him being hurt even further. Endears us to the protagonist but the antagonist is still dignified

[@michaelminervini1908]

Bond movies are just dumb though.

[@calvinjohnstone2664]

Obi wan Kenobi saying I can't watch anymore was a superb piece of editing 😁👏🏆

[@michaelmccarty1327]

I like how it's not all negative critique. His analysis of Fin and Rey's first meeting reminded me why so many viewers, myself included, legitimately enjoyed TFA upon the first viewing.

[@aliceinthewired]

Unfortunately his ability to praise aspects of stories he doesn't like will be ignored in favor of perpetuating the narrative that "All MauLer does is bitch and nitpick".

[@TheRealMichaelH]

Seconded.

[@fernandosimon5621]

It had potential, in the hands of a competent writer the new trilogy would have been amazing.

[@idfkwhatyouwantfromme]

I still believe that Rey's introduction of her traveling alone through the desert is practically flawless.

[@RogueOrracle]

I still defend great at everything Rey from TFA because I loved her introduction so much. I had hoped the growth would be introduced in 8... so wrong.

[@leonardodavi2695]

"World building is horrifying as a concept to these writers." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@darthjethro9511]

Ain't that the truth!!! LOL

[@fruischian1883]

Compared to the prior 6 movies? This film does little world building but instead piggy backs off of all the prior movies.

[@darthjethro9511]

@@fruischian1883 Yeah. Pretty much.

[@DeepEye1994]

The world-building and explanations are sold separately.

[@donweatherwax9318]

No no, he said _horrifying_ not _hilarious_ . . . that would be *"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"* not *"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"*

[@hahano1121]

About the joke in the opening scene, I just found myself thinking, how can I take the villain seriously, if other characters don't?

[@williel853]

I also said this. I was yeeted out of the entire movie from this point.

[@oldkingspook]

Bingo. If the other characters don't fear a villain, neither will the audience.

[@adhirg]

it completely undermined Kylo’s authority and supposedly imposing presence.

[@SilverSpoonRiche]

Kylo Ren should have force strangled Captain Phasma for NOT handling her own malfunctioning trooper, his Grandfather certainly would have. He strangled an Admiral for coming out of hyperspace too soon. And we just saw Kylo has no compunction about killing women and children, sooo why did he let Phasma live only for her to hand over Star Killer Base over to the invading Rebels? Such a useful character, to the other side. LOL

[@skittybug1558]

To be fair, it was heavily implied that the Admiral was on his last chance with allowing the Rebels to escape being the last straw. Vader doesn't do things for no reason, he gives chances for people to redeem themselves. Vader probably would've killed Phasma only after she disabled the shields since...that's pretty bad for the Empire 2.0

[@SilverSpoonRiche]

@@skittybug1558 Are you f***ing kidding me? He tried to strangle an officer to death for "lack of faith" and the only thing that saved him was Tarkin demanding his release. Granted his "dead religion" comment could have been considered insubordination but still. You gonna say that guy was on his last chance?

[@skittybug1558]

@@SilverSpoonRiche Vader knew that Tarkin was going to get him to release Motti, since Motti was a Chief of the Imperial Navy and a highly decorated Admiral. That's not to say he didn't have malice towards Motti, and was intending to harm him a result of the comment, but in all other circumstances he is a controlled, calm presence who judges based on performance first. In fact, Motti insulting Vader's religion is actually in character with what we know of Anakin Skywalker from the prequels. He is vain and prideful. But in every other circumstance, he does not kill or even harm without cause. He threatens it a lot but those threats have weight because he follows through with them when justified and typically _only_ when justified. From what we see in the OT, Motti's treatment is an exception to the rule.

[@SilverSpoonRiche]

@@skittybug1558 I don't know what material you are getting this from or why you are so intent on defending Vader. You can not tell me that he knew Tarkin would stop him. At the time we were being introduced to these characters for the first time.

[@a.silvermane9936]

When 900 years old you reach, watch part 3 you still will not

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Oh, d' !

[@matthiasnagorski8411]

Best comment on the video. I don't need to read the rest. But i will, because the video is two hours long.

[@Unknown-hb3id]

Dang. Guess I’m ancient.

[@domeplsffs]

just took anotehr half a year - why so impatient? xD

[@ShooterQ]

The time is now guys!! It's here!

[@IAmGeorgeLucas]

I approve of this video.

[@FreerunTMac]

“Miss me yet?” - Lucas

[@GalaxyDogenut]

Well, guess who-

[@rudecrudeinc2613]

Omg Mr.Lucas bring back the clones to wage war on this dumpster fire of a sequal

[@attentiondeficitsquirrel7660]

Han shot first, George.

[@Neo2266.]

“Joined 13 years ago” Hold up

[@Xplodingfridge]

Imagine if after being tortured Poe tells Kylo that the map was hidden in his X-wing. The one just destroyed by the raiding force. Awkward end to the McGuffin and the movie right there

[@WarrenValion]

I always thought that Finn being Force Sensitive is what allowed him to overwrite the brainwashing that the First Order gave him.

[@donovandelozier7156]

Which (if they didn't have lines explicitly saying there's a process for condition breaking), would explain why he's a unique case.

[@sologamer3122]

Yeah and yup until Rey getting the light Saber from Finn the movie seemed to be going that way. But it faltered a bit... and then Ryan murdered that potential.

[@RogueFox7050]

This is where the fun begins.

[@TamagoSenshi]

For fuck's sake, I decided I was gonna post that before I even clicked on the video, but you've already beaten me to it

[@MrNuclearturtle]

*Criticisms from the new trilogy lovers/Hbomber about maulers videos being too pedantic* "Let them pass between us"

[@EmanGameplay]

Game Time Started

[@brasteen1]

"This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them."

[@Gaminglord12]

Another happy landing.

[@Travis-tq7vr]

I like how Mark Hamill doesn’t separate himself from Luke skywalker as different people. He says “I” when he talks about Luke. Mark is a gift to humanity

[@jasonnewbery]

Sucks we will never get to see him as luke skywalker again since episode 6. Since this was jake skywalker that he played and i refuse to accept how his character was treated just as he does

[@DeplorableBitterClinger]

Luke Skywalker is a gift to humanity. Mark Hamill is a jerk.

[@user-hk7hz9cn7v]

Ehhh he’s a libtard dickhead but he’ll always be Luke Skywalker. No one can take that away from him

[@SpireOfFire]

Poe's jacket would have given Finn some protection from the sun during the day and warmth at night (assuming he was still stranded). Sure, leather would not be ideal, but with his only alternative being his clunky armor, Finn had to make do. Just wanted to clarify. Former Arizona resident here.

[@haku8135]

Certainly wouldn't be WEARING the damn thing. Drape it over your head if you want the shade, don't WEAR the damn thing that DOESN'T cover your head.

[@burn5011]

He should have worn it over his head, wearing it as a jacket is counter intuitive. Just wanted to clarify. Former Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain resident.

[@N0rmandy]

TFA was designed for the audience to go "oooo i remember that" wait 3 seconds "oooo i remember that" over and over again

[@owensanfordstuff]

@ThatPurpleFunk MEMBER THE DEATH STAR?

[@pilkers2]

“MEMBER HAN SOLO? HES OLD AND DUMB NOW AND HES DEAD NOW PLEASE CRY AND LIKE THIS MOVIE”

[@lordofdarkness4204]

pilkers2 the sad thing is that it worked for a lot of people, including me to be honest.

[@extratao50]

This was actually me the whole movie 😂😂😂😂

[@bearb1asting]

I didn't bother after seeing the first new movie and groaning so much.

[@VioletDeathRei]

"We can compare their acting abilities.... The robot is better." Impact and humor brought into a salient and important point, these movies could learn a lot from this lol.

[@flipflopzg]

"In fairness, Kylo is a very busy man for the next few scenes. If you guys remember he has to give this console right here a very good standing next to..." Brilliant...

[@joshuahopkins8747]

@Revan Can't just talk about great movies and not say what they're called! GIVE ME A NAME!

[@TutorialFTWMinecraft]

@@joshuahopkins8747 Alita: Battle Angel. If you can look past the shitty forced love interest it is pretty good.

[@hieronymusboss7705]

1:34:48 Guys this is MauLer getting on his back, shimmying across dirty concrete in his overalls to diagnose your vehicle's problems. A lot of other reviews are just the teenager who takes cars apart in his backyard - but never puts them back together because he gets bored or distracted. Critique versus deconstruction. And honestly most reviews can't even deconstruct things properly. Seriously MauLer, this section more than any other, displays your skill and intent with the critique. I adore how you not only break the scene down, but break the CONTROVERSY down in tandem. This is the power of critique and getting to the bottom of objective facts to support conclusions. Because of this breakdown this scene is now my favorite scene in the movie. Can't wait for the others.

[@menthols4625]

Mark Hamill is a true bro. You can tell he's very passionate about his role as Luke and he wants it done right, then when no one would listen he spent every opportunity in interviews to subliminally(or sometimes directly) warn the fans of the shitfest that was soon to be released.

[@fronthal157]

He'd be a bro if he actually paid attention to what was happening in the world. He rails so hard against the type of people and politics that oppose the exact type of people and politics that assassinated Luke.

[@FieryMeltman]

​@@fronthal157LOL

[@racewiththefalcons1]

The idea of Rey building her own ship is brilliant and as a writer I'm jealous I didn't think of it first. It gives her so much more character, and the idea that she would be taking scavenged parts for its construction instead of selling them for more food is so ripe with internal conflict, I could cry.

[@TheAsaoirc]

It does feel a little Anakin as well, which might make it worse or better.

[@Umbran]

racewiththefalcons1 You put exactly what I was feeling into words 🖤

[@ademetal]

If you had Finn there he could complain why it's so cramped if it was a small ship and she could reply "Well, I never intended to bring anyone with me" reinforcing how isolated and alone she felt.

[@Zackypuffsnurple]

@@TheAsaoirc Huh, almost like they were trying to avoid Prequel comparisons even though the story is about "The Chosen One". Interesting how that turned out. "The Prequels are the worst thing since Hitler"...."Wow, I miss George"

[@MetroidJr1220]

To add to this marvelous rewriting: Rey and Finn fly off in the ship they built, chased by the TIE fighters. Just as the TIEs are closing in for the kill, they are shot down by one or two X-wings and the Millenium Falcon itself (this mirrors A New Hope where Han saves Luke, giving the movie a nostalgic scene, and makes some sense since the Resistance may have wanted to get to Jakku to make sure Po is alive and/or got the map piece). This way we introduce Han in a more heroic manner, and show that although him and Leia aren't as close as they used to be, she respects and trusts him enough to send him on a search & rescue mission.

[@TitoSilvey]

I just realized something. They destroyed Poe's ship. Poe's rebel ship. Poe's rebel ship that likely has comms and logs pertaining to the rebels location. A location the first order want. They had an in on the rebels and they blew it up. Why does it keep getting worse when you think about it?

[@denkerbosu3551]

MauLer mentioned that the map they wanted also could've been there. But they needed to shoe the Order destroy everything because feelings.

[@timy9197]

Also, why destroy his ship at all? They already captured him.

[@nont18411]

They should have searched the ship first then destroy it

[@srj34]

But if you don't blow the ship up, where's the EXPLOSIONS??

[@mgeiger2341]

@@nont18411 Better yet, put a tracker on it, and when Poe shows up later on, he's flying it again. You're welcome Disney!

[@DemonKingHiei]

Fun fact, the rebels on hoth found out the empire was coming cuz of the probe droid, not the admiral came out of hyperspace too quickly

[@colinbielat8558]

Actually admiral ozzel was correct, he most likely had more up to date intelligence specifically on the status of the probe droid so it was correct for him to assume that the rebels have discovered their probe droid and if they came in slowly from beyond the edge of the system the rebels would have completed their evacuation of the base.

[@gandan1357]

Whenever I watch Rey's introduction I just get so burned out and dissapointed. The music, shots and everything is just amazing. We get to see and learn a lot about her in a brief amount of time. Sadly after this scene she spirals down into the most bland and confusing character in the whole trilogy. They had NO PLAN for her, which is CRAZY! She had so much potential to be different from Luke and to be her own unique character! Her being a scavenger could have lead to her having unique skill sets. Like maybe have a scene where she haggles with a merchant to help her and Finn out of a problem (similiar to Qui-Gon and Watto in TPM). Or they could have dropped our heroes in a horrible survival situation in movie 8 or 9, and shown how hardened she is compared to the others and show her using her survival skills, just SOMETHING! It's just crazy that the only remaining thread in the later movies that's related to her time on Jakku is "I don't know who my parents are". It seems like she spent close to 10 or so years there, but her character doesn't reflect this at all! There is just so many interesting ways they could have used her childhood struggles to build an interesting character, but frankly there are just so many questions left unanswered. Like, did she just grow up by herself or did someone watch over her? If someone did watch over her then what is her connection to them? I am just as a whole baffled by how they had so many threads to build upon, so many potential ideas and yet they did NOTHING, because they had no plan and just wanted Rey to start off on a desert planet like Luke, but even that doesn't work! Luke grew up in a home with his aunt and uncle. Say what you want about those conditions, but he grew up with a family at least. He is even talking about going to an academy! So in short, Luke grew up in far more stable and healthier conditions than Rey, and yet Rey doesn't show any unique aspects that would reflect this difference. If you took out the section on Jakku you would have no idea that she grew up under such conditions because her character doesn't reflect it at all! Sorry for the rant, rewatching this incredible series of videos gets me in a critical mood :D Love your work MauLer! These videos are honestly beautiful in terms of craftmanship

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

In the last episode she can sail out to that piece of Death Star debris during a storm. It's only natural she would be an expert sailor from growing up on a desert planet, right?

[@sologamer3122]

I am convinced that jj likely planned for Finn to be the jedi and Rey would be the new Han solo. At least at first. Then it was all shot to hell

[@vadandrumist1670]

"...but this series will more than likely be released throughout the year." *One Year Later: Still waiting on Part 3*

[@nobodyfromnowwhere7510]

Clearly, you have not studied the long. Long must you watch, and long you must wait.

[@hollywoodjhawk7682]

Vadan Drumist Nothing good can happen in 2020. So in 2021 (if it even happens) we should expect to see a 12 hour Mauler TFA critique.

[@joeiken3357]

"...most likely..."

[@primordialserpent1763]

@@joeiken3357 "this series will more than likely be released throughout the year" He didn't release a single part across the year never mind the series and now nearly 14 months on and we still don't have part 3

[@flaurosan]

The bitch first got distracted with game of thrones, then got occupied with meaningless unfunny streams with his friends, and now with episode 9 critique.

[@JMBAD_art]

52:19 “Personally I’m hoping for a ... Palpatine movie” Oh boy. Then do I have a great surprise for you then bud

[@nopester1244]

A surprise to be sure but an unwelcome one

[@Aredel]

It would be awesome to have a movie showing Palpatine and his relationship with Darth Plageius.

[@SapFeaRon]

@@Aredel Disney movie about palpatine? Please no.

[@mattmortar1325]

If you're interested in his relationship with Plaguies, I'd highly recommend the legends novel Darth Plaguies. It's a great read.

[@pezdispencer113]

@@SapFeaRon that's literally episode 9

[@LadyDoomsinger]

The irony of Disney Star Wars is, that they consistently make me fall in love with Star Wars all over again. The Lucas directed Star Wars and Expanded Universe.

[@DanceySteveYNWA]

Shame, you're missing the best movie, (Empire strikes back), by only watching the lucas directed films.

[@justafan9399]

@@DanceySteveYNWA You’re missing the point. Episodes 1-6 are Lucas’ babies, even if he didn’t direct all of them. He wrote for them and crafted the world.

[@occam7382]

At least the animated shows have been pretty damn good.

[@happyfase]

That Obi-Wan "can't watch anymore" edit had me howling!

[@Flufferz626]

The 15 minutes of Rey's intro are honestly the best in the sequel trilogy. Also the only part where I noticed any soundtrack.

[@andethidialbubabibub3261]

I liked the start and was insulted by the rest, watched it once and never again.. Don't need multiple times to recognize how bad it is

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Yeah. If anything, this movie establishes things very quickly. The larger goal was established in less than two minutes: "Find Luke with map before first order." Aside from the eventual payoffs, consistencies and logic, that is actually noteworthy. I still found it rather boring when I first watched...

[@veronikavartanova4044]

I immediately thought of JJ filching Wall-e's introduction and the corporate side of Disney sighing contentedly, patting themselves on the back for synergy or something. But it was nice, if derivative

[@stopaskingforrealnames3853]

@@Olsenator ONly problem is the major plot issues it makes for episode 4

[@stopaskingforrealnames3853]

@@You-Tube-FBI Oh, really? Episode four basically takes place right after skarif An attempted alibi on the Tantive Four (Leia's ship)-"Diplomatic mission'.

[@Treblaine]

Oh yeah, that's why Tekka's death feels so meh... Poe is wise cracking literally right next to his mutilated corpse. He wasn't really killed, he was just discarded from the story.

[@jozinek876]

As well as next to all the villagers being held at gunpoint

[@ShamanMcLamie]

The moment Poe wise cracked was the moment I told myself I fucking hate this character. It just felt so out of place with him trying to play mister cool hot shot at the worst time.

[@S2GUnit]

@@ShamanMcLamie exactly, as soon as I heard that joke right after Kylo looked like a badass, I said "oh no, here we go". After R1 it makes that joke seem even more absurd. R1 showed how absolutely terrifying a dark side possessed person can be. Poe would know of all of that because it's Leia dad, who was known all over the galaxy for being a true monster.

[@SerMattzio]

The biggest problem is that because there is no world building none of the characters even matter. Who was Tekka? We don't even know anything about him. He may as well be named Generic Old Geezer #4053.

[@janwitkowsky8787]

To be fair, regarding Finn wearing the jacket, there are at the very least two things. One, the jacket is not black in color, like the body-suit he wears as part of the stormtrooper armor. Hence, it will absorb less infrared energy (ie, it'll take longer for it to get warmer.) Which is also shown, where he is lifting it over his head, while wandering, to give a small portable shade. Two, while one could argue that he could have kept on the armor-plates, since they are white and pristine, they would immeadiately peck him as a stormtrooper, and they probably weigh more than the jacket. Three, the jacket does break the monotony of the black bodysuit, which helps him standing out less, for the majority of people he would encounter. That he encounters BB-8, that remembers the jacket from Poe, is just... well... a coincidence. Good or bad, depending on ones point of view.

[@flygirl6048]

I'm crying at the Rey/BB-8 bit dubbed over with that one scene from Shrek. Thank you for this brilliant work of art

[@JayExci]

IT'S HERE

[@sampharos7090]

Jay Jay Binks, you are a bold one!

[@Reviel17]

Rian thinks the appropriate way to start a Star Wars movie is a "Monty Python sketch"?! _imitates Kylo destroying the console_ Okay, fine, fine. I'm cool. I'm fine. Let's continue.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

[@El_Descarriado]

Not to mention the audacity of that hack fraud daring to compare his 'Yo Momma' bit to Monty Python anything.

[@Mutantgamer]

The only good decision Rian Johnson made in his movie is moving Kylo’s scar. That’s the only thing I find undeniably good.

[@rafalemiec8683]

If he thinks that bullshit was anywhere near Monty Python, he's a lost cause.

[@darknessbobulus]

Whats up, Hades?

[@sammyfb488]

"One of these films has extremely consistent conclusions for all of the setups and mystery for its characters…while the other is The Force Awakens." Loved this.

[@sheabutter3260]

That intro with George Lucas had no right to make me crack up laughing do hard that my abdomen started hurting. Hahaha

[@occam7382]

George can do that to you. He's great.

[@esemicolonr]

I want to be free of this pain 42:46 Not finished with it yet, but this has been well worth the wait.

[@michaeldorsey9231]

Nice seeing you here!

[@Big_Bulli]

Well "You got to deal with it!"

[@ultimateagent25]

Mein Fuhrer Edit: I've never had so many likes. Thanks guys. 😮😮😮

[@Phier554]

On reddit people said they would not watch this video because mauler supported you ER. Reddit is a silly place and I like your videos too.

[@PANCAKEMINEZZ]

MauLer needs to take this moment to recruit E;R onto EFAP immediately.

[@Longshanks1690]

2:10 - I think you just dismantled every defence of TLJ here by showing that simply having "new" ideas isn't enough to sustain a trilogy, because they actually have to be good, coherent ideas too.

[@randomguy8878]

That defence has always felt flat for me. Just because something is different doesn't automatically make it good. The prequels are different but that doesn't make them good movies (I personally like them). My biggest issue with this trilogy is that it limits the SW Universe to the same story that was told in the OT just for the sake of a save way to please fans and be afraid to tell a new story that could have some prequels material in it, but that wouldn't be a problem if these films weren't made by executives and hired competent writters.

[@kingkwon8002]

But you forget. “Good” is objectively a subjective term and “coherence” is unnecessary in works of fiction because plot holes don’t matter. All that matters are the *T H E M E S.* Also long man bad.

[@watchingvideosalot3960]

If not good ideas, at least well executed bad ideas.

[@Umbran]

@@nighthawk7485 i love you for that

[@denkerbosu3551]

"Whatever who cares?" "It was new and unexpected! It was exactly what I wanted! I even made a video theory about it!"

[@Shlankyman545]

That ending with Rian laughing over his own movie is frightening.

[@chrisweaver7271]

I found this video via TikTok, and went back to watch the whole critique, and so far this IS JUST BRILLIANT. I especially love the edited of the movie in with a little of the satire. Bravo, and the MOST accurate critique I've ever heard.

[@trajanthegreat2928]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in joy and were suddenly silence for 2 hours 19 minutes 14 seconds.

[@shironasama0445]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

[@turtleanton6539]

😊

[@fervantfox0351]

Raphtalia Iwatani the prequel memes are strong with this one.

[@atomicdancer]

We shall watch this series with great interest!

[@darthlmr7990]

Ah I see you've adopted "best girl".

[@hugomungus7306]

1:41 If they had made her character from the point of leaving the planet, a mechanic who runs on her own schedule and can be a bit stubborn to talk to, I believe they could've done so much with that. She's excellent with machines, but what if learning something as arcane was an extreme point of challenge for her? To have seen her with Luke, struggling to use her power as she uses it only in bursts driven by emotion. Swaying her to temptations of a darker nature. I could imagine a scene where Luke tells her of his own temptation with Palpatine, using his bond with Anakin to bring balance to the force. That the flaws in the Jedi ultimately lay in the bonds they sought to break, despite having brothers and sisters bonded in arms and faith. The power that those bonds can hold are immense, influencing the dark side and light side within anyone. I wish even after the events of the actual 7th film we got anything even close to that. It is as fascinating as it is dissapointing how these film scripts ended up so bad.

[@SilverSpoonRiche]

I lost all respect for Kylo the moment he started slashing the console and screaming. I never regained any of that respect and I never saw ep 9.

[@G360LIVE]

The Force Awakens is why I don't have hope for Episode IX. People who think JJ is going to miraculously fix the Sequel Trilogy are going to be so disappointed.

[@aliceinthewired]

Those people are the ones who still defend TFA until this day and are only saying that due to TLJ's lack of cohesion.

[@nightviper1115]

I didn't even have hope for TFA. After what JJ did to Star Trek, there was no way I could possibly be optimistic about any of his work. Witnessing the fan response to TFA both before and after its release was the greatest education in self-delusion one could experience.

[@dietermill2271]

Abrams is a terrible story teller. There was never a chance that he was going to do anything but screw up SW.

[@lobsterminion693]

@@nightviper1115 Agreed. After JJ butchered Star Trek, I expected the same from TFA. We got exactly that but with the added disappointment of cinematic plagiarism disguised as "nostalgia".

[@sirpepeofhousekek6741]

The Force Awakens did a hard reset on the universe and made the previous six films completely meaningless.

[@stravos11]

46:53 *"In Fairness Kylo was a very busy man for the next few scenes: if you guys remember he has to give this console right here a very Good Standing Next to."* Bhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahah... That might just be the funniest standalone Line I've ever heard.

[@timy9197]

StravoS Maulers sarcasm is too much lol

[@XxRedRocket15xX]

I remember as a kid asking my dad all these things about how star wars worked and he was always able to provide a coherent answer. With this trilogy, I dread talking with my own son about star wars in the future.

[@Gillymonster18]

My son refuses to watch Disney wars. I let him watch TLJ…once. He was 4. I expected he’d like the action and explosions. Nope. Not even the pretty colors and cool ships were enough to make him sit through it.

[@occam7382]

@@Gillymonster18, your son has a better understanding of what makes movies work than many adults. I applaud him, sir.

[@ArlanKels]

Kylo, a hot head with control issues(as shown later in Force Awakens), is openly mocked and belittled by Poe in the opening sequence. And his mask thing. Which he has an extreme personal attachment to(For force awakens) due to the whole Vader thing. So why did Kylo not choke him with the force? Hit him? Do something to demonstrate that he is still emotional and easily provoked?

[@winkles2314]

"Hitler? I thought he was a myth!" - JJ Abrams

[@timy9197]

Bannerman Bear 🐻 It’s true. All of it.

[@Infamous1892]

I find it hard to believe someone said something so dumb.

[@donweatherwax9318]

Han's response to the ridiculous "myth" comment should've been that line from _Raiders:_ "Didn't you guys ever go to Sunday school?" (Except delivered with withering sarcasm.)

[@Aredel]

“Red-headed Hitler? Oh that guy’s hilarious.” - Rian Johnson.

[@MWcrazyhorse]

Welp looks like just as Hitler Luke Skywalker has failed in destroying the Empire.

[@bigbadseed7665]

I really feel like Finn's sole reason for existing is to be a red herring. I genuinely thought he was going to be the hero, since the marketing focused on him and movie was mostly told from his perspective. At the end when Rey becomes the hero, I felt like the movie was making fun of me for letting myself be tricked.

[@IGSA101]

Well they couldn't have a black guy be the hero in a movie they were going to release in the Asian markets.

[@grandempressvicky6387]

@@IGSA101 Asian markets that don't even care about the franchise in general. Why appeal a product to someone when they fundamentally don't care for it?

[@martian_turtle4070]

@@grandempressvicky6387 to quote Mr. Krabs: "Money!"

[@MachineMan-mj4gj]

@@martian_turtle4070 Even the most money hungry executives, the ones who go to sleep each night thinking of new and interesting ways to cut costs and maximize profits, would have to realize you're going to lose more money than you gain trying to break into a market that actively resists your attempts.

[@tuskinradar8688]

@@MachineMan-mj4gj classic Corporates, theyre not even shitty for shamelessly trying to make money, theyre shitty because they can't be fucked to even be good at it

[@pedrovilasgomes9144]

I think that the blood marks on the helmet are in reality a gigantic mistake, we are dealing with laser bolts, not normal bullets, up until now no one bled when being shot, the wounds were always burnt, so the trooper bleeding after being shot makes absolutely no sense

[@solan7978]

Timothy Zahn did write a couple of Star Wars books dealing with how devastating the destruction of the Empire actually was in terms of preserving galactic peace, "Specter of the Past" and "Vision of the Future". Would that the sequel movies had displayed even a fraction of just Zahn's world-building talent!

[@occam7382]

To be fair, it's a lot easier to do world-building in books than it is in films... but still, if George Lucas can pull it off, they should've been able to pull it off here. It's just embarassing.

[@bigbadseed7665]

I think the positive equivalent of nitpicking, finding little tiny things that you like, should be called goldpanning. "Nitpicking" refers to searching for tiny lice in someone's hair. "Goldpanning" refers to searching for tiny bits of gold in a river.

[@D2attemp]

I always thought it would be cherry picking being the positive equivalent, but I guess that has a negative connotation behind it

[@GuiSmith]

@@D2attemp Cherrypicking is finding examples to support your theory, be it a reach or not. Still a good term for usage when you’re talking about theory crafting.

[@JanSobieskiIII]

Frickin genius.

[@JustAnArrogantAlien]

Ooh... I like it.

[@Salokin92]

MauLer also mentioned he'd try to make "Neatpicking" a thing fot positive picks

[@inciaradible7144]

Hux's the key to all this, if we get Hux working. 'Cause he's a funnier character than we've ever had in the movies...

[@KaosNova2]

Query: Funnier than HK-47?

[@noman8412]

GrandmistressD Was Ugh! I liked the dynamic between Hux and Kylo in TFA. Why did they wreck it!?

[@KaosNova2]

@@Emperor_Toxatine Condescending statement : Tsk. Tsk. I terminate plenty of them.

[@eliasrainer4430]

Insert joke about Hux being promoted by evil Russian bots/hackers.

[@Ike_of_pyke]

Hux is a great piece of the puzzle that 8 feel JJ did significantly better

[@aaronblank2318]

It was really considerate of General Hux, when Rose bit his finger, to not pound her skull into mush with his free hand.

[@tavis537]

About the Millenium Falcon...Why was the door left down if it hadn't been flown in years? Wouldn't the entire inside be full of sand? Why was it fully fueled? Why was it not stripped for parts and sold? How does Rey know every owner that the ship passed down through since Han lost it? How did Han lose it?...

[@Gillymonster18]

Stop with your logical questions, you! Thinking makes peoples’ brains hurt.

[@private2132]

wow. what a baffling choice to remove that scene with Leia and her aide.. seriously, telling us WHO that rando was, would have been so much more impactful.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

What? Are we supposed to "feel" something when a planet is destroyed? Psh...

[@KalibreSteelblast]

Yeah, I never understood why the camera panned so closely on to her, as if she was someone of importance; as opposed to panning across multiple people with their reactions.

[@TheNoonish]

I don't mind the decision to move the introduction of Leia to a moment in the story when it has more impact. The issue is that the exposition and world-building from that scene should still come from somewhere. There were reshoots, right? Reshoot a scene with that character explaining she's been sent to (location) under the orders of General Leia to give us back the exposition we lost.

[@UnchainedEruption]

This channel has put more effort into thinking through the new Star Wars films than any of the actual writing staff on them

[@ronharper5004]

This 100%

[@outrider44]

Combined.

[@StudioSmith]

They sit in their office at lucasfilm like: Geez, look at this dude xD and the other goes: Yeah, some people need to stop overthinking

[@ordikaskirita5234]

Laughs I think a drunk russian mechanic could build the millennium falcon and write a better fan movie with ww2 cameras and props! Than the current as Disney team.

[@KaosNova2]

Statement: More than an entire committee of meatbags...

[@hannahkillian689]

3:02 Hey, I never noticed the captured rebels in the righthand corner there before. And I've seen ANH more times than I can count; I'm old enough to have watched it on VHS.

[@TheStacanova]

Re: Rey flying the Falcon. That should’ve been Poe, they’ve already established him as the resistance’s “Greatest Pilot”, so it would be more believable, & he’s obviously the “Han Solo” character of the Sequel Trilogy. I have no idea why Poe literally disappeared from the story & script at this point? One of the reason people loved the original Star Wars so much, was because of the relationships of all of the characters, ejecting Poe from the story at this point, irreparably damaged that & the whole story.

[@Nikagor]

You actually could have Rey fixing the falcon up, as a scavenger you should know how stuff works, otherwise you don't know what stuff makes the most money and repairing smaller stuff increases its value, having poe injured would made it even more pressing to get to a ship this instant instead of trying to run away otherwise, would have given rey the chance to repair and give poe navigation tips, while making the bad guys still seem kinda competent, but as they were only interested in making a mary sue, why would they ever even consider this.

[@theeternalchronicler3072]

"Darth Vader suffers no fools." Don't know why but I really like that sentence.

[@troo_6656]

Me too, it is something that some imperial officer in death squadron would say in Vader comix, I think.

[@kylefrank638]

"Apology acCEPTed, Captain Needa."

[@intel6947]

Someone please download and archive all these in case Disney tries destroying this masterpiece.

[@10tanium]

Also we must protect MauLer at any cost! You never know when Disney decides to go full evil.

[@ImperialistJoe]

"In case" This is 100% getting removed eventually. It's KZbin in currentyear.

[@renewagain6956]

I think it's happening already... Searching for "Mahler" no longer is showing his channel or videos anywhere near the top of searches. Instead, it's a composer by the same name that shows up. Even "Mauler star Wars" has his results pushed down the page.

[@KaosNova2]

Statement: Already accomplished, meatbag

[@Feber2001]

The archives cannot be incomplete..

[@TOONYBOY]

In regards to what you mentioned about how easy it is to contact any necessary superior officer where security and espionage is concerned, that just reminds me of how much I love the sneak-on-the-Death-Star scene from A New Hope. Han and Luke subdue the Stormtroopers in the Millenium Falcon and take their armour to try and avoid detection, but the nearby security officer wants a report on the sounds of blaster fire from the ship. The officer goes to the window and looks straight at Han. Knowing he's under suspicion and needs to respond in some way to the communication but can't let them hear his voice, his quick-thinking makes him knock his helmet with his fist, feigning an attempt to "fix" what he's pretending to be a faulty communicator, his body language saying "Can you hear me? Is this thing...". The security officer immediately gives him a look that says "Understood, stand by", believing that there is no security concern, but places a maintenance log on a faulty communicator that needs replacing. A creative way of getting around a security measure

[@undeadexotitan5401]

Little detail about your video I loved. "Let's put a pin in it for now", proceeds to show Qui Gon get stabbed with a lightsaber. 10/10

[@devynd6476]

44:46 "This scene is basically Shrek one-for-one." I'm dying.

[@partialbullet2215]

The Robot is better

[@partialbullet2215]

“The robot [WALL-E] is better” - Mauler

[@Willowy13]

He wanted to show he was the real deal... then proceeded to get beaten by untrained Rey. Such a villain!

[@philipbailey9670]

That was the moment this film lost me completely.

[@timy9197]

It was like JJ just gave up half way through writing for this character

[@crusadusgaming]

Willowy13 that was the moment that movie kinda ended for me. I honestly didn’t mind Han dying but a non trained beating a trained Jedi and dark force user......

[@philllllllll]

There's so much potential to have Kylo Ren be a weakling throwing a tantrum and embracing the dark side in an ATTEMPT to gain more power. Committing increasingly horrific acts in a desperation to grow stronger. His self-hatred at his own weakness being his main motivation for everything he does. But they establish him as one of the most powerful force users we've ever seen on film in the first scene.

[@deathsdoor07]

I am still wondering how Finn lasted as long as he did against Kylo. I know Ben was injured but still Finn should have dead in under five seconds against Kylo.

[@Karuoko]

42:18 "The robot is better" that simple line, is enough to get my like sir ! As I absolutely loved Wall-E and totally despised Rei (not Skywalker) Palpatine !

[@Rohit-rb7qq]

You describing what Rey could have been was making my heart bleed because of what we got.

[@hellsong23]

Captain Phasma's job was to walk menacingly towards the camera, or stand still while the camera zooms to her.

[@timy9197]

Pixel Perfect And also to be a woman whilst doing it

[@Edax_Royeaux]

@@timy9197 Really? Cause when I watched Force Awakens, I thought she was a droid like a Dark Trooper from Battlefront II the entire movie.

[@this_is_japes7409]

i really fail to understand how Gwendoline Christie isn't more pissed or offended about her role in the two films. well i guess she got a shxt ton of money for effectively doing nothing, and maybe she wants more roles like that? like this was definitely way less work compared to her role in game of thrones, but also probably paid much better. there's that. i'd like to think she's better than that, but then again.

[@jsmeswagner6104]

The helmets of kylo and plasma wee just not ominous..they are just boring

[@occam7382]

@@this_is_japes7409, it is possible she's just lying through her teeth for the sake of not pissing off the people who employed her. Taking the words of someone under an NDA at complete face-value isn't exactly the wisest choice.

[@therealdeal3866]

I still can't get past the fact that they worked so hard to make Kylo another Vader, ONLY TO THROW IT AWAY IN THE FIRST TWENTY SECONDS by having Poe crack a joke at his expense. Can ANYONE imagine someone smarting off like that to Vader? "Who talks first? Do I talk first?" Vader would have pulled off one of his fingers just to make a point that he's not there to be laughed at. JJ Abrams doesn't know shit about Star Wars and doesn't know shit about writing. Giving this series to the man who fucked up Star Trek was asinine.

[@harrisonutoft5871]

Especially when you consider the fact that he once said "What are movies but MYSTERY BOXES?!", even though not all of his "mysteries" are that good. I respect the man as a filmmaker and writer for only some of his works but when it comes to Star Trek and Star Wars (for example), he leaves too many gaps open. Why Disney didn't have him make all 3 films makes was kind of silly. I may not be a fan of any of the "sequels" but I know he had bigger plans for Snoke. However, even I could see all the similar stuff from ANH when my dad and I first saw TFA. Also, why has Luke Skywalker vanished?! That makes no sense! It became pretty clear to me that J.J. had absolutely NO knowledge of Star Trek or Star Wars to begin with when he started working in those 2 fields. I mean, come on, Mr. Abrams! Kylo Ren, Snoke and the FIRST ORDER?! How about a NEW villain faction?! Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson were no help either, of course. But still, TROS could've been much different and, possibly, better than the way it was. But J.J. had to undo EVERYTHING Rian had added to the story of the "sequels" which proves that Disney should've just had J.J. do all 3 films. In my opinion, they should've had people who actually UNDERSTAND Star Wars. People like Dave Filoni, Rick McCallum, Jon Favreau and George Lucas himself make the movies instead. Plus, if they had done so, they should've also given George full control of the movies. All I know is, if I were Bob Iger, I wouldn't have spit on my gentleman's agreement with George. This is all my opinion but I just personally think that this could've been a MUCH BETTER direction for the "sequels" to go in.

[@wtcher2060]

This is my exact take on that scene. That dude Vader was choking to death at the beginning probably didn’t even get a chance to say shit let alone a joke. Seriously tho, by Poe cracking that joke it takes away from the menace of Solo Ben…I mean Kylo Ren

[@Harrier42861]

Mph. Could have worked. Yes, Vader would have cut a hand off or something to make his point, but hell, it's not like prosthetics are unknown in Star Wars, so once they escape it wouldn't take *that* long for him to be back at the top of his form. And arguably, it could work with Poe trying to provoke Kylo into killing him, thus depriving him of the information he needs. In other words, it's the execution, not the concept.

[@IncredibleMD]

Poe can kill the dramatic tension of any scene he's in. He's on his third playthrough and picking the funniest dialogue options for giggles. The scene was funny in the moment, but hurts the movie as a whole. I had a chuckle, sure, but is a chuckle worth your villain's establishing scene? Disney loves scenes like those, especially when they can make stormtroopers the butt of the joke.

[@jtboss8139]

Really? Cause Vader jokes and he did so when he said " we would be honor if u would join us" as if he was honored or wanted to have dinner with hansolo and them. Then next u see torture and frozen Han. Vader had one liner jokes. Stop.

[@greatscott636]

Bahahaha the Shrek rey, donkey bb8 correlation is so hilarious!

[@mathewstafford7943]

All I can remember watching the force awakens in theaters was that it was enjoyable as a movie and cool to see star wars stuff going on but things felt wrong. Sort of like when someone you know very well seems off but is trying to hide it, or that feeling you get when someone is being nice to you but it feels insincere or manipulative but you can’t place why.

[@13thEcho]

Only 2 hours long? Must be an intro...

[@dodojesus4529]

No this is just the "tro" of "intro"

[@nicholasleclerc1583]

dodo jesus So the outro of the intro ? Not even the *intro* of the intro ? And not, again, the intro itself ? ... ... So the last part of the intro ? (: P)

[@XellDincht]

that's just part 2 of his analysis

[@dodojesus4529]

@@nicholasleclerc1583 yes this is around 50% off the intro

[@nicholasleclerc1583]

dodo jesus So a “...tro” ?

[@TheGamingAngel18]

“Where a bunch of rags hanging off it” I see what you did there

[@joahnaut]

Well, it wasn't exactly subtle.

[@benjaminatwood]

It was a great inside joke. xD

[@kickballjedi]

Han Should be an Admiral in the New Republic Fleet, Leia should be a powerful senator (or possibly Chancellor) in the New Republic Government, and Luke should be the most powerful member of the New Jedi Order. All three would be known Galaxy-wide for their parts in freeing everybody from the Shadow of the Empire.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

It seems like Abrams really wanted a conflict and went with what would be easiest. Take your setup and make The First Order a powerful invading force from another galaxy. You could have all the same characters, even Finn. Just make him the leader of a group of First Order grunts who come to oppose it and secretly work with the Republic. Doing things that way would have meant creating new ships, uniforms, and weapons for an entirely new group though. They took the easy way out and recrested the empire with a different name.

[@sologamer3122]

Especially considering that Luke in Canon starts his own jedi academy after RTJ. SOOOO MUCH WASTED POTENTIAL!

[@occam7382]

I think it would make more sense if Han was a part of New Republic Intelligence. Commanding fleets was never really his style, but going on wacky adventures to get information and carry out clandestine operations for the New Republic? I could totally see him doing that.

[@jackwhite2654]

Re-watching the opening scene of the last jedi made me realize how much I liked general Hux in the force awakens. He wasn't mind-blowingly good, but I found his character entertaining. Putting him in an awkward comedy sketch wasn't a good choice for the type of character he was playing, and pretty much every usage of him past TFA failed to live up to the potential of the character. (Lord knows they wasted him in rise of Skywalker) It's a shame. I think he could have been a great villain.

[@adhirg]

I liked how Hux was basically a rabid dog at certain points yet he was a sound tactical mind when situations called for it (we see glimpses of that in the movie and can assume his successful history based on his rank). but of course, Rian shit on that within 3 min of the sequel lol.