They followed the template of a New Hope where they threw us into a conflict that had already begun without really explaining things. Difference between this and A New Hope was that ANH was so good at world-building that we had a better understanding of everything. It gave us just enough information for us to understand who everyone was and what the stakes were and the pacing was perfect. Force Awakens was lazy in that regard imo and the pacing was off, just seemed rushed. Should've had more scenes where we saw the inner workings of the First Order as well as the Republic. Just seemed like a lot of scenes were cut and I feel like it would've been stronger if the movie was longer.
JJ Abrams was too JJ Abramsy with the vague references and no explanations.
Rey was a confusing character. I understand they wanna add mystery regarding her origins but they're so caught up in doing this that it weakens her character and it makes it hard for the audience to relate to her struggle and motivations because we have no idea where they're coming from. We're not emotionally invested in her fear of leaving Jakku because the film never bothers to explain how she got there and what connection she has to it. It's obvious that she's extremely capable at just about everything (being a pilot, being a Jedi, etc) which makes her fear and reluctance all the more confusing
Finn's character was a mess, just kept changing his persona and motivations. First he's a coward, then he's a hero, then he's a coward again. First he's capable of holding his own then he's a damsel in distress. I actually agree with Roman Brady, Box Cutta and Ziggly now, too much of Finn's character reminded me of a bumbling, sidekick comic relief archetype. I cringed when he told Han he was a garbage man. Seems like Abrams couldn't decide to make him a capable hero or a Jar Jar Binks sidekick in constant need of saving. If you're gonna make him a weakling then don't have him go toe to toe with a dude who was trained by Luke. If you're gonna make him a badass then don't have him lose a fight to a damn stormtrooper or act shocked whenever he happens to shoot down a tie fighter.
Poe was good, but underused. With how badly they fukked up the character of Finn I'd honestly rather Poe have taken up his screentime. They both pretty much fulfilled the same purpose when it came to how they served the plot and story
Kylo was the best new character, I like how they made him angry and emotional as oppose to the emotionally detached Darth Vader(something different, finally) I didn't mind him not being as powerful as other Sith in the other films considering the fact that he was basically starting a new order of Jedi and had way less experience
Snoke was a waste to me. Have no clue who he is and he wasn't compelling enough for me to care.
Han was great, but everything great about him aside from Ford's performance was because of our prior knowledge of him. Again, lazy filmmaking by Abrams
Had mixed feelings about Kylo killing Han. Ballsy move but since I knew next to nothing about how their relationship was or why Ren turned it didn't really have the emotional impact that it could have
Honestly, this movie felt like the 2nd movie in a trilogy, rather than the first. Just so much backstory that wasn't fully explained and a lot of telling rather than showing(the whole scene with Leia talking about Kylo to Han was bad, lazy writing) I feel like showing Kylo Ren's turn to the dark side and his conflict with Luke would've made for a much more compelling movie than this
Movie relied too much on nostalgia and wasn't confident enough in its own story and characters to give us anything innovative. Yeah, the prequels sucked but at least Lucas was actually trying something different with the tone and overall feel. This was pretty much a carbon copy of A New Hope.
The things that were good were the things that I expected to be good, the dialogue, acting and the action. That was a given. The characters actually sounded like real people unlike the prequels and the humor, for the most part, wasn't too corny or forced. I just wish there was a better story to go along with it.
People are really excited right now to see a new
Star Wars movie that plays on their nostalgia. But once that settles down I think you'll start to see more and more people who didn't really like this movie and the backlash, while not as intense as the Phantom Menace, will still be prominent. Right now I'd rate this a B-. Could go up or down depending on how well it holds up on repeated viewings. To be fair, I was initially underwhelmed by Creed but liked it a lot more after seeing it again, so maybe that will be the same case here. But as of now I'm pretty disappointed
Definitely going to be explored in Ep 8.
The effects, settings, props, everything looked too damn good
...the theater was a straight zoo after that.
