Star Wars: The Force Awakens
WARNING: This *review* contains spoilers! ....and is a super nerdy, way too in depth review of the new Star Wars film.
To begin I want to state that I, during the most formative years of my life, was a massive Star Wars nerd. I had no less than 15 posters on my wall and spent most of my time on Star Wars forum sites, writing Star Wars fan fiction with my friends, and re-watching the movies until my eyes bled.
So when I finally went into watch The Force Awakens, I did it with the weight of my pre-teen self's expectations.
The Good
1) The new characters were without a doubt the best part of the movie.
Finn was my particular favorite. A storm trooper who turned good. It is a great concept that the writer's ran with and created a star. Fantastically acted by John Boyega, Finn is a character fresh out enslavement and is discovering the universe for the first time. We are treated to his journey of learning who he really is, what he wants from life, and what he is willing to fight for. The hero shot of him raising Luke's lightsaber to fight Kylo Ren in the final battle is, for me, the most iconic of the film. Plus he is simply an delightful mix of adorable and funny that often said exactly what the audience was thinking.
Rey is the female hero we have been waiting for. Similarly to Finn, she is discovering the universe for the first time. She is a woman abandoned to a life on her own with no companionship of any kind, and has developed some pretty strong abandonment/trust issues as a result. Her dogmatic belief that one day her family is coming back for her is heart breaking, but we are made to understand from the beginning that she is not helpless. A skilled fighter and a great pilot, she is a woman filled with strength, resilience, and above all kindness. She struggles with her fate and eventually learns to over come her past. I am truly excited to see where her character leads.
Po. Oh Po. You gorgeous bastard. The only flaw with this dashing hero is that he was criminally under utilized. I sincerely hope that he gets a larger role to play in the next film.
2) The film was generally enjoyable. I had a good time (if I ignored my inner voice complaining the entire time) watching it and would gladly see it again.
The Bad
1) The entire story was essentially plagiarized from the original trilogy and the scrapped Extended Universe novels. If you really look at the plot, you will discover that it is the exact combination of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. Did we really need a new Empire hunting down a droid on a dessert planet because the droid contains valuable intel and while on the planet the droid encounters a young person who unknowingly is a powerful force user then they team up with a rogue side kick and barely escape the planet together Oh yea and they team up with an old man who teaches them about the force and the wider universe they never have experienced resulting in them joining a rebellion against an oppressive regime that is led by a general and a dark force user in all black and a helmet that power a death star and use it to destroy planets which has to be destroyed over a forest planet in order to save the rebellion and the old man and the dark force user in a helmet have a final confrontation and it is revealed they have an old father/son connection but the evil force user kills his former father(figure) and then there is a final light saber battle whilst they just manage to bring down the shields on the forest planet in time for their friends in space to destroy the death star. DID WE REALLY NEED TO SEE THAT ALL AGAIN?
I have seen those movies. I own those movies. I wanted to see something different!
And anything that wasn't taken from the original trilogy, was taken straight out of the Extended Universe novels. The best part of the films (Rey, Finn, and Po) were the only original things about the movie.
You are telling me in an infinite story telling universe such as Star Wars these people couldn't think of any way to tell this story other than a way we have seen exactly before? Please.
2) The Fan Service. Oh dear the fan service. It was cute at the beginning, but it became ridiculous. We get it, you hate the prequels and were so scared of being compared to them that you stole everything from the original series. Enough already.
3) Han Solo. Han Solo is without question one of the greatest and most iconic film characters of all time. And yet his treatment in this film was lazy and poorly done. They essentially forced him into the plot with an irrational excuse of, after like 40 years, he became a smuggler again at his age, just so he could conveniently run into Finn and Rey. Everything Finn and Rey did could have been accomplished without Han Solo, but they just needed him in that role so that they could ultimately kill him in a scene that did not do this magnificent character justice.
If you read interviews about Han's death, you know that Han was not originally supposed to die in this movie. Po was. But then ultimately they decided to kill Han because they wanted to prove Kylo Ren wasn't a big piss baby (which they ultimately failed at, but I will get to that later), they felt like the movie didn't "have guts" unless Han died, and because they didn't know what to do with him in the next two movies X. I am sorry, but those are not good enough reasons to kill Han Solo. Are you kidding me? You all aren't creative enough you couldn't think of any way to do this in a way that made sense or to keep him alive and still be interesting? Ugh.
4) Rey's force powers. I have seen a lot of debate over this. People claim Rey is a Mary Sue (a female character that is literally perfect in every way). She is too perfect, she can do everything, she defeated Kylo Ren without any training. To those people I say you weren't paying attention. Rey is plenty flawed and has plenty of weaknesses. Also she showed throughout the film she was a certified bad ass with a staff, and those skills could easily be transferred to a light saber.
HOWEVER. What I do agree with is her ability to use the force is absolutely ridiculous. The prequel trilogy showed us that it took Jedi decades to hone their abilities with the force. The abilities Rey displayed would have taken a Jedi in the prequel eras a life time to master. And she just...did it. Even Luke received training with the force, even if it was only a little bit. Some random alien on some random planet told her she could use the force and suddenly she was defeating Kylo Ren, who had spent his entire life training, without too much effort.
I am seriously hoping this is something that is explained in the following films, because right now it seems like they just couldn't be bothered to create a reasonable reason on how Kylo Ren would be defeated.
5) Kylo Ren. I am sorry but I cannot take this fool seriously. What a big baby! He needs his diaper changed. He throws more temper tantrums in this one movie than his beloved grandfather did in the entire prequel trilogy, and that is saying something! I don't buy his inner conflict over light and dark, and I don't buy him becoming evil in the first place. Were Han and Leia really such awful parents that their son decided to become a homicidal maniac? What in his past caused this? Because right now all we see is the son of some of the most beloved characters of all time becoming evil for no reason. I am sure a reason will be revealed in the future, but right now he is little brat throwing a temper tantrum. His co-workers make far more convincing villains to me, but they were hardly on screen.
7) One of my biggest issues with fantasy/sci-fi also plagued this movie. Writers cannot just let things be peaceful for even one lifetime before the same old tyrants, the same old war, wrecks everything your heroes in whatever the original story was worked so hard for. It's depressing and horrifying and frankly it gets boring after a while. It was the reason I hated the Expanded Universe series of Star Wars before they erased them, and it is one of my disappointments with the new Star Wars series and why I have had so much trouble being excited for it. Everything our heroes did in the original trilogies, their entire struggle, has been proved pointless. A new empire has risen more evil and powerful than the original. Luke is still the only Jedi. The force is being dominated by the dark side again. This all happened within less than a single life time. Way to totally destroy the original trilogy. I will never be able to watch them again without feeling depressed and twinged with anger and regret. It doesn't matter, they didn't really accomplish anything. In the end they are just tiny players in a sadistic universe that never wants anything good to happen ever.
Conclusion:
Yea I wasn't crazy about this movie....as you can tell. In fact I kind of wish it hadn't been made. I appreciate the resurgence of Star Wars love and the new generation of kids it is bringing into this world..but did it have to be like this? And yea I know a lot of people will disagree with me, after-all it is the highest grossing film of all time, but that is just how I feel about it.
Random Thoughts
-BB-8 is a gift to mankind. Bless that little robot.
-Can I get a hells yea for the ethnically diverse background characters that were an equal balance of men and women? That was pretty awesome
- WTF is this replacement emperor? Is he supposed to be that fake looking? Because he looks like something out of a video game 5 years ago.
- I was afraid I had a type before this movie. Tall, handsome, long dark hair villain-ish man with a conflicted heart and a dubious past. This movie assured me that I don't.
-Why did we never get to see Gwendoline Christie's face? Were they worried if she took off her helmet we would die from shock to see Birenne of Tarth clearly won the game of thrones?
- I hope the new trilogy doesn't pair Rey up with anyone romantically. They were hinting at it with Finn, but I really hope they just end up the very very best of friends. They already destroyed my heart by wrecking Han and Leia, shoving a new romance down our throats would only make it worse.
-Rey is Luke's daughter. In my mind that is the only thing that makes sense
-I would give this franchise every dollar I had (hyperbole) if they brought back Hayden Christensen to have him force ghost yelling at his grandson to get it together. That would be the greatest thing that could happen.
Finn was my particular favorite. A storm trooper who turned good. It is a great concept that the writer's ran with and created a star. Fantastically acted by John Boyega, Finn is a character fresh out enslavement and is discovering the universe for the first time. We are treated to his journey of learning who he really is, what he wants from life, and what he is willing to fight for. The hero shot of him raising Luke's lightsaber to fight Kylo Ren in the final battle is, for me, the most iconic of the film. Plus he is simply an delightful mix of adorable and funny that often said exactly what the audience was thinking.
Rey is the female hero we have been waiting for. Similarly to Finn, she is discovering the universe for the first time. She is a woman abandoned to a life on her own with no companionship of any kind, and has developed some pretty strong abandonment/trust issues as a result. Her dogmatic belief that one day her family is coming back for her is heart breaking, but we are made to understand from the beginning that she is not helpless. A skilled fighter and a great pilot, she is a woman filled with strength, resilience, and above all kindness. She struggles with her fate and eventually learns to over come her past. I am truly excited to see where her character leads.
Po. Oh Po. You gorgeous bastard. The only flaw with this dashing hero is that he was criminally under utilized. I sincerely hope that he gets a larger role to play in the next film.
2) The film was generally enjoyable. I had a good time (if I ignored my inner voice complaining the entire time) watching it and would gladly see it again.
The Bad
1) The entire story was essentially plagiarized from the original trilogy and the scrapped Extended Universe novels. If you really look at the plot, you will discover that it is the exact combination of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. Did we really need a new Empire hunting down a droid on a dessert planet because the droid contains valuable intel and while on the planet the droid encounters a young person who unknowingly is a powerful force user then they team up with a rogue side kick and barely escape the planet together Oh yea and they team up with an old man who teaches them about the force and the wider universe they never have experienced resulting in them joining a rebellion against an oppressive regime that is led by a general and a dark force user in all black and a helmet that power a death star and use it to destroy planets which has to be destroyed over a forest planet in order to save the rebellion and the old man and the dark force user in a helmet have a final confrontation and it is revealed they have an old father/son connection but the evil force user kills his former father(figure) and then there is a final light saber battle whilst they just manage to bring down the shields on the forest planet in time for their friends in space to destroy the death star. DID WE REALLY NEED TO SEE THAT ALL AGAIN?
I have seen those movies. I own those movies. I wanted to see something different!
And anything that wasn't taken from the original trilogy, was taken straight out of the Extended Universe novels. The best part of the films (Rey, Finn, and Po) were the only original things about the movie.
You are telling me in an infinite story telling universe such as Star Wars these people couldn't think of any way to tell this story other than a way we have seen exactly before? Please.
2) The Fan Service. Oh dear the fan service. It was cute at the beginning, but it became ridiculous. We get it, you hate the prequels and were so scared of being compared to them that you stole everything from the original series. Enough already.
3) Han Solo. Han Solo is without question one of the greatest and most iconic film characters of all time. And yet his treatment in this film was lazy and poorly done. They essentially forced him into the plot with an irrational excuse of, after like 40 years, he became a smuggler again at his age, just so he could conveniently run into Finn and Rey. Everything Finn and Rey did could have been accomplished without Han Solo, but they just needed him in that role so that they could ultimately kill him in a scene that did not do this magnificent character justice.
If you read interviews about Han's death, you know that Han was not originally supposed to die in this movie. Po was. But then ultimately they decided to kill Han because they wanted to prove Kylo Ren wasn't a big piss baby (which they ultimately failed at, but I will get to that later), they felt like the movie didn't "have guts" unless Han died, and because they didn't know what to do with him in the next two movies X. I am sorry, but those are not good enough reasons to kill Han Solo. Are you kidding me? You all aren't creative enough you couldn't think of any way to do this in a way that made sense or to keep him alive and still be interesting? Ugh.
4) Rey's force powers. I have seen a lot of debate over this. People claim Rey is a Mary Sue (a female character that is literally perfect in every way). She is too perfect, she can do everything, she defeated Kylo Ren without any training. To those people I say you weren't paying attention. Rey is plenty flawed and has plenty of weaknesses. Also she showed throughout the film she was a certified bad ass with a staff, and those skills could easily be transferred to a light saber.
HOWEVER. What I do agree with is her ability to use the force is absolutely ridiculous. The prequel trilogy showed us that it took Jedi decades to hone their abilities with the force. The abilities Rey displayed would have taken a Jedi in the prequel eras a life time to master. And she just...did it. Even Luke received training with the force, even if it was only a little bit. Some random alien on some random planet told her she could use the force and suddenly she was defeating Kylo Ren, who had spent his entire life training, without too much effort.
I am seriously hoping this is something that is explained in the following films, because right now it seems like they just couldn't be bothered to create a reasonable reason on how Kylo Ren would be defeated.
5) Kylo Ren. I am sorry but I cannot take this fool seriously. What a big baby! He needs his diaper changed. He throws more temper tantrums in this one movie than his beloved grandfather did in the entire prequel trilogy, and that is saying something! I don't buy his inner conflict over light and dark, and I don't buy him becoming evil in the first place. Were Han and Leia really such awful parents that their son decided to become a homicidal maniac? What in his past caused this? Because right now all we see is the son of some of the most beloved characters of all time becoming evil for no reason. I am sure a reason will be revealed in the future, but right now he is little brat throwing a temper tantrum. His co-workers make far more convincing villains to me, but they were hardly on screen.
7) One of my biggest issues with fantasy/sci-fi also plagued this movie. Writers cannot just let things be peaceful for even one lifetime before the same old tyrants, the same old war, wrecks everything your heroes in whatever the original story was worked so hard for. It's depressing and horrifying and frankly it gets boring after a while. It was the reason I hated the Expanded Universe series of Star Wars before they erased them, and it is one of my disappointments with the new Star Wars series and why I have had so much trouble being excited for it. Everything our heroes did in the original trilogies, their entire struggle, has been proved pointless. A new empire has risen more evil and powerful than the original. Luke is still the only Jedi. The force is being dominated by the dark side again. This all happened within less than a single life time. Way to totally destroy the original trilogy. I will never be able to watch them again without feeling depressed and twinged with anger and regret. It doesn't matter, they didn't really accomplish anything. In the end they are just tiny players in a sadistic universe that never wants anything good to happen ever.
Conclusion:
Yea I wasn't crazy about this movie....as you can tell. In fact I kind of wish it hadn't been made. I appreciate the resurgence of Star Wars love and the new generation of kids it is bringing into this world..but did it have to be like this? And yea I know a lot of people will disagree with me, after-all it is the highest grossing film of all time, but that is just how I feel about it.
Random Thoughts
-BB-8 is a gift to mankind. Bless that little robot.
-Can I get a hells yea for the ethnically diverse background characters that were an equal balance of men and women? That was pretty awesome
- WTF is this replacement emperor? Is he supposed to be that fake looking? Because he looks like something out of a video game 5 years ago.
- I was afraid I had a type before this movie. Tall, handsome, long dark hair villain-ish man with a conflicted heart and a dubious past. This movie assured me that I don't.
-Why did we never get to see Gwendoline Christie's face? Were they worried if she took off her helmet we would die from shock to see Birenne of Tarth clearly won the game of thrones?
- I hope the new trilogy doesn't pair Rey up with anyone romantically. They were hinting at it with Finn, but I really hope they just end up the very very best of friends. They already destroyed my heart by wrecking Han and Leia, shoving a new romance down our throats would only make it worse.
-Rey is Luke's daughter. In my mind that is the only thing that makes sense
-I would give this franchise every dollar I had (hyperbole) if they brought back Hayden Christensen to have him force ghost yelling at his grandson to get it together. That would be the greatest thing that could happen.
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