My Thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It’s been awhile since I’ve written an opinion piece. I’ve been wanting to steer clear of reviews on this blog for a bit and then I saw the latest Star Wars.

Now, to be upfront and honest from the beginning, I am a big fan of Star Wars. I have the tattoos, I have a dog with “Jedi” in his name, I have a boyfriend with a lightsaber, etc.  There are many different levels of Star Wars fans from what I’ve come to realize. I am a fan of the original trilogy, what I will always refer to as the first 3.  George Lucas produced them with vision, creativity and they revolutionized the film industry. I grew up with these movies and watched them like most girls watch the Disney princess movies. I love them and that’s why it makes the new movie so hard for me to review.

So let’s dive right in… I have lots of feelings about this movie and I’ll break them down to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

THE GOOD

“Chewy… let’s join the cast in quoting our original characters!”

1. Abrams went back to the original look and feel of the Star Wars universe. Turns out people don’t like different looking worlds (one gripe about the prequel trilogy) or even different looking bad guys.  It’s all very familiar and cozy.
2. The casting seems pretty good. No big stars, just fresh faced young actors who can actually act.
3. The space battle sequences are exciting! Then again, it is Abrams.

Hmmm… where have I seen this before?

THE BAD

1. Why is this movie so familiar? Oh right… it’s the plot. I have seen this movie twice now and I’m positive about 40% of the scenes are duplications of the originals. This isn’t inspired by Star Wars… this is literally repetitive Star Wars.  Congratulations, you’ve made my favorite movie into a troupe. Thanks for that.
2. Where are the older, respected evil leaders?  Besides the holographic mystery Sith guru, everyone is in their 20s or 30s.  Seriously? Grand Moff Tarkin had to earn his rank… apparently the New Order gives them away in Cracker Jack boxes!
3. The plot holes… some people are grasping at straws coming up with theories to answer the questions which is admirable. I left the theater with too many questions and an unwillingness to even care about the answers.  “How does a spherical droid roll uphill? Or go up stairs… how does his head even stay on?” or how about “Why does Kylo Ren only have his father standing between him and the dark side… what is Leia, chopped liver!?”. Oh, I have another… “How are Han and Luke mythical when it’s been only 30 years since they defeated the Empire?” There’s more but I don’t time and that could be a totally separate post.

What a coincidence, I’m a orphan desert slave and you’re a rebel droid with an important file running from the bad guys! I’ve never seen that before

THE UGLY

1. Kylo Ren is the most pathetic bad guys I’ve seen.  Ever.  His temper tantrums, while some say display how he’s been consumed by the dark side, are just irritating.  He acts like an 7 year old who’s the bully on a playground.  I think he’s only scary because he is seemingly the only people able to weld the force. The first competition he gets from an untrained force welding good girl and he crumbles.  Don’t even get me started on the teenage family angst. I just can’t buy the characterization here.

Is it a machine they terraformed or a planet they hollowed out?

1. The scary weapon this time around is the Star Killer… which is a planet sized Death Star. This time around it actually sucks in the energy of the Sun… which is a star. I see what you did there. Problem: wouldn’t displacing a sun alter the ecology on all planets in the galaxy there? Plot hole number 32 located! And why didn’t they figure their engineering issues from the first death/killer/star/whatever technology?  You’d think they’d bury the weak spots within the planet at this point, since they apparently cored the inside of one out. Presumably. I have to make presumptions to explain what the movie won’t.
2. It’s fan fiction.  Without Lucas, this movie will never be enough to be honest. It’s not fresh (didn’t try hard to be either) and it’s certainly not going to define a genre for generations. Instead this movie amounts to fan fiction, produced with too much fan service and it’s forgettable.  After watching The Force Awakens, I’m thinking I’ll finally go back and rewatch the prequels. I’ve decided they received too harsh of criticism.  At least with the prequels you have a deep plot, with completely new characters and a really good bad guy.

At least he LOOKS the part.

I actually have more bad points I could put on this. Such as the lack of an alien main character. Having the central, core evil elite and freedom-fighting gang be predominately human is old.  All you have it Chewy to change up things, and he’s from the originals so I’m not counting it.  You’re telling me out of all these alien species displayed in the ‘new’ bar scene, not one of them has the force or is the best pilot or anything? How boring.  The best this movie offers is Fin, the Stormtrooper with a conscious who falls for the girl and gets a bromance the moment he steps of his ship. I’ll let it go, I’d probably be desperate if I grew up a Stormtrooper, too.

When I saw this movie the first time… I walked out of the theater thinking “Well it was better than the prequels”.  And then I thought about it… and then I went again… and now I know that it’s a mixed bag.  It’s certainly more entertaining than 1-3… but it’s so superficial and forced that it’s not truly better.  This movie will appeal to the fans because the fans want so badly to relive the original magic. The reality is that the bar is too high and not even Abrams can reach it.