The praise is truly unfounded.

Rating: 4/10 (28 December 2015)

**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****
With all the praise following the release of The Force Awakens, I was kind of expecting more, despite my initial expectations being rather modest. In all honesty, I am confused with the positive feedback, because the film provides very little to justify it. Is it just a reaction to the lingering memory of the ineptly written and directed prequel trilogy or simply fandom enthusiasm spilling over to the general movie audience, I don't know. It is definitely a very competently made film from the technical standpoint, which is to be expected having in mind the people involved (director, cinematographer, writer, score composer, ...). But where the artistry and original/clever ideas are to be expected they are not to be found. While I am not a huge fan of the original trilogy or the prequels, both of these trilogies offer a lot more than this installment. From the originality, sense of wonder and technical achievements in the original trilogy, to the world-building and unchecked imagination in the prequels (putting on the side Lucas being totally not in his element both in the directing and writing department). Despite how much the prequels were weak, I was way more intrigued by them than with The Force Awakens. The amount of details in which The Force Awakens copies New Hope and somewhat less the sequels I found embarrassing to witness. You have your orphaned child left on sand planet, now grown up, discovering its hidden potential and saving the day, your standard cutesy emotional droid, a family member of the heroes falling to the dark side but struggling with the light, and a planet destroying weapon with a weak spot. And it's all done rather superficially, in all honesty. As I mentioned earlier, everything from the technical standpoint is very good, but once you scratch the surface, you realize it's all a shiny facade, including the zany/funny exchanges between the characters. The first alarm I got was right off the bat in the way Finn was written. His mannerism and behavior is so out of place for a person kidnapped as a boy and raised to be a soldier in a military dictatorship. For points to proper characterization of such individuals think of Solider with Kurt Russell. Then there is Rey with her magically appearing skills that help propel the plot whenever it's needed. Someone called it video game characterization, where characters happen to be able to perform unexpected feats exactly when and where required. The constant convenient setups just become too predictable too soon, from the way Rey and Finn find the Millennium Falcon, unguarded, unsecured and power it up without any trouble, to the light sabre being stashed with Maz, where Han Solo just happens to take Rey and Finn. The way the shield of the starkiller base is lowered is a colossal joke. It's all very calculated, terribly unimaginative and predictable, and I'm not letting myself being bedazzled with a clever scene or two (Rey's vision is a conceptually very well realized segment) and funny exchanges. It's mildly fun, but above all weak and derivative, definitely not a classic which will history, as always, show.