My Mixed Feelings About This (Not Any More)

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2015)

I know I'm going to get a lot of haters breathing hellfire down the back of my neck for this, but here it goes. I went into the cinema to see The Force Awakens with, not a highly anticipated approach, but a modest one with low to medium expectations. Despite that, I ended up conflicted in how I feel about it. Allow me to start with the things I've found good with the movie. The beginning was fantastic, from the visual of a Star Destroyer overshadowing a planet to the First Order's brutal attack on a village and to the introductions of the new 'Darth Vader' Kylo Ren and our two main heroes Rey and Finn and their funny little droid companion BB-8. And as for others, the return of Han and Chewie as main characters rather than secondary ones was a welcome plus; Supreme Leader Snoke gives off a sense of menace that is good to feel satisfied with but not as much as the 'it's great to be bad' you can get from original head villain Emperor Palpatine; and then of course there's the interesting, mysterious and climactic backstories of Kylo Ren and Rey, which I will not spoil for anyone who hasn't seen the film yet, but I can say that they are very engaging and will pretty much determine their futures in the later instalments. There are also many laughs to be had, especially with the scenes featuring any of our five main heroes, as well as scenes of tension, horror and of tear-jerking sadness.
But I'm afraid that's where the good things end, so people who don't want to hear one bad thing against this this film had better get out now and find a more positive article to read or else keep continuing and gamble on whether you keep or lose your temper. First off, there's the chemistry between the characters. As I've said before, the characters themselves are great; it is how they act between one another that I feel to be the letdown. Han and Chewie's friendship, for the most part, doesn't seem to have the same kind of synergy that the classic trilogy portrayed them as having. Rey and Finn decide to develop a close bond with each other that seems far too rushed. Then there's the frequent amount of call backs that it makes the film look like a rip-off of Episode IV. The bad guys are searching for an astro droid with critical information they don't want the good guys getting. There's a cantina sequence. The heroine has to be rescued from the villains' base by the other main heroes. And the final act, oh the final act; it regards destroying the former Empire's latest superweapon. They're using the Death Star plot a third time (don't they remember that people complained about that with Episode VI?). The pace of this mostly recycled plot isn't much better; at times it fits seamlessly and flawlessly and then at others it rambles on, making it feel slow and clunky. Also, it appears that the writer didn't know exactly what to do with the 'supposed' third main Rebel character Poe Dameron (for those who don't know, watch the movie, you'll see what I mean). But all of these negative reasons pale in comparison to the thing I view to be its greatest flaw: the score.
In the past, no matter how divided people were on any of the previous six films, they all agreed on one thing. John Williams never failed to deliver a magnificent, wonderful and memorable musical score. Well, this time, I'm afraid he has. The music for Force Awakens is minimalist at best, much too quiet and low-keyed. Now I'm not saying that that's bad because there have been themes like that in the saga before, but it's pretty much that the whole way through with the exceptions of the opening sequence, segment reprisals of classics such as Binary Sunset, and the ending scene. For everything else, it just doesn't give off the right sense of emotional power. Maybe it's because John's been composing minimalist scores for the movies done by Steven Spielberg in the past decade and he's forgotten the type of music he used in the previous films?
Anyway, that's my opinion of the film. For those who haven't seen it yet and still want to, please go ahead and form your own opinion. I myself am willing to go see it a second time, just so I can be clear on my feelings about it. Who knows...
UPDATE: You know the old line 'A film's better when you see it a second time'? It's true. Please forget about every negative comment I've made in this review. I was wrong. This is one truly spectacular film. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, go to the nearest cinema and do so. For those who have, I encourage you to watch it again.