Disney Forcefeeds a Rotten Sequel

Rating: 2/10 (19 December 2015)

In "The Force Awakens," we see how a massive entertainment corporation co-opts talented writers, producers and actors, pulverizes their contributions into a shallow, incoherent pulp, and yet still succeeds commercially through a ubiquitous cross-promotion campaign.
The movie unfolds like a collage of choices made by Disney's suits rather than a filmmaker's creative vision. Coincidence is the storytellers' main choice for connecting the scenes and plot developments, with few answers to the questions of "who," "why," or "how." Examples? The Millennium Falcon rusts away on Jakku with the keys in the ignition for the protagonists to steal. As they flee the planet, Han and Chewie just happen to cruise by and offer them a lift (it's a small galaxy, after all). Luke's light saber from ESB inexplicably lies in a pub basement just waiting to be found by Rey, our heroine, who suddenly gains the same force powers every other Jedi acquired through rigorous training. R2D2, dormant for years, abruptly awakens to provide the map to Luke everyone is looking for, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Had the script from "A New Hope" been cut into pieces and given to a barrel of monkeys, they could have rearranged them to produce a story of similar quality, since there was nothing to connect the plot elements, anyway.
Remember that line from the first film where Han says "Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova?" Well now he simply wings it, coming out of light speed with a verbal command immediately over the surface of a planet. This contrast encapsulates the differences between the original trilogy and Abram's offering: whereas George Lucas gave us a sci-fi world filled with advanced technology, Abrams gives us a magic world that defies reason or explanation.
For all the talk about practical effects by Kathleen Kennedy, the movie was inundated by the same CGI work you find in other Hollywood films these days. As much as I resent the failings of the prequels, George Lucas' creative absence was deeply felt here. The creatures, costumes, and models, perhaps the chief strength of the original film, were clichéd and ordinary in this one. The evil supreme leader (one of the many "who?" questions left unanswered) was eerily similar to the Last Engineer from "Prometheus," a sign of our filmmakers' fecklessness and missed opportunities.
The acting was an aspect I would argue surpassed the prequel trilogy on the whole. The new trio added plausibility to the porous script, and their chemistry was more heartfelt than the shudder-inducing scenes with Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. On the other hand, casting Harrison Ford to reprise a central role was a mistake, though hardly an unforeseen one given his string of uninspired performances over the last decade. That's not to mention Carrie Fisher, whose stagnant lines were magnified by the expressionlessness of her botoxed lips.
All in all, my takeaway is that George Lucas comes off smelling like roses. I never thought anyone could make his maligned prequels look inspired by comparison, but at least he knew the difference between a story and a gimmick. Star Wars was his child, however mistreated. Now it's the dull output of a corporate production line.