A New Hopelessness

Rating: 2/10 (1 February 2016)

Minor Spoilers! I am a Star Wars fan and was a member of the Star Wars fan club that was based in the US. I was 11 when I saw Episode IV-A New Hope and loved the OT because the first trilogy gave me memorable characters and scenarios that the prequels did not. Just hearing the score and the themes for each scene like Darth Vader marching in, Leia and Han Solo's romantic moments, epic battles in space and down below gave me thrills. What made me watch Episode 7 was the fact that I would be seeing the old characters and I thought they would be depicted in ways that would make their send-offs as memorable as when they were still the main leads in late 70s to early 80s. Unfortunately, this film never took what motivates a character to behave a certain way seriously so there were a lot of senseless behavior and unexplained scenes. It was okay to kill off Han Solo but they could have made his death more heroic as befitting the epic tradition of Star Wars. Rey, though a natural, should not be portrayed as someone who could easily harness the force without training. Sadly, I agree with those who hated this film. It is more a remake or a reboot than a sequel. My classic OT is a hard act to follow after all. This new film lost the heroism and soul of the OT because it seems the generation today prefers mindless action scenes reminiscent of The Man of Steel and The Amazing Spiderman. I don't think remakes or reboots today can capture the essence of the original stories I grew up with so I should not be fooled again and again, grrrrrrr......