Not bad, not good

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2016)

The Han Solo character arc made no sense. Totally lame. He was growing as a character. all they did was bring him back to his old self like some very sad midlife crisis gone terribly wrong.
I think its possible JJ Abrams has never had an original thought in his life. Sure I like stuff for the fans, but this movie could not stand on its two feet. I mean considering Goerge Lucas and his few faults if you ask me as a storyteller, outside of a small amount of cheesy acting, Jar Jar's and the Gungans lame voices and a huge amount of slow scenes in number two I thought first three where good and I liked the third more than this new one. This one lacked something. Perhaps Lucas?
I loved the originals as a kid of the 80's but like the prequels too. The group think of movie buffs is obnoxious and I can imagine why JJ wants to pander to them. They are where the easy money is. Easy to market to and follow the trends. Nothing is easier than appealing to this crowd; total formula.
However I feel it fair to say for Lucas sake there was some crazy deep stuff attempted in the first three (the prequels) and the subject matter was a very difficult story to tell especially when you include the fact that now there is major expectations, the fans in question, and the need to have one's feet in all worlds.Such as is it a kids movie? Can you make the hero become the villain? Not to mention being constrained by needing to match up with the previous movies story without error. None of these challenges or problems was presented to the new movie. None. It was still poorly executed. I loved the eye candy, but not as much as the original 3. I liked the new characters as concepts and I thought the pacing was good. But over all, it lacked depth, character development and the Han Solo treatment was sad.
Seriously the new movie was a disappointment. I think because for all his very human flaws, it still lacked a master story teller.