A forceful awakening...

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2016)

Watched the movie twice.I really tried to like it and find something at least half great as the advertising campaign behind it.
The story might keep you interested although it's a recycled one.Its connections and references to the old movies take the spotlight in front of the narration.Sadly, this movie is not about its story.
It's about its characters. Sadly(again), its characters are very weak in their construction.I understand that some of them can have a weak back story,or no back story at all but when you have a movie like this one on your hands though,you need to treat your characters with more respect.And your audience.Some of us are not willing to wait for another movie to find out who are they. No glimpse of their past,their motivation or purpose.Everything the two main characters do is forced out of their nature and context.The only one that is believable is the antagonist. He is the only one that has a clear reason to be in this movie and he seems quite determined to show it. He gets his motivation from Vader, whom he admires and reaches out to. We don't know all of his back story, but we understand that he was not like that from the beginning.You won't get an explanation for the strange light-saber from the trailer though.
I'm sure everybody likes the music from Star Wars.I was glad to find out they got the same John Williams to do the soundtrack.In the theater I was disappointed to hear music on 85% of the movie.Excess is a trademark of bad taste.The music is very good, but it was too much for me and it had an unexpected effect.During one battle on a planet, there is no music.The sound design from that sequence might not be that bad, but when you play music from frame one till the end and leave a moment like that not covered by Williams,that moment seems much more weaker and the sound design really poor. I understood why they did it that way.It marks a moment when a character sees the other(at least for a long time), but doing it like this shows that Jar-Jar Abrams is a mediocre film school student director at best. There are more appealing ways to treat a moment like that one.He chose the least creative one and the safest way.Overall the movie is a safe-bet.People will like it although it's not groundbreaking.It's not even going in a slightly different direction.
Star Wars has some good moments.I won't take those away from the movie.I enjoyed the action sequences.Fast paced editing, lots of tension and twists.They seem a bit singular in the whole context but they worked.The thing that bugged me were the jokes...the Disney Effect.I did not feel in the mood for small humor in a Star Wars movie.Han Solo made jokes in the old movies,but it was part of his character.Here, everybody has a small moment of cheap humor.Instant turn off.
I don't know what I expected from a Star Wars movie directed by Abrams(several of his trademarks are here).I don't like his movies,and I'm sure that whatever I wanted from this movie, I did not get it.
Just don't expect to see a masterpiece.