Sweet Jabba! Another Review

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2015)

To add my voice to the thousands who have already written reviews, here is mine. It will contain spoilers.
All-in-all this was a good action film, with an ultimately weak story.
Lets get into some detail here.
From an action standpoint, this was a good film. It had some ground battles and space battles, and it flowed along well enough to keep me entertained. However, the story itself was of a rather poor quality if you actually take the time to think about it.
Rey is an interesting character and I am glad to see a female Jedi as the central figure of the story, it's refreshing both relative to the films and the expanded universe as a whole. It doesn't happen much. Her acting was good, nothing great, but nothing bad either. That said, her "powers" were absurd in that she had no training whatsoever and yet she can just do so many impressive things. This was poorly written and thought out, so much so that she uses the Jedi Mind Trick on a Stormtrooper yet had never (according to the film) heard of such a thing or been told how to do it. She just does it. Poor and sloppy writing and character development, a simple five minute scene where-in she learns from someone or even something (like Luke's Lightsabers "visions") would have sufficed in bridging the gap between absurd and plausible. Force Sensitive is one thing, but knowing the Millennium Falcon and its technological nuances better than Han Solo, was also a bit much to swallow, given that Han himself is Force Sensitive and knows the ship better than anyone (Chewie being the exception) thanks to years upon years of operating and fixing it. Having her be a strong and powerful Jedi is great, but simply giving her all the power and ability with no actual writing to accompany it, is poorly done. At this point it is more like magic that you don't have to explain.
Finn is also an interesting character, though I am not sure how to place him in the film. He is refreshing, yet oddly out of place. When the villains are primarily speaking with English accents, he is not. The English accent thing is in itself kind of bizarre to begin with (clearly an homage to the original films being filmed in UK studios). Finn in some ways comes across as a Star Wars fan that magically found his way into the actual Star Wars universe, and comes with the over-excitement and wonder one would expect in such a situation. Hopefully in the coming films he feels more "in-line" with the Star Wars universe.
The big let down of the film as far as characters go, has to be Kylo Ren in my opinion. For one, he looks nothing like Leia or Han, he has a big nose and big round ears that stick out, and not trying to be mean, but this really makes him look more like a nerdy angsty accountant and not a Dark Jedi, son of Han and Leia. The mask should have been kept on or another actor chosen to fulfill the role. The character himself is kind of absurd. He is conflicted as to whether he should be joining the Dark Side or Light, yet his parents were both important people on the side of Light, and he goes and trains with Luke Skywalker, lord of the light and hero of the universe. Yet he decides he needs to abandon all that and go evil? Is he a rebellious 15 year old?
The story itself was of questionable worth, with many elements copied almost directly from previous films. This was lazy writing at it's finest and Abrams and the others on the film should not be praised for it. There are other reviews which get into the details of this copying, so I will not. I will however highlight some silly elements.
One, a single person can deactivate the shields of not simply a planet, but the most important weapon that the villains have? One person!? No input needed from Generals and other Commanders? Give me a break.
Two, why is the Resistance even called the Resistance? If the Republic essentially controls most of the galaxy and the Resistance is part of the Republic, then should they be called what they are?
Three, exactly how did the new order of villains get such a weapon? Was Palpatine working on a super-deathstar? If not, how did they have enough resources and people to build a planet sized weapon between the fall of Palpatine and now? Wouldn't it have been kind of obvious to everyone in the galaxy that this new group was busy building a planet, or if Palpatine had been building it, would not the Republic and others have been quick to seize such a weapon?
There are of course other absurdities such as Emperor Snoke. Where did he come from, who is he the Emperor of, and why was he absent in the previous events of the galaxy? If he is powerful and important, why would Palpatine allow him to exist? Obviously there are other movies to come, but considering the overall poor writing of this one, will they really make an intelligent and sensible backstory for him, if at all?
With other movies coming, explanation is in order, but I worry that with such sloppy and lazy writing as was in this movie, that a satisfying explanation for things will not be in order.