An exercise in nostalgia and CGI

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2015)

After watching this film (and being relatively unimpressed by it), I went to Superstore to pick up a few groceries. Unexpectedly, the film's value hit me there, rather than when I was in the theater watching the film, as it was in the store that I became aware of modern film's propensity to market rather than to innovate. Pictures of Stormtroopers, Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren crowded the shelves, plastered onto Shreddies' boxes, Jam jars, Eggs, TV screens, clothing, toothpaste, organic chips, and even diapers. I realized that a two and a quarter hour exercise in bland escapism had managed to transcend the silver screen, embedding itself firmly in our everyday lives, from our diapers to our cereal. While I do find this rather abhorrent, I can't deny that it is definitely remarkable.
Art and novelty have been pushed to the side in favour of economic triumph. The Force Awakens, buoyed onwards by skillful marketing and rabid nostalgia, will end up as one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Collectibles, diapers, cereal, etc. branded with characters and logos will bring in even more billions of dollars. And, as we glance at the lineup of big-budget blockbusters coming to theatres (Batman vs Superman, TMNT 2, Allegiant (split into two parts), remakes, reboots, and a slew of Marvel and DC extravaganzas) it seems as if Hollywood has figured out that this is the way to go. It has finally donned the costume of a clown that knows only one trick, but can do it better (and bigger) each time.
I'm not down on Hollywood. I'm down on (most) modern action films for their money-grubbing emptiness, and the new addition to the Star Wars franchise exemplifies my sentiment.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is highly reminiscent of the original trilogy, borrowing plot points, scenes, and characters directly from the most memorable and enjoyable bits in Lucas's classic galactic romp. Although this is at first quite fun, one eventually realizes that this film brings nothing new to the table, except for a plethora of CGI and a surprising new character. The film's fear to be its own film is its undoing. It panders to expectations, forcing the audience to be unable to watch the film without comparing it to what came before.
My excitement at being returned to the Star Wars universe ended after the opening crawl.
The Force Awakens begins in about the same way as A New Hope. A base of some sort is attacked, a droid (who communicates in beeps) is given a valuable piece of information by some guy, who is taken prisoner by the First Order (led by a creepy guy in a mask with a low voice named Kylo Ren). Damn, what movie did I just describe? The plot eventually takes a better hold, with a Stormtrooper named going rogue, teaming up with some girl named Rey (who has found the droid), and them leaving the planet, chased by Stormtroopers, in...the Millennium Falcon. And or course, since they brought the Millennium Falcon back, they have to bring Han Solo back, so they do, and he's, well, old. Chewbacca hasn't aged a day, though.
And while all this is happening, the new Death Star (Basically the original Death Star except a planet) blows up a bunch of planets, while Kylo Ren feels the "pull of the light". I wanted to punch the screenwriter in the face at this point. One does not simply have the bad guy kill billions of people, and then have the audience sympathize with him. Sure, Darth Vader did the same thing, but in A New Hope, he was the essence of evil. Ren is weak, boring, and takes off his mask way too early in the film.
Oh, and the Emperor is there too. But he's got a different name. Coke or Snoke, or something like that.
The screenplay is rather poor. The characters and their interactions are forced and implausible. No secrets are kept from the audience. Many of the pivotal plot elements occur by chance. I felt as if the screenwriter lacked sensitivity to the things that he wrote as the film did not deliver story and innovation. Instead, it served to recreate the plot all of us Star Wars fans know, and amp it up with visuals, while not realizing that simply by copying the success of the original trilogy (and not even copying it well), it is a useless cinematic experience.
Although I did not like the film, I would still like to applaud the visual effects team. Some shots and sequences were simply divine. The recreation of the bridge scene from Empire Strikes Back is gorgeous (albeit ridiculously scripted), and the final battle scene is rousing enough to be commendable. If the screenwriter and crew were passionate about making something original and sensible rather than appealing to nostalgia, I think that The Force Awakens would have actually been worthy of its critical acclaim. But as it stands, The Force Awakens is insipid, lethargic nostalgia that attempts to reignite the franchise's former prestige without feeling a need to create its own.