Incoherent and Badly Paced

Rating: 3/10 (25 December 2015)

Lawrence Kasdan, the co-writer of The Force Awakens also wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). That movie is perfectly paced to be exciting. It's not just non-stop action. There are peaks and valleys to it. There are scenes in between the action that set up what's going on and explain why its important. The Force Awakens has none of that. It's just action scene after action scene after action scene with no context, set-up or meaning. There is a point in the movie where
SPOILER ALERT
the new super weapon randomly blows up five planets. It comes out of nowhere, we have no idea what planets are being blown up and once it happens, we never see its effects on the characters. Compare that with the scene in Star Wars where the Death Star blows up Alderaan. We learn (a) why they built the Death Star (b) what it can do (c) why they're blowing up Alderaan (d) that they're blowing up Alderaan (so that there's tension to that scene) and (e) how it affects Obi- Wan once it happens. In the Force Awakens, the story (particularly the third act) is not set up properly, so I was frequently confused about what was happening. Moreover, nothing is lingered on so it doesn't have the proper weight. At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, we see Luke taking in the fact that Darth Vader is his father. In The Force Awakens, we're never given the ability to process what's going on. I don't think I even remember seeing the super weapon actually explode. It was probably a half-second shot and JJ cut away to something unrelated. My other big problem with it is that the script is completely incoherent. Something stupid happens in almost every scene. My personal least favorite plot hole is the super weapon itself. How does the First Order have the resources to build something ten times the size of the Death Star? If it's built into a planet, how can it get moved to other systems to blow up other planets? Why does a small explosion destroy something the size of a planet? This isn't nitpicking. There were MANY MANY noticeable plot holes. This movie is not fun. I couldn't enjoy the action and adventure because I had no idea what was going on. The pace is too frenetic and combined with the nonsense in the script, it's all just a confusing mess. Finally, just let me say that while I do mind how much this movie borrows from the original Star Wars, my real problem with it is just how poorly made it is--particularly the script.