All the Reboot/Sequel Tropes in One Movie

Rating: 5/10 (28 November 2017)

On the surface, it would seem The Force Awakens did everything I'd want to see from it: likably interesting new characters, nostalgic old ones, entertaining adventure mixed with tragic heartbreak, and quality filmmaking techniques consistent with the originals. But while all this might makes one leave the theater feeling satisfied, it merely masks the gaping, fundamental issues at its core.
It's actually quite amazing how perfectly The Force Awakens encapsulates everything I despise about remakes, reboots, and sequels. Here is my list of a few of the tropes I loathe the most about such franchises, and how The Force Awakens violates all of them:
1. Unoriginality: Surely no sequel mimics any other nearly to the extent that Episode 7 does to Episode 4- not in a subtle, nuanced way, but more of a "you automatically fail the course for plagiarizing" sort of way. It's not only certain elements, it's the framework of the movie as a whole: unlikely hero from sand planet discovers Jedi potential on adventure to help rebellion destroy the dark side's mega weapon. It's not simply paying homage to the original or using it as a sort of archetype, it's straight up recycling the main plot points and feeding from the brand it's created.
2. Shifting Morals and Themes: Abrams seems to be under the impression that the aforementioned plot framework is what makes Star Wars great. What made Star Wars great to me is the personal journeys of Anakin and Luke to choose good or evil, and the ultimate triumph over evil. That was the character arc, and it all wrapped together nicely. The new franchise reboot seems to disregard that in order to add a different, ambiguous spin on what the "balance of the Force" actually means.
3. Characters Jarred from their Happily Ever After: The same ambiguity given to the themes is reflected onto our heroes. Call me naïve if you will, but I believe that some stories deserve happy endings. The original Star Wars trilogy has a happy ending. When we last saw them, Luke had defeated the Dark Side, Han and Leia were happily in love, the Rebellion had overthrown the Empire. Legalities aside, what right does the new franchise have in saying, "Psych! Just kidding! All those things were a lie, an illusion- the situation is actually quite opposite of all those things!" If a reboot wants to honor and respect the original, it starts first and foremost with not spitting on its story.
4. The "Bigger and Badder" Effect: Sequels furthermore downplay the seeming success of its predecessor's story by the emergence of a threat that's much worse than what's come before. "You thought the Empire/Darth Vader/Death Star was bad? Well that's no match for the One Order/Snoke/Death Planet!" It's egregious how shamelessly this escalation is presented, and it's supposed to be accepted at face value as if it makes any intuitive sense why a story continuously levels up to the next higher boss as if it's a '90s video game.
5. Unexplained/ Weakly Explained Circumstances: The prequel trilogy spent three movies showing the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, while the original trilogy spent three movies showing the Empire's overthrow. It's fulfilling to see the Rebellion triumphant at long last. And then in the following episode, the Empire (now "The One Order") is essentially in charge again? And they're stronger than ever before? And Han and Leia are divorced? And the Millennium Falcon is gone? And Luke is missing? And R2-D2 is busted? All out of nowhere? What? Those are all pretty big story elements to simply be glanced over by a line of dialogue here and there, don't you think? Oh, I must have forgotten to scour the internet for all the blog articles explaining and theorizing the convolution, silly me to think a story is supposed to be self-explanatory and maintain any reasonable flow.
6. Rejecting resolution in favor of becoming another generic gateway to an endless cash cow franchise: In the 136 minutes of this movie, nothing was resolved beyond the trivial. Sure the Death MacGuffin was blown up, but all character development (which is the heart of the Star Wars story) was left at a cliffhanger, and mostly left unexplained. (Han Solo's death had no closure because the backstory was missing.) The capabilities for meaningful themes and closure in a story are severely limited when that story is intended to continue in perpetuity into the eternities.
If you're a big Star Wars fan, then you might eat it all up because 1. it is entertaining, and 2. it gives you a bunch of stuff to discuss until the next trailer comes out. But for me, it's disappointing and aggravating to see a franchise sacrificed to the Almighty Dollar so ruthlessly, and it represents so much of what I dislike about the state of today's movie industry. I gave this reboot a chance, I won't feed the Disney Sequel Monster again.