The hollow, nostalgic, shell of a once great franchise

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2015)

This movie certainly had some beautiful cinematography, epic space battles, great music, wonderfully nerdy nostalgia, and a good amount of humor, but I was very disappointed in the movie. For me, the original trilogy of Star Wars is as flawless and complete of a movie franchise as has ever existed. Everything is great, but what really makes these films for me is the character development.
Every member of the principle cast plays an integral role in the progression of the movie, and the characters have a level of depth that is truly rare in any film, much less in the action/adventure/fantasy genre. I found the characters in episode VII to be shallow, thoughtless, uninspired, and whiny. Because the entire movie is basically a plagiarized version of "A New Hope," it will be convenient to compare the cast of the two movies.
Rey vs. Luke AND Leia- Yup, Rey had to cover the roles of these TWO icons, and in my opinion, failed miserably at both.
Luke started as a young man torn between his duty to help with the family business and his unquenchable desire to fight against the tyranny, injustice, and oppression of the empire. When the empire murdered his family and destroyed his home, he begins the journey toward becoming one of the greatest warriors ever. He knew his purpose, and the movie is about his progression as a Jedi and the fight against the empire.
Young Leia was an independent, brave, insightful, intelligent, bad-A leader of the rebellion. Over the course of three films, she softened a bit and reluctantly fell in love with Han. In my opinion, Leia is one of the top five female roles in movie history.
Rey is a thoughtless, uninspired, unambitious, boring young woman who inexplicably happens to have one of the most powerful connections with the force in Star Wars history. She falls for the first man she meets from her same species in less than ten minutes. I was very excited to see the first female Jedi lead character, but I find Rey to be incredibly disappointing.
Finn vs. young Han- Han begins the trilogy as a selfish, arrogant, and talented outlaw-smuggler who DEVELOPS feelings and attachments to the rest of the cast SLOWLY and LOGICALLY as the PLOT PROGRESSES. The development and progression of Han's character through the three films is one of the things that holds the trilogy together and gives the series a sense of movement and meaningfulness.
Finn is a former stormtrooper who inexplicably changes heart DURING HIS FIRST BATTLE and decides to be a good guy instantly. He then falls in love with THE FIRST WOMAN HE EVER MET AT FIRST SIGHT and spends the rest of the movie trying to help this woman he just met while fighting the temptation to run away. We learn basically nothing about why he decided to turn good, and this character generally lacks depth in my opinion.
Kylo Ren vs. Darth Vader- Darth Vader is arguably the greatest villain in movie history. In his twisted mind, his desire for order and power justify the cruel acts done by the empire. When Star Wars first came out, he was doing things that weren't anything like anything that had been portrayed in film before. Throughout the trilogy, Vader changes, grows, and is eventually redeemed when he steps away from the emperor to save his son. Again, Vader is an incredibly intricate, deep, and moving character.
Ren is a whiny, weak-minded, emo kid who is upset at no one in particular for apparently no real reason. His greatest skill with the force is the ability to interrogate people, and he had a hard time beating a storm trooper in a light saber battle
Old Han vs. old Obiwan- This one is basically a draw, I enjoyed old Han about as much as old Obiwan
Episode VII has literally the exact same plot as A New Hope! As a rebel leader is about to be captured, they give vital information to an astromech droid in hopes that it will be able to evade capture and get back to the rebel base. The astromech droid proceeds to find a young, untrained Jedi on a sandy, dessert planet that end up agreeing to help. They eventually are tracked down by storm troopers, but are able to escape the planet and tie fighters in the Millennium Falcon and with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca. The young Jedi begins the process of learning about the force from the old man who helped them escape the dessert planet. After another run in with the storm troopers, they are finally able to rendezvous at the rebel base and make a plan to destroy the giant space station that is able to destroy entire planets with a single shot. The wise old man who helped the young Jedi is killed by a Sith lord who was once the #1 Jedi in training inside the giant space station. Against all odds, the rebels are miraculously able to destroy the giant space station using X-wing fighters only moments before the station was able to destroy their planet. The next action is the young Jedi attempting to find the oldest living Jedi so that they can be trained
Rey's ability to use the force without ANY TRAINING was absolutely atrocious. Star Wars has taught us that these abilities must be carefully honed in during years of training. Her ability to best a trained Sith was just awful.
Maybe the worst part of the entire movie was the light saber fight between Finn and Ren. FINN CAN'T USE THE FORCE! THIS "FIGHT" SHOULD HAVE LASTED TWO SECONDS!!! Ren would have force pulled the light saber out of his hand and cut him in half immediately!!!!!!!
But hey, at least this one didn't have Jar Jar