"Here we go again" - C3PO, Episode VI

Rating: 5/10 (29 December 2015)

When I first viewed "The Force Awakens" theatrical trailers on television and YouTube, I was convinced that it would be the Star Wars movie that would bring the franchise back to its former glory. This, I thought, is where Disney will succeed over George Lucas: it will bring Star Wars fans back to the fun and discovery of the original trilogy.
For the first 30 minutes of the "The Force Awakens", director J.J. Abrams succeeded. I loved seeing the new costumes and ships and how they had morphed over time since "Return of the Jedi". Rey is a very interesting character and a strong female lead is what Star Wars needed for some time. BB-8 does his job as comic relief and does not overshadow the movie in horrendous ways like a certain Gungan from the prequel trilogy did. I especially enjoyed the new Dark Jedi Kylo Ren (he is no Sith). Although some have written him off as a weak villain due to his whiny, juvenile nature and his general lack of confidence, I feel that he could grow into a stronger presence over the next episodes in the series. His immaturity that he displays in the film creates a more dangerous antihero, simply because he gives in to uncontrollable tantrums – all while wielding exceptionally strong powers of the Force. This makes him an unpredictable and forbidding character. The only thing about Kylo Ren that seemed strange is that he does not need to wear his signature mask. He appears only to do it as a nod to Darth Vader and to look menacing to others? I felt that was dumb and unnecessary.
Harrison Ford completely steals the movie in his latest – and perhaps last – performance as the galactic smuggler and former Rebellion General, Han Solo. He and his sidekick Chewbacca are a nice bridge from the past.
I was much less impressed with Finn. Although I like the idea of a stormtrooper that switches sides, it seems a far stretch that a "sanitation worker" from the First Order would be so competent at wielding a lightsaber for the first time! It was insulting to me as the viewer to watch him stand toe-to-toe with Kylo Ren in a duel. It was established that Kylo Ren had killed all of the current-day Jedi, but he has some trouble with a guy that cleans the toilets on Starkiller Base? Also, that fact that Finn just wants to run away and abandon his duties - even after successfully leaving the First Order – makes him, to me, less of an interesting character. By the end of the film when Finn is in a coma, I was kind of wishing he would not come out of it so the story could focus on Rey and what will become her adventures with Luke Skywalker.
I also did not like how Rey can command the Force so quickly and easily. In the books and movies (which are still canon) it took Luke almost two years of Jedi training just to be able to weakly Force pull at his buried lightsaber in the Wampa cave on the ice-planet of Hoth. In "The Force Awakens", Rey can grab a lightsaber away from a Dark Jedi with no formal training at all. She can also defeat him. That is just weak and lazy storytelling. In the Star Wars universe, it does not make any sense.
Oddly, Carrie Fisher came off as kind of sad and stiff. I understand the sad part, as her character deals with both Han Solo and her son's disappearance while leading the poorly named Resistance (shouldn't the First Order be the Resistance?).
Once Finn and Rey obtain Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, the film quickly goes downhill. There is a fourth showing of a cantina (Mos Easily, Jabba's Palace, the nightclub on Coruscant and now this). A third Death Star (are you kidding me?) And another run down a trench to destroy the third Death Star that is going to blow up the planet that Princess/General Leia is on if the good guys don't destroy it first. Does this all sound familiar? Because it is. Even the sets are boring: another desert planet, another snow planet and another forest planet. Been there, done all that before. Oh, and just like previous Star Wars movies, everyone is related. In such a big galaxy – look at all of the stars in the opening crawl alone – you would think that someone else can become an influential Jedi or a Sith? Nope. Only Skywalkers – or nephews, or cousins, or children of Skywalkers can do this. Boring.
The most disappointing character is Supreme Leader Snoke. An Emperor retread, we see this damaged floating hologram head for the moments throughout the entire movie. Snoke looks neither ominous nor intimidating. Rather, it looks like a special effect reject from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For a film that promoted its 'back to basics' visuals and practical effects, having the main villain be a CG special effect is unforgivable.
The climax of the movie is boring, well, because we have seen it all before.
I am so disappointed in "The Force Awakens". Not because it is a terrible movie, but because it is so lazy. This movie screams "Disney Market Research". It feels like casual Star Wars fans in a corporate boardroom wrote it. It left me feeling numb. It left me missing George Lucas. It left me not really caring what will happen in Episode VIII.
To me, "The Force Awakens" takes the Star Wars franchise into a bland, dumbed down and less fun direction than any of the Star Wars books that were written in the last 30+ years.