Saw it tonight. Here’s my in depth review:
Characters:
Daisy was great. Easy on the eyes, decent acting. Liked her character a lot, but I think the development of her force powers could have been paced better. That part seemed backloaded.
Finn was just ok. Thought he had good moments but he was erratic in others. Started out scared and contrite, then he was selfish, then he was altruistic, then he was daring and reckless, then he was providing comic relief. Just all over the map and felt like he was the creation of 10 different writers, which he may very well have been.
Han was terrific. He had most of the best dialogue in the film. The scenes late in the movie with Leia were a struggle though, and Chewbacca was shockingly underused to the point it was painful for him to even be included at all. They could have cut him and replaced him with some random X-wing pilot and it wouldn’t have made any difference, that’s how poorly his role was handled.
The bad guys … I thought Kylo was fine. Surprisingly liked him more than I thought I would. Captain Phasma was a joke. Snoke looked like he belonged in the Lord of the Rings, I mean he was nearly the only thing in TFA that was prequel-level bad. The First Order general was also terribly acted and whoever made that casting decision should have been fired on the spot. Some guy who looks like he’s 25 is the most senior military official in a galactic empire? Really? That dude has to be some producer’s nephew or boyfriend, can’t be any other explanation.
Pacing:
This was my biggest complaint with the film, even more than the re-hash stuff. When I got out of the theater I made the remark that it felt like I just got off a jerky wooden rollercoaster. There was just too much stuff going on in the film in too little time. Just didn’t slow down in the right spots when the film could have used a breather. Not enough poignant or reflective moments. Dialogue often seemed rushed and was sometimes hard to follow.
Score:
Terrible. Honestly can’t believe it, John Williams wtf? Can’t remember anything memorable except the original force theme and the original Leia’s theme. All of the new music was not only completely forgettable, but worse, it was often loud and intrusive.
Other complaints:
I constantly found myself hating the blocking and framing in this movie. The camerawork was terrible, and there was one scene I remember in particular where the camera was spinning around for seemingly no reason at all. Just nauseating work from Abrams. Editing was mostly terrible too.
Things I liked:
Some of the action/flight scenes like when the Falcon was being pursued on Jakku. Some of the Tie-Fighter vs. X-wing shots late in the movie. The updated hyperspace graphics were great. Pretty much any of the slower, character establishing scenes with Rey. Film should have focused more on her, in my opinion.
Breaking down the plot:
I thought the first scenes were terrible and then the movie strengthened some after that. The old man with the McGuffin seemed so poorly thought out and was poorly acted. The pat shot of Kylo turning and staring down some random stormtrooper (who happened to be Finn) was lame. Can you ever picture Vader stopping in his tracks to give a random stormtrooper 2 ****s of time? Really? Should have just cut all these dumb ****ing scenes out of the movie, they were basically pointless. Finn and Phasma **** was all pointless. Everything in the first ten minutes or whatever was terrible.
Thankfully after all that bull**** was done, we meet Rey and the story really settled down and got quite good for awhile. Honestly I think they should have just started the movie with her and made it mostly about her, she was by far the strongest character in the entire cast. Film was great for the rest of Act I on Jakku, and the escape on the Falcon at first act climax was really well done. That whole sequence was one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of the entire film.
After that, Rey and Finn get picked up by Han and Chewie in some freighter. What are they doing on this junk freighter and what are the odds they happen to come across the Falcon soon after it takes off for the first time in years and years? This part of the plot was really poorly handled; all of the dialogue with the two smuggling groups was bad; then there were cartoonish CGI monsters. More prequel ****. **** off. About the only good thing in this part of the movie was Han Solo being Han Solo. “Move, ball” got me to laugh out loud.
Anyway, what happened next? Oh yeah, the gang goes to Maz’s place. Most of the CGI characters in this movie looked terrible (like Snoke and the junk dealer on Jakku). If any of them were well done, it was Maz but honestly I’m not even sure on that one. She was also, apparently, dumb as rocks, considering she was supposed to be some kind of sage.
So after that, Kylo comes and blows everything up and kidnaps Rey. I liked the scenes between the two of them on the ship, but found myself doubting the casting decision of Kylo. Just didn’t look very villainish when he was unmasked. Gave off the whiny prequel Anakin vibe that everyone hates. Keep the mask on dude, it’s much more intimidating.
Speaking of Kylo, did anyone else buy him being Han and Leia’s son? Just didn’t seem to work at all for me. Should have been Luke’s son, in my opinion.
Finally we get back to Rey and she starts to learn the force. Loved this part of the movie, but again I thought it was too backloaded. Needed better pacing, foreshadow her growing force sensitivity earlier in the film. Don’t give it all to us in the last 30 minutes ffs.
So yeah after that the third act consisted of parts that either sucked completely, or were on the verge of being well done and then got ed up. Everything with Rey on the ship was great. The Rebels’ plans for attack were not believable. Han flying at light speed and being able to manually stop his ship in time in a planet’s atmosphere and then pull up in just enough time to crash land and stop on the edge of a cliff? Really? Isn’t that the kind of lame bull they put in Pirates of the Caribbean or Indy 4? How the **** does a Galactic Empire’s secret weapon get infiltrated by one ****ing ship? And a crew of 3 is able to blow up a ****ing military installation with millions of bad guys on it? I mean all of this **** was ****ing dumb as hell.
The last interesting part of the main action was the lightsaber battle between Kylo and Rey. I kept wondering why in the hell is Kylo not wasting this chick with little effort? And then it happened. He told her he wanted to train her. Finally an old school added dimension to a lightsaber battle, cool as hell right? Rey fights him off, and this scene really worked for me. And then Abrams ****ed it up. As soon as Rey fights off Kylo for an instant, the fissure in the ground should have separated them immediately. It ruined the whole ****ing scene for her to suddenly start beating this dude’s ass and nearly kill him even though she’s never used a lightsaber before. Damn that was brutal.
Anyway the final shot with Rey and Luke was pretty good. I still don’t like the idea of people looking for Luke and being able to find him off some damn map. He’s Luke ****ing Skywalker, he’ll come around and find you when he’s damn well and ready. And Leia’s cameo felt forced and unnecessary. And nobody says “The Alliance” or “Rebels” the entire film. They get called the “Resistance” every time, and that’s a nitty thing that probably only tilted me.
Final Thoughts:
Plot was poorly thought out and not focused enough on Rey. Should have made Kylo be Luke’s son. I don’t know, probably a lot of other **** most of you don’t care about.
I’d give TFA a 6/10 rating. Probably would rate the series as follows:
The Empire Strikes Back: 10/10
Star Wars: 8 or 9 / 10
Return of the Jedi: 8 or 9 / 10
****ty prequel #1: 2 or 3/ 10
****ty prequel #2: 1 / 10
****ty prequel #3: 1 / 10
The Force Awakens: 6 / 10
Just OK. Better than the prequels, not as good as the originals. Probably good enough to make most people happy as long as you don’t expect a masterpiece.
