At the one year mark:
When I first saw the movie I liked it. Everything on Jakku was exactly what I’d hoped it would be. I loved the isolation and lack of inhabitants. The remnants of a past war were interesting and Daisy stole the film. Fantastic lead in a fantastic story (the Jakku portion).
Loved her stealing The Falcon, meeting Han & Chewie, and her interaction with him as they learn about the past. I thought Finn and Poe were also interesting, well written, and well acted.
I never found the Starkiller base interesting. It seemed too much, in story element as well as plot element. It wasn’t necessary. Ren isn’t interesting, nor is the attack on the base. I could see Han’s death coming, so it was anti-climactic. Snoke seems like he’s from another film. Not interesting.
I LOVED Rey going to find Luke and thought her offering him the saber was perfect. Possibly her finest moment of the film.
I saw the film three times in the theater, bought the DVD, and have watched it maybe four times since. What I didn’t expect after the film had time to sit with me, was how little of it stayed with me. Now when I watch it I watch up to the entrance into Maz’s place, then I skip to Rey leaving to find Luke. I had a few issues with it a year ago and they didn’t pass as the year went on.
In contrast, I have zero issues with Rogue One. It was even better than I expected. It’s the Star Wars I’ve been waiting on for decades. It fits my personal canon perfectly. It’s a stand-alone story with characters who are wholly unrelated to the characters in the franchise saga. Thats a huge deal for me. It expanded the ever-shrinking Lucas universe.
I don’t know how I’ll feel as even more time passes. As it stands now, I haven’t watched any of it in several months. I hope VIII is better.
Yeah, Rogue One being as great as it is has made me look back on the insanely massive flaw that was Starkiller Base (and everything surrounding it, especially everyone watching the Hosnian system get popped in real time from millions of miles away) much more severely. The characters in TFA were fantastic and I ache to see where their adventures take them next, but eesh was the story not incredible in the light of Rogue One.
Still love TFA, still rate it in my top five Star Wars movies, but while they totally nailed it in places, they really dropped the ball in others.