Watched again in preparation for TLJ. Definitely a bit rehashy (especially the control room scene where they make their plans to attack Starkiller Base - that’s a bad scene, no two ways about it), but overall still an excellent Star Wars movie. Once again, I simply cannot understand how anyone could rate a prequel above it…especially if they’ve actually seen a prequel recently. TFA feels like a Star Wars movie, from the characters to the look, it’s Star Wars. The prequels feel like an entirely different franchise, one that probably would have been cancelled after the first (and absolutely after the second).
8/10
If you prioritize likable characters, dialogue, and fan service, The Force Awakens is superior to any of the prequels. But if you prioritize realistic character flaws, strong villains, lightsaber duels, originality, worldbuilding, and political drama, any of the prequels is superior to The Force Awakens.
The main problem with The Force Awakens is the unoriginal story. If I wanted to watch a movie where
- A droid is carrying top-secret information on a desolate desert planet,
- A Force-sensitive, masked, and darkly clothed villain commands his subordinates to find the droid,
- Stormtroopers wipe out a desert settlement,
- The enemy tortures a hero to extract the top-secret information,
- A Force-sensitive orphan on the desert planet acquires the droid and later receives Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber,
- The heroes narrowly escape an imperial attack aboard the Millenium Falcon and enlist the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca,
- Han Solo owes a debt he must repay
- The heroes visit a shady cantina with alien creatures,
- The masked villain in black captures and interrogates a damsel in distress aboard a planet-destroying superweapon,
- The planet-destroying superweapon fires on a planet or planets sympathetic to a rebellion against fascist control,
- The heroes infiltrate the planet-destroying superweapon, disable a tractor beam or shield generator, and rescue the damsel in distress,
- The protagonist watches a wise old mentor die at the hands of the masked villain in black, and
- As Princess Leia watches from a control room, X-wings fly through a trench on a planet-destroying superweapon in order to exploit its critical weakness and blow it out of the sky,
then I would simply watch A New Hope.
Of course The Force Awakens feels like a Star Wars movie. It is a shameless ripoff of Star Wars with no original story to tell. The protagonist is more similar to a superhero or a goddess than a flesh and blood human being with actual lifelike flaws. The primary villain is an emotionally disturbed teenager who throws temper tantrums with his lightsaber and is absolutely unintimidating.
0/10