It was a disappointment for me but for different reasons than the Prequels. Unlike Episodes I-III, it didn’t drag but while I wasn’t bored, TFA was a hollow and rather lifeless experience: unoriginal, paper-thin plot and characterisation, too much fan-service and too much of a pastiche of the Original Trilogy. It felt like flat-pack filmmaking – too self-conscious, lacking in vision or ambition – an update of Star Wars with bits of Empire and Jedi tacked on.
Abrams may have recognised what was wrong with the Prequels but he went from one extreme – dull, boring exposition, people standing and talking, sitting and talking, too much boring politics – to the other – everyone running around with little to no character or plot development.
The pacing of the film was one-note. There was no build-up, no tension, no suspense. Things just happened one after the other until it was over. The score was so forgettable and I barely noticed it. Compare that to how it piled on the tension in the original Death Star trench battle.
In Star Wars, we had a set up of how important the Death Star was – the stolen plans, the destruction of Alderaan – and the political state of the galaxy – Obi Wan talking about the destruction of the Jedi and the Imperial officers on the Death Star discussing the disbanding of the Imperial Senate. In contrast, the Starkiller base was just there – there was no sense that the Resistance was trying to find it. You cared about the destruction of Alderaan because it was Leia’s home planet. Why should we care about the never-before-mentioned Hosnian system? (And how did they see the destruction from Maz’s castle?)
Despite blowing up an entire solar system, the Starkiller base never felt like a threat. It seemed ridiculously easy to take out compared to the original Death Star. Compare with Jedi where it took time and effort to take out the shield generator, or with the first film where rescuing Leia and safely delivering the droids to the rebellion took up much of the film. In TFA, they basically walked into the Starkiller base, captured Phamsa (who seemed to serve no purpose other than selling action figures) and turned off the shield.
Similarly, the early reveal of Kylo’s parentage removed an opportunity for a tenser climax. I thought it would have been more effective if his fate had been unknown since the attack on the Jedi academy and his reveal being a shock. I think Snoke should have been kept out of this film, or his face been concealed – at least until they could make him look better than a crappy CGI Gollum/Voldermort hybrid.
Boyega and Driver seemed to make the best of the very limited hand they were dealt. Kylo came rather too close on occasions to bratty Anakin, though Driver is a far better actor than Hayden Christensen. Daisy Ridley’s acting was rather wooden at times but Rey was so much of a Mary Sue that there was little for her to work with. I wasn’t as bothered as others by her Force abilities, the ‘Force back’ implies she had some training and her memories were suppressed or, maybe, wiped, and Kylo was clearly injured before the lightsabre duels. But neither she nor the other leads felt like adequately fleshed out characters.
The original actors were poorly or under utilised. It felt like we needed an Obi Wan figure, given the title of the film, rather than Han. Carrie Fisher had no real purpose. There was none of the old spark between her and Ford. I’d have preferred some conflict on their reunion to suggest the depth of their loss/hurt but there was nothing. I don’t really want to talk about her appearance or her voice but I will say it might have been kinder to leave her out of the film.
The use of the original actors was made all the more problematic by the film seeming like a remake rather than a sequel. Their presence was rather jarring – like they’d wandered into a fanfic. If they wanted to do a reboot they should have gone all the way and started from scratch.
I can’t get over how the plot was so negligible. It sounds like they should have let Michael Arndt have another year, or two years, to craft something more original. (Presumably Disney couldn’t wait to cash in.) I’m not surprised Lawrence Kasdan is walking away from this.
The Prequels had jarring clashes of tone – awkwardly mixing comedy and tragedy – this just had one tone throughout. Where the Prequels were plodding, this was breathless – and didn’t give you room to get a feel for the new universe.
Finally, while the special effects were more convincing than the Prequels, some of them seemed pretty low-rent – like something I’d expect on Dr Who or Babylon 5 rather than a blockbuster film. The Resistance base looked far too much like a set than a real world location, especially compared to Hoth or Yavin. It could have done with a matt painting backdrop. Don’t see it in 3D, it’s far too dark and the action too fast for the format. It really took me out of the film.
In short, too much hype, not enough substance.