It’s true that Star Wars has always required a rather liberal suspension of disbelief. I was okay with that when I was 10. I’m not anymore.
To make a point you’ve been making, that came off as a bit condescending to those of us who like the film.
My apologies. It was a simple statement of fact, but I can see how that it would come off as condescending.
I guess what I’m saying is that I no longer accept the shortcomings of the previous films as an excuse for the latest film in the franchise not to aim any higher.
Do you accept the shortcomings of the OT? Seems like you do. If you ask me there were plenty of those, but they’re still great movies (too).
I’m not going to address your response point by point because we simply don’t see TFA the same way and we could go back and forth for hours, but I will respond to this. My biggest problem with TFA isn’t the liberal application of Star Wars logic, though I do wish it were more like ESB than ANH in that regard. (I don’t think many here would dispute that ESB is the smartest and most put-together of the OT.) What I don’t like is the lazy script. I don’t like that it requires a lot of “well maybe this and maybe that” to justify characters’ motives. I don’t like Death Star III and the lame, boring “battle” to destroy it. And Snope is a villain I’d expect to see in a Harry Potter movie.
I’ve seen 30 years’ worth of films between the OT and now, and while I can accept a certain amount of silly logic, I can’t accept lazy writing that’s too scared to try something different while simultaneously punting so much to the next installment.
There are things I like about TFA (see my initial review), which is why I’m not completely shitting on it and saying it’s as bad as the prequels. That’s absurd. But I don’t rank it as highly at ROTJ because its script is even more derivative and it has even fewer great moments. There were some scenes I really liked and I enjoyed much of the first half, but I was bored through most of it. I don’t see how that will improve upon repeat viewings.