dkeighobadi said:
I’m guessing you’ve watched that viral video on “How TFA is worse than the Prequels”, which, whilst again having a few good points, irritates me greatly.
I haven’t watched this youtube video (if you understand french here is nevertheless a well made video to be watched, which is different than a video showing some bloke sharing his life and thoughts : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpx1yM7liLA).
I’m not saying TFA is worse than the prequels, I’m saying this is basically the same stuff (the same stuff since RETURN OF THE JEDI to be correct), same strengths and (almost) same weaknesses, but with a OT nostalgia cloak on it (“oh it’s the Falcon, it’s got to be awesome !”). It looks good, it seems less offensive than the PT, but in the end there is the same DNA failure, and even new issues with the characters: What do they want ? What are their conflicts ? What have they learnt and what have they lost ? Rey in alreay filled with the Force and once she’s “unlocked” she is even more powerful (at least Superman has kryptonite…). This issue is new in Star Wars : you don’t like Anakin in the PT ? Ok, but in each film Anakin has a conflict and has to make strong choices that determine his nature and his link with the Force (leaving his mother, avenging her death, falling to the dark side). Rey, on the other hand, never makes a single strong decision: she just wants to stay on Jakku for cloudy reasons : she’s waiting for her family to go back… what family ? who are they ? why doesn’t she try to search them since she so good at stick fighting, saber fighting, piloting, climbing, Jedi Mind tricking, fixing unfixable ships, understanding the network door system in seconds of a ship when has never seen before ?, etc. When adventure calls, she just says that she wants to go back on Jakku. Yeah, to my view this is the worst main character in a Star Wars film: she’s not interesting at all. It was up to Ep VII to answer most of these questions, not the following movies (it’s “Star Wars”, not “Lost” !). It’s a very weak leading character. Finn is by far more interesting, but Abrams and Kasdan don’t use him well (when Finn confronts Phasma - shouldn’t be something important for him ? - the scene is really awkward and tries to be funny), and in the end Finn is just a comic relief in the movie and a guy who has a crush on Rey. So, basically it does not feed the plot with his characterization (oh, yeah, there is: he was cleaning the toilet on Starkiller base…). Not to mention the treatment of OT main characters.
It’s the 7th in a saga, and a sequel (it’s easier to do than a prequel): new ideas and characters are underdeveloped, recycled ideas are boring, and embarrassing “fan service” are the final stroke. Ep VIII & IX can’t fix that. Ep VII is supposed to be a movie with enough material to work on its own (Ep V ends on a cliffhanger but it has a complete story), and it’s not. No fan edit can fix it, but with a few things removed it could almost be a decent installment of the saga (I really like most of the first 30 minutes of the movie - until Han Solo shows up in fact -, some action shots, and the Han/Ben scene, even if really lazy in its writting : so to my view it’s average).