Though it was a good way to establish Han’s character this was filler
The way Han and Chewie were introduced wasn’t bad, but after they step off the MF it just goes down hill.
I disagree. Remember the name of the film is The Force Awakens so not only is it about finding Luke; the plot of the film is also about a lowly scavenger finding she has this immense power within her and her flashback alongside her interrogation at the hand of Kylo Ren was her first step into a larger world. Now the destruction of SKB was filler.
I can agree with that, but it’s another case of being poorly written, could have been handled better.
Personally I don’t care about the amount of practical effects they used in TFA or lack thereof because most things looked real. Which is something no one can say for the prequels.
When I find time this weekend I can probably find more examples, but off the top of my head without re-watching the BR:
Giant pig creature on Jakku - Bad practical effect
Unkar Plutt - Bad practical effect mixed with bad CG
Maz Kanata - Bad CG
Rathtars - Bad CG
Snoke - Bad CG
The creature on the mechanical steed that captures BB-8 - Bad Practical Effect
The “space” battles over Takodana and SKB - over the top misuse of CG
During the battle over Takodana, when Finn stops to watch the dogfight, the end of that sequence some storm troopers in front of a wall get blown up by a X-wing - Really bad and noticeable CG
CG itself isn’t bad, but time and time again modern directors have proven their lack of restraint when using that tool. The SE’s and PT’s are prime examples of this, as are tons of other modern movies like the LotR trilogy, Marvel and DC movies, Transformers, etc. Also look at the move from hand drawn animation to completely CG animation, Disney even went as far as firing all the old animators in favor of CG everything. It’s getting to the point where I’m expecting people to start arguing that the Mona Lisa would have been 10x better if it was made in Photoshop.
The old tools are just as relevant as the new, but artists need to learn good judgement as to when and where it is appropriate to use either. Unfortunately it seems that many in the industry are less concerned about making art in favor of milking a cash cow, and given the budget allowed to TFA they very well could have made it in a very similar manner as the OT was made. Instead we got another blockbuster “CG wankfest” as I put it, since everything these days has to be “over the top,” “so awesome,” and “aww, so cool.”
Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to yelling at clouds for a bit.