I saw the movie myself finally.
I just saw The Force Awakens today and although I really, really wanted to like this movie I just can't.
Here are my reasons:
1.) Way too much rehashing from A New Hope:
- The story starts on a desert planet just like Tatooine.
- A secret map is stored on a droid and the enemy is looking for that droid.
- Rey lives on a desert planet, comes from humble beginnings, and dresses in white, loose fit clothes just like Luke.
- The bad guys have another circular, beam firing, planet busting super weapon.
- The heroes hide inside the Millennium Falcon's smuggling compartments when captured.
- The heroes go to a sketchy bar.
- The female lead is captured and kept on the super weapon.
- A team boards the weapon to save the female lead.
- The death star III Starkiller base attempts to blow up the rebel planet.
- The rebels find an obvious flaw in the super weapon, send x-wings, and blow it up.
They probably went for a remix to play on nostalgia for the old fans while introducing new characters for the new gen.
2.) Captain Phasma was useless
- We only see her for three brief scenes and she does absolutely nothing.
She probably would survive and be back in sequel. I'm not even sure if she was meant to do something special. She was just a captain who happened to be captain of the troop, from which a storm-trooper deserted.
3.) Rey was too perfect
- Now before anyone overreacts, I really like Rey's character. She's tough, she's smart, and my biggest wish of her being the Jedi instead of Finn came true. What bothers me though is that she could automatically pilot the Falcon, could operate any space faring tech even though she's never been on a spacefaring ship, could speak Wookiee despite us never seeing her interact with any on her home planet, and she used the force like a pro even though she had zero training. It's not a rewarding experience to see a character achieve so much with little struggle. A main character needs to overcome losses to grow!
Err.. did you miss that she was in fact quite familiar with the Falcon- she worked on it for that mean garbage man. She was well aware of the changes he made to it and kept pointing out what he had been doing to it. She just thought of it as an old wreck. Just like she thought jedi's to be an old myth. She seem to have a natural aptitude with the Force and relatively quick learner but she wasn't using it like a pro. She only got lucky that Kylo didn't try that hard.
She has already lost her family once - been waiting for them forever to return and surviving on her own for a long time. Met Han who was probably the first father/parent like figure in a while who died at the hand of his real son soon after. First friend a droid, second one an ex storm-trooper, currently unconscious/in coma. Already noticed by the big bad villain along with his young trainee.
4.) Kylo Ren:
- He wore a mask for no practical reason like Vader needed. It was obvioisly just a tool to make him look cool.
- His resolve and connection to the dark side felt weak when compared to other Sith.
- Every time I saw his face it looked like he was about to cry.
- His design was underwhelming when compared to other sith. No dark look, no twisted features, no red eyes, etc.
You are right about the mask- he didn't need it- they even knew who he was. But he is also at mid point in his character and it's not fully formed yet. He obviously hero worships Darth Vader hence the mask. But I would say it's also because he is hiding the "light" side of his nature/emotions behind that mask. He was alert enough to notice the stormtrooper who wasn't happy and seem to have a moment of silent convo but he didn't try to fix him right there. He understood the emotion and yet walked off. He didn't try to fight Finn that seriously in the beginning either. He was trying to talk and convert Rey on the dark side and felt a connection because of her feeling towards Han.
5.) Rey vs Kylo Ren
- How TF does Rey kick Ren's ass so bad when she's only had a connection with the force for about an hour and has had zero training?! I call bull****. Even the most powerful force sensitive will be obliterated if they are not properly trained.
He was injured and bleeding and fought two of them, one after another and yet he was not attacking them with killing instinct...Instead he told Rey he needed a teacher to harness the Force better. I think he could kill them both if he didn't drag the fight. Rey got luck on her side in the end.
6.) Han Solo
- We all saw his death coming from a mile away.
- He dies in a rehashed fashion to Obi Wan. Someone that he cares about kills him, he dies on board the super weapon, etc.
- The story keeps moving too quickly for us to stop and mourn his death, thus we don't really feel the weight of that event.
- Him and Leia breaking up was barely explained and wasn't necessary.
- Seeing that he abandoned the rebellion to smuggle again made no sense. At the end of ROTJ he became a general who had clearly dedicated himself to the cause and was there to stay. Why would he back out again just to overcome the same anxiety a second time? We don't want to see characters overcoming the same problems they've already overcome before. It's the opposite of character progression and a complete waste of time.
They blamed it both of them returning to what they used to do by themselves to deal with the loss of their son... No surprise that Kylo has so much problem handling his emotions. It's inherited from both his parents... they don't throw tantrums but while they are mature enough not to whine and oppress their disappointment, they still couldn't deal with emotions itself - jedi and siths both seem to suck at it...They need Kirabi and learn the balance better. >_>
7.) Luke Skywalker
- Luke departing the Resistance just to leave them hanging during their most desperate time makes no sense.
- Turned into Yoda 2.0 by choosing self exile.
- Luke should have stepped in to save Rey from Ren. This would have been a great opportunity to display his power and to avoid having Rey unrealistically spank Ren's ass
He is an old man- they need new generation Jedi...and teach Rey and Finn and all..
8.) Too many fan service jokes
- Way too many fan service jokes instead of trying to make new, original ones.
- The very few jokes that were original are not memorable and will not be treasured like the classic one-liners we all love.
Only time will tell but original always remains original. ( unless it's superman maybe.. the original sucked).
9.) The New Order
- Why even be called the New Order when it is the exact same thing as what the empire was? They have storm troopers, tie fighters, star destroyers, two dark side users, and the same motivation of galactic rule.
Not sure - but maybe because the line of Sith Lord was broken, changed that rule of two and what not. Vader fulfilled the prophecy and ended their empire...the Dark side also maybe rearranging and redefining itself. Besides Kylo himself is still doubtful and feeling the pull of light, wasn't even trained fully and probably not sith, at least not yet. It's really hard to say since we are seeing Kylo and his group at mid point of character development. I expect their personalities and plot to shape up more decisively in the next part.
I am not saying the movie was without it's fault and many contrived situations like- Han finding the Falcon just like that, Poe disappearing in the sand to leave Finn alone with Rey and conveniently re-appearing when he was needed back. R2-D2 suddenly reactivating and providing the map- I really hope they explain the reason even if the reason was Rey coming there with her mysteriously strong connection to Force, another part to explain if there is a reason for her affinity with it .-.
But over all I enjoyed just watching the movie. Don't be over critical; especially do NOT let fan-hype dictate your expectations and ruin it for you.
