Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Currently this movie is sitting at an 8.4 on IMDb. Even with the "new movie effect", that score is pretty ludicrous.

When I left the cinema, I said to my wife, "I wouldn't give this movie anything more than a very generous 7". Since then some of the post-theatre-euphoria has worn off and the more I actually think about this movie, the lower the score becomes.

There are several reasons for this: the plot is derivative, I didn't care about any of the new characters, the characters that I DID care about, I only cared about because I know them from the original series, there were far too many convenient "coincidences" in the story and not enough background for any of the major factions (New Order? The Resistance? What happened to the Republic?). I also felt like overall the tone of the film was too comedic (lacked any real sense of drama, seriousness, or anticipation) and that the pacing was much, much too frenetic.

Now I find myself wondering if I had never seen the original series-- i.e. if I were a blank slate -- would this film even make sense? I'm not really sure. It certainly doesn't stand up well on its own, and neither does it fit particularly well within the scope of the Star Wars universe.

I tried my best to like this movie. I really, really wanted to; but in the end I think there was too much lazy writing on display and too many poor script choices.

I'm not sure i have spoilers here but - BE WARNED SPOILER ALERT.

This movie is a bad rehash of the first 3 movies With REALLY bad dialog, average actors (at best) no memorable events except for the ending - literally the last few minutes of the film (no spoiler here).

Whats Good: 1 they went with the old style full sets and it works , its been a long time since i felt i was looking at a real location somewhere out there in space. 2 The tried bringing star wars back.

Sadly , thats all the good i really want to scream at JJ for doing this to star wars.

Whats Bad:

1 Shallow back story - no immersion , people just pop up (Han solo). 2 Really bad dialog , i mean really bad , feels like a teen drama. 3 Forcing a female role for no reason ( i like good female roles) . 4 No new memorable characters , not a single one - i literally wanted to talk about the characters and found myself talking about han leia and sywalker again . 5 A bad guy that seems to have NO REASON to turn bad . 6 A bad guy that seems like he is a teen with a tantrum rather than an evil sith (a literal cry baby) . 7 The entire movie felt like they were trying to introduce as many new characters as fast as they can without telling us anything about them other than their name and occupation . 8 no sense in the plot:

• How is the republic destroyed in seconds . - Why are the rebels (resistance - sorry) are still rebels , they create the republic again . - Why don't they evacuate a planet about to be destroyed while attacking the "new order" planet killer (THERE IS NOTHING BLOCKADING THEIR PLANET). - HOW is an untrained uneducated (in the ways of the force) person (i don't care she is a girl) easily defeats a TRAINED Sith with ease?.

This entire movie feels like a teen flick , WHERE IS STAR WARS?.

to sum up : bad plot , bad writing and dialog , no back story or lore ,no sense in any of the core aspects , copied rehashed and generally bad.

i love star wars so for that reason alone im giving it a 4 (but it really deserves a 1).

From the virtue signaling of social justice, to the cheap-jack plot-line which was easily discerned in advance, to the awful acting which evoked little but hooting from me, I was, as you can see, disappointed, and in some cases outraged. If you dare to join me, I will explain.

I have nothing against diversifying the Star Wars universe, which is why I LOVED Star Wars 1, with its Oriental villains, Jamaican Gungan, Jewish scrap dealer, and more. It was a delight of indulgence which fleshed out characters of charm, making the experience vivid and interesting. But after Lucas received flak for ethnic portrayal, Jar-Jar became boring in Star Wars 2. In Star Wars 7, this pandering becomes intolerable. It's fine that Leah has the force, and it's fine that Rey inherited it, but Finn is gratuitous in his race. I would have nothing against this either but they make Finn formidable with a light-sabre against Kylo Ren. And please don't soft-soap me that love gave Finn the strength and skill to take on a pupil of the force - only hate has that power, the dark side. Otherwise, one must be cool and focused. Given this, I dismiss Finn and therefore it irritated me to watch Kylo Ren sword-play with Finn and not simply crush his windpipe with a wave of his hand, or penetrate his mind, which seems to be Ren's forte. As for Kylo vs. Rey, a bit more believable, but it made Kylo seem almost inept. Really? Rey's raw ability with zero training is tougher than Kylo with training? Not even close to believable.

What didn't I like about the plot? Well, first, aren't we simply replaying Death Star destruction from the first trilogy? Why, yes we are. And it looks like the Supreme Leader made all the same engineering, logistic, and tactical errors as the Emperor, just on a grander scale, including the convenient "having to recharge the cannon" just long enough for the Resistance to "win the day." Yawn. Second, much of the plot was geared to exploit the Skywalker/Solo family tree, and there was no thrill to any of it. Darth Vader is Luke's father - WHOA! I jumped out of my seat. Han is Kylo's father? Zzzz. Even if you wanted to say this was a remake, which it's not, it doesn't have the pizazz, never mind the oomph, of the original. But what does?

But the acting is where I think I really blew my cool. I can understand characters of convenience, and plot-lines of olde being rehashed, but it has to be acted well to pull it off. Even in Star Wars 3, as sappy as it was, the acting was GREAT, IMO. In Star Wars 7, Harrison Ford is just about limping to his finale, Carrie Fisher looks doddering and not commanding, Daisy Ridley grits her teeth so often I thought she was Red Sonja, John Boyega makes a concerted effort to appear naive at every turn (which makes his good fortune all the more unbearable), Adam Driver does not look torn in the least, and so forth.

I can point to hundreds of interesting and thrilling moments from the first six episodes of Star Wars which makes a complete weekend binge-watch, over and over again. Star Wars 7 does not add to that excitement. The tech seems standard, the CGI a little too self-conscious, the nostalgic cheese forced, the push forward too bossy and not natural. Still, I give this film a 6 in the hopes that Star Wars 8 will push the envelope once again.

In short, this could have been good, perhaps great in its own right as it has been over 30 years since ROTJ. It fell short on all fronts: character introduction, depth, development, empathy and purpose. Some veteran actors did well with what they could with what they had (remaining). Yet interactions of known characters were so short and shallow when passion was needed most. Every scene was quick and snappy with zero time for the viewer to soak in the world or situation, just pushed around to the next scene. Even panned shots and close- ups of vehicles were rushed and the fights predictable. I won't comment on the plot at all or the lack of story depth. This was only a sci-fi motion picture going through the motions. What you heard is true...all of it. A shame.

This film really is nothing more than an Advertisement. I'll admit the first time I saw it at the movies I thought it was pretty good, and i watched it another two times with friends and family over the course of a month before it finally left theatres.

But after seeing it again, I realised something is off, something is not right about this movie.

It's completely hollow with nothing beyond its visuals

The movie is well shot, I'll say that. It has great looking effects, but it's only there to hide the fact that once you look past all the superficial razzle dazzle to hide the mess underneath. The movie is nothing more than a shadow of the previous movies. Everything about it feels rushed. The characters are so aloof and seem almost brain dead. The dialogue is so shallow and paper thin, it's like the writers just gave up. The characters hardly develop or learn anything and Rey's transition to a Jedi is so fast and forced, you can see how how obvious that the writers were too lazy to even bother to give give her a proper arc and story and make her feel like an actual human we can care about. Because that would be too long and boring, wouldn't it... God forbid challenge people's short attention spans... Who even needs real developed characters... Nobody cares about that anymore... Just give them the razzle dazzle crap or whatever???

It really is sad just how empty this movie is. The third time I watched it, it actually physically left a bad taste in my mouth, thank god for popcorn...