Just saw The Force Awakens (Spoilers)

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In my opinion I thought it was really good. I had the occasional Nitpicks like not enough screen time for most of the original characters but the new characters were good enough to distract. However when I really think about and later when I went online to look at the reviews, it really hit me that the plot was very similar to Episode IV as it was about a droid trying to deliver info to the Rebels (now called the resistance) and there was a new planet destroying weapon and there was another family secret. It got me thinking that perhaps the movie isn't as good as I thought. It feels generally like a remake and it kinda bums me out because I was telling everybody that it was really good like OMG Star Wars is back and it's better than ever and that seems to be the general response. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 95%, Clevver Movies gives it 5 stars etc etc. I think I was over hyped by this and that I didn't care when watching the movie, but now that I've let it sync in I'm starting to think it may not be a perfect movie. Not that I thought it was perfect when I watched it. I really don't know what to think. Is this one of those movies where they repeat a plot that has been done a million times before but somehow make it look like you're watching it for the first time or just a rip off of the original movie. That being said I still enjoyed this movie maybe not for the plot but for the characters both the old and the new. Their stories are interesting even though they weren't fully explained though I'm sure they're saving that for the sequels. Sure there are some retreds like bad family blood but I guess plot doesn't matter when you have memorable characters. I guess I do like this movie and will watch it again but it has errors which I don't know if I should hate or not. One things for sure it is way better than the Prequels. It's a masterpiece compare to those. I mean the plot may not be original but I'd rather a retold story than Jar Jar Binks any day. Also I considered it better than Return of the Jedi which despite it's flaws is a good movie, just as good as the first 2 but not better, but when I think about it I feel that Jedi is still a better movie. All and all Force Awakens is still a good movie, character wise not story. I never found myself bored or annoyed and even though not everything was explained like where did the first order come from I still enjoy it and I might even see it again just to make sure and get it of my mind and I will of course buy it when it comes out on blu ray.

I saw it yesterday (we got it a day early in Australia), and I really liked it. I'm amazed at how good a job they did of combining the new and old casts, nothing felt out of place, it didn't feel like the original cast was just shoehorned in there for the sake of it, but neither did they steal the spotlight from the new cast. Seeing as this movie featured Han and Chewie in important roles, I am hopeful that in future instalments we will get to see a bit more of Luke, Leia and the droids.

I particularly liked how realistic it was in terms of technology and the force (although they have clearly boosted the power of the force). For example, not every character automatically knows how to fly a ship and fire a blaster (Fin can't fly and Rey was useless with a blaster), Rey had to give the mind trick multiple tries before it finally worked, and it took much more than just one lucky shot to blow up the 'Starkiller'. I feel this is JJ's influence, and I appreciated this as it is something that we haven't had before in Star Wars.

I only have a couple of minor issues. The main one is how it really overplayed the nostalgia factor. This occurs on both the macro and micro scale. For me, it wasn't so much that the story is a blatant rip-off of the original Star Wars, which I don't mind and completely understand. Keep in mind the enormous pressure on this movie to bring the old fanboys back after the disappointment of the prequels while simultaneously introducing a new cast, it is no surprise to me that they played it safe; they were trying to avoid the same mistakes made by the prequels. For example, if they had gone into detail about the political situation and what the Republic, First Order and Resistance actually are, then there is no question that fans would have complained saying it is like Phantom Menace.

What really got to me was the constant visual references to the original trilogy, with varying levels of subtlety. Towards the start of the movie I didn't mind, and I don't know if it's just my aspie memory, but I kept finding references everywhere, I would say that at least 90% of the shots are references to the originals. Show me any shot and I can most probably point out at least one thing in it that is pulled straight out of the originals. Some of them are really obvious (Father-Son confrontation on a bridge, young jedi going into a cave and receiving scary force-visions, Sith talking to a hologram of his master, desert, ice and forest planets etc.), but a lot of them were more subtle things that not everyone would pick up on. For example there is a shot of a raptar(?) attacking the window of the falcon, and straight away I knew it was a throwback to the same shot from inside the asteroid in Empire.

My other minor problem with it, which completely surprised me, was how extremely feminist it was. I don't know if this was Disney's influence, but I had issues with how Rey is portrayed as perfect, she is intelligent, a good pilot, good with technology, VERY force-sensitive, etc. Meanwhile Fin is made to look like a bumbling idiot who doesn't have a clue, while Kylo Ren is portrayed as a whiny young sith with anger management issues (basically, he's exactly what Anakin should have been like in the prequels).

All of these are very minor issues though, any other problems I can come up with are very easily explained and justified. It is clear that this film was intended as the first of a trilogy, and now that they have set up the new cast (which was amazing, and objectively is probably better than the original), I am hopeful that future instalments will have the freedom to be a bit more original. This movie did a perfect job of making you want the next one, and at this point I believe it is not a pipe-dream that ep. 8 could very well turn out to be better than Empire.

My order of the Star Wars films from best to worst has always been episodes 6,5,4,3,2,1. It is now 6,5,7,4,3,2,1.

Well, I saw it Sunday...

My general rating of the movie:

Total score: 7/10
It is a return to the format from the original trilogy with less emphasis on combat and more emphasis on the individual characters. The As such, it features interesting character development for several main characters, and sets itself up nicely for a sequel with a lot of speculation about the main characters (Is Rey a Skywalker? Is Finn force sensitive? Will Kylo Ren get a proper lightsaber?) Unfortunately, the movie is very unoriginal with an implausible plot, and it shamelessly recycles both plot elements and character types to an excess.

Plot: 4/10
There are plot holes the size of galaxies in the movie. First of all, we are left with almost no explanation why the galaxy is in it's current state following the defeat of the emperor in Return of the Jedi. There is a Republic, a Resistance and a First Order, but wouldn't the two first ones be the same thing?

There is also no explanation how the First Order managed to amass so much power in such a short time (and the resources to build Starkiller Base). The Galactic Empire was a successor of the Galactic Republic (when Palpatine crowned himself emperor) and had access to its resources. The First Order has no such background, as the existing Republic is explicitly an entirely different organisation.

It also requires substantial suspension of disbelief to accept that Kylo Ren - potentially immensely strong in the force due to his heritage - wouldn't just completely wipe the floor with Finn in 1-to-1 combat. But he can barely hold his own against a janitor. And it seems like they added his pre-combat injuries as a crude afterthought after they realized how implausible the duel would be. The most obvious explanation is that Finn is force sensitive, but then there ought to have been at least *some* indication of that... other than a glance by Kylo Ren early in the movie.

Rey - on the other hand - is too powerful, almost venturing into "Mary Sue" territory. She learns Jedi Mind Trick in less than a minute (the most hilarious scene in the movie, though) and nearly kills Kylo Ren the first time she ever wields a lightsaber. Her progression in the Force is thus extremely rapid compared to both Anakin and Luke Skywalker.

I'm also concerned that Finn could get marginalized into being a trivial sidekick character in subsequent movies (if he doesn't turn out to be force sensitive). Rey and Kylo Ren are obviously crucial to the plot. No such guarantee can be made for Finn.

My rating of main and support characters (not including recurring characters from the original movies):

The main characters:

Rey: 7/10 - Considering that she is the lead character, her personality seems rather bland and shallow, and her back-story (so far) isn't nearly as interesting as that of Finn or Kylo Ren. I can't say if Daisy Ridley is a good actor, because IMO, she didn't get much opportunity to act as Rey.

Finn: 9/10 - IMO the most well developed character, and I think that John Boyega is the best actor in the movie.

Kylo Ren: 8/10 - The most original character. I initially found his incompetence annoying and out-of-character for a Dark Jedi, until it became clear that it was a crucial part of the plot. I'm not entirely impressed by Adam Driver's acting, though.

Support characters:

Poe: 4/10 - Boring... and a Wedge Antilles clone.

BB-8: 8/10 - Cute and funny as hell, but doesn't get top marks since it's basically a R2-D2 clone

General Hux: 6/10 - He lacks the composure of Grand Moff Tarkin, but at least he's got a spine. He will probably be brutally killed by Kylo Ren in the sequel, though.

Snoke: 6/10 - I like the mystique (what race is he? Is he a giant?), but at this point, he's a Darth Sidious clone.

... aaand...

Kylo Ren's Lightsaber: -∞/10 - Who turned Jar Jar Binks into a Lightsaber?

I liked it, but something keeps niggling in my mind.

For some reason I made the general assumption that Captain Phaser, the woman in silver stormtrooper armour was actually a droid, but someone I watched it with had no thoughts that she was. Not sure if I was just reading something into that was not there.

I would disagree that the way they play up Rey in this movie is to push a feminist agenda per se. It just so happens that the central protagonist is female. While, yes, Finn may come across as a bit more inept than Rey at times, both characters have moments where they shine and moments where they fail. For Rey, one such moment is when she lets herself get taken by the First Order when they are on Leia's HQ planet. Both Finn and Rey are underdogs who come into their own and take their first steps to heroism over the course of the story, only Rey's arc is more central to the plot and therefore her character is given more gravitas.

The only thing I didn't really like were the tentacle monsters and Deathstar V3

I don't do well with crowds but waiting a week didn't help. I almost left because of that.
The star wars movies are all flawed and I'd edit the cheese out of the originals and condense the terrible prequels into one film, reduce the wire-fu and awful dialogue. This one was meant to be everything people liked about it put together and I does a good job (still need a wooki/ewok genocide).
It's a fun movie on its own and great sequel.

For me, the biggest question left by the movie is, who exactly is the new, dark-side-of-the force adept bad guy leader, Supreme Leader Snoke? The internet has been abuzz with the theory that Snoke is actually Palpatine's old mentor, Darth Plagueis, not actually dead after all (might make sense, as Palpatine had told Anakin, Plagueis had discovered the secret to stave off death).

Super duper BOOPER Death Star!

All that money and they couldn't afford an original plot idea. Well, it was fun to look at (in 3D, ooo) and my ten-year-old enjoyed it.

This movie (or its hype at least) seems to be doing a great job of introducing Star Wars to new fans (which makes sense, as its plot essentially a condensed version of the original trilogy), at my family's Christmas party the other day I came across at least two relatives who had been drawn into the fandom after seeing TFA. One of them unwittingly opened a can of worms by asking about viewing order which led a cousin and I to furiously debate this, I was arguing for machete order (451236) while my cousin argued for 1,2,3,4,5,6. This was great for me as this is probably the first time I have ever really cared to converse with my extended family.