I'm a bit Star Wars fan, and I was rather disappointed.
In anticipation of seeing it, opening weekend, I watched all three movies of the original trilogy.
What I saw in theater didn't feel like a continuation. It felt like a dumbed down reboot.
Big battle to capture VIP, with a droid escaping with crucial data in the desert? Check.
Desert dweller finding robot? Check.
Crazy escape from tatoine? Check. (Oh right, it's a NEW desert planet.)
Planet destroyed as a demonstration? Check.
Older mentor to the young heroes? Check.
Girl captured and on deathstar? Check.
We'll make it up as we go along rescue? Check.
Older guy sacrificing himself? Check.
Resistance on some jungle world shortly to be destroyed? Check.
Small fleet of one man fighters taking out a deathstar? Check.
I could go on and on, but there are so many similarities that it's sickening. Having some would be fine, but make no mistake, The Force Rising is not a continuation, it's a modernized, simplified, dumbed down reboot.
Of course the movie is a smashing success in theaters, and we can look forward to at least two more movies, and lots of other content, if for no other reason than the massive inertia of the franchise, and marketing efforts.
That said, I think it's an utter failure.
It didn't introduce anything substantially new.
The effects were perfectly adequate, but a far far cry from groundbreaking.
And then there are the plot holes. Giant ten times the size of the original death star plot holes.
Here's are a couple good articles on them;
40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' | Seth Abramson
20 More Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' | Seth Abramson
I go into a movie with a rather large reservoir of disbelief. This movie, it used up that reservoir and then some. Very very quickly.
Like say Rey, a hermit desert dweller left alone at a young age knowing how to fly, and intricate details of starship maintenance. That would be like a homeless street kid knowing how to fly and fix an F22 from collecting scraps at a junkyard.
Or her having INCREDIBLE control over force abilities. Jedi trained for years, and DECADES from the time they were babies to have that level of control, especially to influence the minds of others. Yet here's Mary Sue Rey, who just does it.
Or a trained lightsaber fighter, TRAINED in the use of the force as well, having trouble with a girl who has never even held one. Kylo is supposedly the #2 or #3 baddest bad guy, having trained under Luke, with years of experience, and he has trouble with a couple of kids who have never held a lightsaber in their life. Take the #3 guy in MMA, and toss in a 20 year old kid or two that have never been in more than a slapfight. Who's gonna come out of it?
Why is there a resistance? The new republic is what the resistance was fighting for in ROTJ, and is the government in power. I've read that the resistance was created in response to the First Order, but that makes no sense whatsoever! That would be like the US establishing a christian militant group in alaska to fight ISIS. It doesn't make sense.
Speaking of terrorist organizations doing terrible things - which is what the first order in the movie seems to be, as they are not an empire, and not in power (but somehow afford to built a mega-super-duper deathstar?) - why was there no reaction whatsoever to Coruscant being destroyed? None. Imagine New York, Paris, Washington DC, London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Moscow, and Tokyo all being destroyed. Even if you're in say Australia, and all you see is some light on the horizon, you would still have more of a reaction to it.
All these inconsistencies they took away from what was only visually a good movie.
Not only that but the Force Rising also destroyed a HUGE expanded star wars universe. Yes some of the pieces in there were crap, but there were also some fantastic characters and stories that the force rising wiped out. Why couldn't they make a bit of an effort to curate that universe, instead of getting rid of it?
I will of course see the next movie. At this point I'm just not sure whether I'll bother to see it in theaters. Incredibly, I'm also now more disappointed in Jar Jar Abrams, and TFR than I was with Lucas and the phantom menace.
/end rant
