EPT
In my opinion, the movie suffers from major flaws at both the macro and micro levels. It's an uninspired, derivative, largely hollow shell of a movie in terms of original substance, almost only rehashing safe old plot threads. I will begin by making general comments without actually spoiling any details of the plot:
+ Show Spoiler +
- The structure of the plot is absolutely terrible.
- The plot also severely lacks in originality.
- I do not see a single element or aspect of this movie that may be a source of inspiration/influence. It's basically a collection of rehashed old ideas.
- Interactions between several characters are lacking in quality.
- Quite a few characters are walking caricatures, sometimes of themselves.
- The political context is way underdeveloped -- to an almost criminal level considering the political stakes of the events of the first two trilogies. Details given on the factions at play oscillate between "barely any" and "relatively few".
- I did find one of the new characters promising.
- The plot also severely lacks in originality.
- I do not see a single element or aspect of this movie that may be a source of inspiration/influence. It's basically a collection of rehashed old ideas.
- Interactions between several characters are lacking in quality.
- Quite a few characters are walking caricatures, sometimes of themselves.
- The political context is way underdeveloped -- to an almost criminal level considering the political stakes of the events of the first two trilogies. Details given on the factions at play oscillate between "barely any" and "relatively few".
- I did find one of the new characters promising.
Now, more details with actual plot spoilers:
+ Show Spoiler +
- This copies episodes 4 and 6 to such a large extent I was genuinely in disbelief of what was unfolding before my eyes, especially at the end. I mean ok, we have a map in a droid being hunted down by the FO instead of the plans of the Death Star in a droid being hunted down by the Empire, but that wasn't too much of a problem. The real issue was the final act, during which 1. It turns out that the bad guys have a superweapon which is about to blow up the good guys' base. 2. Han Solo is tasked to deactivate the protective shield around the FO's superweapon (which turns out to be a super easy task, thanks Brienne) 3. A Resistance pilot, part of an outgunned strike team, then eventually goes inside the superweapon with his starfighter to blow it up. Sounds familiar? How can anyone be satisfied with going back to the same rehashed tropes?
- Seriously, am I also the only one shocked at how little information we get about the state of the new Republic, about the place of the First Order in the galaxy (we get that it's a peripheral player at this point, but still), and about the struggle between the Resistance and the FO? What is the Resistance fighting for? Is it a movement that emerged to liberate the systems held by the FO? How long have they been fighting? Why is the Republic not opposing the FO directly? Why should I probably have to pick up one of the new SW books or comic books to get that information?
- There are holes in the story everywhere. Not plot holes per se, but information that is completely lacking -- again probably because they would like us to pick up the new extended universe products to know more. Who is the guy who had the map to Luke Skywalker's location at the beginning? Why did he have it? Why does Han's old friend have Anakin's/Luke's old lightsaber in a box? Who are Ren's "knights"? What exactly where the planets destroyed by the beams? Were any new Republic institutions on them? Why does R2-D2 suddenly conveniently wake up with the rest of the map some time after BB-8 visits him back at the rebel base?
- [major spoiler in the next sentence, continue at your own risk] Han Solo's death could be seen from a mile away. This is possibly one of the most underwhelming cinematic moments I've ever seen. The movie simply did not build up well enough an emotional connection between Kylo Ren and his father (Solo) for us to be as emotionally involved in their confrontation as we should be, and both characters were not as engaging as they should have been. Qui-Gon's death in episode I was a better-made emotional moment than this one. Also, Solo was a caricature of himself in this movie, and Harrison Ford's grimacing throughout the film did not help. I cringed when we saw him kill a Stormtrooper behind him with his blaster without even looking -- what a lazy and cheap way to get a laugh/cheer out of part of the audience. Hawkeye did it in Avengers because his entire character is defined around being an amazing shot, but here it just takes you out of the movie to think "ok, this is clear fan service". It's a damn shame that they did not even bother to explore a new, grown Han Solo, and simply fell back to ANH Solo, with the convenient excuse of him retreating into familiar terrain because of what happened to his son. It's a combination of lazy scriptwriting and wanting to play it as safe as possible.
- Solo's comments about Chewbacca's crossbow were unbelievably facepalm-worthy. Are we supposed to believe that in about forty years together Solo had never noticed how effective Chewbacca's crossbow was?! What the hell was that?!
- Kylo Ren was poorly constructed as well. He goes from looking badass in the initial scene (stopping a laser mid-air with the Force, because Abrams just had to make him do stuff we've never seen Jedi do) to being a completely incompetent -- and shockingly unskilled at swordfighting -- child on a tamper tantrum. I get that he's supposed to be conflicted, unsure of himself, not fully-trained yet. That's not the issue. The issue is that the director should be able to find a better way to portray his internal struggles than having him lash out with his lightsaber at an electronic console while two stormtroopers who were about to reach him comically change directions as if thinking "NOPE, NOT TODAY". Again, displaying Ren as unstable and prone destructive anger bursts is not in itself problematic -- if well addressed, this can lead to very interesting character development. Likewise, Stormtroopers wanting to avoid being in the way of his anger is perfectly understandable. The problem lies with the lenses through which Abrams chooses to display those two elements: those of cheap comedy. The way the Stormtroopers arrive near the room, then turn heels and march right back the opposite way is basically the Grandpa/Bart Simpson .gif. The reaction of the two Stormtroopers is shot solely to elicit laughs from the audience. Yet Abrams did not have to choose those specific lenses to explore those elements. The construction of Kylo Ren as a character is extremely clumsy. Also, two people who have never wielded a lightsaber in their life somehow are not immediately destroyed by Ren, with Rey's character actually BEATING HIM after a 5-sec focus on the Force after Ren reminded her of the Force's existence. Facepalm-worthy moment, especially since he's supposed to have destroyed Luke's new Jedi order and has had time since then to improve even further. Giant hologram Snoke's line about "completing his training" doesn't save him.
- What was the main objective of firing the first shot of the FO's superweapon? Sure, they want to "end the Republic", but there is zero actual development of what's at stake here -- the reasoning also seems to be that the Republic helps the Resistance, so they're going to target the Republic to cut off the funding or something like that, but at the same time the timing is apparently prompted by the fact that the Resistance might be able to find Luke. So which one is it? If the shot is fired because Luke might be found soon, how does the shot fired accomplish anything? If the point was to target the Republic, why fire it now and not later/earlier? And did they seriously think they were ready to take on the Republic?! Given how long it takes to charge up the weapon and how few defenses they have, how could they expect to survive an actual full-fleet assault from the Republic, with ground troops as well?
- John Boyega systematically overacts (or is poorly directed). He's constantly out of breath, screaming, panting, waving around... His character potentially dooms the entire Resistance by pretending that he knows how to deactivate the shield protecting the Starkiller weapon. I just did not find him very likeable. His story is a bit weird as well: he tells Rey (or someone else, can't remember) that he decided to escape after his first battle (the one we see at the beginning of the film) -- how can this be his first battle? He seems in his early twenties, did he get about 15 years of training without ever facing actual combat/death? And how come he doesn't seem very fit? He just did not look to have come out of grueling FO conditioning and training to me. Sure, he does mention that he worked as a bathroom cleaner for a long time, but those questions remain since he still ended up fighting as a stormtrooper.
- John Boyega and Oscar Isaac's friendship felt pretty forced to me. One quick escape together and they're basically the best buddies ever. It only somewhat works because those characters seem to have almost no roots at all.
- I do think Daisy Ridley's character showed more promise, though. Her character was measured, engaging, and in the only two scenes in which I thought her acting was a bit sub-par (when Kylo Ren tries to mind read her and when she focuses on the Force to win her lightsaber duel), this was probably more a result of how Abrams directed her.
- The final scene with Rey and Luke... Cringeworthy. And seriously, who came up with the idea to shoot them from a moving helicopter? This felt so amateurish, almost as if they were filming a treasure hunt reality show with two contestants. Also, Mark Hamill could have lost a bit more weight, frankly.
- General Hux: seemed way too young and petty, and the actor was overacting/overdoing the Nazi image. Gone is the subtlety of the actors playing Tarkin and Needa.
- The lack of subtlety in this movie in general was disappointing. During the final battle (which we've already seen before in ANH & ROTJ), C3PO exclaims: "only a miracle can save us now!" -- the next shot is obviously on Han Solo, who's about to place explosives in the superweapon. Guess where the "miracle" is going to come from?
- The soundtrack was underwhelming, sadly. I mean the usual themes did the job perfectly as could be expected, but I did not notice any new themes which were on their level.
- Chris Isaak's character (Poe): didn't like him very much. His entire character is constructed around being one of the best pilots ever, and there's a sequence which starts great with his x-wing blasting a few tie fighters, but then goes on so long it gets completely over-the-top in terms of how easy it is for him to just destroy tie fighter after tie fighter, as if they were lining up for him. I don't get why they can't bring a bit more nuance than "here's the guy who will annihilate every starfighter which dares engage him ever". It kills the tension.
- The sequence with the monsters loose inside Solo's smuggling ship... Wow, that was B-movie bad. Typical "horrible monsters eats/kills everyone on sight, but as soon as it reaches a main character it actually drags him along instead of killing him like everyone else". Just terrible. Is there anyone who was actually worried for them? We've seen this a million times in movies.
- This might seem like a minor detail, but after Han's death the person Leia hugs after they return from the mission is not Chewbacca, who's been a friend of Han for 40+ years and Leia for 30+ years, but Rey, whom Leia's known for a few hours.
- Leia's line to Han about their son having "too much Vader in him". What's that even supposed to mean? How about we get some information on how he was seduced by the dark side instead of an asinine statement (dark side affiliation isn't genetic, obviously)? Perhaps Han and Leia were not good parents, or did not pay enough attention to their son's fascination for his grandfather? Perhaps he was frustrated by some of the failings of the New Republic and started liking the idea of an authoritative rule, and his parents did not discuss these issues with him? No, let's wash our hands of any responsibility and declare he had "too much Vader in him", which happens to be extremely dismissive of him as well. Nothing could have been done to prevent his turn to the dark side. Ridiculous.
- The ground opening up to separate Kylo and Rey at the end of their duel... Again something we've seen so many times in movies. Just lazy scriptwriting yet again.
- Carrie Fisher was pretty wooden. Disappointing appearances.
- The map puzzle with the BB-8 droid coming to complete the last remaining missing piece in R2D2's hologram... Jesus, it was like I was watching a cartoon for kids. Why would there even be a missing piece like that in R2's map? Why not just have a normal, full map with only Luke's itinerary missing? This just made no sense to me, and it looked ridiculous.
- The first shot of the superweapon was extremely poorly executed. We don't know exactly what was targeted/destroyed (I mean obviously they were New Republic planets, but to what extent was the fleet destroyed? Was the NR capital one of those planets [apparently the capital changed from Coruscant to Chandrila]? How can we be expected to be invested in the destruction if at no point in the movie did the director actually introduce us to the New Republic?), and the laser beam involves probably the weirdest physics I've seen in SW yet. How can the main characters observe the destruction from the planet they're on? How can the inhabitants of the planets see the beam coming if it's supposed to go faster than light speed? Also, if the superweapon works by absorbing a sun, I'm not sure if would even be necessary to fire it if the goal is to wreck an entire planet - you could simply absorb the planet's sun and you're all set.
- Rey develops her powers WAY too fast, and alone at that. Also, her Jedi mind tricks attempts are initially funny because of how spectacularly they fail, yet they end up working once she concentrates a bit more. But does this lead to an actually serious contemplation of Rey's relationship with the Force? No, it leads to another cheap gag, namely her adding more and more stuff to what the Stormtrooper had to do before leaving. To me, this is Abrams treating his audience with contempt, considering them as a bunch of ADD kids that need to be spoon-fed cheap entertainment. Gone is the subtlety of Kenobi suggesting realistic thoughts to a tired Stormtrooper who's been inspecting too many speeders. Enter the "now dance for me!" Force-joke.
- Luke completely retreating and abandoning his project of training Jedi... I have no words. In the old EU, there are moments when he goes into seclusion, but it's so much better done than here. Also, we're supposed to believe that he would stay in hiding after feeling the death of billions of people on the planets that were destroyed by the FO's first shot? Please.
- There is no concept of time in this movie, it's just impossible to contextualize anything. How long ago did Kylo Ren rebel and destroy Luke's academy? How long has the FO existed? How long had Kylo Ren trained under Luke before turning to the dark side? How is it possible not to tell the audience this? I'm suspecting it's because it would make the final duel even more ridiculous, since it must have been a while ago that Ren turned and having him lose to Rey would therefore be even more humiliating if we knew how many years he's been training.
- Seriously, am I also the only one shocked at how little information we get about the state of the new Republic, about the place of the First Order in the galaxy (we get that it's a peripheral player at this point, but still), and about the struggle between the Resistance and the FO? What is the Resistance fighting for? Is it a movement that emerged to liberate the systems held by the FO? How long have they been fighting? Why is the Republic not opposing the FO directly? Why should I probably have to pick up one of the new SW books or comic books to get that information?
- There are holes in the story everywhere. Not plot holes per se, but information that is completely lacking -- again probably because they would like us to pick up the new extended universe products to know more. Who is the guy who had the map to Luke Skywalker's location at the beginning? Why did he have it? Why does Han's old friend have Anakin's/Luke's old lightsaber in a box? Who are Ren's "knights"? What exactly where the planets destroyed by the beams? Were any new Republic institutions on them? Why does R2-D2 suddenly conveniently wake up with the rest of the map some time after BB-8 visits him back at the rebel base?
- [major spoiler in the next sentence, continue at your own risk] Han Solo's death could be seen from a mile away. This is possibly one of the most underwhelming cinematic moments I've ever seen. The movie simply did not build up well enough an emotional connection between Kylo Ren and his father (Solo) for us to be as emotionally involved in their confrontation as we should be, and both characters were not as engaging as they should have been. Qui-Gon's death in episode I was a better-made emotional moment than this one. Also, Solo was a caricature of himself in this movie, and Harrison Ford's grimacing throughout the film did not help. I cringed when we saw him kill a Stormtrooper behind him with his blaster without even looking -- what a lazy and cheap way to get a laugh/cheer out of part of the audience. Hawkeye did it in Avengers because his entire character is defined around being an amazing shot, but here it just takes you out of the movie to think "ok, this is clear fan service". It's a damn shame that they did not even bother to explore a new, grown Han Solo, and simply fell back to ANH Solo, with the convenient excuse of him retreating into familiar terrain because of what happened to his son. It's a combination of lazy scriptwriting and wanting to play it as safe as possible.
- Solo's comments about Chewbacca's crossbow were unbelievably facepalm-worthy. Are we supposed to believe that in about forty years together Solo had never noticed how effective Chewbacca's crossbow was?! What the hell was that?!
- Kylo Ren was poorly constructed as well. He goes from looking badass in the initial scene (stopping a laser mid-air with the Force, because Abrams just had to make him do stuff we've never seen Jedi do) to being a completely incompetent -- and shockingly unskilled at swordfighting -- child on a tamper tantrum. I get that he's supposed to be conflicted, unsure of himself, not fully-trained yet. That's not the issue. The issue is that the director should be able to find a better way to portray his internal struggles than having him lash out with his lightsaber at an electronic console while two stormtroopers who were about to reach him comically change directions as if thinking "NOPE, NOT TODAY". Again, displaying Ren as unstable and prone destructive anger bursts is not in itself problematic -- if well addressed, this can lead to very interesting character development. Likewise, Stormtroopers wanting to avoid being in the way of his anger is perfectly understandable. The problem lies with the lenses through which Abrams chooses to display those two elements: those of cheap comedy. The way the Stormtroopers arrive near the room, then turn heels and march right back the opposite way is basically the Grandpa/Bart Simpson .gif. The reaction of the two Stormtroopers is shot solely to elicit laughs from the audience. Yet Abrams did not have to choose those specific lenses to explore those elements. The construction of Kylo Ren as a character is extremely clumsy. Also, two people who have never wielded a lightsaber in their life somehow are not immediately destroyed by Ren, with Rey's character actually BEATING HIM after a 5-sec focus on the Force after Ren reminded her of the Force's existence. Facepalm-worthy moment, especially since he's supposed to have destroyed Luke's new Jedi order and has had time since then to improve even further. Giant hologram Snoke's line about "completing his training" doesn't save him.
- What was the main objective of firing the first shot of the FO's superweapon? Sure, they want to "end the Republic", but there is zero actual development of what's at stake here -- the reasoning also seems to be that the Republic helps the Resistance, so they're going to target the Republic to cut off the funding or something like that, but at the same time the timing is apparently prompted by the fact that the Resistance might be able to find Luke. So which one is it? If the shot is fired because Luke might be found soon, how does the shot fired accomplish anything? If the point was to target the Republic, why fire it now and not later/earlier? And did they seriously think they were ready to take on the Republic?! Given how long it takes to charge up the weapon and how few defenses they have, how could they expect to survive an actual full-fleet assault from the Republic, with ground troops as well?
- John Boyega systematically overacts (or is poorly directed). He's constantly out of breath, screaming, panting, waving around... His character potentially dooms the entire Resistance by pretending that he knows how to deactivate the shield protecting the Starkiller weapon. I just did not find him very likeable. His story is a bit weird as well: he tells Rey (or someone else, can't remember) that he decided to escape after his first battle (the one we see at the beginning of the film) -- how can this be his first battle? He seems in his early twenties, did he get about 15 years of training without ever facing actual combat/death? And how come he doesn't seem very fit? He just did not look to have come out of grueling FO conditioning and training to me. Sure, he does mention that he worked as a bathroom cleaner for a long time, but those questions remain since he still ended up fighting as a stormtrooper.
- John Boyega and Oscar Isaac's friendship felt pretty forced to me. One quick escape together and they're basically the best buddies ever. It only somewhat works because those characters seem to have almost no roots at all.
- I do think Daisy Ridley's character showed more promise, though. Her character was measured, engaging, and in the only two scenes in which I thought her acting was a bit sub-par (when Kylo Ren tries to mind read her and when she focuses on the Force to win her lightsaber duel), this was probably more a result of how Abrams directed her.
- The final scene with Rey and Luke... Cringeworthy. And seriously, who came up with the idea to shoot them from a moving helicopter? This felt so amateurish, almost as if they were filming a treasure hunt reality show with two contestants. Also, Mark Hamill could have lost a bit more weight, frankly.
- General Hux: seemed way too young and petty, and the actor was overacting/overdoing the Nazi image. Gone is the subtlety of the actors playing Tarkin and Needa.
- The lack of subtlety in this movie in general was disappointing. During the final battle (which we've already seen before in ANH & ROTJ), C3PO exclaims: "only a miracle can save us now!" -- the next shot is obviously on Han Solo, who's about to place explosives in the superweapon. Guess where the "miracle" is going to come from?
- The soundtrack was underwhelming, sadly. I mean the usual themes did the job perfectly as could be expected, but I did not notice any new themes which were on their level.
- Chris Isaak's character (Poe): didn't like him very much. His entire character is constructed around being one of the best pilots ever, and there's a sequence which starts great with his x-wing blasting a few tie fighters, but then goes on so long it gets completely over-the-top in terms of how easy it is for him to just destroy tie fighter after tie fighter, as if they were lining up for him. I don't get why they can't bring a bit more nuance than "here's the guy who will annihilate every starfighter which dares engage him ever". It kills the tension.
- The sequence with the monsters loose inside Solo's smuggling ship... Wow, that was B-movie bad. Typical "horrible monsters eats/kills everyone on sight, but as soon as it reaches a main character it actually drags him along instead of killing him like everyone else". Just terrible. Is there anyone who was actually worried for them? We've seen this a million times in movies.
- This might seem like a minor detail, but after Han's death the person Leia hugs after they return from the mission is not Chewbacca, who's been a friend of Han for 40+ years and Leia for 30+ years, but Rey, whom Leia's known for a few hours.
- Leia's line to Han about their son having "too much Vader in him". What's that even supposed to mean? How about we get some information on how he was seduced by the dark side instead of an asinine statement (dark side affiliation isn't genetic, obviously)? Perhaps Han and Leia were not good parents, or did not pay enough attention to their son's fascination for his grandfather? Perhaps he was frustrated by some of the failings of the New Republic and started liking the idea of an authoritative rule, and his parents did not discuss these issues with him? No, let's wash our hands of any responsibility and declare he had "too much Vader in him", which happens to be extremely dismissive of him as well. Nothing could have been done to prevent his turn to the dark side. Ridiculous.
- The ground opening up to separate Kylo and Rey at the end of their duel... Again something we've seen so many times in movies. Just lazy scriptwriting yet again.
- Carrie Fisher was pretty wooden. Disappointing appearances.
- The map puzzle with the BB-8 droid coming to complete the last remaining missing piece in R2D2's hologram... Jesus, it was like I was watching a cartoon for kids. Why would there even be a missing piece like that in R2's map? Why not just have a normal, full map with only Luke's itinerary missing? This just made no sense to me, and it looked ridiculous.
- The first shot of the superweapon was extremely poorly executed. We don't know exactly what was targeted/destroyed (I mean obviously they were New Republic planets, but to what extent was the fleet destroyed? Was the NR capital one of those planets [apparently the capital changed from Coruscant to Chandrila]? How can we be expected to be invested in the destruction if at no point in the movie did the director actually introduce us to the New Republic?), and the laser beam involves probably the weirdest physics I've seen in SW yet. How can the main characters observe the destruction from the planet they're on? How can the inhabitants of the planets see the beam coming if it's supposed to go faster than light speed? Also, if the superweapon works by absorbing a sun, I'm not sure if would even be necessary to fire it if the goal is to wreck an entire planet - you could simply absorb the planet's sun and you're all set.
- Rey develops her powers WAY too fast, and alone at that. Also, her Jedi mind tricks attempts are initially funny because of how spectacularly they fail, yet they end up working once she concentrates a bit more. But does this lead to an actually serious contemplation of Rey's relationship with the Force? No, it leads to another cheap gag, namely her adding more and more stuff to what the Stormtrooper had to do before leaving. To me, this is Abrams treating his audience with contempt, considering them as a bunch of ADD kids that need to be spoon-fed cheap entertainment. Gone is the subtlety of Kenobi suggesting realistic thoughts to a tired Stormtrooper who's been inspecting too many speeders. Enter the "now dance for me!" Force-joke.
- Luke completely retreating and abandoning his project of training Jedi... I have no words. In the old EU, there are moments when he goes into seclusion, but it's so much better done than here. Also, we're supposed to believe that he would stay in hiding after feeling the death of billions of people on the planets that were destroyed by the FO's first shot? Please.
- There is no concept of time in this movie, it's just impossible to contextualize anything. How long ago did Kylo Ren rebel and destroy Luke's academy? How long has the FO existed? How long had Kylo Ren trained under Luke before turning to the dark side? How is it possible not to tell the audience this? I'm suspecting it's because it would make the final duel even more ridiculous, since it must have been a while ago that Ren turned and having him lose to Rey would therefore be even more humiliating if we knew how many years he's been training.
I'll add lots of other stuff, but I have to leave so I'll come back to this post. Take it as the first part of a draft of initial impressions -- I'll also edit it and arrange my thoughts better.
