Star Wars: Wait, That Was It?
It was okay. No aspect of the movie struck me as outstanding, but I didn't hate it or anything (it's possible I'll change my mind about this later, since I initially tried to be positive but gradually assumed the latter position on the Star Trek reboot as well). If there's one principal problem, it's just that this is the most risk-averse movie I have ever seen. The slavish imitation of every plot beat from A New Hope is stifling--you know immediately just what's going to happen on that catwalk because it's exactly what happened in the Death Star--and it's distracting spotting all these entirely too obvious callbacks even when the movie is doing something right (like the aforementioned scene is actually one of the movie's more effective moments anyway). I don't need to be reassured every second that this is STAR WARS, real Star Wars for real fans, do you get it?! I'd prefer you just concentrate on making a good movie than can stand on its own.
None of the returning actors really looked like they wanted to be here. Harrison Ford was occasionally okay when he had imperial baddies to stand directly against (I can sort of buy Han as the sort of rebel who's comfortable with the heroic process of actually overthrowing The Man and just can't seem to find a place for himself in the establishment afterward, but the movie doesn't really present him this way), but otherwise him and Carrie Fisher look vaguely embarrassed to be involved, and anytime both her and Ford need to have a conversation it just drags the movie down. I suspect the sequel will make me feel the same way about Mark Hamill. You guys, do I really have to be involved in this again, I've got cartoons to make.
It's a shame because I liked the younger cast and this could've been a much more enjoyable movie if it was more about them, and about whatever unique struggles a new generation might have, instead of yesterday's villains with a different label on the tin. Relationship between Resistance and Republic was indeed very vague, and this is mostly to the disservice of the Republic (which, you know, we're supposed to care about) and by extension the ending of the original trilogy, which is even more unfortunate. I'd mostly also concluded that "Resistance" was a label Republic forces used in contested territory to appear less like overt meddlers, but that's finer detail than the movie itself is ever interested in painting. I'd agree that the godlike superweapon is kind of a dumb way to instantly up the stakes and force the story into a recursion of "plucky oppressed rebels vs. unstoppable fascist overlords." I was really happy to see Republic X-wings openly kicking ass once it happened, but it feels like it took forever for them to do anything and they seem to have a whole like dozen ships in their fleet? [Note: I don't care what explanation was provided in franchised tie-in media for the Republic fleet not existing after them having thirty years or whatever to consolidate power. If it's important, it should be in the movie.] It undercuts what the heroes were working for in the original trilogy if it's this easy to knock down everything they tried to build. It's also impossible for me to take seriously a villain named Snoke. I know Star Wars has a history of wonky keyboard-mash names, but was that really the best you could come up with?
(Complete nitpicking corner: why is there a laser crossguard on a lightsaber? Like, I know he used it to burn a dude that one time when they had sabers locked, but come on, it looks dumb. It's okay guy, a traditional lightsaber is good enough.)
So I guess I have to be the community crank on this one and be glad I saw it the one time just so I can understand what the conversation's about, wonder why everyone's so happy about it, and be totally unmotivated to ever watch it again. There were moments early on when it seemed like this might go places worth seeing--I really liked Finn's introduction, and Rey spelunking through the wreckage of the imperial hulks that overlook her home is both a great visual and thematic statement about living in the shadow of yesterday's demons--but there aren't enough of these and there's not much payoff for them either. It certainly doesn't do anything to change my impression of Abrams as a guy who's good at moving things around onscreen and bad at giving us reasons to care.
I am probably just stuck being that "There were only three Star Wars movies" guy.
Also the Map to Luke subplot just had me thinking wait didn't I play this in a Bioware game once?
