Before I get started, I feel like my new facebook cover photo get's across my position in a nutshell.
People can cry and complain at me all they want for more being 'too judgemental', 'spoiled' or whatever else kind of insults people throw at those with different opinions.
Just note I will not be bothering to acknowledge you, a movie despite it's hype, and despite how much you may like, deserves to be critiques by those with a different opinion.
It's perfectly fine if you liked it. Just don't go around treating everyone who didn't like shit over it.
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Now, I just woke up from a 4-Day meet up with friends over this movie. Road-Trip in prep on Thursday, viewing on Friday, and then Saturday/Sunday was spent hanging out afterwards.
However, a good 8-10 hours of the friday night combined with saturday and sunday was spent by our group of nine universally not liking the movie so much, and going on about all the things wrong with it.
And it only stopped there because on Sunday someone else came who didn't see the movie yet, so we dropped the topic to avoid spoilers.
And because of that, I don't really feel like typing a giant rant about all my issues with it. I spent a ton of time on that already.
But I'm more than willing to discuss it with others if they are willing to.
One thing I will note though, said group of nine were actually a bit split on three different positions:
1. Phantom Menace was better
2. It's hard to say which is better
3. Episode 7 is better, but just barely
And note this is coming from nine different people who also universally agree that the Originals were far better.
(Also, not bothering with spoiler tags, the thread itself has a spoiler warning)
The problem with the characters is that they aren't given any amount of time to develop. Rey gets her force powers and learns how to use them in the span of 0 seconds for little to no reason other than it needed to happen.
Ray was a Mary Sue.
Expert Mechanic made sense, she grew up a salvager.
Expert Acrobat made sense, she salvages shit like star destroyers.
But the other stuff like Expert Pilot, enough force control to mind control people and skilled enough lightsaber use to take on a Sith?
That she had no reason to possess, or learn throughout the movie. She just got given all these things for no logical reason... And then had no character flaw either...
Unless if "Don't hold my hand!" somehow counts.
Kylo "Baby Face" Ren wasn't as intimidating as he was a bit of a crybaby who throws temper tantrums.
Oh man, when Krylo first took off his helmet my first reaction was, "Really? Why is he look so childish? Why...we really need to see less teeth." The fact that he literally threw temper tantrums in two scenes was beyond silly. It didn't help that his daddy issues were so front and center in his personality if only to parallel the father-son struggle in the original trilogy. It was like JJ and the writer were sitting in a room and someone said, "Hey, remember how Luke and Darth had a whole thing going on?" and JJ was like, "yeah" and that dude went on to say, "What if we did that again but like, this time the son goes to the Dark Side?" and then JJ shat his pants with glee.
Kylo Ren for the entire movie was just... A super moody and depressed Jon Snow with temper tantrums... Like I can't take him seriously, at all, so I'm just gona call him Benny.
I mean, I know Sith are big on using anger and emotion. But they use it as a weapon, as a way to strengthen them.
They don't just swing it at computers whenever they're upset.
And then the scene here he kills Han Solo?
I know his delay was meant to imply struggling to do so... But it just came across as mopey.
See's his dad, goes "There's one way you can help" before giving a mopey look for a few seconds before stabbing him and whispering 'thank you'.
Like that comes more across a depressed as hell child being sadistic over killing his dad, not any regret or anything.
Finn was just...a disappointment. He's a nice guy but the trailers set him up to be something that he's not. What is more problematic is how everything is rushed in the movie from the second act.
As for a "re imagining" of a New Hope, that's putting it very gently. It was essentially, A New Hope 2.0. That said, the visuals were incredible, a true feast for the eyes. But that's where the movie is strongest, the spectacle.
Finn was just...I really went into the movie looking forward to his character after seeing the trailers. But like you said, his character ark was absurdly rushed and his friendship with Poe went from stranger to best bud in no time at all.
Meanwhile Fin? On my god did they rush that!
There's a ton they could have done with that ark, have him re-face old friends, made him higher ranking so when people like Benny yell "Traitor!" it can make more sense. Like they knew him personally rather than are simply screaming at a random solider. Maybe he saved a fellow soldiers life, only to end up killing later while with the Rebels. And then there's the fact he was WAY to quick to just turn around and slaughter storm troopers. I mean, it makes sense for the main crew of Han, Chewie etc. They don't have any attachment to the Imperials.
But Fin left them just hours ago in some cases, but simply went "Screw you guys in the same situation as I was! You all die!". And even when they blow up the next Death Star, he shows no hesitation. That Death Star houses literally millions of his comrades, you'd think at the very least he'd have some hesitation?
Funny thing is, until you mentioned Phasma, I'd totally forgotten that she was even a character. As far as I can tell she was put down a garbage shoot and never heard from again. Who knows, maybe she died with Death Star 2.0 blew up.
Hopefully she comes back.
It's likely she called for help to turn the garbage shoot off and get her out, but I feel like that character could have had potential otherwise...
Then again, they ALL had potential and had it wasted.
Gotta love how they make this ultimate super weapon appear in the first of three films only to blow it the heck up in the same film. Where can they go from there? They can't possibly go bigger, that would just be silly.
They rushed the Death Star way too fast this time.
In a New Hope the entire movie was around it, getting the plans, escaping the station, destroying said station etc.
In this one it just came up out of the blue last second and the Rebels were like "Uh... Yea, this is a thing. Let's shoot at it".
No build up, meant to be far more powerful than the original, but went down in the fraction of the effort... Like really guys?
Also: Why the fuck isn't Leia a goddamn Jedi!? She's the twin sister of the greatest force user ever and instead is just... there. She should be the one in the middle of nowhere, moping about how her greatest failure was letting her son fall to the dark side. Then we coulda had Luke, Han, and the gang looking for Leia to help defeat Snoke 'n the Knights of Ren and also train Rey while Luke leads the Resistance. Having such heavy shit happen to her would also have explained why Carrie Fisher sounds like she's 80 in the film, no offense to the actually way younger Mrs. Fisher.
THIS!
I was completely dumbfounded to learn that Benny was a Sith, but Leia was never a Jedi.
Like... what? She had a good 20 years on Benny to learn! Being a Skywalker by blood why the hell wasn't she Luke's very first apprentice?
Also part D: Why, in a production that prioritized practical effects over digital effects, was Snoke fucking CGI? And not even halfway decent CGI like Planet of the Apes, holy shit.
All I could think in any sense that had Snoke was "Is this Lord of the Rings? He looks like a cave troll? Why is there a Cave troll? Why is said troll the emperor? What is going on?".
Still Also: Why the fuck is the Resistance a thing? They're being supplied by the New Republic, which likely could have just Zerg rushed the First Order at any time. Hell, they did nothing while the First Order was kidnapping children to use as their stormtroopers.
This too... Considering the size of their death star and the time that would have taken the Republic should have easily noticed and crushed them beforehand.
And not only that, we saw NOTHING of the Republic.
We have no idea what the Rebels ever ended up accomplishing, because it get's killed without any screen time.
To the point where when they die we as a audience give zero shits about it, because we have absolutely zero investment in the Republic.
Hell I cared about Alderran in a new hope more.
That was a single planet, no republic importance, and we never even saw the look of the people's faces.
But the genuine pain Leia shows to it dying it what makes the audience care.
Force Awakens? No characters are shaken, the audience is given no personal attachment.
Those planets dying is nothing except a light show.
