Okay so here's the verdict, Star Wars Force Awakens gets a "pass" but not nearly the greatest film ever. You've got to be kidding me. It's not even close. People kept talking about how Star Wars will be epic and define a generation of Americans, but the reality is that 2015 will be an era of Walking Dead fans more so than Star Wars fans.
How can you argue with that? Right? I mean more kids know about zombies in America than they do Leia. Most kids find Han Solo and Princess Leia like they do Moby Dick. It's their parents generation and hardly defines who they are.
What made this movie a pass would be the writers. I felt really happy that the script consisted of humor. It was so lacking in Episode 1, 2, 3, that I felt Jedi's weren't capable of human emotions. Only the Dark Side was. That led me to think we were dealing with Jedi Masters that were related to Spock. This particular film had good Jedi which were able to fear, fall in love, and smile.
The problems were obvious. The first 45 minutes of Star Wars started off in a boring scene of the desert, yet again. I mean if you are sitting there telling me a story, don't keep us in the desert running around a small outpost. The last thing I needed to learn was about Finn, the traitor Storm Trooper for an entire hour. I mean a footnote would suffice for him.
As for Rey, well she's a complete knock off of Princess Leia that it was really more refreshing see Leia when she later appears in the film. Rey is the best character in the movie and the problem is that she's practically off radar from the Dark Side until Darth Vader knock off Kylo Ren gets reversed on by Rey during interrogation.
Here's the bad part, the guy takes off his mask and JJ Abrams decided that Kylo Ren was going to be Adam Driver. He's a pretty face that resembles a vampire from Twilight. I'm like, okay, they casted this guy? To appeal to the youth? Guys, no offense but if you create a Sith, let's make sure he's either extremely scary or extremely ugly.
When Darth Vader took off his mask, we were disgusted and almost wanted Anakin put that mask back on. I mean give the viewers a breather right?
When this Sith took off his mask, I was like well I guess he would give Edward a run for his money. I mean how can you have a pretty boy as the feared Sith?
It turns out that Kylo is a wannabe Sith also known as Ben Solo, the son of Han. I just figured this wasn't the greatest spin. Most SW fans felt that Luke Skywalker should have been the Sith, but whatever.
I'm not a Star Wars fanatic. I never was. I just feel that other properties just define America these days much more than the Lucas realm. In fact, a lot of the fans in the theatre went crazy when Marvel's Captain America Civil War trailer appeared. I mean that just tells you most fans these days enjoy superheroes more than aliens.
But for me, the best part was humor and the special effects. If there is one thing that JJ Abrams does well is direct the action sequences. He's a genius when it came to the Falcon runs zipping over the sand. Also the X-Wing fighters running over water was good tribute to the SDF Macross series. I mean it's epic to see jets fly over water.
This movie was so much better than the prequels. However, by no means did this movie define America's next generation. I'd say Avengers, Walking Dead, and other properties better define this generation of America. And it just showed with the audience. They went just as crazy for the Civil War trailer. And let's not forget Batman v Superman. These SW fans weren't going to let the superhero movies go. I saw that.
This movie had issues. Simply put they needed to cut the first 45 minutes of the film. There's just way too much focus on Fin and not enough on the Resistance and First Order. And why did JJ Abrams do that anyway? Why did he change the names?
It's obvious that the Resistance is the Rebellion and the First Order is the Empire. Call it what it is. I mean would Star Trek fans except a renaming of the Federation? The Klingon Empire? That's what it felt like to me.
Now here's the disclosure, I wasn't expecting much from Star Wars. I was let down with the Star Trek reboots by JJ Abrams. I mean the guy is a great director with so much to give. I'm a huge Fringe fan. Lost was great. And heck, I even enjoyed Revolution even though it was cancelled. And a lot of folks loved Alias. So why is Abrams just so genius creating his own franchises and can't break free with theses sequels?
Star Trek needed more. And I do believe that Star Wars needs more. I'm beginning to believe that JJ Abrams is either playing his movies too safe, or the Bible guys for these franchises are limiting him from breaking out.
Come on JJ Abrams, bring us Fringe fans what we want. Suspense, character development, new aliens, enemies, and heck even dimensions. This movie was just too linear. Yes Han Solo had a Sith kid. Yes Leia runs the Resistance. And yes Poe seems to be the best pilot. But having Rey and Fin fall in love, one a Jedi and the other a Storm Trooper hardly makes it ground breaking.
As a fan of some other franchises like Star Trek, Fringe, and even X-Files, I'd hope that the JJ Abrams Star Wars had even further deeper meaning. Maybe so deep that it lures in the fans that love what JJ is known for.
Basically Star Wars Force Awakens easily gets a "pass". However, this movie hardly defines a new generations of Americans.
