This movie was fine. A solid 6 out of 10. Perfectly average. Adam Driver was drop dead amazing and I loved watching him. It definitely helped that the leads were a woman, a black man, and a Latino man. I thought the acting was weak at some points but the practical effects blended great with the CGI. I really appreciated the use of practical effects for the ships because it looked amazing and, from what I've heard about the prequels, the amount of bad CGI only added to colossal pile of shit they were.
It was definitely entertaining considering the movie starts out with action and doesn't really let up until the end. So the parts I was really there for, and the only parts I really enjoyed, were the most prevalent kind of scenes throughout the movie. Despite the fact that most of the plot was recycled from the originals (don't know which one-- the one where they blow up the Death Star) it was still entertaining. Literally, they are just combating a bigger Death Star.
The acting was sometimes "meh". It was mostly for Daisy Ridley and John Boyega and their scenes together. It didn't happen all the time, but enough for me to catch onto what they were good at and what they weren't. There were a few parts where one would interrupt the other, or they would finish each others explanations or sentences and you could tell that the line ended in the middle of a word and the other person was supposed to pick up after that. It wasn't like they were being cut off it was more like that person finished his or her line and the next person started talking. You could also just tell they were acting in some parts. It was this fake enthusiasm that just didn't convince me of their situation.
SPOILER ALERT--Han Solo dies and it's super obvious. What else was the audience expecting to happen when Han walks out onto the strip of walkway in the middle of nothingness to confront Kylo who wouldn't have even seen him if he didn't out himself? What was Han Solo expecting to happen? Reconciliation with his out-the-ass evil son who clearly hates his dad? Obviously Kylo was going to murder Han; I don't know how that wasn't obvious to everyone from the beginning of that scene.
Something I really hated about this movie was the fact that they were like "Oooh yeah...Rey has the force, by the way". There was no introduction; she just started kind of using "the force" which, from what I've seen in the originals, that is not how "the force" works! It takes careful honing and adjustment and yet she was able to beat Kylo Ren because why? She got angry enough? Because she was using Luke Skywalker's lightsaber? If that was it why did she wait until she was basically dead to beat Kylo? He was kicking her ass and should have straight up murdered her but because she got fed up enough with being beaten she almost kills him? I don't think so. That is the biggest load of bullshit and the most blatant use of "because the plot called for it" I've seen in a long time and it just made the whole thing seem stupid to me.
I wish there was more Kylo Ren. More Adam Driver would have been great. I thought Adam Driver did amazing in this movie, I thought he portrayed the dichotomy between what you want to do and what you should do really well. I enjoyed the partially goofy outbursts he would have, which could have been really cheesy and annoying only it was Adam Driver and he did an amazing job at not making it that.
Rey has no faults in this movie. She is essentially perfect. Which I don't mind, but because of that I have no investment in her character. It isn't even like she had to overcome being shitty with "the force" because, as we've discussed before, she beats Kylo Ren who has dedicated his life to being this ultimate crazy evil dark side guy and he's amazing with "the force". I really really appreciated how throughout this movie Rey is wearing comfortable, practical, meant-for-what-they're-used-for clothes. In no way in this movie is she sexualized and turned into an object and I loved that because all too often are strong female characters reduced to things in films.
Something that was more an annoyance of the movie than of her character is that, because she is good at everything but is surrounded by men who think she's beautiful, they treat her like this damsel is distress. I get that it's to accentuate the fact that she is so amazing at everything but they way she is treated in the movie is still condescending and sexist I don't care what point you're trying to make about her character. The fact that everyone is stunned at how amazing Rey is actually sends the message that she isn't like other girls, she's special, which is just wrong. I love that she doesn't see herself as any different from any other woman and was confused at how the men in the movie tended to her like a puppy, but still I would have enjoyed some Furiosa/Mad Max shit where she's just amazing and a male character doesn't have to point out how that was good "for a girl".
I'm here to say this movie is enjoyable for almost anyone no matter your knowledge about Star Wars. I did enjoy this movie. I enjoy well constructed action sequences and these were pretty damn incredible. I generally think the idea of "the force" is pretty dumb. It's a total plot device that doesn't have any rules so it lends no struggle to the story. Anything can just be written into the script and the explanation will be "because the force" and it works because "the force" has no limitations or rules. It also makes me wonder why are there any issues in this world because good clearly conqueres evil in this universe and if there are no limits on "the force" there really shouldn't be any societal issues, now should there? Obviously the plot isn't that that inventive. It's the same thing with a more modern cast, which is fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it right?
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