Star Wars The Force Awakens

What can one say about a movie that has been in the works for over ten years? Wait no, more... over 32 years. What is there to say to the continuation of The Return of the Jedi, and the Original Trilogy ?

Believe me there is not much good to say.

Let me start by saying that my expectations were pretty low on this, to the point of considering it a success if it was slightly better than TPM (Ep I). Now as I sit and write this, I can say it was a good thing I did, Star-wise speaking. So, here goes my full review of The Force Awakens.

Spoilers alert.

TFA is actually a very good movie, if (and that is a HUGE IF) you  take it out of the Star Wars universe context. The problem is, TFA is INSIDE the Star Wars universe context. Remove it from the context it is set in, and it is actually a very good film with, good plot, good acting, and everything else. So what is the problem with TFA then? I have two major concerns which I believe two of the greatest flaws of the movie, and I have one minor concern, which I would concede given that it is so hard to produce the perfect product everyone was expecting with this film. So let me get into each one of them one at a time:

My first major concern: Why kill off Han Solo ?

This is a complete and utter regrettable piece of #@%$ decision made by whoever came up with this idea. Why kill off not only the best character of the series, the most witty, the clever one, the scroundel, the most likeable, but also the best actor in the series ! It would have been more believable, dramatic and intense to kill off Leia. Why ? Because she's a woman, she's Kylo's mother, she's fragile, she's related to Luke, she's meant to be a Jedi, so it would have had a huge impact on the audience, plus let's face it, Carrie Fischer is not as good an actress as Harrison Ford. The few minutes Fischer was on screen as Leia, it was like "meh"... but Harrison on the other hand, as soon as he showed up on screen he stole the show on every scene he was in. The minute he stepped foot on that platform, you knew what was going to happen with him. Killing Leia instead would have been completely unexpected, out of the line, daring and surprising, maybe leaving the door  open to bring her back on Ep VIII as ghost. But Han ? Snoke already hinted that Kylo had to kill his father for some issues we are never aware of (as it's a norm in all films of the franchise to leave interesting context behind and not to talk about it), so having Leia coming as a mother to try to "bring her son home" would have been more effective as to have Kylo complete his journey towards the dark side to the point of no return, and even to redeem himself for the pathetic excuse of light saber duels that eventually followed, almost defeated by a stormtrooper and defeated by a teenage girl, which brings me to my next point:

My second major concern: Kylo Ren was a MONUMENTAL failure as a villain.

He starts off great, as anyone could picture a sith could be: heartless, capable and ruthless. He's the Anakin fans (at least I) were expecting to see in the PT. I will dare to say he starts off so great he looks more menacing and intimidating than Vader on Ep IV. But then somehow through the movie he was continually forgetting about the powers he had in the first scene where we see him stop laser bullets in mid-air, force-choke people, use mind force, manipulate telekenesis and in essence look so bad-ass. He forgets them to the point where he almost loses a duel against a STORMTROOPER/JANITOR and then right away gets easily defeated by the above-mentioned teenage girl in a way that was actually believable (two kids clumsily waving lightsabers at each-other). Speaking of these duels, I thought lightsabers were only for Jedis. Since when do Stormtroopers/Janitors and Scavengers can hold and use lightsabers, let alone be able to defeat a Sith who has been training for years on the art (apart from being strong with the dark side of the force ? During the process of forgetting about his powers, Kylo also managed to lose his cool looking mask and showcase that we were wrong thinking he is an actual villain as he turned out to be a childish young man with serious anger issues. See the difference: when Darth Vader was unsatisfied with the progress, he killed the soldiers and admirals in a cool and threatening manner. This kid however destroyed his own computer instead. What was the deal with that ? Also... what was the deal with the mask ? Vader HAD to use the mask because of health issues, but Kylo doesn't even have to use the mask AT ALL. He's sort of a "Vader wannabe". So, to sum and screw things completely up, we are introduced to a Sith knight who wears a mask but actually doesn't really need to wear it, then the Sith knight takes off his mask in the middle of the movie, which is WAY TOO SOON. So the mask is only used for intimidaring purposes ? OK, well in that case at least show us someone, who looks really bad and determined. But what the heck have I seen? I have seen a kid who looks like professor Snape in his twenties!!! This weak looking child with shovel face. That act completely removes his aura and I wasn't able to look at him the same way any more.

MONUMENTAL FAILURE.

The minor concern: Do we really need more of this teen female heroes ? 

I mean don't we have enough already ? I'm not anti-feminist or whatever, but the teen female hero thing is getting really old. I guess it's ok... as it's a matter of tastes.

The rest of the movie can be argued about back and forth, including stuff like:

• The beginning was a bit rushed, kind of battling his way into the movie rather than going for slow introductory character development.
• The main weapon is... a death star on steroids ! (which ironically is easier to destroy)
• The jokes were fine, although Finn jokes were a bit too many.
• The supreme leader looked more like Lord Voldermort (which makes sense as Kylo looks like Snape).
• Why why why keep hiding stuff ? Why keep leaving the best parts of the story unexpained and given just a bare mention ? Why not start focusing on the INTERESTING parts of the story that have to be explained, like how Kylo was seduced by the darkside,  what is his issue with Han, why Luke failed as a trainer, how did the orange thing find Luke's / Anakin's original lightsaber, etc... so many things to develop. Hollywood directors NEED lessons from Chris Nolan or at least should be forced to watch Batman Begins before embarking on a project of such magnitude as this one.
• I liked how the old characters were slowly introduced and not thrown in all of a sudden. Maybe Han/Chewie's first appearance is a bit forced, but it didn't bother me. Like I said, Harrison is such a good actor, he eventually took over his part as Solo so well, you just can't dislike him at all.
• Before writting this, I read a couple of reviews to see whether if other people shared my thoughts and I found out a lot has been said about TFA looks more like a remake of Ep IV. The more I think about it, the more I find myself agreeing with the statement.
• ...and last but not least the Stormtroopers blaster aiming hasn't improved in 30 years.

Finally where does it stand vs OT and vs PT

Needless to say that after all this slaughtering, it has no chance against any of OT films. Now against PT:

Time is making TPM be left in oblivion, as it has too much political non-sense and jar-jar binks in it. Plus, add in an annoying Jake Lloyd, and you have the perfect recipe for cinema disaster. TFA is better than TPM by a longshot.

AOTC...has too many Titanic-alike love scenes, and then of course there is Hayden's wooden worst performance of all time. He IS NOT the young Anakin Star Wars fans pictured. And there is still the boring politics and questionable plot decisions. TFA is better than AOTC.

ROTS is a complete disaster with so much going on about everything, but somehow managed to be the best of the PT. Hayden keeps being the problem, as well as the script, and Yoda (along with the entire Jedi Order) turn out to be a major dissappointment. Is TFA better than ROTS ? Because if it is that means TFA is better than the entire PT. At this time I will say yes it is. A straight fact? Kylo Ren to me looks more like the Anakin I would have expected to see in the PT.

TFA is better than the PT because it has a better molding and a better setup. Plus you can't go wrong with Harrison Ford, sorry about being so repetitive about it, but he makes the movie feel right. The first act the movie is really good. Kylo is in full swing and like I said before, he's as menacing as you can get from a Sith. The moment he takes off his mask is when things start going very wrong in the film. The death star on steroids is like meh... it's not an original idea, but I can live with it. But the step of humanizing a Sith as they did with Kylo is unforgivable; at least as early as in this movie. It would have been better if they had Kylo keep his mask and take it off somewhere durnig Episode VIII, but having it done now, it kind of takes something away from his aura. It seems like they're trying to make up for the terrible Anakin we had on the PT. Add to that the fact that he was nearly beaten by a stormtrooper/janitor, he was soundly defeated by the Katniss Everdeen of planet Jakku, and the result bad taste that TFA leaves in your mouth is as sour as the grapes of wrath. To add more, supreme leader Snoke at the end says "bring Kylo Ren, I must complete his training". No @#$% ! He almost got his ass kicked by a stormtrooper/janitor who has had years of training in cleaning toilets (you can buy them on Wal-Mart) and he got his ass handed to him by a girl who just hit puberty a month ago, and had her first contact with the force about eight hours ago. You are damn right Kylo needs more training! Plus he needs a psychologist to fix his anger issues.

The only remarkable thing this film achieved was shatter all the box-office opening weekend records, which makes for a successful ROI on everyone involved in putting money on playing with the high expectations true fans had on getting a great Star Wars movie we have been waiting for 32 years, and are still waiting for.

TFA is a glorious victory for Hollywood and a sad defeat for all true film makers and fans.

There you have it. Star Wars TFA in a nutshell.

6 out of 10.