Sebastian Moretto
Well-known member
I guess I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of the opinions expressed here and in the other, spoiler-free thread. I certainly don’t consider TFA awful by any stretch. Actually, as pure spectacle, and one might argue that is what Star Wars has always been to the greater part of the audience — simply a fun space fantasy adventure — it works quite well. After two hours, I walked out of the theater feeling entertained and in a good enough mood. However, it was also the first Star Wars film that immediately made me think that I would probably never feel the desire to watch it again. The more I thought about the movie, the more some aspects of it just rubbed me wrong, since I also felt it was missing something that all the earlier films — even the prequels, despite all their other flaws — had.
My biggest complaint is actually about the writing. Now just to be clear, I don’t expect some complicated high brow story or characters of the highest emotional complexity from a Star Wars film or any other blockbuster, for that matter. If I did, I would probably not have enjoyed the other episodes either. But I do like films with plots that are structurally sound and have events that, within the rules laid out by the film itself, flow from earlier events, plot points and characters’ actions. To me, that’s not some gravy on top but the very basis of any movie that I can truly consider to be good or even great. And TFA works well enough in that department for the first thirty minutes or so but starting with the appearance of Han Solo, a lot of events began falling into the “awfully convenient” category of storytelling where things happen not because it makes sense as a result of something established earlier but because they need to happen so the plot can move forward. This ranges from agents of both the New Order and the Resistance being in Maz’s bar (with both sides then conveniently showing up within ten minutes of each other for another action set piece), Rey walking into Maz’s cellar for no reason I can really figure out so she can find Luke’s lightsaber or R2D2 waking up just in time for the finale. YMMV on some of these, as different minds tend to fill in the blanks almost every movie has in different ways, but to me it felt like either lazy writing (doubtful), not-that-great storytelling (maybe, since some of JJ Abrams’ earlier films had similar problems) or writing by committee (not at all unlikely, considering the pressure to deliver to a successful first Disney outing) where certain things had to be in there, whether they really make sense or not.
Another thing that really rubbed me wrong was the overemphasis of the whole nostalgia element, which ties directly into the dubious storytelling technique outlined above. Yes, it was nice to see X-Wings and Star Destroyers again, and I had a big smile on my face when Han Solo made his first appearance. But at some point, the measured quality of the nostalgia at the beginning of the film — where all these things made sense from a storytelling perspective or simply formed a familiar backdrop — gave way to what felt like a barrage of in-your-face references, as if the film was starting to aggressively pander to the fans of the original trilogy by throwing fondly remembered elements from the first three films at them to elicit a cheer or chuckle every few seconds. And judging from the reactions of the midnight premiere audience around me, it certainly worked, but at some point I started feeling like the movie was simply sucking up to me (not surprising, since Disney was certainly very conscious about winning over disgruntled opponents of the prequel trilogy as quickly as possible).
Again, this may be a very personal dislike and would probably have been a minor complaint if the rampant nostalgia had not reached the level of the plot. When I first saw the Starkiller base, I was left a bit stunned — yet another Death Star — before realizing that the whole film was basically “A New Hope” scene by scene with some new characters and bits of “Empire” and “Jedi” sprinkled in, effectively turning it into a bizarre hybrid stuck somewhere between a sequel and a remake/reboot — an unfortunate mixture that added to the muddled feel of the whole story and made it difficult to discern any emphasis on a certain theme or tone — something all previous Star Wars movies had, including the prequels. But never mind thematic consistency as long as there are enough faithfully recreated bits and pieces for everyone to reminisce about. Sure, there have always been elements that were consciously repeated in all the earlier films, but Lucas’ concept of the films “rhyming” was replaced by a bonafide mirror image. Just a few days ago, I watched the making of feature that was on the original Star Wars trilogy DVD release. There, Lawrence Kasdan mentions that what he really liked about the story of “Empire” when George Lucas first talked to him about it, was that it wasn’t just a rehash of the first movie. He should have remembered his own words while writing this film.
Overall, TFA has very little imagination of its own — and I personally find that a very sad thing to say about a move belonging to a franchise that, even in its least-enticing entries, always offered a glimpse into an exuberantly imaginative world filled with charmingly bizarre places, creatures and characters.
I could go on and on — the way the force suddenly works a lot like a comic book superpower immediately comes to mind — but I’m going to stop here because I’m already sounding way more negative about this film than it actually deserves. I raise my hat to the excellent work in the departments of cinematography, art and sound design, visual effects, and many more, including the wonderful Daisy Ridley who really shines as Rey and hopefully has a long, successful career ahead of her.
But ultimately, TFA feels hollow to me — a film that is all beautiful shell with no beating heart underneath, which is emphasized by how I felt nothing at all at the death of one of its central characters. It’s a complaint I would make about a lot of modern blockbusters, by the way — it probably just bothers me more when this phenomenon suddenly catches up with a franchise I hold dear. I do wonder if John Williams had a somewhat similar experience, as him not quite knowing what to make of this film would explain why he wrote such a highly competent but strangely uninspired score, which is a very rare thing for the maestro and someone I personally consider the greatest film composer alive — but of course, that is pure speculation. Nevertheless, despite some hokey lines of dialogue just seconds before, the moment Anakin Skywalker “dies” in the lava in “Revenge” to become Darth Vader was way more emotional for me than what should be TFA’s most gut-wrenching scene.
I am perfectly aware that I’m going to be in the minority and that this is going to be a rather unpopular opinion but… for all their flaws, I liked the prequels better.
That being said, I have some hope that with all the need for crowd-pleasing out of the way and Rian Johnson at the helm, the next installment might be more to my liking. I just hope they don’t turn Star Wars into another Marvel universe that endlessly spawns highly competent but paint-by-numbers films with plots consciously designed never to reach an actual denouement but simply set the stage for yet another franchise entry…
My biggest complaint is actually about the writing. Now just to be clear, I don’t expect some complicated high brow story or characters of the highest emotional complexity from a Star Wars film or any other blockbuster, for that matter. If I did, I would probably not have enjoyed the other episodes either. But I do like films with plots that are structurally sound and have events that, within the rules laid out by the film itself, flow from earlier events, plot points and characters’ actions. To me, that’s not some gravy on top but the very basis of any movie that I can truly consider to be good or even great. And TFA works well enough in that department for the first thirty minutes or so but starting with the appearance of Han Solo, a lot of events began falling into the “awfully convenient” category of storytelling where things happen not because it makes sense as a result of something established earlier but because they need to happen so the plot can move forward. This ranges from agents of both the New Order and the Resistance being in Maz’s bar (with both sides then conveniently showing up within ten minutes of each other for another action set piece), Rey walking into Maz’s cellar for no reason I can really figure out so she can find Luke’s lightsaber or R2D2 waking up just in time for the finale. YMMV on some of these, as different minds tend to fill in the blanks almost every movie has in different ways, but to me it felt like either lazy writing (doubtful), not-that-great storytelling (maybe, since some of JJ Abrams’ earlier films had similar problems) or writing by committee (not at all unlikely, considering the pressure to deliver to a successful first Disney outing) where certain things had to be in there, whether they really make sense or not.
Another thing that really rubbed me wrong was the overemphasis of the whole nostalgia element, which ties directly into the dubious storytelling technique outlined above. Yes, it was nice to see X-Wings and Star Destroyers again, and I had a big smile on my face when Han Solo made his first appearance. But at some point, the measured quality of the nostalgia at the beginning of the film — where all these things made sense from a storytelling perspective or simply formed a familiar backdrop — gave way to what felt like a barrage of in-your-face references, as if the film was starting to aggressively pander to the fans of the original trilogy by throwing fondly remembered elements from the first three films at them to elicit a cheer or chuckle every few seconds. And judging from the reactions of the midnight premiere audience around me, it certainly worked, but at some point I started feeling like the movie was simply sucking up to me (not surprising, since Disney was certainly very conscious about winning over disgruntled opponents of the prequel trilogy as quickly as possible).
Again, this may be a very personal dislike and would probably have been a minor complaint if the rampant nostalgia had not reached the level of the plot. When I first saw the Starkiller base, I was left a bit stunned — yet another Death Star — before realizing that the whole film was basically “A New Hope” scene by scene with some new characters and bits of “Empire” and “Jedi” sprinkled in, effectively turning it into a bizarre hybrid stuck somewhere between a sequel and a remake/reboot — an unfortunate mixture that added to the muddled feel of the whole story and made it difficult to discern any emphasis on a certain theme or tone — something all previous Star Wars movies had, including the prequels. But never mind thematic consistency as long as there are enough faithfully recreated bits and pieces for everyone to reminisce about. Sure, there have always been elements that were consciously repeated in all the earlier films, but Lucas’ concept of the films “rhyming” was replaced by a bonafide mirror image. Just a few days ago, I watched the making of feature that was on the original Star Wars trilogy DVD release. There, Lawrence Kasdan mentions that what he really liked about the story of “Empire” when George Lucas first talked to him about it, was that it wasn’t just a rehash of the first movie. He should have remembered his own words while writing this film.
Overall, TFA has very little imagination of its own — and I personally find that a very sad thing to say about a move belonging to a franchise that, even in its least-enticing entries, always offered a glimpse into an exuberantly imaginative world filled with charmingly bizarre places, creatures and characters.
I could go on and on — the way the force suddenly works a lot like a comic book superpower immediately comes to mind — but I’m going to stop here because I’m already sounding way more negative about this film than it actually deserves. I raise my hat to the excellent work in the departments of cinematography, art and sound design, visual effects, and many more, including the wonderful Daisy Ridley who really shines as Rey and hopefully has a long, successful career ahead of her.
But ultimately, TFA feels hollow to me — a film that is all beautiful shell with no beating heart underneath, which is emphasized by how I felt nothing at all at the death of one of its central characters. It’s a complaint I would make about a lot of modern blockbusters, by the way — it probably just bothers me more when this phenomenon suddenly catches up with a franchise I hold dear. I do wonder if John Williams had a somewhat similar experience, as him not quite knowing what to make of this film would explain why he wrote such a highly competent but strangely uninspired score, which is a very rare thing for the maestro and someone I personally consider the greatest film composer alive — but of course, that is pure speculation. Nevertheless, despite some hokey lines of dialogue just seconds before, the moment Anakin Skywalker “dies” in the lava in “Revenge” to become Darth Vader was way more emotional for me than what should be TFA’s most gut-wrenching scene.
I am perfectly aware that I’m going to be in the minority and that this is going to be a rather unpopular opinion but… for all their flaws, I liked the prequels better.
That being said, I have some hope that with all the need for crowd-pleasing out of the way and Rian Johnson at the helm, the next installment might be more to my liking. I just hope they don’t turn Star Wars into another Marvel universe that endlessly spawns highly competent but paint-by-numbers films with plots consciously designed never to reach an actual denouement but simply set the stage for yet another franchise entry…
