I’m late to the party on this one and since there are a few billion articles about The Force Awakens already, it feels rather redundant to write about it. I’m going to anyway because the space adventure is back.
I’m going to be flinging spoilers around since it’s been out for 3 weeks, so this is your warning.
The new cast members are great. In particular, Rey and Finn have great chemistry together and I’m totally looking forward to watching these two kids grow together. Poe is another one (Oscar Isaac had a hell of a year and it looks like there is no stopping him now) who eats up the screen and is a blast to root for. He comes off as a total hero pilot, all of his action scenes are wonderful. The new droid BB-8 often steals the scenes he’s in and pushes the likes of C3PO farther into the background. Seeing the old guard, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Luke hit all the right nostalgia notes. Harrison Ford, in particular, was in fine form and a real treat.
On the Dark side of the character spectrum, Kylo Ren is the focal point. He’s a  more complex character than most people give him credit for. Many expected a new Darth Vader and he doesn’t hit that bar. Which is part of why I think he works so well. He’s clearly dangerous and powerful (stopping Poe’s blaster shot is a brilliant idea and it looks amazing). He lives in the shadow of his grandfather and father, both legends on opposite sides of the Force. The presence he’s built around himself is incredibly effective to those around him. The voice changer, the mask and his demeanour on missions channel Vader. His light saber is a brilliant touch too. It crackles and seethes in his hands unlike any other blade seen in the series. Whether he’s doing it with his Dark Force powers or he’s modified the hilt is unknown, but it’s incredibly intimidating and matches his intents perfectly. He scares most of the people around him half to death, but he’s actually a child at war with himself. He lacks control and as such is his own worst enemy.  I don’t think the writers get enough into his background which made some for some odd third act moments (which I’ll get to). His ultimate Darkside decision was major and important.
The other major villains don’t get nearly as much time and suffer for it. I like General Hux, he’s got his moments and I hope we see much more of him. Captain Phasma is a complete waste. I think she is in three scenes and folds like a cheap suit when it matters most. Really disappointing on all levels. I hope she has a purpose in Episode 8 and doesn’t come across like a clown again.
There are a ton of great scenes outside of the action. Han Solo and Chewbacca’s entrance made me smile. Rey bonding with Han and later figuring out Kylo in the interrogation scene was great. I liked the Han and Kylo talk a lot and just about everything BB-8 does is cute or funny.
Visually, I think TFA stands underneath (possibly right next to) only Mad Max: Fury Road (of the 2015 movies I’ve seen). Just eye popping stuff. ILM firing on all cylinders for those space battles. There’s an amazing shot that looks like you are hanging onto the side of a X-Wing in a dogfight that looks and sounds so real I thought I was there. This movie is a showcase of how powerful the best CG and practical effects can come together to make the impossible (and unknown) real. Love all the carefully thought out sets and aliens. Really sells the world, like we’re actually watching something happening in a real place. The return to s brawling type of lightsaber fight is really welcome. Much more viseral and intense. The ultra choreography of the prequels is too much.
Now for my quibbles. They kept Maz Kanata and Supreme Leader Snoke’s designs a secret for reasons I don’t understand. I like Maz a lot though. Cool character and design. She came out really well and I hope we see more of her (98% possibility on that). Snoke, on the other hand, is a mess. Terrible presentation. They said they wanted to design a character that couldn’t be done with make-up and he’s not impressive at all. He’s shown as a massive hologram and he looks so fake it’s jarring. So much effort was put into making things believable, that it’s amazing what is shown is final. I have a feeling they couldn’t settle on a design and a committee agreed on this boring shriveled headed thing. Nothing about him is that drastic looking and considering no background is given on him, he comes off as a paper thin image. A shame because he’s a major character. They needed to get in touch with Guillermo del Toro’s creature team to do the design and get Doug Jones to bring Snoke to life on set. That effort would have knocked the socks off of everyone.
We’ve had enough Death Stars.
Too predictable a story.
Too many convenient things happen in favor for the Rebellion, it takes away most of the conflict.
No memorial scene was a strange and huge omission.
More Berzerker Chewie, I thought his rage was cut too short.
Luke and Rey scene needed a bit of dialog.
Don’t know anything about the First Order. Tons of questions about the set up of this movie.
Didn’t like the use of R2D2 as a deus ex machina device! He’s in low power mode since Luke disappeared and conveniently turns himself on right when they need him to get to the end of the movie? Really lazy writing. Finding Luke is a major motivation for the Resistance and this tucks into a major head scratcher…
Why is Luke so needed when untrained Rey handles Kylo so easily? Rey quickly taps into the Force and figures out how to use them effectively on her own. We know that she can defend herself with a staff. Kylo shows off some serious Force powers up to that point. This is where the blind spots in his background mar things and produces too many questions.  We don’t know how long he trained under Luke, but we have to figure he has quite a bit of advanced training and she fends him off pretty easily.
Kylo’s injury from Chewie isn’t sold well enough (as well as the hit Finn gets on him). As it’s shown, Rey comes off as way too powerful and him too weak when she cuts him down (especially with his temper tantrums still fresh in the mind). His saber skills should have been shown to be blatantly better than hers. His skill fends off the power she’s managed to muster (as impressive as it is). Better sell her visually struggling and him defending her wild blows (she does get knocked back a few times and comes back at him at least. Maybe the trees obscured the fight too much? It might be better on a second viewing.)
My easy fix: That scene needed to end in a standoff. Keep the chasm that rips open, but do it sooner so that it ends the fight with both still standing. Kylo doesn’t make the huge jump because too much has been taken from him. She’s all up in his head with calling him out earlier, attacking her has proven to be much more difficult than he thought it would be. She doesn’t jump over because she physically can’t. The size of the gap requires a Force jump and she hasn’t tapped into the Force that well. She needs training (hi Luke!). Kylo decides Rey isn’t worth wasting any more time with the planet about to explode and says something nasty to her before walking away. He leaves her behind with Finn’s broken body. I think this leaves both characters on a more believable level at the end. They both go through training in the next movie which makes the anticipation for their next meeting much greater.
While not perfect, The Force Awakens does way more right than it does wrong. It’s a return to form that I think most people simply appreciate. While the movie plays it safe by going down the “Stuff fans like about Star Wars” checklist, Â it kinda needed to. Episode 7 is a launching point and I think (hope) that they are going to take advantage of it. Learn from the missteps and make Episode 8 a better and much more ambitious movie.
