I read all the negative reviews for The Force Awakens which is expected. There will always be a backlash on anything. I didn't expect it to please everyone. No film could. Main issue is the fact it is simply a stupid remake. Kevin Smith even stated we don't need a third story about blowing up a Death Star as it was already done with ANH and ROTJ. I agree. We didn't need another story like that. But it is becoming such a oversimplification complaint about it.
Watching the trailers during the past year before it, I didn't expect it to be a NEW story. They tried doing it with the PT, and they didn't FEEL like Star Wars. Now when JJ wanted people to feel like it is a SW film like the OT, people complain? Damn if you do, damn if you don't.
The idea was to hinge with people's nostalgia. Except nostalgia can run its course. I know it felt a little too deja vu for me watching another Death Star blow up, but I already expected it. All deliberate. To recapture the magic the OT had especially Ep 4 and introduce it to a newer gen who never felt what others felt back in 1977. TFA is more of JJ's tribute and love letter to his fav SW film ever, A New Hope.
Some critics aren't pointing out the differences between TFA vs ANH/OT. They only want to point out the similarities and whine about that.
- Did ANH show the movie from a pilot and ex-Stormtrooper perspective? I don't recall Wedge having that many lines like Poe did.
- Did you ever see Darth Vader or any Sith freeze a laser beam in mid-air? Then unleash it when he walks away?
- Did you ever see how resourceful Luke and Anakin were with the little they had? Hell, I don't remember Rey being whiney as they were! She could fight for herself against multiple attackers that made the first black lead actor in SW look wimpy and clumsy by comparison.
- Did you ever see blood like that from a dying Stormtrooper smeared to Finn?
- Did you ever see a massacre of people in Jakku or a reaction shot when multiple planets are ready to blow up? I didn't see the Tusken Raiders (Sand People) get massacred in AOTC after Anakin announced it to Padmé. Only a beheading of one.
- Did you ever see a Stormtrooper have a weapon that can combat a lightsaber?
- Did you ever see a caring Stormtrooper, ever? Previous Stormtroopers never showed a guilty conscience.
- Did you ever see a Force Vision?
- Did you ever see a major character die who carried more emotional weight than when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn were killed? We barely knew those Jedis. Some have known Han for nearly 40 years and he was one of the highlights of the OT. We grew to love Han over many years and multiple films. Obi-Wan chose to give up and Qui-Gonn felt like an add-on character which created plot holes for the later episodes. Since when did Obi-Wan ever mention Qui-Gonn in TESB?
- Did you see a female fight a male during a lightsaber duel? Actually, I never seen a female character ever turning it on in any of the previous six films.
- Did you ever see an OUTDOOR lightsaber duel like that where trunks of trees were getting sliced? Everything has usually been indoors with the exception of Anakin v Obi-Wan in Mustanfar.
- Did you ever see a SW where one of the main characters to the series is missing and we didn't see him until the closing scene?
- Did ANH show us desert, snow/ice, and forest? It took the entire OT to show us all three terrains.
The Force Awakens is by no means a perfect film and isn't the best in the series. Most true SW fans know that. But saying it is just a stupid remake or is not creative enough is such an oversimplification. They showed enough NEW scenes and plot points to me.
If you want to criticize TFA's recycled story, then why not criticize The Avengers or the Batman films?
- Let's see, there is a scrawny villian who wants to take over Earth in The Avengers and he has an alien army. It took seconds for Hulk to beat him like a ragdoll. Puny god.
- Age of Ultron which was a bigger disappointment to most, there is this robot this time but multiplies itself and wants to blow up the world but a climax at the end was this floating, fictional city. Heroes save the day again! No kidding!
- In the Batman movies, there is this villian or two who wants to destroy Gotham and Batman will do everything to stop them!
In any comic-book film, there is always a villian that wants to take over or destroy a city, entire world, or galaxy. The hero triumphs at the end like usual. With Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman, we already know these films are wrestling matches. We know Cap and Iron Man will team up to fight Thanos in Infinity Wars and Superman & Batman will team up with Wonder Woman to form the Justice League. How predictable those movies will be and they haven't been released yet!
It is an insult to say Rey is another Luke and Kylo Ren is another Vader. Rey (Daisy Ridley) has already proven she is better than Luke, a whiney farmboy who needed Obi-Wan, Han, Leia, and Vader to save him. Kylo Ren could be a greater and more menacing and unpredictable villian Vader ever was.
But TFA gets criticized for its unimaginative, unambitious story when other higher reviewed movies and TV shows are just as guilty of recycling us the same stories too. The Force Awakens deserves every dollar it makes like its first line for "making things right." Both the OT & PT needed fixing. If only the haters can open their eyes more and actually point out the differences to see it is the perfect SW film offering a good balance of both old and new material to cater to both an old and new generation audience...
