Now that it has been three months since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens I have had a lot of time to think about my impressions of the film. Now I don't plan on adding any spoiler warnings to this thread because most people have seen it by now so if you click on this thread and the film gets spoiled well don't blame me for that.

The story

Now the story itself was exactly what fans or at least some wanted from a Star Wars film in the first place. A fun action adventure film that paces itself and doesn't get bogged in scenes where the Jedi High Council sits on their butts watching the galaxy fall apart or the Senate fighting over which bills to fund while the galactic fat cats rub their palms together watching as they gain more power. Now that said there was some things that could have been explained a bit better. For instance the film drops you into the middle of the action between the First Order and the Resistance which takes place some 30 years after Return Of The Jedi. The film could have done a better job of explaining how the First Order came to be and the current state of affairs within the galaxy. At most the audience ever gets in terms of backstory is a few lines of dialogue from Han Solo about what happened to Luke's attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order or a hand wave explanation of how the First Order came to be. I am assuming these questions will be answered in later films when they have the chance to unpack the mythology of these events. The movie overall is an attempt to play it safe by JJ and Disney by not taking too many chances with the film. Its about easing audiences into the new direction is Star Wars is taking after the jolting experience of having the Expanded Universe jettisoned and The Clone Wars being cancelled. There are some clunky plot elements that overall don't make a lot of sense like how was the First Order able to hollow out a planet and basically build a third Death Star or build up the military junta they have. These points among many more plot points really make me wonder if the New Republic has good grasp of what is actually happening out there in the galaxy.

The characters

Now following the heroes from the Original series is a tough act to follow. That said John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and Oscar Isaac did a great job playing Poe, Finn, and Rey. My favorite character was Poe but unfortunately he doesn't get enough screen time in the film he can hardly be said to be in it at all. Finn comes off as someone who has been through a lot of terrible things with his service in the First Order, you easily understand why he wants to leave the First Order after his friend dies at the beginning of the film as the First Order attacks a village on Jakku. Finn understands that he is merely cannon fodder for the First Order who generally doesn't care about its soldiers as they are stripped of all identity as they are trained to be soldiers. Rey was probably the least well done of the three new heroes mostly because she is a character who is constantly searching for who she is and is always prompting the audience with these questions. Until we finally get that important piece of info this character will never be complete. (That aside my money is riding on her either being Luke's daughter or the youngest child of Han and Leia.) With the new heroes comes the need to provide villains for these heroes to fight and overcome the challenges that are thrown against them.

The villains of the new film aren't as well done as the heroes and their motivations for why they are doing the things they are motivated to do are even less clear beyond the obvious desire to have more power. Kylo Ren isn't Darth Vader nor is General Hux anywhere near the caliber of character as Grand Moff Tarkin. All of the villains only stand out because of their cool costume designs everything else about them is like watching cardboard cutouts trying to be human beings. Out of all the characters who had the greatest potential that was squandered is Kylo Ren. I couldn't understand why the grandson of Darth Vader would want to emulate his grandfather when he was the most evil villain in the history of the Star Wars galaxy. Didn't Han and Leia explain to their son that his grandfather was responsible for atrocities such as the destruction of Alderaan or the slaughter of thousands of Jedi? Didn't his uncle Luke teach him about this as his abilities with The Force became manifest? Perhaps Kylo Ren or Ben Solo's life would have been different if he only knew what his grandfather was prior to his fall to the dark side. That he was a hero during the Clone Wars and exemplified the best of what it meant to be a Jedi at that time. But with all things history tends to get forgotten and I imagine that who Anakin was to becoming Darth Vader has faded into obscurity. With the rest of the villains there is really nothing I can say about them. I don't really know anything about them nor are we given any insight into why they are in the First Order to begin with. I really wanted to see more of Captain Phasma given she is the first chrome female stormtrooper we have seen in the Star Wars franchise but like Poe she is hardly in the movie at all.

The visuals

Part of the fun watching any Star Wars film is getting swept along on a journey through the stars and the films don't disappoint when they show you a visual spectacle unlike anything you have seen in other films. This film blends the beauty of practical effects with the usage of CGI to enhance the visuals. Now one of the faults of the Prequels is that very few practical sets were built and often the CGI cluttered the screen making you feel nauseated. This film does a great job at using practical effects that contribute to the overall story and move the plot along without getting bogged down in the CGI clutter. There really isn't much else I can say about this aspect of the film. It was superbly well done.

The problem with Homages, Saving Graces, and Ghosts Of Legends.

The essential problem with rebooting any franchise is that certain trends begin to manifest that ultimately either doom the series from the get go or slowly lead to fanbases experiencing schisms rather than coming together over the thing that they love most. This is one thing that I knew would be the case months before the new film released. These trends are still something I am very worried about and would like to see worked out rather than draining the potential for future stories to be told in the galaxy far far away. The first of these trends is probably the most obvious for anyone who saw The Force Awakens was that the film was JJ attempting to recreate the first Star Wars film in a universe where thirty or more years have passed since the events of A New Hope. While it certainly worked out in the end given that the new film is one of the highest grossing of all time I would like to see the next director who will direct the sequel to The Force Awakens make next film their own thing. Homages only thrive when the nostalgia is there to tap into and people eventually will want to see a new story that doesn't keep trying to repeat what was done in the past.

The other problem is that this film and the hype that built up around it was partly due to the fact that so many Star Wars fans were disappointed by the Prequel trilogy. Not only with the annoying characters like Jar Jar but the inconsistent directing of George Lucas who took actors and actresses who have actually quiet an amount of talent and squander it by having them say cringe worthy lines of dialogue. So as you can imagine when a new Star Wars film was announced people went crazy. Finally we would get the film that the Star Wars fandom has always wanted. People built up new hopes for this franchise after the abyss it and they had been in when the dust settled from the train wreck that was Prequels trilogy which remain a disaster in someways. (Although I think this will change in time...) People saw this new film as the saving grace of the Star Wars franchise. They built up so much emotional hype that it blinded them to the film's obvious flaws which do hurt the film in someways. I was one who tried to avoid getting swept up by the hypetrain and trust me it was very difficult to do. When I finally saw the movie I didn't let my emotions get in the way of my judgement. The film was a good movie but I felt wasn't a good Star Wars movie. It didn't resonate with me on an emotional level as it did other people. Partly because of my next point.

It is no secret if you are a Star Wars fan that there is the biggest nerd war raging across various Internet battlefields from Youtube to Facebook over the decision to de-canonize the Star Wars: Expanded Universe. Now for those of you who don't know what that is, the Star Wars: Expanded Universe covers a variety of different novels, games, tv shows, comics, etc. That expand the background of various events within the Star Wars films. Pretty much anything that you would want to know as a ravenous Star Wars fan like what kind of gun does Boba Fett use in Return Of The Jedi to why do the Jedi and Sith hate each other is explained in the Expanded Universe. The Expanded Universe had grown over some thirty years and contained some of the most beloved characters that fans had ever seen from the beautiful but deadly Mara Jade to the iconic Darth Revan. These characters fleshed out the Star Wars universe in ways that a story which contained such a vast and intricate universe as Star Wars needed in order to make the story more grounded because you knew there was a history for everything rather than something that was cooked up five minutes prior to the film opening.

But with the decision that is certainly the most controversial since the fans reaction to Jar Jar Binks, Disney and Lucasfilm ultimately decided that any future film or TV show would not use any characters, settings, or conflicts established in the Expanded Universe in order to give what they felt was total creative freedom to any new filmmaker or writer going forward. While some might applaud the death of the Expanded Universe as a smart way to finally craft a more coherent universe as often one of the main criticisms aimed at the Expanded Universe is that it lacked a proper sense of continuity this decision touched a nerve among many fans of the Expanded Universe who are and can safely claim to be the hardest of the hardcore among the Star Wars fans. This decision fractured the Star Wars fandom into three camps. The Bandwagon fans (Most people who are Star Wars fans who claim to be fans of the franchise when a new film comes out but otherwise go back to their lives when there is no film to see.) The Disney fans, (Those who accepted the decision to can the Expanded Universe or were never aware of the Expanded Universe because they are too young to know of it and want more Star Wars in whatever form Disney puts out.,) and The Expanded Universe fans, (Those who love the Expanded Universe and desire to see it continue either alongside the current canon stories or reintegrated in someway.) Now the Expanded Universe will always cast a long shadow over any new material including films that are released in the future because it is so entrenched in the minds of those who love it. While some fans might see characters like Kylo Ren or Finn as being original creations I see them as repurposed Expanded Universe characters who were made to fit into the new story. Finn is essentially Kyle Katarn while Kylo Ren is Jacen Solo aka Darth Caedus. Whether or not you agree with the decision to jettison the Expanded Universe one thing is clear that any new film will live in its shadow while the wound this decision made will continue to fester while Star Wars fans search for meaning in this new and uncertain future with Star Wars heading in a direction that wasn't wanted by all fans.

Because I am a fan of the Expanded Universe I recognized characters like Kylo Ren and Finn immediately as characters I knew from the Expanded Universe and was able to see the plot for the new film unfold before most people even did. I knew that Han was going to die not only cause that is what Harrison Ford wanted for years but because Chewbacca died in the Expanded Universe when the the planet Sernpidal is destroyed by its own moon. Kylo Ren's revelation as Han and Leia's son wasn't surprising as they had several children in the Expanded Universe nor was his decision to turn to the dark side either given that Jacen Solo, the Expanded Universe character Kylo is based on did the same thing. The only different between them is that one had a clear motivation to do so while the other didn't.

Final Impressions

With all of what I have stated above in my mind as I left the theater I felt like I had just watched a two hour and sixteen minute homage to A New Hope which borrowed liberally from the Expanded Universe but never spent any time explaining the past thirty years of time that had passed between Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens other than handwave explanation and confusing flashbacks. So overall my feeling was I watched a good movie as it certainly entertained me but didn't deliver on what I had expected from a Star Wars film. I left the theater and after getting home then going to bed the film simply faded from my mind. It still feels that way even now. They only thing I may still feel is disappointment at what could have been a really amazing Star Wars film.

one little nit pick about ur observations...Fin never had a a name to lose during training...the film clearly stated that all First Order Stormtroopers r bred for their roles and trained from birth. to the First Order, they r not men, but numbers, disposable troops yes, but they never had names to lose

5152239

one of the faults of the Prequels is that very few practical sets were built

you'd be surprised.

5152239

I felt like I had just watched a two hour and sixteen minute homage to A New Hope which borrowed liberally from the Expanded Universe but never spent any time explaining the past thirty years of time that had passed between Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens other than handwave explanation and confusing flashbacks

Perfect summary for that movie.

5152340

I know they built set extensions for things that were going to be filled in digitally but I didn't see a whole lot of practical sets built for the film after watching the behind the scenes content on the DVD.

5152470

Yeah this movie got bogged down in so many ways a lot more than I wanted to put down in my review. The film really created quite the mess for the next director which I guess is Rian Johnson??? Either way this the next film will make or break the new direction Disney wants to take Star Wars.

5152499

Unfortunately. I mean look what happened with Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Film died before it was even out of the cradle. Shitty set up for the next film.

5152509

Maybe, the DC films have been kinda hit and miss. The Dark Knight Trilogy was brilliant but Man Of Steel kinda sucked.

5152513

Mr. Snyder should have just stuck to making 300 prequels and sequels.

5152528

XD At least Brad Pitt is a better actor than Gerard Butler.

5152378

Still feel that way. Now that the movie is out on Blu-ray I cannot escape from it.

5152470

Disney will milk Star Wars as they milk Marvel films

And that right there is the entire reason they bought Star Wars in the first place, money.

5154939

Then they will discard it like a used condom and move on.

5154992 It's Star Wars, it'll never stop making money.

5152517
Watchmen was pretty good, imo.

5154997

True, Star Wars will always be financially viable. However, the kinds of stories that the Lucasfilm and Disney want to tell and if they will be viable will be interesting to see. Looking forward to seeing Rogue One, just by the trailers alone it looks better than The Force Awakens by miles.

5152239 If I remember correctly, it was explained in one of the canon books that most of the Imperial remnants fled into deep space. Or was that in the old EU?

5152305 Well, TR-8R was known as Nines, and the Stormtrooper that leaves a bloody handprint on Finn's helmet was another training buddy of Nines and Finn

5690221

Most Imperial factions after the death of the Emperor held onto whatever territory they could. That's why the New Republic spent 19 years fighting various Imperial warlords before the war was over.