I feel ya. I think its fair and ok if most people enjoyed it. As you can tell, I didn't and with each viewing the laziness and lack of creative direction became more obvious. Someone said bored, really that's the word. And I dont think people who didn't like should be called too cynical. Maybe a little bit but I think there are a lot of smart film fans, star wars fans, out there who just expected more. And I dont mean more flashy FX but I mean a fundamentally better script. Its shocking to see that Kasdan who I respect very much wrote part of this. And its esp. heart breaking because the setup for TFA isn't really bad. I like the idea of Luke being gone and everyone is searching for him. The bad guys to destroy him and good guys to bring peace to the galaxy. I also liked Kylo Ren's origin that was until he took the mask off. All the interesting tension he had was gone from that point on. Really the whole starkiller thing proved that JJ rather wanted to play it safe than to innovate. As terrible as TPM was, Awakens in my book was worse even tho it looked better and had 'better' humor.

After Into Darkness (which was also copied and turned into a laughable script) I knew that JJ is basically a lucky one shot pony. Nothing more. TFA proves this. I can only hope that Rian J who directed one of my Fav movies, Looper, understands that there is nothing wrong with slowing the pace down and focusing on a good narrative.

Until EP8 I have really nothing else to say about star wars. Burned once again in hopes someone would redeem Lucas but in the end George has the final laugh.

TFA made more money than episode 2 and 3 combined. I'm also fairly confident in saying that the general population enjoyed TFA more than they did the PT. In that sense I don't understand your point about "Lucas getting the last laugh." Further to that I'd say Disney is laughing way harder than GL ever could as their $4B purchase appears to be an absolute steal.

I didn't mean last laugh in terms of Money. Of course Disney won that hands down. But creatively, as terrible as the prequels were, they are by far more innovative and creative than TFA. After all the hate Lucas got over the years Ive seen some people wishing he'd still be attached to them despite the shitty prequels. Thats really all I meant by that.

BTW, I thought you didn't care for TFA yourself either yes?

A star wars Fan since 77 when I saw it at 5yrs old during it's first theater run.

My 2 Cents/Review/Comments on TFA:

Pros:

- Great esthetic look, glad they shot on film, it allows for a connection with I, IV - VI (II & III have a visual disconnect because of the digital look/I.E. Not Film).
- Humor was right on.
- Kylo works
- Great Acting
- Visual effects worked with IV-VI, a very good balance.
- Great Pacing, Tone and Rhythm.
- I thought this film had the best cinematography of all the films.
- I don't see this film as a reboot of IV, because I mirrored IV and so on...(Ring Theory). So naturally VII rhymes with I & IV now.

Cons:

- So many New (cool looking) Aliens and so few familiar ones created a big disconnect for me (Should have added/peppered Maz's place with some Rodians, Ithorians, Hutts, etc to blend in with the new aliens). The prequels and TCW was great at having this continuity.
- While the film esthetic helped, missing was Lucas' anthropology background/influence where everything was alien, but familiar and made sense, this is even true of the creatures, more weird (Rathars), less based on familiar cultures, animals (Nexu, Banthas, etc).
- SLJ is right - needs better duels, it was sloppy/dull (but so was Ani vs. Obi in IV). Hopefully with Jedi training we will get this by 8/9.
- The music was good and sounds great on its own, but in the film it plain sucked and flatlined at key moments. I read a quote from JJ where he said he told Williams "Just do what you do" George got the best out of JW because the music is part of the visual pacing of the
film (operatic) and he collaborated throughout the scoring sessions. I think Williams could have used more direction to score to the beats. I believe the use of the burning homestead from IV when Rey uses the force to get the lightsaber was a last minute fix to pump up the emotion of the scene and it seems shoehorned into the score. Any of the prequels could put
this score in their pocket.
- While I said I don't think of this as a reboot of IV, it took us nowhere new, it played it safe and rehashed all the most popular beats from the OT. This is something I sadly see happening about 70 % of the time on rebels. TCW, which was far superior and brilliant storytelling,
took us to Mortis, Mandalore and Diego, gave us the Box, that train robbery stuff with Ventress and Boba, as well as Cad Bane, Savage, Duchess Satine, HONDO, etc. The most exciting thing about rebels is throwing in a OT Character every other week. Rex and Ashoka are
saving this show for me right now. It's like the well has been tapped out W/O George.


All this being said, i think it was a fun, enjoyable movie (Lucas a s a director hurts the PT films, but as everything else, esp. screenwriter (Minus Dialogue) and main editor, he's great). But the elements missing as mentioned in the cons leave me fearful of what will happen to this franchise after 10 years under a corporate entertainment conglomerate answerable to shareholders. Disney will keep it respectable and first class, but not necessarily fresh and rich as a master storyteller and anthropologist such as Lucas could. All evidence seems to show he's been locked out of any influence either by choice or by force (save having Filoni's ear up at the ranch).

Speaking of Filoni, watch the episodes or rebels directed by him with Vader, unbelievable difference and shows he was well trained by Lucas as a custodian of the franchise and as a filmmaker! My hope is eventually Dave will have total influence over creative and the creative/story group and Kennedy will handle the production duties, etc. I also think Dave sees the writing on the wall and misses Uncle George.

To be fair, AOTC and ROTS made a combined $962 million when adjusted for inflation, while TFA has made $868 million as of Jan. 24...but your point is well-taken. TFA's financial success is beyond anything I could have imagined, and JJ and company deserve all credit for creating something that is THIS popular and has made this kind of cultural impact.

Tracking fandom's reaction has been so interesting. The PT got hung out to dry based on mostly the acting and dialogue, while TFA has received considerable backlash for its lack of originality of its story and story elements. TFA had better acting, the PT had a stronger and more original story structure...that appears to be a general consensus.

I wonder if fandom will (for the most part) universally accept and enjoy anything Star Wars the way we do the OT? Will we judge Rogue One differently since it isn't part of the Skywalker/Solo mythology? Will fandom throw venom at whoever is cast as the young Han Solo, crushing the guy for committing the sin of not being 1973 Harrison Ford? Or will we accept what we get, warts and all, and move on?

Been a fascinating journey to this point, and I am so happy the journey isn't yet complete.

For me personally, I think what TFA aptly demonstrates is that dialogue, originality, creativity, plotting and story are overrated. And I don't mean that in a particularly snarky way, as I enjoyed TFA for what it was, but thought it quite lacking in those areas. Like Jurassic World and 'New' Star Trek, the brilliance of Abrams et al seems to be that they've actually hit upon a fairly successful sequel formula, that distills Star Wars into a set of tropes which can be applied and reapplied at will.