I find trying to weigh up intelligence and overall quality of films has a lot less to do with the themes or premise they tackle so much as the elegance and methods they present their chosen themes. Fury Road is a masterpiece largely because it takes simple, progressive themes and presents them in very creative ways. There's a lot of confidence in the script and scenarios, meaning it can present these themes in a pulpy, action focused way and they still deliver their message with earnest.
I didn't hate Jurassic World, but it's a supremely dumb movie for the wrong reasons in my opinion, in that directional and writing choices were made that result in fixation on things that are silly, contrived, or simply uninteresting.
Which is pretty much where I sit with Star Wars: finding a balance between the two. While I'd like some deep, riveting, intellectually engaging space opera, I don't expect this from Star Wars. The original trilogy doesn't really offer much in the ways of that either. But the original trilogy works so well because it picks it themes, the hero's journey and struggle against the odds, and sticks to its guns. It tells a traditional story, but it tells it well under the backdrop of an interesting setting. It allows you to invest in the characters and their arcs even if that arc is a bit formulaic.
That's really just what I want from this new trilogy. Huge amazing surprises would be nice, but I don't need it to utterly reinvent the wheel, nor do I need it to obsess over homages and references to work. I want it to simply be a well constructed and coherent adventure movie with characters that are, if in their simplicity, interesting and believable enough to invest in.
This is where Into Darkness failed spectacularly. It was a film that relied almost exclusively on "HEY HAVE YOU SEEN WRATH OF KHAN" to work, treading water between scenes that seemed to exist purely to blow budget or "re-imagine" older work for the worst. It's totally forgettable, memorable in parts for the wrong reasons.
