I don't know how I feel about this one. I went with my mother and sister who aren't really familiar with the Star Wars franchise at all. I had to give them a very short two minute summary of classic trilogy. They didn't like this one and pointed out a few inconsistencies here and there. It's kind of refreshing. The film was entertaining and had a lot of fan service. It's the same pew pew and 'splosions that Star Trek (and into Darkness) had but works better because it's Star Wars. Anyways. Here it is, all of it. Just my off the cuff impressions:
-Fin and Rey were determined to gas the people boarding the Falcon. The scene prior, they were freaked out about dying of poison gas but when they were concocting a plan to kill the boarding party, they immediately ran over and grabbed the breathing masks from Empire Strikes Back. They seemed to not know who Han or Chewie were either. Rey was like, "Oooh, you're that Han Solo" a bit after the fact. Ren and Finn clearly thought they were being captured by The First Order when the Falcon was disabled.
-So, Han and Chewie had a crew and captured a Star Destroyer? What was the point of those aliens in their brig? Shit, they could have gone full nostalgia and carried Wampas or Rancor. These were like Prometheus level tentacle porn stars.
-Phasma was a tool. There was a lot of hype about a female Stormtrooper. She ends up lowering the shield and ultimately ends up in a trash compactor. Some laughs from people that got the reference. Really thought she'd take more of a stand or lure them into a trap.
-The whole briefing about the Starkiller. They skimmed over the elephant in the room where they were like, "No, no ... this is much worst than a Death Star" and showed a size comparison. The thing was pretty much destroyed the same way as the Death Star.
-How did no one see this massive thing? They surveyed and checked it out fine ... but after they knew about it. Eh.
-Like some others pointed out, I don't understand the relationship between the Republic and the Resistance. There was a very brief allusion to a power vacuum after Return of the Jedi no real backstory there.
-Uh, wouldn't Kylo Ren want C3PO eventually? I mean, Anakin made him. He supposedly plucked Vader's helmet off of Endor and probably a better movie where Stormtroopers get revenge off of their fallen comrades with flamethrowers. Yub yub.
-Yeah, don't know how I feel about Kylo Ren. He kind of went from badass to almost but not really Hayden Christensen levels when he pulled his helmet off.
It almost felt like a Robot Chicken skit. I guess the filmmakers wanted to do something a bit different from the original trilogy and not draw out the mystique over two or three movies.
-Han and Leia basically sent their son to boarding school and he turned out to be a dick and Luke is a shit teacher. This movie continues the trend of terrible parenting and abandonment.
-Seeing that Cloud City hallway when Rey touched the Lightsaber was really cool.
-The end had some chills but I thought the silence was awkward. They didn't want to end it just like Empire with the Falcon flying off. Luke was kind of weird. Less badass old Luke and more Hobo Luke. Kind of joked about this in the ride home after the movie:
He's pretty much in retirement and doesn't want to be found. Imagined his line was going to be, "You bought the Falcon and the droids? Why, why would you do that? I made the map puzzle so you wouldn't find me and we'd Where's Waldo this shit for another movie".
-Han Solo was just about as much as a dick to Leia as Indy was to Marion Ravenwood.
-Leia. I don't want to rail on it or pick on Carrie Fisher. She did as well as she could but her performance was really subdued and had no energy.
-Is the Republic just three planets? Got a destruction of Vulcan vibe (from 2009 Star Trek) when everyone spectated it from the planet.
-Space Nazi thing went a bit too far when they rallied before destroying Vulcan.
-Harrison Ford made this film work. He seemed a little less bored than he did in Return of the Jedi. If Han Solo wasn't in the film, we'd have a set of characters with mixed motivations and blatantly wooden acting.
-With so many spies and mercenaries, how did no one suspect of Fin being a double agent or leading ending up them into a trap? Yes, let's listen to this guy who was basically a Stormtrooper an hour ago and grew up with a Borg number designation. He pretty much duped everyone in the room by saying he knew the weakness and he really didn't.
-How did Poe Dameron survive? It's like he got a got a free pass and warp clouded over the First Order attacking Jakku again. Is no one looking for him? I don't understand.
-I didn't like the soundtrack. There was a tempo but never quite hit the cue I was expecting during any particular action sequence. It's great that there's music to make it distinctive from the prequel or original trilogies but I thought there was something about it that was subdued and a bit stale.
-Not sure how the Falcon, Han, Chewie, or the little alien got out of that one planet. Rey went down the stairs and it didn't seem to go down that far. Her and BB8 went down to Luke's lightsaber. Place was leveled and that basement was the only thing that survived. How that little alien got Luke's lightsaber from Bespin is something they're apparently and blatantly saving for the sequel.
-Planet conveniently cracks so Ren and Rey can fight in the sequel.
-Snoke felt Gollum-y. Facial capture performance ... dunno, same vibe. Probably because it's Andy Sirkis and thank IMDB for me knowing that bit ahead of time.
-Never found Rey and Fin's relationship was established enough early on to where she'd even consider running off with him. I was expecting a line like, "Dude, we just met and you're actually a Stormtrooper ... not even a Stormtrooper but the Charlie Kelly of Stormtroopers. Storm Janitor?" ... I think they were trying to do that one bit where Luke asks Vader to come with him in RotJ but it didn't quite pan out. Got the same feeling they were pulling from this same thought with Han and Ren towards the end.
-Kind of call bullshit on Rey's Force powers. It took Luke like three movies to do a Jedi mind trick and it didn't even work on Jabba (but did work on Bib Fortuna). Luke at least learned that bit from Obi-Wan in A New Hope. Rey just kind of said what she wanted three times and it happened. Also, one guard. The other two were on a smoke break ... and she knew where the hell she was going. Even Obi-Wan used R2-D2's map schematic to some extent when wondering around the Death Star.
-Starkiller was basically Death Star 1 + Hoth + Generator from Death Star 2. I mean, kudus to them because it surprisingly worked well. For as massive as this thing was, X-Wings seemed to have no problem circumnavigating it.
-Swear that someone yelled "Jaffa Kree" somewhere in this film. Yeah, it's a Stargate reference.
-Flamethrower Stormtroopers were like there for one scene. Like Phasma, they were more or less trailer fodder.
-Hux wasn't as menacing as Tarkin or as contained as Piett. If advertising didn't make me know about half of the new characters names already, I would have called him General Ginger. Sorry gingers.
-Eh, Finn survived but seriously, he took a lightsaber to the back. It's cool they let him live. Also, is that giant tank from Empire not a thing anymore?
-Finn's change of heart is weird. He suddenly goes PTSD and basically turns on his core beliefs. I guess the blood of a fallen Stormtrooper will change things.
-Lastly, the new CGI little exposition alien who sees eyes and that old guy on Jakku. Old people that just weren't around for any other films that I guess will be explained in one of many other films.