Just saw it. Don't have much love for Star Wars---as a kid I loved the toys, especially the monsters and such, and saw the Phantom Menace and Clone Wars in theaters but even when I was young I thought they were pretty dull and non-too interesting. Basically haven't touched any EU stuff beyond watching a bit of the CG Clone Wars show which was pretty fun honestly. Kind of interested in checking out some EU stuff though that seems like a confusing and time-hogging endeavor.
I thought Finn was a fun character, but what was up with his character being like that? It felt really odd how suddenly he switched sides, and how much personality he had considering he was basically a child soldier. Then there's the weirdness of him being shaken up at seeing a fellow Trooper killed in the first battle, yet then he's blasting them to pieces without any problem. Him being a former Storm Trooper honestly didn't matter much till the end really, or so it felt that way. The scene where the other Storm Trooper calls him a traitor and then gets all personal with that battering ram weapon felt really off because everywhere else it didn't feel like there was any consequences for his actions, like everyone in the Resistance trusts him immediately when it feels like there should've been at least one person who questioned his loyalty.
This movie really had that "Marvel" vibe at parts---you know what I mean by that, right? How there's sort of an undercurrent of subversive humor throughout the movie that sometimes makes it hard to guess what tone a scene is going for? Perfect example of this in my opinion was when Rey first manifested her mind control powers and used it on the Trooper---that scene felt like it was trying to be funny even though it was a major event. Plus, honestly, it really bugged me how easy that power came to her---Rey throughout the film had gotten through with her tech knowhow and such, and it seems getting out of that chair would involve putting that to good use, just giving her such a great power felt tonally odd. There's lots of other moments where I thought the film wanted me to laugh, even though it was a serious scene. I haven't watched the originals in years, and I know they juxtaposed drama and comedy as well, but it felt a bit obnoxious here and definitely inspired by what Marvel tends to do in all their movies.
The effects were pretty cool overall, and I liked a lot of the background alien designs, but it's odd they went with CG for Snoke and the Bar Owner, the two most important alien characters, and it really stood out in a bad way I thought. Both of them kind of felt like they were from another movie, Snoke like a dude from Marvel as people have mentioned and the Bar Owner gave me an Avatar vibe.
