Saw this with my Star Wars fanboy brother-in-law. I thought it was okay, obviously a rehash of the original. His fanboy rationalisations of it's flaws were confirmation that it's not that good a film, though fun. A few niggles but I had two major problems that stopped me really liking it:
1. Kylo Ren: initially presented to be scary Darth Vader clone, later revealed to be weak and emo, throwing tantrums and being bested by an untrained girl. Kind of takes away the suspense as stroppy 13 year old boys don't present much threat (yes, I know the actor's 30-odd). They had better redeem him in the next one or it'll ruin the trilogy. My bet is she turns him to the light side in the 3rd film because he's so conflicted and will regret killing Han.
2. The girl is too good, too fast. Luke (son of Darth Vader, trained with Yoda for fuck's sake and it broke him) took 3 entire films to achieve any kind of mastery. Rey suddenly has a realisation that she's not just a badass, but a magical badass and just starts using the Jedi powers. Thinking about it though, it makes perfect sense from a marketing point of view given the different natures of men and women: Women are, men become. Why should women have to work, train and sacrifice to become awesome warriors when they can just demand that they ARE awesome warriors? This is borne out in our daily lives, and although it's ridiculous and we know it's not true, it should be knocked out of them with the wake-up call that we all experience as men but protect women from. Kylo Ren should have spanked her all over the place, wounded or not. Stopping this happening protects and flatters the female ego, so the film is a hit with both men and women, boys and girls. This is reflected in the money it's making.
I think JJ was told exactly the film he was going to make by Disney execs because they can't risk another Phantom Menace, and there's a big enough time lapse between the first film and this one to trick younger people into thinking it's great rather than fun, derivative nonsense.
1. Kylo Ren: initially presented to be scary Darth Vader clone, later revealed to be weak and emo, throwing tantrums and being bested by an untrained girl. Kind of takes away the suspense as stroppy 13 year old boys don't present much threat (yes, I know the actor's 30-odd). They had better redeem him in the next one or it'll ruin the trilogy. My bet is she turns him to the light side in the 3rd film because he's so conflicted and will regret killing Han.
2. The girl is too good, too fast. Luke (son of Darth Vader, trained with Yoda for fuck's sake and it broke him) took 3 entire films to achieve any kind of mastery. Rey suddenly has a realisation that she's not just a badass, but a magical badass and just starts using the Jedi powers. Thinking about it though, it makes perfect sense from a marketing point of view given the different natures of men and women: Women are, men become. Why should women have to work, train and sacrifice to become awesome warriors when they can just demand that they ARE awesome warriors? This is borne out in our daily lives, and although it's ridiculous and we know it's not true, it should be knocked out of them with the wake-up call that we all experience as men but protect women from. Kylo Ren should have spanked her all over the place, wounded or not. Stopping this happening protects and flatters the female ego, so the film is a hit with both men and women, boys and girls. This is reflected in the money it's making.
I think JJ was told exactly the film he was going to make by Disney execs because they can't risk another Phantom Menace, and there's a big enough time lapse between the first film and this one to trick younger people into thinking it's great rather than fun, derivative nonsense.