Why I didn’t like the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens.

Okay, to start off, I grew up on reading Star Wars. I love the books, I love the plot that they developed, the character developments and everything. Even after my favorite character died in the books I still understand why it happened and that it was necessary for the story. That being said, most people think I’m bias of why I didn’t like the movie, but here I am going to say why I didn’t like it comparing it to the books, and for the movie by itself.

<<<<<<<WARNING SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>

I can’t explain the differences without spoiling the movie. Sorry but I can’t so go watch it and then read this.

Ok, why I don’t like it because of the plot (nothing to do with the destruction of the Star Wars Books):

Did anyone feel like the floating intro moved faster? I felt like it did. Craig said it didn’t but I really think it did.

Okay to really start off:

We are on a desert planet (again, for crying out loud) and we have a resistance fighter, Poe,  talking to an older man. Older man gives him the data of where Luke is hiding (Luke wouldn’t do that) and then the First Order (imperials) attacks. Apparently the old man is very important. But he dies and we don’t find out why he’s important nor who he is or what this little village is. Information just gone at the wave of a hand. No clear answers on that….

Then Poe puts the information in the BB-8. Why? Why do people keep doing that? Why did the old man have the info? Why did he not give it to them sooner?

So the First Order kills everyone in the little village some reason (no witnesses I guess?) Not sure the logic, I guess to put fear in the resistance, as the Republic is letting the resistance do whatever they please.

Wait… what? There is a Republic, the First Order, and a resistance? Why is there a resistance? Why isn’t the Republic doing anything about the evil doings of the First Order. And why is this never explained THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MOVIE! No idea how the government works whatsoever. And why is that? So they wouldn’t have to think of a plot where the good guys outnumbered the bad guys. That’s not interesting now is it?

Okay so then one stormtrooper starts to rethink that maybe the First Order isn’t so good and wants to run away. Poe gets captured and interrogated by the bad guy sith dude. Seems really cool and evil. Finds out the droid has the info. The stormtrooper helps Poe escape and they go back to find the droid but they crash and the stormtrooper, who is now Fin, think Poe is dead and goes looking for the droid.

Meanwhile, Jaina Rey finds the droid. She’s cool I like her a lot because she’s Jaina. Fin runs into her and then stormtroopers come and they attack and Rey and Fin get in “the piece of trash” of a spaceship.

AKA, they get in the Millennium Falcon.

Funny. Very funny. But why was the Millennium Falcon on this desert planet? We find out later but I don’t agree at all.

They start to fly a way, a ship captures them and it’s Han and Chewy! Yay!

Wait… Han and Chewy are back at smuggling? Okay, that’s fine… But he lost the Millennium Falcon because it was stolen??? No. No. No. Sorry but that is not okay. Han would never lose the Millennium Falcon like that again? Why? Because he’s Han Solo. He has grown. He’s not the stupid kid he once was, he has learned, he is smarter and better at smuggling.

Oh, apparently he’s not.

I’m sorry but Han would be a great smuggler at this point, if he’s been at it for quite some time. He knows what not to do now, he wouldn’t suck at it again. He wouldn’t.

Meanwhile, some time around here we find out the Kilo is Han’s son. *roll eyes here* Seriously? You took Jacen but you made him Anakin? You made him some snotty nose brat? A teenager with anger management issues? You sure he isn’t Luke’s son because let’s be honest here… this family has some serious emo stuff going on. More on that later.

Also, who is this sith master? I know you are going for the whole Palpatine thing with the unknown story behind the sith master and he is all high and mighty and evil. But that only works one time in a series, not two. It would have been SOOOOOO much better if you made him real, someone the viewers can identify with. Make him like Ben, make him real.

Back to the story. Han finds out they have info to give to the Resistance about Luke takes Fin, Rey, and BB-8 to some planet that has a bar with aliens but not on Tattooine. Okay… Anyway, why they didn’t leave BB-8 on the ship, I dunno, but he gets spotted and the First Order and the Resistance are notified. The old alien lady was cool, she was a lot like the fast food diner guy from episode 1 (because this movie is just all of them smashed together). Then Fin wants to get out of the system and starts to go off with a smuggler and Rey hears voices and is introduced to the force by finding Anikan/Luke’s lightsaber. How it was there, we don’t know.

So who is this girl? Don’t find out in this movie. See what they are going for there, but that only works if you don’t hint at it constantly. Too much mystery, and you are just repeating Luke’s story.

First Order attacks the planets nearby with their Sun Crusher thing that can destroy entire systems… no comment on the money behind that or why the Republic would let them and oh no does that mean this is going to turn into episode 4 and 6. YUP! The First Order then lands on the planet, emo sith captures Rey, thinks she knows the map well enough to just take her instead of finding BB-8 (kinda stupid actually). Resistance comes and attacks the First Order and saves Han and Fin, as Fin has come back. Some reason Fin is using a lightsaber, not sure as to why.

Emo sith finds out he’s stupid and that Rey can use the force too. Takes off his helmet and he’s just an angst teen. Rey is somehow really good at mind reading, gets out the restraints, and looks for an escape. Emo sith stops to his master and tells him she can use the force.

Meanwhile, Han and Fin get to the Resistance and oh look Leia is there. Reunite but C3PO is in the way again (so funny) and we find out they had a son together and he’s the sith. Split them apart, it’s why Luke is in hiding… Apparently it just destroyed everything because why isn’t the Republic doing anything about the First Order? Oh right, Government makes no sense in this movie. Also, Luke wouldn’t have gone into hiding because he’s a lot older and mature… Also, if he went and started a Jedi academy, where the heck are all his other apprentices??? Where??? And why is Leia not a Jedi??? “But Dani that’s from the books” No it’s not! Episode 6 they said she was a jedi!

The Resistance takes the map and it’s only a piece (somehow…) R2 won’t wake up (?) but “he doesn’t have it” Bull@#$%! It’s R2 we are talking about!!! He ALWAYS has it!

So the must destroy the Sun Crusher (like the Death Star) but they have to get in the inside… So Han, Chewy, and Fin sneak in while the x-wings attack. They find Rey and place some bombs and Han runs into his son.

Kilo is so stupid. He doesn’t make sense, he’s just an angry teen, worse than Anakin. Han and Leia should have named their son Anakin (oh wait…) but no, you know what they name him? Ben?

What?

My husband and I laughed for five minutes because they named him Ben. Leia only knew Ben from stories and Han barely even got to meet the guy. Luke would name his son Ben (oh wait…) and Leia would have named their son (in this timeline) Bail. Why? Because she lost him the the Empire through the Death Star. Makes sense right? Ben makes no sense.

Not only that, we don’t fully understand why Ben turned to the darkside. At all. They were only trying to mirror Darth Vader but only kinda did it. Maybe. Is he even a sith?

Then the sad scene happens. Ben kills Han, making Rey-Luke, Han-Obi-Wan, Chewy-Chewy, Leia-Leia, Fin-Mickey Smith, Luke-Yoda, and Ben is just an even more emo version of Anakin. Which scares me.

Harrison Ford seemed so happy to die in this movie, like enjoyed acting it out. He wanted it to happen so bad, and would have been a great scene if we really got to see it help develop Ben’s character but we don’t really. They just took the idea from the book, how to be a sith, and used it. It was needed as a story, but it was not done well.

They get out of there, but not before Ben comes after Rey and they battle, but not after Fin tries a go at light saber dueling, which was stupid because he has no experience with a light saver or sword and can’t use the force. Shoulda been dead right away.

The Resistance destroys the Sun Destroyer, everyone is happy, other than Rey and Leia. Oh look R2 woke up and he knows the rest of the map of where Luke is (told ya).

And that’s where it should have ended. But no, it kept going.

Chewy, R2, and Rey go to the planet where Luke is at, Why Leia didn’t go, I don’t know! But it just ends with Rey handing him the lightsaber. He’s all old and angst like a teen. Doesn’t say a word and it just ends. Not even a cliff hanger just kinda ends.

Why the heck was he in hiding. He’s too old to be all emotional like that? Was it just because Ben went to the darkside? Well that’s stupid, he would be better than that.

Some character development failures: Leia needed a bigger role in the movie, seemed a little off to me, just kinda there. Fin was a lot like Mickey Smith from Doctor Who, and if he was brainwashed since birth he wouldn’t have a revelation like that because he wouldn’t know anything else. Also he was a sanitation guy so why would he be sent down to kill people. He didn’t make sense. Chewy was Chewy, R2 was R2, C3PO was C3PO, and BB-8 was surprisingly his own character, not exactly like R2 but funny like him. Rey was a pretty good character, just some more answers needed to be given since they were asked in this movie, it seemed like people knew, but just weren’t saying.

I liked the First Order General though, made me laugh seeing Bill Wesley evil. Also, that girl stormtrooper was cool but we didn’t learn anything about her whatsoever or what happens to her… Comedy was good but some spots it was forced. The designs for the ships weren’t bad, but I really think they would have made stormtrooper armor better.

Also, Fin is stupid if he thought a TIE Fighter could get him out of the system. TIE Fighters are short range only.

Also, where the @#$% was Wedge? Seriously that pissed me off the most!

Now, to kinda compare the the original books:

Anyone notice they just took random stuff from the books? The Sun Crusher idea, Luke’s student going evil and joining the new Empire, Rey is exactly like Jaina, I would say Ben is like Jacen but he’s not. Jacen was soooooo well developed where as this guy has no reason other than he was an angry teen. They had an amazing character in their hands, a character that everyone loved that turned to the dark side and they just threw it away. They also reminded me of Thrawn with Bill Wesley, but English instead of alien. Also, the sith just made no sense to me, they had so much potential with other sith that this was just stupid and the fact that I had no villain I liked means they did not create a relatable villain. With Harry Potter you had Snape, with X-Men you had Magneto, etc. It just makes a story better and they blew it I think.

So those are my thoughts. As someone who knows the potential they had, I give it a 1/5. If I didn’t read the books, probably a 2.5/5. Husband gives it a 3/5, saying it passed the class.