Review: Star Wars VII The Force Awakens Is A Haphazard Mess Of A Movie
- Dec 10, 2017
- 2 min read
30 years after the destruction of the second Death Star and not a lot has changed. There's still an empire, now known as The First Order (how they're the first I have no idea) and a rebellion, or The Resistance (how...original). But none of that matters for Rey (Daisy Ridley) trapped alone on the planet of Totally Not Tatooine. That is until Finn (John Boyega), a deserting storm trooper who gave up on The First Order after his first battle. They're joined by BB-8, a droid belonging to a member of The Resistance who is carrying valuable information. And so a journey almost wholly reliant on nostalgia and visuals begins.
The Force Awakens is perhaps the most painfully average films to exist within a franchise. The story is recycled, the main character is weakly written and, aside from a very cool introductory scene, a piss poor excuse for a villain. But hey, it looks nice, so there's that. Be it wasted actors such as the leads from The Raid films, a plot that feels more like scenes crudely stitched together than anything properly written and some of the most annoying characters around (BB-8), it's just not great.
Perhaps the films greatest misstep is not embracing its more interesting ideas. Having a renegade storm trooper as a main character is a great concept. Having the storm trooper have almost no experience negates this whole idea. Luke Skywalker is missing, having vanished years ago? That's a good idea. Does it have any impact on the plot outside of influencing the final few minutes? No, not at all. A villain obsessed with Darth Vader, to the point he collects relics and artefacts related to the Sith lord, that's cool. Oh, he likes too whine a lot, throws temper-tantrums and is utterly incompetent? I'll pass.
There's literally one reason to watch The Force Awakens, and that's to know what happened before the next film. It's not offensively bad but it is obnoxiously bland.
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