Well I just watched the film and I tend to agree with Confessor's review, though I just couldn't take the film seriously enough to really care. The prequels convinced me that Lucasfilm didn't have the guts to do anything other than rehash the same plot points of the originals (with bits and pieces mined from earlier script drafts) and Force Awakens was the same thing. Well, I got what I expected here: a whole lot of plot elements from Empire and Jedi, a lot of bad military strategy, weak villains, and a surprisingly hefty dose of comedy. Star Wars always had comic elements, usually sight gags; but it felt a bit heavy here. I just gave up and ended up having more fun extrapolating on details. I am entertained by the films while they are running; but, they don't stimulate my imagination, like the originals. Maybe I'm too old. Instead, I just wonder about details...
Adrian Edmondson as the Imperial...sorry, "First Order" (roast beef, on rye, with mustard) office commanding the ship, I expected him to start speaking like Vyvian, of the Young Ones. "What is called for is a special blend of psychology...and extreme violence!" I half expected Nigel Planer to appear with the Rebels...sorry, Resistance, as a guy in the background going, "Oh wow,......heavy.......the pigs are going to kill us......."
In fact, I felt like it was a Comic Relief special, for about the first ten minutes.
With Benicio Del Toro's first appearance, I expected a voice from off-camera to yell out "In English..."
Whose idea was it to turn the Imperial......First Order officer caps into hunting hats, with ear flaps? It just makes them look like Barney Fife, undercover...
There is even a scene later in the film with two guys with the flaps down!
So, in the villain dugout, Star Wars has gone from....
to this...
I keep expecting his tag line to be "You're not the boss of me!"
Social commentary in Star Wars-it's kind of hard to highlight animal cruelty after Han and Luke rode around Tauntauns in the ground and then slept inside them. PETA would like to have a discussion wit the Rebel Alliance.
I keep waiting for the First Order general to just go "Nyaah!" to Kylo.
Captain Phasma: all suit, no blaster. Two films, two easy defeats. That cape doesn't help much, in a fight.
These guys are the worst military strategists, ever. Are both sides run by General Melchett?
Rebel...Resistance Generals run around in ball gowns? Not sure that is good for discipline; but, okay. This one even had a tiara!
Did Luke stop off to apply some Grecian Formula to his beard, before projecting to the Rebels...Resistance or is Luke that vain?
Fish Nuns? Owls with sad puppy eyes? Glad to see merchandising is in full force.
Like I say, entertaining enough during the run time; but less spark for the imagination and more time to riff on plot holes, pointless excursions, silly characters, and an over-emphasis on comedy. Actually, doing these as comedy/adventure might be a refreshing change. I still say they should do a Star Wars sitcom, The Vaders, with Darth Vader and Amidala married, with Luke and Leia as teenagers. Han would be the bad boy boyfriend that the parents hate and the Emperor would be the overbearing boss who annoys Vader, at the office. Ben Kenobi could be the wacky neighbor. Luke is always getting in trouble for drag racing. Yoda could run the malt shop and Lando owns the bar where Vader hangs out. Boba Fett is Vader's friend, who gets him into schemes that go haywire.
So, what can we expect in the finale? A 20 minute Force staring contest between Kylo/Ben and Rey? My Little Pony helps the Resistance destroy Starkiller Base 2? A Hutt who has been on Jenny Craig? Resistance fighters from the rest of the alphabet?
Seriously, the only people who really did something interesting with the Star Wars characters and concepts, for my money, were Allen Dean Foster (in Splinter of the Mind's Eye), Archie Goodwin (in the newspaper strip and Marvel comics) and Timothy Zahn (in his novels). The later movies pale by comparison. The frustrating thing is they aren't bad; just repetitive. Show some guts; take them into new territory. Really, when Star Wars went from outsider making a fantasy adventure throwback to a corporate machine, the imagination fell out of it. Same problem with the Bond films, after the 60s (to a certain extent). I had high hopes for Rogue One; but, a good idea got lost in a lot of running back and forth between planets and what appears to have been a last minute rewrite. That one at least hit some emotional beats.
At least no one has discussed midichlorians in these films. Or said "wizard." Or talked like an Amos and Andy sketch.
Muppet Yoda was nice.
