My thoughts/questions on TFA

I just returned from the theatre after watching The Force Awakens for the first time.

I can't say that from beginning to end, I was in love. There were parts which I found odd, and times when I felt the acting could've been better. The film was very quickly paced, which I felt was a good thing most of the time—but there were times when I felt like it should have slowed down a bit. But overall, I thought Episode 7 was really, really great and I was impressed with the characters/dialogue of the new and old cast, the visuals and effects, the music, and the story. I am very excited for the next film, and I am very satisfied with what we got in Episode 7.

I will have to watch the film again to be more specific, though.

Now, the two things people have been talking about the most, it seems, are (1) whether or not Rey is a Skywalker, and (2) whether or not Snoke is Plagueis the Wise. I'd like to speculate on these myself:

1. I like to think Rey is the granddaughter of Ben Kenobi. Rey as a Skywalker is much too obvious.
   
2. I like to think if Snoke is not Darth Plagueis, he is a more evil and ancient enemy—perhaps even original evil, like the Devil, a "diseaser" of the Force, who discovered the Dark Side itself, and is immortal. Someone who has been plotting and scheming for a long time, and is behind all of the evil in the films.

On Kylo Ren: Amazing performance. He really is unlike any other Star Wars villain we've seen before, isn't he? He is childish and a coward. When something doesn't go his way, he throws a tantrum. He is unskilled with a lightsaber—he couldn't even best an untrained Rey—and is not feared or respected by the First Order. It seems to me like his ultimate challenge is going to be resisting the Light Side of the Force, and killing Snoke to usurp his rule, in order to succeed where Vader failed and not allow himself to be redeemed. We now have heroes who must grow stronger to overcome evil, and a villain which must grow stronger to overcome good. Very nice dynamic.

On the First Order: Much different from the Empire, isn't it? Whereas the Empire's destruction of the Old Republic was slow and gradual, even diplomatic at times, and the Death Star was constructed with a goal (albeit a sick and twisted one): to prevent a war (as is explained in Lost Stars by Claudia Gray); the First Order seems to be much less interested in order/peace through a monopoly over weapons of mass destruction, and much more interested in wanton destruction and chaos just for the sake of it, as if it were almost a doomsday cult on a massive scale, a malformation of the ideals (tyrannical though they were) the Empire stood for. Very sinister stuff.

Some more things:

1. What more will we learn about Lor San Tekka? I'm really excited to see more about him!
   
2. Can we expect a Han Solo comic from Marvel? Perhaps a Han Solo, a Young Han Solo, and an Old Han Solo comic line? I want to see the adventures of post-ROTJ Solo/Chewbacca, as they go up against the people/gangs they spoke of in EP7, like Kanjiklub and the Death Gang.
3. Are the Jedi Luke trained the Knights of Ren, or were they killed by the Knights of Ren? Are the other KOR's force-sensitive or just followers of Kylo's cult of personality?
4. Did they really toss Phasma into a garbage chute? It seems a waste to hire Gwendoline Christie if they're not going to make her more prominent an antagonist in future films.
5. I loved that Rey takes over the Millennium Falcon. She deserves it.

Finally, I have to say Rey was my absolute favourite. Her performance was so good. I felt so bad for her when she was being tortured by Kylo Ren. The emotions in her facial expressions and tone of voice—they felt so real when she was sad or angry. I got sad and angry with her, too. When Han fell from the bridge into the pit, I was just in shock. I teared up, I have to be honest.

It was a happy, but also very sad welcome back to Star Wars. I couldn't have asked for much more.

All-in-all, thank you, JJ Abrams & everyone else who worked to make this film a reality. I am super stoked for Rogue One and Episode 8, and very excited for the inevitable ST-era comics/novels, and that super cool video game from Visceral, too!