The Force Awakens - "The Worst Movie Of All Time" (Video Review)

the point was to show that Rey recognizes droids as having agency. it's a theme in the movie. and it's actually poignant--she's the first person to ever treat a droid as a person.

it's character development: through this we know that BB-8's attachment to Poe goes well beyond the normal droid-human relationship. yes, i would recognize the coat belonging to my mother even though there are probably 10,000 just like it out there. secondly, Rey's attacking without thinking is the point. she attacks Kylo Ren later too without asking questions first (in the book he even calls her out on this). she's hot headed and that's going to play into the story later.

i don't understand why this is a criticism. Kylo Ren has the worst judgment of any character in Star Wars. he's muddled, confused, and easily led/provoked/incited. absolutely everything he does is a bad call. that's kind of the point. it's like you have this image in your head of who you think Kylo Ren should be and haven't reconciled yourself to who he actually is.

if you don't like TFA, that's fine, but you're nitpicking characterization based on characters you wanted and not the characters you got. it would be one thing to say I wish Kylo Ren had been a stoic badass like Darth Maul. but you're saying his character is a degraded fool as if this is a writing flaw and the choice was not deliberate. same with Rey: maybe you wish she were more cool-headed or dispassionate. but she's not. it not that it "makes no sense". it's just not what you were hoping for.

there's a difference.

 

Rey was forced to fend for herself from childhood. Her only options were either die or turn into a badass.

As for "how did she do the mind trick" thing... this is part one of an intended three-part story. Expecting all questions raised in the first part of a story to be answered immediately would result in a very boring story.

 

You see that's the problem right there ''if you don't like TFA, that's fine, but you're nitpicking characterization based on characters you wanted and not the characters you got'' I didn't ''want'' anything with Kylo Ren as I have never ''wanted'' any SW character to be what in my opinion would be a good character and this doesn't have anything to do with me liking TFA but more with bad writting. You want Kylo to be a conflicted character, cool that's neat! You want him to be impulsive and brash unlike Vader, awesome as it distinguishes Kylo from Vader and it doesn't make you feel like they're trying to clone him but that doesn't have anything to do with how bad they portrayed his character. It's easy to flat out slap the ''hate'' label on other SW fans for not liking what you like but has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason why some fans disliked the character was because they really wanted to like him but the movie showed Kylo Ren in a bad way? I mean, just forget for one moment that you think I hate TFAand take a good look at what Kylo represents.

Kylo Ren is SUPPOSED to be a guy that dreams of being as powerful as Vader. What did JJ give us in the movie? An awesome Force user who did what Vader, Maul and even Palpatine never dreamed of doing! You have the one and only Darth Vader have to use a torture droid to TRY to get info out of Leia and he failed miserably and yet we get the dude who's supposed to be miles away below Vader in power and he can rip out information from peoples brains, paralize people with a thought, use the Force to make people lose consciousness, and even freeze lasers in mid air all the while having himself a nice conversation! Even Yoda had to concentrate to pull the X-Wing out of the swamp and Kylo did all of this and he's not even a Sith or fully trained! That's not me being a hater, that's bad writting.

Do I want a Kylo Ren that's conflicted? By all means! But the way they portray him in the film makes me think that if I were Snoke, I'd never put such a dumb dude to be in charge of the very one thing that could bring me down.

 

Praising the immensely stupid and boring prequel fiascoes while bashing TFA is simply ridiculous. None of TFA's weakness come close to the level of cringe-inducing, laughable and badly-executed sloppiness that we were given in Episodes 1-3. To like those movies, you need to essentially ignore everything one knows about quality filmmaking, save the music and the art direction. So TFA wasn't very innovative. At least I actually cared about what was going on, and the people in the story weren't flat and unlikable idiots whose actions constantly defied all reason and logic. TFA was actually a fun and fast-paced action movie. The prequels gave us endless scenes of people sitting around spouting badly-written and badly acted dialogue in front of fake backgrounds. TFA was a beautifully shot and visually composed movie. They did not try to cram every frame with as much video-gamey CGI as humanly possible. We got actual guys in stormtrooper costumes and it looked fantastic. We got action sequences with excitement, tension, and meaningful character interactions, not overblown, tension-free CGI overkill. We got actual humor that didn't involve insufferable cartoon sidekicks stepping in poop and getting farted on. There simply is no way to take anyone seriously who claims the prequels were better than TFA.

 

Yeah but the same can be said about TPM. The movie did awesome in the box office, it's still in the list of highest movies of all time and it won a bunch of awards but just because some losers online found things to gripe about, it's the worst movie ever. Same dog with a different leash.

 

''To like those movies, you need to essentially ignore everything one knows about quality filmmaking'' funny how I felt the same way about TFA which was not even an original movie but a sad rehash of ANH. You bash the prequels in lots of ways pointing out what you think are their flaws yet you bash anybody that does the same with TFA.

 

I think it's impossible to review TFA without bias, given the enormous amount of expectations set by fans, as well as the numerous pitfalls it was likely to fall into as a result of both the 30 year gap between the OT and the ST, and the enormous disdain for the PT (talk about the worst movies ever...). There was simply no way TFA was going to succeed in every aspect, and it was in my mind pretty likely that it would fail in most.

However, TFA did a pretty good job of riding the line between all the things it was pressured to be. Reading people's breakdowns of how THEY would have written the story better than JJ, for instance, just highlights how bad the movie could actually have been. They took very little chances on TFA because there was NO WAY Disney was gonna throw a curveball at the mainstream after purchasing the franchise for as much as it did. First and foremost in their minds was proving that this wouldn't be another PT, so they were in some ways doomed to retread the tropes of the OT.

It's important to remember that JJ Abrams didn't make TFA alone. Kathleen Kennedy didn't make TFA alone. The movie was made by them and a large group of people at Lucasfilm and Disney. Included in that group are executives at Disney, who have purchased something, made an incredible investment, and need to see that return. The pressure on TFA was to re-ignite the interest in Star Wars in the mainstream. Now you can rip on this all you want, but we are reaping the benefits of this success right now with Rogue One, a movie that by most reports was executed the way Gareth Edwards envisioned it and without a ton of studio meddling. The success of the franchise and the potential for future films rode on the film being a huge success with both the mainstream audience and us, the army of nerds who love SW. So yeah...write that movie for me. Lemme see your script. I'd like to see someone pull that off.

Point I'm making is that making a film a commercial success is a skill, it's what they were going for, it's what they achieved, and it's also a perfectly legitimate path for them to take given that they just bought the franchise for billions of dollars. TFA was a necessary 'evil' in terms of getting the franchise rolling again and giving us the potential for new and great stories in the future. Look at Ghostbusters, for instance. How did that reboot go? TFA is something we should be grateful for if this is as bad as commercial sell out gets.

But I'm not gonna deny that there were flaws, so here are some gripes.

- Starkiller as the third death star was more stupid than the second death star in ROTJ. Starkiller easily could have been a massive First Order fleet without changing the story.

- R2D2 returning at the end and just having the other half of the map is the worst part of the movie. It cracks me up to hear all this griping about what type of character Kylo Ren is and to never see this mentioned. R2 coming back at the end is a stupid plot twist that doesn't serve any function in the story.

- Harrison Ford was fine in the movie. Han Solo was fine in the movie. He wasn't great.

Regardless of this, TFA was probably neck and neck with ROTJ as my third favorite film when it released. Now tied for fourth after Rogue One. Just take a step back and look at all the films, you'll realize it's closer to the top than the bottom. And it was an incredible success in terms of kickstarting the new era of Star Wars we're in now. When we're all enjoying our Knights of the Old Republic spinoff or our Obi Wan trilogy in a few years, we'll have TFA to thank for that. As someone mentioned above, it's a movie with green space gnomes and laser swords. We can pick it apart, but I'll bet any point that is made about the inconsistencies in TFA can be countered by an inconsistency in the original films. Just going back and watching ANH after all the other films requires taking most of the film with a MASSIVE grain of salt. The universe has already been made incredibly convoluted by the prequels. I've waded through a mountain of nonsense in order to stay a Star Wars fan over the years, and TFA did very little to make that mountain larger.

Yeah it's not perfect, but it was a solid action film and set the stage for greater things to come. It's fine if they used the opportunity to make some money and get your everyday bro into the fanbase, and as a matter of fact it's crucial that they did. Star Wars is back with momentum as a result. Who here is worse off because of that?

 

First let me say my final view on Force Awakens... it was OK. That said, I feel your statements need a rebuttal.

I would first like to point out we wouldn't even be having these conversations if The Force Awakens was a great movie. Regardless of the reviews, there are repercussions to the film, and a sizable resistance of people who did not like the movie. We are not talking a small few who didn't like it, but a sizeable fanbase who saw the film as unoriginal and poorly thought out.

You say praising the Prequels while bashing TFA is ridiculous. OK. We all have our opinions on what makes a movie great. While you don't like the Prequels, many other fans did. What you thought may have been ridiculous humor by Jar Jar, such as getting farted on or stepping in poop, may have actually made other people laugh. But what if George was such a genuis he decided to appeal to not only adults but to children as well? What if he mixed the movie purposely to get a younger audience while at the same time maintaining a level of seriousness with key characters and key plot points?

Furthermore, what if the Prequels weren't specifically designed to just accomodate you and your attitude of 'Jar Jar is so stupid and he farts. Children stuff!' I think thats why a majority hated on George, because he didn't just cater to them. He catered to everyone including children with Jar Jar as an example.

George Lucas was a genius in marketing Star Wars. He has created multiple generations of fans yet eveyone in their arrogance hated on him and Jar Jar when in actuality he was bringing different groups and ages together to enjoy the saga known as...

Star Wars.

I also take issue with you saying TFA characters are coherently logical in their actions. Nothing could be further from the truth, and its intellectually dishonest to say so. There has been many movies, and TFA was the first to feature incoherent decision making from almost every character that has been reviewed and scrutinized many times by many different people, who now all say the same thing.

I invite you to go back and watch the prequels, putting down your hatred of a childrens character and your bias, and enjoy the movies for what they were. Just as I put down my bias with Force Awakens and ruled it an OK movie.

 

I like the prequels, the OT and TFA.

Every complaint I hear about Kylo Ren as incoherent is ridiculous. You want to talk intellectual dishonesty. Ren is unhinged. Ren is unpredictable. Ren isn't the cool polished dread of Vader. That is what makes him unique. He is an angry boy trying to scratch out his significance with bloody finger nails. Yes he is rash and full of hubris. The first order is a brazen fascist terror block. This is not the glory of the Pax Palpatine Empire. Ren has tantrums and for all his power screws up . . . this is not a mistake it should drive fear in your heart. This is why Finn wants to run. They are more vicious, and are not bound by the notion that they still serve the people that emperor Palpatine tried to maintain. Worse this crazy fury driven evil sorcerer is the golden prize of the Supreme Leader. You don't have to like Ren but he isn't incoherent you are fundamentally misunderstanding him. If you agree with the title video you are fundamentally misunderstanding everything.

As far as any criticism that TFA copies ANH. Bull crap. The director of the first 6 films purposely created repeated story beats, visual moments and themes. TFA plays along in a brilliant way. While the first 6 films have a ring structure TFA begins an oppositional parallelism telling the tale of 2 heirs to Anakin/Vader. If you think its just a copy it might have gone over your head. If you agree with this video you are trolling us or it went way over your head.

 

This is so stupid. No offense. You're not stupid

 

You are not even making serious points but all out bashing. How can you say that to like those movies, you need to essentially ignore everything one knows about quality filmmaking when all three movies were huge hits in the box office and tons of characters there were just loved by the fans? You have never seen prequel related events right? Never seen the cosplays? I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure those weren't just 5 or 6 people there who loved the prequels. You may deny it if you want but it's still a minority of haters vs the huge amount of fans who loved the prequels. Oh and just for the record, TFA had more CGI than TPM.

 

If you were being chased and shot at by ships what would you do? Stand around twidling your thumbs or try and get away?

Your point about Kylo and Vader are silly.

So he was trained by Luke. That makes him special and perfect? He killed Luke's other students. He was being manipulated by Snoke.


As for Vader;as Anakin he was quite ignorant and destroyed younglings just cause he thought he could save Padme.

He was also trained by Obi Wan for God's sake...and still fell.

Vader killed Obi Wan just making him stronger. Vader pledged his allegiance to Palps and the dark side. He was a great villain but did stupid things he thought was right. Most good villains do

 

Here's the magical trick I explained when you were searching for boxes and arguing about a 18 minutes long video.

The real story of TFA is hidden behing the EP IV mindtrick but as long as you focus on the word "box" in "mystery box", I'm not surprised you didn't get it at all.

 

Let me rephrase your question back at you ''If you were being chased and shot at by ships what would you do?'' So that means that even if you were a kid that was raised on a desert island, you STILL would run over to the stealth fighter that was parked around the corner and you would just fly it normally right? Even more so when said fighter has so many illegal upgrades and alterations that you wouldn't know what is what?

So what does Kylo being manipulated by Snoke have anything to do with him being portrayed as being more powerful than Vader and the Emperor combined? Did you really pay attention to the movie? The guy was so incredibly powerful that he took a shot from Chewies frigin crossbow/grenade launcher and he still stayed there in the same place, was able to make it all the way to the woods beating Finn and Rey to the punch and even fighting both and yet we are supposed to believe that he's weaker than Vader? Not seeing the bad writing there is silly!

 

I was born and raised in a small town. I can drive cars, trucks, tractors, most anything. It's quite common.

Apparently in the SW Universe fly ships is easy cause everyone does it whether they live in a desert or in small town. Just saying...

You're totally exaggerating.

Yep

Luke nearly froze to death, got swiped by a snow beast, got his ass kicked by Vader, got his hand cut off, fell a mile, and hung on a weather vain, yet we are to believe he could survive all of that?

Anakin got his legs cut off and burnt by lava...yet lived...

People get shot every day and live.

Rey and Finn had to climb down a long ways. Kylo didn't.

To say Kylo is more powerful than Vader and Palps combined is silly. Because he isn't.

 

That's why if you consider Kylo is Vader and Rey is Anakin, the final fight makes sense. The only thing that can weaken Vader is Anakin, the part of good he always had.

In fact, Rey is the only being able to beat Kylo Ren for this reason.

It's not Luke who defeated Vader, it's not Palps, it's his inner child, his light within' : Anakin.

I really invite people to watch TFA again considering Rey is Anakin and Kylo Ren is Vader and all the movie becomes crystal clear and you'll got the hidden story behind people think it's a EP IV rehash.

 

the minute you say "Kylo Ren is SUPPOSED to be" you're making assumptions that aren't supportable.
who says he's supposed to be? not Abrams or Kasdan. they created a character who is angry, confused, and sad. the minute Ren took off his mask for Rey and we all saw what a marshmallow he was--and Rey called him out on it--that's who we're dealing with. that's the character. and yes, he's stupidly powerful and doesn't know what to do with that (he can barely control himself). that's also intentional.

and finally, yes, Snoke knows. he controls Ren because he's emotionally compromised and has made Ren dependent on him. that's deliberate too. we may come to see that Snoke underestimates Ren Ben's fortitute, but for the moment the kid is hook line and sinker to Snoke. Snoke has no reason to worry about him so long as he's mired in his hatred. if anything, the mistake was Snoke telling Ren to kill his father because it dredged up a lot of stuff that might have been better left undisturbed in Ben's mind. and heck, Snoke probably knows that too--it's why he says at the end that it's time to complete his training. he probably knows the clock is ticking for him to weaponize Ren against Luke before Ren either self-destructs or turns on him.

again: that's the character and he's not remotely badly written. he's actually kind of brilliant. he's just not what people were expecting.