Sort of OT, but I saw the movie yesterday at the Udvar-Hazy IMAX theater, and I ended up getting stuck in the 2nd row. Worst movie watching experience I've ever had. My eyes hurt by the end of the previews, and I was craning my neck the entire time, and turning it to see the sides of the screen. Anything that spanned the screen from top to bottom looked distorted. Why do those first few rows exist if the movie is borderline unwatchable from there? I can't believe I paid $15 dollars for such an awful seat.
If you look at the movies in order starting with IV, you have three out of the last four chronological movies dealing with the same basic plot (plucky, improbable rebel force launches dogfight and blows up planet thingy with big gun by finding flaw in design). Jedi tread that throwback ground, and this movie-- the next in the series--not only harkens back to the original but pretty much rehashes it with some character shuffling. Menace tried to launch the prequels in similar fashion with a few "the more things change" parallels, but this one is practically a remake.
The homages were nice at the start, but holy **** did it feel like a re-skinned Episode IV by the end.
Young adult without parents living on a desert planet doesn't know that they're a force user, finds a droid on the run from the Empire because it has an important map, and gets dragged off the planet on the Millenium Falcon and into an intergalactic conflict between the rebellion and the empire (this time they go to a cantina to find a ship
after getting off the planet instead of before). Guy in a leather jacket tries to run away from the fight but ends up coming back. Old mentor type guy gets light-sabered by Dark Helmet. The empire has a big spherical base that fires lasers to destroy planets, but it's got a weak spot that can be exploited by a pretty small group of X-Wings. Dark Helmet gets defeated at the end, but in a way that doesn't do any lasting damage and allows him to return later.
I thought Driver was terrible. Everyone saying his character is "pained" and "complicated," but all I got was Hayden Christensen 2.0. Literally saying you're in pain and seeking help in your Vader-shrine don't characterize you as conflicted so much as a pubescent teenager.
From the moment Kylo took his helmet off, everything the character did made him less intimidating and harder to take seriously as a villain. Especially that final fight. Finn's first experience with a lightsaber was him getting his ass kicked by a random stormtrooper. I know Kylo's a little hurt, but he was fine enough to somehow beat Finn and Rey to that forest (which didn't really make sense even if he was perfectly fine... Finn and Rey had a big head start, and they both must've headed in the same direction, so Kylo would've had to loop around somewhere to avoid being seen). I was expecting Kylo to wipe the floor with Finn there, but Finn fared better in that fight than against the stormtrooper. And then Rey wakes up from being knocked unconscious and beats him despite never having used a lightsaber before. This is feeling like Boba Fett again, where all of his credibility as a badass comes from the cool looking costume rather than actually doing badass things on screen. Making Kylo look and act like an emo teenager definitely doesn't help either. Dunno whether to blame Driver or the writers, but I think I'm leaning towards the writers.
Honestly, are there any good villains in this movie? Kylo is a mess. General Hux seems more like a guy walking on eggshells hoping not to get himself executed than a competent or intimidating villain. Captain Phasma is Boba Fett all over again, and her only contribution to the story is to roll over for the heroes (She's gotta be executed for that, right? If she refuses to lower the shields, the trilogy's over. Given the ridiculous standards stormtroopers are held to, there's no way that goes unpunished. But apparently she's got a bigger role in the next films, so I guess she's getting off for some reason). And Snoke has done nothing but talk and look ugly. I think it's going to be a challenge for the next episode to make one of these villains actually seem compelling and threatening.
Maybe I'll like it more when I see it without being in constant pain for the duration of the movie. But my first impression was pretty meh.
