Review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) by James D — 24 Feb 2018

I'm not bandwagoning this film like a few others just because Star Wars fans are blinded by nostalgia over the amount of fan service shoehorned all throughout this movie. This movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Last Jedi prove to everyone that box-office success is very deceiving. J.J. Abrams copied the plot of A New Hope for the second half of this film, and I find the Disney humor in these newer Star Wars films to be quite cringe-worthy at times. They made Rey out to be a Mary Sue in this trilogy right from the start. Sure Rey can be a good mechanic as shown in the beginning of the film, but there's a huge difference between fixing and piloting. How does she know how to fly? That was never mentioned or explained. It's implied in A New Hope that Anakin Skywalker was the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy as stated by Obi-Wan and in the prequels, it showed with a valid explanation. Rey was even able to successfully resist Kylo Ren when he tried infiltrating her mind after the capture. How could she do this with no training whatsoever? She could even use Jedi mind-tricks on stormtroopers with no training either.

How is this possible? Does she study and practice the force in her own free time? She didn't even believe it to be real until Han Solo said it was on the Millennium Falcon. Luke Skywalker didn't use mind-tricks on anyone until Return of the Jedi when he was more experienced with his force powers.? Nothing was explained about the old man, Lor San Tekka, at the beginning of TFA or in TLJ even. All of it was even worse in The Last Jedi. Rey grew up on a desert planet, but knows how to swim in The Last Jedi. She's great at fixing the Millennium Falcon and can fly it just as good as Han Solo. She took on three to four praetorian guards in TLJ despite no training with the actual lightsaber whatsoever. In that same scene, Kylo Ren didn't even use any of his force powers. Kylo can stop a blaster shot in mid-air and can paralyze anyone, but can't defeat a desert girl with his force powers alone? She even did just fine against Luke Skywalker in a fifteen second duel. At the end of TLJ, Rey was able to conveniently lift dozens of rocks to save what was left of the Resistance despite Luke Skywalker struggling to lift his own x-wing out of the swamp with Yoda in Empire Strikes Back. This is all what you call plot convenience. Even when you're injured, you can still use your force powers against anyone, which Kylo did not against Rey in The Force Awakens. There is no continuity in Episodes VII and VIII. I think a lot of people can safely say that Disney ruined Star Wars.