Star Wars: The Force Awakens

New from The Movie Snob.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens  (D+).  I was around 10 years old when I saw the original Star Wars in its original theatrical run, and I have been a fan ever since.  But despite all the critical acclaim and crazy box office this new movie has reaped, I just didn’t care for it.

Seems like everyone else is being careful to avoid spoilers, so I’ll be careful too in case there is still someone out there who hasn’t seen it.  Suffice to say, even though it looked like the Rebellion had completely routed the bad guys at the end of Return of the Jedi, thirty years later bad guys are still pretty much running the show in that galaxy far, far away, requiring a new generation of plucky heroes and heroines to rise up and save the day.  I’ll admit liking a few things about the new movie.  The actress (Daisy Ridley) who plays the new heroine, Rey, is pretty likable.  There were a few homages to the original Star Wars that brought a smile to my face.  But on the whole, I didn’t feel the magic.  It just felt like a lot of breathless running hither and yon (and at 135 minutes, there’s a lot of running to be done).  I thought the two main bad guys were pretty badly miscast (Domhnall Gleason, Brooklyn, and Adam Driver, While We’re Young).  Oscar Isaac, who was so good in Ex Machina, is wasted in a tiny role here.  And I know this is science fiction, but director J.J. Abrams conjures up some technology that seems way, way, way beyond anything even hinted at in previous Star Wars movies.  (I thought he committed the same sin in Star Trek Into Darkness.)  Finally, I found myself thinking all too often, This is just goofy.  In short, I thought the movie was a big disappointment.