The Force Awakens - Issue/Argument/Resolution - Part 4

Disclaimer: I started this post way back in January/February 2016.  At that time, I was writing up Parts 1-3 of my rants about The Force Awakens.  I had a lot of issues with the movie upon viewing it the first time.  Some of those issues were resolved slightly with a second viewing.  Some things still lingered - even after a third viewing and a fourth.  

But that's okay, like I've said before.  It doesn't change the fact that I'm a Star Wars fan.  There were things I didn't like about the prequels (mostly Anakin/Padmé), and I still watch those.  Heck, I wrote fanfic for that era for years.  That's another story...stories, actually...

But anyway.  I went back through my blog posts just a little bit ago, and I saw this draft sitting out there.  I had to share it.  Basically, the stuff in regular font color is what already existed within the draft.  The new stuff that I wrote just today is in blue.  Some things deserved explanation.

Some things...didn't.  I'll leave it at that.  ;)


First Viewing Issue #5: Rehashing the "A New Hope" plot.  I really don't even need to go into the details of how it was rehashed.  This post was started so long ago, and the internet has already beaten this to death like a dead tauntaun on Hoth.  So I'll just move on with my thoughts.

Second Viewing Resolution #6: I'm slowly coming to grips with this.  I understand why we did what we did.  I mean, come on.  If we go back and look at the Legacy Expanded Universe (is that what we're calling it now?), we have so many rehashed plots.  I was just going into The Force Awakens hoping for something new.  Different.  Completely different, I guess.  Not...look a bigger, badder, Death Star.  Where are the Ewoks?  Are we in Return of the Jedi?  That sort of thing.  (I mean, c'mon.  Lucas rehashed his own plot idea...in the span of only 3 movies.  This is classic stuff.)

But I also understand this was the best way to bring people back to the fold, so to speak.  If you're going to reach out to the original generation that you alienated when you made Jar Jar Binks and the prequels, then you had to go early.  You had to go classic.  You had to go basic.  So they did.

It unfortunately just rubbed me the wrong way because I wasn't prepared for basic.  I was prepared for new.  Again, though, I went in with my own preconceived notion was what I should be seeing.  What I saw didn't match up.  That's okay.

First Viewing Issue #6: Kylo Ren doesn't frighten me; he makes me mad.  I would have killed him.

Second Viewing Resolution #6: Kylo Ren still makes me mad.  I would have killed him harder.