On Sunday, we were joined by Jedi Temple Archives’ Paul Harrison to discuss our thoughts about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As life-long Star Wars fans that hold the original trilogy in high regard, Paul and I both agreed that The Force Awakens was loaded with elements that made it a solid Star Wars movie, but it lacked an original story. We liked it, but didn’t necessarily love it; not yet, at least.
The Force Awakens is an amalgamation of the best parts of previous Star Wars movies, making it feel more like an exposition of George Lucas’ cinematic works than a new story in the saga. While fast-paced, the breakneck speed leaves little room for character development and we would have loved to have spent more time learning about characters like Rey, Finn and Poe–whom we thought were played by a perfectly cast group of actors. Overall we liked The Force Awakens, but as rabid Star Wars fans we wish that J.J. Abrams would have asked “what would George Lucas do?” a little bit less and taken a few more chances in developing an original story. Despite feeling a little underwhelmed, both Paul and I have pledged that we’ll be seeing The Force Awakens again in order to let it sink in and pick up on anything we may have missed. And who knows, after a few more viewings it may grow on us.