First the good
(no spoilers here.)
Rey and Finn: Daisy and John deliver delightful performances, and are extremely likable "new heroes", around which to attempt to re-launch this franchise.
As mentioned in my title, it's hard to argue with the nostalgia thing. For true fans, it's hard not to have your adrenaline level rise, the instant that John William's score kicks in, followed by the perfunctory crawl, giving us the skinny on what has happened since Episode VI, and as "old faces" later begin to make their way into the film, it does start to feel like home.
And, in my opinion, that's pretty much the end of the "good things".
!!!! SPOILERS FOLLOW !!!! !!!! SPOILERS FOLLOW !!!!
But now, the bad
The problem is that it feels "just a bit too much" like home. If we only consider the "real" SW trilogy ( episodes IV thru VI), and ignore Lucas' foray into unnecessary special effects craziness (episodes I thru III), then we've now endured three out of four films (counting this new one) where the "empire" has constructed planet killing technology, and "the rebels" spend the last third of the film concocting an elaborate scheme to discover, and then exploit (with a "desperate, down to the wire" effort) the "design mistakes" of the empire, in order to "blow up the planet killer", and "save the day".
But for episode VII, it's actually far worse than just that. You pretty much feel like someone took the script from episode IV, and did "search and replace" changes in a Word Processor, i.e. the script for VII is pretty much just a "treatment" on the IV script:
Crash landing on a desert planet at the beginning: "check" As yet, unknown, future hero living on that same desert planet: "check" (but we'll do a gender change on the "future hero");
Cute droid (with secret/important message), who finds its way into the hands of the "future hero": "check";
Bar room scene: "check" (but we'll move it to a "forest planet", instead of a "desert planet", so that it "won't be the same");
"Save the day" hero with a troubling past: "check";
Dark-side-related "father/son problems: "check";
Rebels infiltrate base, and miraculously disable planet killer "shields": "check";
Hero/pilot makes miraculous attack on planet killer: "check";
And on and on.
I mean jeez nearly 40 years of waiting (since this all started), and the billions that Disney sunk into this franchise, and the best that we can get out of Abrams and Kasdan is a recycled version of "A New Hope"?
Disney needs to remember that the Star Wars franchise isn't heroin, and we are not just a bunch of crazed addicts. Wait maybe I'm completely wrong about that? As it will apparently break every box office record in existence, maybe fans are willing to eat anything that gets doled out, but if that's the case, then that is truly sad (and I guess that they deserve whatever they get).
So, I'll go back to my original thought for me (at least), I am not addicted, and I can "take it, or leave it". In order to continue buying tickets, I want to see some "something completely different". Aside from the core canon, and the requisite characters, somebody is going to need to "tell me a story" that won't leave me with another "been there, done that" feeling. If I want to see the "same old story" again, then I'll just stay at home, and continue to just toss IV thru VI into the Blu-Ray player, and it will be far more satisfying.
I really do like the newly introduced characters, and I really do want to see where this franchise might take them, so PLEASE get off your tails and give us a truly original story in VIII that will leave us all begging for this to go on forever.
Rey and Finn: Daisy and John deliver delightful performances, and are extremely likable "new heroes", around which to attempt to re-launch this franchise.
As mentioned in my title, it's hard to argue with the nostalgia thing. For true fans, it's hard not to have your adrenaline level rise, the instant that John William's score kicks in, followed by the perfunctory crawl, giving us the skinny on what has happened since Episode VI, and as "old faces" later begin to make their way into the film, it does start to feel like home.
And, in my opinion, that's pretty much the end of the "good things".
!!!! SPOILERS FOLLOW !!!! !!!! SPOILERS FOLLOW !!!!
But now, the bad
The problem is that it feels "just a bit too much" like home. If we only consider the "real" SW trilogy ( episodes IV thru VI), and ignore Lucas' foray into unnecessary special effects craziness (episodes I thru III), then we've now endured three out of four films (counting this new one) where the "empire" has constructed planet killing technology, and "the rebels" spend the last third of the film concocting an elaborate scheme to discover, and then exploit (with a "desperate, down to the wire" effort) the "design mistakes" of the empire, in order to "blow up the planet killer", and "save the day".
But for episode VII, it's actually far worse than just that. You pretty much feel like someone took the script from episode IV, and did "search and replace" changes in a Word Processor, i.e. the script for VII is pretty much just a "treatment" on the IV script:
Crash landing on a desert planet at the beginning: "check" As yet, unknown, future hero living on that same desert planet: "check" (but we'll do a gender change on the "future hero");
Cute droid (with secret/important message), who finds its way into the hands of the "future hero": "check";
Bar room scene: "check" (but we'll move it to a "forest planet", instead of a "desert planet", so that it "won't be the same");
"Save the day" hero with a troubling past: "check";
Dark-side-related "father/son problems: "check";
Rebels infiltrate base, and miraculously disable planet killer "shields": "check";
Hero/pilot makes miraculous attack on planet killer: "check";
And on and on.
I mean jeez nearly 40 years of waiting (since this all started), and the billions that Disney sunk into this franchise, and the best that we can get out of Abrams and Kasdan is a recycled version of "A New Hope"?
Disney needs to remember that the Star Wars franchise isn't heroin, and we are not just a bunch of crazed addicts. Wait maybe I'm completely wrong about that? As it will apparently break every box office record in existence, maybe fans are willing to eat anything that gets doled out, but if that's the case, then that is truly sad (and I guess that they deserve whatever they get).
So, I'll go back to my original thought for me (at least), I am not addicted, and I can "take it, or leave it". In order to continue buying tickets, I want to see some "something completely different". Aside from the core canon, and the requisite characters, somebody is going to need to "tell me a story" that won't leave me with another "been there, done that" feeling. If I want to see the "same old story" again, then I'll just stay at home, and continue to just toss IV thru VI into the Blu-Ray player, and it will be far more satisfying.
I really do like the newly introduced characters, and I really do want to see where this franchise might take them, so PLEASE get off your tails and give us a truly original story in VIII that will leave us all begging for this to go on forever.