Quote:SPOILERS BELOW


This was a movie for fans and enjoyable, but for all the excitement and Easter eggs, it had some flaws. It was good, and filled in some blanks in the larger story, but I wouldn't crown it the second best Star Wars movie. I think there's a nostalgia factor that lends to the enjoyment factor, but I found Force Awakens to be a stronger overall movie. This one started out bouncing from place to place with characters who were barely defined, but because there was a familiar backdrop people overlooked that we barely knew their names. That robot was awesome. And it was great to see a SW film end on the somber down note like Empire. But this was a straight fan movie. If you didn't know anything about the history (i.e.- if you are the 8 year old kid who only sorta knows the saga), this stand alone film is about a girl who sees her family killed by bad guys and gives her life so that those bad guys might not win in the end. Sure it's a nice segue to New Hope.


The thing that got me was the end. The whole Rebel fleet can hyperspace to right outside the shield gate. Okay. Then the Death Star hyperspaces there and fires a shot. Hang on.. I didn't realize the moon-sized ball of death had the ability to hyperspace. If it does, why did we have to wait for it to move into position at the end of a New Hope? Surely the engineers could have plotted a course which would have plopped them into similar position to take out the Rebels in the original Star Wars, no? But in that film the Death Star was a slow moving misery machine we needed to wait in suspense for.. would the Rebels destroy it before it moved into position? We know how it ended, but this piece of the larger puzzle didn't fit for me and it's all I have thought about since watching it.

 

To add to these flaws, the CGI "throwback" characters were distractingly artificial and did not look real.  Glazed and creepy not unlike The Polar Express.

 

I look at it like the Clone Wars cartoons.  Worthy, good, and part of the same series... but too much genuine-ness lacking to feel like it truly belonged in the main storyline.  It was missing... something, the core feeling of 1-7 wasn't there.  The characters weren't as engaging (combination of writing and acting,) and having a new composer didn't do it any favors.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the same.  It was notably different, which isn't what you want from something that's supposed to be an integral story.

 

The best thing it did was the tie-in with 4.  It was enjoyable.  But as much as it felt Star Wars, it still came off as not quite Star Wars.

 

That's why I've updated my list to reflect:

 

1. Empire
   
2. New Hope
   

<p style="margin:0px;">(big gap here)

1. Force Awakens
   
2. Jedi
   

(gap here, only smaller)

1. Rogue One
   
2. EP2
   
3. EP3
   
4. EP1
   

EDIT** - To add a comment about the robot.  I think K-2SO was a truly understated addition and I don't believe it would have been the good film it is without it.

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