In a galaxy far far away...

"Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights."

With the release of the very much long awaited movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there seems to be a disturbance in our fandom Force. The fandom has split into two sides: those who loved the nostalgia, and those who were highly disappointed. I stand between these two sides. If you just skim the surface of the movie, it was a FANTASTIC FILM. Actually, it made such a big impact that it now ranks as the second highest-grossing movie of all time in the United States, completely sinking the Titanic (pun intended) from it's previously held throne. The Force Awakens has brought in $686 million since it's release which also surpasses Jurassic World, making it the most successful movie of 2015, and according to the stats, the film made $600 million faster than any other film in history. The movie has made $1.3 billion overall, and is currently in 7th place for all-time. But what else would you expect from the Star Wars fandom? However, if you sit back from the nostalgic high and think about it, the movie was sort of lacking in many areas. I'll run through both the good and the bad just so you can see where this movie is in a whole, and you can decide on whether you agree or not.

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Imagery

I'm not doing it justice when I say that the imagery and effects were BREATHTAKING. There was such detail put into the sets and CGI that my mind is completely boggled. I mean just look at this beauty:

There were even some old school" tricks that made my nostalgic side squeal, like some of the backdrops and transitions. I think my favorite part was how there were little easter eggs of the past episodes hidden throughout the story. If it's one thing all the fans can agree on, it's that they really nailed this aspect of the movie.

However, the one thing that kind of turned me off in this category was the strange CGI image of Snoke. It reminded me of a half-mad disney animation's villain-the kind that monologues about his evil schemes and throws tantrums (Kylo Ren I'm looking at you). Not really my cup of tea for a supposed Supreme Leader of the First Order. But hey, maybe it was just because I couldn't quite focus on the hologram with Kylo Ren standing there...

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Storyline

Like I said before, if you just skim over the plot and just watch the movie mindlessly, it was PERFECT (I honestly really liked it). All of our favorite characters come back (CHEWY AND HAN), the humor had me going, and the old tricks are at it again-but that's just it. The old tricks were a little too present. The whole plot is basically a deja-vu of the previous episodes. A "new hope" (Rey) enters the scene with abilities in the Force, the Resistance is still resisting, and the bad guys (the First Order) are trying to take over the galaxy in a new and improved DeathStar. We've seen it all before, just with other characters. It felt like nothing had changed in those 30 years that we didn't see. I would've loved to have seen a more original plot line or at least some unpredictable plot twists. They had such a huge oppurtinity to dig deeper into the mythology of the Force and what makes it all tick. The writers had a lot of resources at their disposal to make this movie really go the extra mile. However, it seemed like they were just focused on reliving the nostalgia and upping up the action for the kids instead of going into an actual story. This movie seems to be used as more of a stepping stone to get to the real plot. Maybe they'll make the next one better as far as originality and depth goes? Don't get me wrong, it was still a rocking movie, but I think as a whole, we were expecting a lot more than what we were given as far as storyline goes.

As far as the dialogue trying to clear things up-it didn't. In fact, the moments where they were trying to explain the past 30 years, felt pretty rushed and didn't make any sense. So many things were left unexplained and left hanging. Even I had to go back and re-read some lines (the script is now available for reading) after I saw it just so I could try to understand what they were saying. There were just too many plot holes, it's driving me nuts! Hopefully the next film will clear some things up for all of us.

And where was the romance between Han and Leia?! I don't know about you but I felt no spark-NOTHING. This (look below) was all we got from their relationship. There wasn't even a scene where we see Leia react to Han's death. If they were going to add in our favorite couple then they should've given us a little more. (end rant)

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Protagonist and Antagonist (Rey and Kylo Ren)

Rey was a great female protagonist, but I felt like she was more for the kids as far as heroine goes. I mean it's not that I didn't like her (she was a strong lead), but her character didn't completely capture my attention. She played the part of the "lonely but strong girl who found out she has super strong special powers"- that's kinda cliche and over done. I kind of liked how she was added into the story, but I felt that her personality seemed sort of...lacking in a way? Maybe it's just me over analyzing (and I was really trying not to because I have such high hopes for this trilogy), but, in my opinion, Rey was basically a Mary Sue who's purpose was simply to move the plot along and meet all of our favorite characters. I didn't really feel connected to her, or see a reason why she should be involved at all. Kylo Ren felt more developed then she did, and we don't know much about his background besides the basics! I wish Rey had more depth to her character to show where she started, and a glimpse of where she will end up. Hopefully we'll see more of the real Rey in the next films.

Also, a lot of fans were astounded that someone, who was never trained or even knew she was force sensitive until two days before, could pull off some of the Jedi tricks that normally would take years to learn. I mean even Luke, who never showed any real Force activity in the beginning, had to be taught how to feel the Force and use it. For Rey though, there was no training or even a bit of rush reading. I don't know whether the writers wanted to make a point that she was very powerful with great instincts or not, but it seemed a little far fetched for a scavenger who though everything was a myth to suddenly become skilled in a Force she doesn't understand. I'l admit that this bugged me a little. Other than that I'm intrigued as to where her backstory takes us. Is she Luke's or is she a Kenobi? (I'll save these theories for another article)

Honestly, I think the only thing I can say here, is that I'm conflicted- VERY CONFLICTED. When Kylo Ren first appeared on the screen, he went from hardcore villain to gigantic emo child in like two scenes. I found it both entertaining (he's kind of adorable), and a little skeptical on where they are taking this character, because he seemed to have several opposing traits. In the beginning, we see this new terror inducing villain who's trying to fill the shoes of the greatest villain of all time-Darth Vader, who then turns into a brat having a temper tantrum (A LITERAL TEMPER TANTRUM). It gave us a more of a "struggling child trying to please the big kahuna" persona that we definitely (I definitely didn't) see coming. From evil apprentice, to brat with daddy issues, to a man struggling between the Light and Dark, is where we have Kylo Ren at the moment. The real thing I'm annoyed about is that we never saw exactly what happened to him and why (and it's not like the rushed dialogue did anything to clear things up for us). I'm honestly on the edge of my seat to see where they take this character because he's nothing like we've seen before.

And for anyone who is over the top "he's ugly and doesn't look like Han Solo at all", here's a comparison just for kicks.

This compared to-

Don't tell me he doesn't look a little like Han Solo. He's adorable!

There are many other...concerns(?) about Kylo Ren's character and motive that I won't go too deep into (he's so complex!). I'll save that for another article.

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Soundtrack

This was the big stink that everyone was looking forward to, since one of the key aspects of Star Wars is the killer soundtrack. I didn't really feel the soundtrack that much. There were some glimpse of the old tunes, but other than that it didn't really affect me. There was no new Imperial March for the new Vadar (I was really hoping I could get a new ringtone), and there wasn't really an emotional vibe coming from it like how there was in the original episodes. It was sort of just background noise? I'm not sure. I'll have to listen to it when it's released just to get another perspective.

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That's all I'll say for now! I'm not trying to bash the movie (because, yet again, I did like it), so I'm sorry if I sound like I am. I'm going to do another insight once I do more research on these characters! Stay tuned!

May the Force be with you!