Josia Evans

*No spoilers here, just straight up facts* I like JJ Abrams. I love so many of his projects. But I think Steven Spielberg would have told this story so much better. This last episode/movie gives fans everything they wanted/hoped to see, to some degree, but everything seems so cliche in how it all plays out. I know there's a lot of story to "resolve" for such a large franchise and for all the characters. But honestly, the execution of the events was just "obtuse"... basically, everything that happened just seemed obligatory instead of being a good story that evolves brilliantly -- or even organically, at the very least. But no, this film does nothing of the sort. In fact, I can really see why the reviews are mixed. As you're watching this movie, you just feel like you're going from setting to setting for no other reason than to display new scenery that will be the backdrop for all the levels of the accompanying video game that you know is going to be spun off of this movie. And maybe that's the problem. When George Lucas first made star wars it was out of sheer passion and talent. It was a new form of art. But thanks to Disney, this movie just seems a like an assortment of scenes instead of an adventure or story. To add insult to injury for original star wars fans, Disney crammed this film with overly-cute examples of baby creatures, munchkin like characters and family friendly animals... clearly to pander to non star wars fans, thereby, hopefully selling more merchandise... but I digress -- and so does this film, incidentally! Maybe this movie will get better over time(?) On the plus side, I feel accomplished having seen how the story finally "ends" after 40+ years. Until someone does another 3 movies.-- -------------‐------------------------------------------------ Highs: Decent effects. You generally get your money's worth... and We finally get to see what happened to the saga Lows: Runaway script (Wait...was there a script? ) Trying too hard to cram in 50 endings Few genuine surprises (seriously, where's the build-up or story profession) Summary: Watch it, feel accomplished. And then watch it with the family many more times over the years to come. Hopefully this movie will be better when watched as part of a marathon than it is by itself.