Now that we're reaching the end of the review I would like to discuss a series of minor points about the movie. I'll start with a few things about Kylo Ren while we're on the subject of him. I wanted to discuss how they handled him by returning to the interrogation sequence with Rey. I've seen two major camps of people in regards to their opinions of Kylo Ren. The first group will say that they enjoy Kylo Ren and that his emotional vulnerability and sensitivity makes him compelling. The second camp says the opposite. They says that Kylo Ren should have never taken off his mask and that he's a weak villain because he doesn't pose a proper threat to the protagonists and that he's too emotionally compromised to work as a threatening villain. What I will say to both sides of the camp is that you can do both. You can show vulnerability in a villain while still maintaining their ability to function as an antagonist and I think that it is most effective when you are able to strike this balance. Do I think that the Force Awakens is successful at this? Not really. But it can still be done.

Personally I prefer when a villain's vulnerability is shown over time and in short bursts. And I also believe that any vulnerability should not be introduced until further down the line of the story. You've got to make it gradual so that you maintain the mystery and build interest as we learn more and more about the individual. But this is also done to maintain the base personality of the villain without compromising their identity. Think of it like slowly forming cracks in an ice wall. The problem is that once Kylo takes his mask off in the interrogation room, the entire ice wall crumbles down and the sense of both mystery and steady progression with his character development is gone. For context, I believe that it would have been better to not reveal Kylo's face until he meets with Han Solo, when he is at his emotional peak.

In addition I also have one more thing to say about Kylo Ren in regards to many people's claim that he is the best character in the sequel trilogy owing mostly in part to the skill of the actor portraying him. This is going to be probably one of the hottest takes I'm going to make in this review series but I might as well get a head start now because there's a lot more coming in future reviews. All I can really do now is beg you to please not click off and give the rest of my words a chance XD. Sigh...I'm just going to say it...I don't think Adam Driver is that good of an actor. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think he's bad. I just don't think he's as good as everyone says he is. I just don't think his performance of Kylo Ren is all that noteworthy. I think that when he's not given strong material to work with, he falls flat. I think where Driver really shines is in moments of high intensity (i.e. the scene in Marriage Story) where he can express raw and visceral emotions. But outside of that, I think it's mostly pretty average level acting.

Moving on (if you're still here and haven't clicked off by now.), I will discuss a couple more things about the movie before giving my final verdict of the film as a whole. To start with there is a very extremely minute criticism that I have of the movie towards the end. When Finn discovers that Poe comes back he has a short moment where the two of them sprint towards each other and there's some music in the background as they reunite. This is very nitpickey but I don't like how they react upon seeing each other. They're greeting each other as if they're lifelong best friends reuniting when in actuality...they're not. Now I realize that its not really fair to judge friendship from an outside perspective. Honestly two people could be the best friends with each other even after they've only met 5 minutes prior. But I'm here to express my viewpoints on this movie and so here it is. This moment just like all of the other moments in the movie doesn't really feel built up. While Finn and Poe have shared a positive interaction with each other, it just doesn't really feel like they're to the point of being true best friends yet. Afterall, they've only had a very brief encounter before Poe completely disappears from the movie. It just feels a little weird to me whenever I watch a movie or play through a video game story and the characters in it act like they're best friends or have a dynamic that's been established over time when there hasn't really. But like I said this is just me nitpicking and I do think that at least some heightend reaction would be necessary in this moment, afterall their interaction while brief was still meaningful.

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Another thing I didn't really like about the movie was that it was a bit confusing to me as a mostly-casual Star Wars fan. This may just be a me problem but I remember when I first watched this movie being a little confused about what's going on. Oh god especially at the end when they're discussing how to take down Starkiller Base. Again, it may just be a me problem but whenever there's a scene where characters are coming up with a plan in the climax, I can NEVER follow it and figure out what's going on. Oscillator what? Guard with the encryption key who? Door to the control room where? Security bypass what? Lowering the shields when? Pinging the Oscillator how? Oh lord don't even get me started on how confused I was when I watched Rogue One... but hey, maybe I'm just a little slow at processing things. This is another mostly subjective take but I just had to include it.

I will say as far as positives go I did quite enjoy the battle scene after the cantina scene. I think that was probably my favorite sequence in the movie. I thought Finn using a lightsaber was pretty nice as well as the chaos of the dogfighting, Rey being captured by Kylo Ren in the forest. I think it was really solid action and I only wish that the sequence was a tad bit longer. I also really enjoyed the humor in these movies, particularly in The Force Awakens. I normally don't like the "That Moment When" style of humor that goes into a lot of modern movies but I will say I liked most of it in these movies and honestly it probably saved the Force Awakens for me. "Back to Jakku" "How the Force Works" and Han using Chewie's crossbow are particular favorites of mine.

Now I think it's time for my final verdict of the movie. As for what I thought of the film overall I'd say it's okay. For context, I rate things on a scale of one to four. One being, bad, two being average or middle of the road, three being genuinely enjoyable, and four being superb. I also sometimes like to add on the descriptors of Low, High, or Solid to further specify the grade. I do this instead of adding more numbers because I feel like those 4 ranges are the main primary reactions to anything and even though a score can have a low or high moniker added to it, it's still within the range of whatever number I give it. So for example even though I would give Shang Chi a very high 2 that borders on a 3, it's still an average level movie for me.

In the case of the Force Awakens, it's a Solid 2 for me. I mostly found the film to be very middle of the road average, simply because like alot of modern media it lacked substance and alot of it was pandering and nostalgia baiting. But I didn't want to give it a 1 because it still had stuff that I enjoyed in it and when I think about the movie while there wasn't alot of things that it did particularly well, there also isn't a whole lot of things that are "wrong" with it for the most part. Most of the plot holes and contrivances are minor issues and alot of my problems with it were subjective.The problem isn't that The Force Awakens is safe, the problem is that The Force Awakens is basic. If I was to use the word "mid" then I would use it here. There wasn't enough of that "groundwork" that I mentioned earlier that was needed to make this safe story work better. I don't think that it's necessarily a bad thing to encorporate some fan service and nostalgia pandering into the movie but it can't be the ONLY thing that it has going for it. A sturdy plot with strong characterization will always ensure a level of success with a film. Anyway that's all for the review. Thank you so much for reading. Next up is The Last Jedi and strap in cause like most people I have alot to say about this movie...