It’s been 4 years since I watched and reviewed The Force Awakens, or “Star Wars Episode 7.” I did a few videos (below) to re-examine it absent my emotional reactions and with my gains in perspective over the last few years.
I discovered some interesting things
First, the movie still sucks. It actually sucks worse, since the visual impact is reduced (due to me having already seen it and watching it at home) and that just leaves the nonsensical story to focus on.
Second, I realized that my original assessment of it as a fan film is right on point – it plays just like a fantasy of a fan walking through their own star wars adventure – meeting heroes just as they remember them from childhood, visiting familiar set peices, and acting out an imitation of the same character drama from the original trilogy. That’s kind of a fun and silly thing when you view it as such, but it still doesn’t make a good movie.
Lastly, I realized how much my audience has turned over in the last 4 years. Lots of people on and off of youtube mistakenly assume I was in the camp of the majority of fans 4 years ago – that I enjoyed The Force Awakens and only now realize its numerous problems. The reality is that I hated the movie from the outset, and was in fact very, very early in the “Disney Star Wars Sucks” paradigm. I wanted to revisit precisely to see if it really was as bad as I remember.
But 4 years is a long time in internet years, so it is totally understandable.