That's better than the actual movie.
Why?
- It isn't a lazy, unasked-for remake of the 1977 (or any other) release.
- You include/hint at Obi-Wan, never a bad thing
- It gives everyone what we really wanted: a still-together Luke, Han and Leia...we wanted to see them in at least ONE scene together, but preferably more. This has that. Everyone would've been pleased. And, honestly, it would've been nice to know that Han and Leia were still together after everything. I hated the way they both just reverted back to their 1977 selves/personas.
- Luke isn't a bitter a-hole who gave up; NOBODY was cool with his portrayal in this trilogy because we knew that wasn't what he would do. When the actor himself voices his displeasure about the handling of the character, then you know you've stepped in it. I take Mark Hamill's opinion/insight to heart more than J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson or anyone else in that crowd. It undid everything we saw and knew about the character, and it lingered over the entire stupid trilogy. We never got to see Jedi Master Luke, at full power/potential, fight it out with someone (and, no, that silliness at the end of
The Last Jedi doesn't count).
- You set the stakes immediately, in chapter one: the murder of both his parents, in full view of Luke and the audience, setting Kylo to be a real hard-case and threat. Also, out of story, you accomplish two things: you grant Harrison Ford the death/exclusion from further involvement that he's always wanted, and now Carrie Fisher's death in real life has no bearing on the following episodes (I said from the beginning that she should've died in
The Force Awakens because, of the three, she'd be the most useless, and that Luke should've survived through all three, "dying" - as much as Jedis can - only at the end of Episode 9 after one final display of Jedi badassery and selflessness, going out in a full blaze as only Luke Skywalker should (tossing Star Destroyers out of the sky, saber fighting/Force-choking dozens of stormtroopers at once, etc.)...this should've been Hamill's show, as it's the Skywalker saga overall. And, plus, to reward Hamill for his years of loyalty and fan-friendliness/respect, unlike Ford and Fisher). So I like offing both of them, with some true weight, in the opening chapter of the trilogy...good call! I would've done the exact same thing for reasons both in, and out of, story!
- You instantly get the audience invested when you show how truly heartbroken - not just angry - Chewie is at the death of Han and Leia. Nothing more heartbreaking than the sight/sound of a sad Chewie. We got a couple of glimpses of it in the original trilogy, but can you imagine a stronger, more drawn-out depiction? It would level the audience, done right. Suddenly, this thing has weight and hits hard.
- It ends the thing on a proper "oh no!" cliffhanger, the way
Empire did in 1980, with a prominent character being taken away and their fate a bit up in the air. That makes people eager for the next installment. Ending a movie with someone handing someone else a lightsaber just doesn't have that same draw/impact. Hell, the ending of TFA could've almost been the ending of a single movie...she found Luke, returned his saber, the end. Nothing about it said "stay tuned for the next chapter!", IMO.
- I like the absence of Poe, Finn and BB-8. Since this isn't a shameless reboot/remake, they don't have to appear as younger stand-in types for Han or others, as the real thing are playing front and center, from the opening scenes. Introducing them in the second installment, perhaps as slightly different characters than we saw, would work. They could keep the Poe/pilot and Finn/defected stormtrooper thing, even...but neither of those characters deserved to be the centerpoint for TFA...they're just not that interesting or engaging, at least in the way J.J. and Kasdan wrote it. As for BB-8, all that little bastard seemed to do across three movies was take away the role/purpose of Artoo, who got the biggest short-changing in this sequel trilogy (I can only assume J.J. has some problem with R2-D2, when you look at just how little he mattered/factored in since 2015). Put Artoo back in the forefront, doing all the things people want/expect him to do, not some toy-selling soccer ball. I can't believe that decision was made. That's the most blatant merchandising lunge I've ever seen in a movie, especially when you had a capable, beloved droid who'd filled that role wonderfully over six movies. To just throw a tarp over him, with or without Luke's presence in the movie, was so lame. That's probably what killed Mr. Baker...nice going, J.J. You actually did that South Park thing.
- This version has nice little callbacks - the black cloaked figure on a Star Destroyer bridge, the hologram, lots of "Falcon being chased", etc. - but it's not a beat-for-beat rehash. That's how you do nostalgia/fan service...you connect it all with little glimpses and hints and nice "oh yeah..." moments (like how that TV show seems to be doing). You don't beat people over the head for two solid hours with "hey, remember the 1977 movie? Well, we're doing that again, just in a less coherent, satisfying way...check it out!"
- I like that Starkiller was dispensed with completely and you just go with Star Destroyer-based
city-destroying weaponry...smaller scale, you're not rehashing the Death Star (again), but you're still providing a threat and consequences for any city who winds up in those crosshairs. It's similar, but fresh, on a smaller scale. We saw what happened to those two locations in
Rogue One...you don't have to destroy an entire planet to wreak havoc and do massive damage to thousands (millions?) of people. I like that idea too. Again, similar but fresh. Not another moon/planet-sized station with a trench (I can't believe that shit popped up at the tail end of
The Force Awakens. I'd already checked out by then, but when that came up I just kinda threw my hands up..."whatever, J.J. You're not even trying, are you?"
I think I would've enjoyed seeing this movie in 2015. It gets right just about everything J.J. got wrong.
PS - Is my disdain for J.J. a bit too on the nose? Or am I being too subtle with it?
I’m blaming that doof for all this, so...