Some people are calling this a remake of Episode IV or a reboot.

They might be right, but it is more like comparing a second honeymoon to a first honeymoon. Sure, everyone is a bit older the second time around, but it doesn't make it any less wonderful.

Plus anyone who has followed Star Wars for the past 38 years (shit I
feel old now) knows that what Lucas did with Star Wars in 1977 was highly
derivative to begin with.  





I have a book I got when I was in grade school
at a Book Fair (do they even have those anymore?) called The Star Wars
Album that had entire sections comparing Star Wars to the older
influences, everything from pulp, to Samurai movies, to Westerns, to
Laurel and Hardy with a plethora of pictures showing how some scenes
were almost direct shot for shot remakes/homages of earlier movies that
influenced Lucas. Film critics gushed about Quentin Tarantino throwing
all his influences up on the screen at once, Lucas did it while Tarantino was in Junior High. Hell Lucas went way beyond just stylistic influences, go watch The Hidden Fortress sometime.





So when people say it was "too much like the first Star Wars" I just smile and figure that's the way it should be. This was a Star Wars movie made by a Star Wars fan for Star Wars fans, again as it should be. Sure it'll introduce a whole new bunch of kids to Star Wars, which is good, but for people like me it was the Star Wars movie I've been waiting for since the end credits rolled on Return of the Jedi, and I think Abrams took that into consideration when he was making it. Kids will ooh and ahh at all the stuff going on, but they'll miss the significance of the light saber remote on the Falcon or the look on Chewie's face when the chess board lights up or the Mouse droids on the Star Destroyer or some of the Stormtrooper dialog,"We think they may be splitting up..." but little things like that are part of what made it feel right. To paraphrase Han, it was like coming home.





Lucas thought too much when he made the prequels, not only about how to do a "proper" story but bought into the fact that he was George Lucas and can do no wrong. A George Lucas who was standing in Tunisia trying to film the first movie would have slapped the shit out of the George Lucas that made The Phantom Menace...and he would have totally grinned when he saw what Abrams did with this one. The real George Lucas, now, probably only grins at the royalty checks he's getting from it. In a way George Lucas is the real Anakin Skywalker, everything was good until he lost his way.





And damn that was a lot longer than I intended, sorry, I can go on when it comes to Star Wars.

IMHO, Kylo's attitude might have seemed vaguely similar to Anakin's, but they're entirely different. Anakin was arrogant and misguided, and turned to the Dark Side to save his wife.. Kylo, on the other hand, was obsessed with Vader, even down to wearing an unnecessary mask that changed his voice. He was also in constant internal turmoil because he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but also believed he was too weak to be a Jedi. The internal struggle, coupled with his youth and and impulsive behavior, is what gives him a passing resemblance to Hayden Christensen, but they're very different. And I think Driver can act circles around Christensen, FWIW.





After killing Han, he might consider himself beyond redemption, which could make him more "purely" evil in the next episode. Or, who knows, he might flip a complete 180... all we know is that he probably won't be the same person as before.





Besides, is Han REALLY dead?

I felt like the destruction of Coruscant-like planets, the Death Star lookalike getting blown up, the death of Han, etc were all a way of saying "Yes, here's your references to the Lucas films. These are getting destroyed, and we're now going our own way."

Kylo has serious grand-daddy issues built up around the myth of Vader and living up to him; while Anakin was basically just a petulant child and a dick.

"That's not how the Force works." got a cheer in the theater, as everyone knew it was a not-exactly-subtle "Go fuck your Midichlorians."

What happened to the quote by Luke from the second teaser trailer?
"The force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it. You have that power too."
I really expected that to be said in this movie.

There were about 3-4 scenes from the trailers that werent in the movie. Trailers are usually made way before the final cut of a movie. This happens with lots of movies. In the trailer, not in the movie.